Mary Ann Thomas stories, Page 12

As the world watches Ukrainian soldiers and citizens fight off a brutal and bloody invasion by Russia, scholars at the University of Pittsburgh are providing answers to what’s behind Ukraine’s feisty resistance and more. Pitt’s Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, with nearly 90 affiliated faculty members, will...

While there are litter walks, fashion shows and craft beer parties, Allegheny Cleanways has combined all three for an event Saturday in Pittsburgh’s Regent Square. The confab of events isn’t as unlikely as it seems. Anyone who volunteers to pick up litter, especially in colder or wet weather, has to...

The Hampton Basketball Association just finished its first full season with more than 50 players and seven teams. Founded in 2019, the association was waylaid by the covid-19 pandemic but it started offering basketball clinics last summer. The seven teams played a full season from late November through early March....

In a case of art imitating life or life imitating art, Freeport Area High School will present Disney’s “High School Musical,” running Thursday through Sunday at the district’s middle school. The story centers on two East High students, Troy and Gabriella, and their audition for a school musical in which...

Workers at the U.S. Steel Works Irvin plant in West Mifflin last month successfully diverted a great horned owl that was pestering nesting bald eagles at their home on mill property. Now they are celebrating the first eagle egg of the season. The female eagle delivered early Sunday evening. “We...

For the first time in six years, the Apollo Area Historical Society is offering its walking tour of the 1936 St. Patrick’s Day flood. This year’s tour will be March 19, a Saturday. The hourlong walking tour will feature borough sites that were hard hit, some of them marked with...

Allegheny County is planning on completing and opening its $4.7 million sculpture garden and renovations to the grounds in Hartwood Acres in June. In June 2021, Allegheny County and the Allegheny County Parks Foundation broke ground for the massive project. The parks foundation considers the effort its largest and most...

Deals are in the works for two new tenants — Dunkin’ and First National Bank — in the Burrell Plaza along Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell. The mostly empty strip mall that once was home to Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney and other stores has not seen much action since 2017...

The Upper Burrell supervisors recently approved a 32% increase in fees for property owners installing new septic systems and other associated services. Virtually all homes and businesses in the township use septic systems because public sewage pipelines don’t exist. The township raised its rates for its sewage enforcement officer to...

After retiring from teaching in the Shaler Area School District 17 years ago, Elizabeth Spence decided she “wasn’t going to waste my time going to lunches.” So, she went to work – volunteer work, that is. Spence was named as one of the top 100 volunteers nationally for the 2021...

The New Kensington Camera Club is offering four free photography classes at the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer. Among the offerings is a March 5 workshop called Lightbox Photography for amateur shutterbugs wanting to improve their techniques for lighting and photographing products to sell on Facebook, Craigslist and elsewhere. The...

Wildlife authorities are trying to trap a 500-pound black bear — known as Hank the Tank — that has broken into dozens of homes in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Residents, the state’s wildlife service and the nonprofit BEAR League are deciding what to do with the enormous bear that has...

The Luke family of Lower Burrell isn’t your typical sports family. They are archers — with at least one of them aiming for the U.S. Olympic team. Earlier this month, Brayden Luke, 15, took second place and his brother Wyatt Luke, 11, came in ninth in competitions for The Vegas...

Tricia Shank credits her experience coordinating the logistics of national sports broadcasts for ESPN and other national media outlets for providing the business acumen necessary for her role as a Burrell School Board member. Shank and former Burrell School Board member Genia Koziarski recently received Pennsylvania School Boards Association Honor...

After taking a year off during the covid pandemic, the Three Rivers Depression Era Glass Society will present its 45th annual glass show on March 5 and 6 at the Quality Inn in New Kensington. About 28 vendors will display and show off dazzling Depression Era glass primarily from the...

Lower Burrell Council voted this week to give $77,000 to Lower Burrell Volunteer Fire Company No. 3’s EMS to help it weather increasing labor costs for emergency medical technicians. The fire company approached city council last year asking for help. During the pandemic, emergency calls spiked while medical insurance reimbursements...

Armstrong County Commissioners delivered $15,000 to the Allegheny River Development Corp. toward costs of keeping locks open on summer weekends for recreational boaters. The ARDC pays the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open six Allegheny River locks in Armstrong and Allegheny counties on summer weekends and holidays. Because of...

Organizers and supporters of the K9 Officer Derek Kotecki Memorial Scholarship Fund will hold the 11th annual golf outing Aug. 20 at Hill Crest Country Club. The tournament is an 18-hole, four-person scramble with 32 foursomes. Organizers initially planned to cap the golf outings at 10 years — the time...

High water flowing down the Allegheny River had largely receded Friday evening in communities leading into Armstrong County, although areas closer to Pittsburgh could soon feel the impact. According to Rich Redmond, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon, flood warnings along the river at Parker, Rimer and...

After taking off two years during the pandemic, Burrell Bowl-a-Thon rolls again Sunday at Wildlife Lanes in Lower Burrell. The fundraising event is from 1 to 4 p.m. and is open to Burrell School District families and friends. Prizes and a 50-50 raffle will add to the festivities. Four-person teams...

Fed up with unsightly vacant storefronts and other vacant properties, Lower Burrell Council has unanimously agreed to create a vacant property ordinance. Council is expected to approve the ordinance in the next month or so. The ordinance will require owners of vacant properties — residential, industrial and commercial — to...

Stressed out? A new business in Etna is providing wellness, de-stressing techniques and quiet spaces in the former Primrose Flower Shop. “What I am offering are practical tools to reduce stress, such as color therapy, meditation and bioacoustic mats to bring you into a calmer state,” said Sharon DiMatteo, 55,...

A $1.17 million USDA grant with matching funds will pay for farmers and residents in the Buffalo Creek watershed area, roughly from Freeport to Chicora, to plant buffers along streams and cover crops and more. The Buffalo Creek watershed covers 170 square miles in Butler, Armstrong and Allegheny counties. It...

With a cast of 32 students and a production crew of 80 students, Burrell’s Huston Middle School will present Disney’s “Aladdin Jr.” Thursday through Saturday at the school auditorium and during a livestream Saturday. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased only in advance online at our.show/hms aladdinjr. “The best part...

The Pittsburgh Hays bald eagles laid their first egg of the season on Friday around 6:30 p.m., which marks their 10th breeding season on a heavily wooded hillside above the Monongahela River. The pair are the first bald eagles to successfully breed within Pittsburgh’s city limits in more than 150...