Mary Ann Thomas stories, Page 18

The Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania is stepping in to help market 115 acres of undeveloped land at South Buffalo’s Northpointe Industrial Park. Owned by the Armstrong County Industrial Development Council, the industrial park covers more than 800 acres. While it is home to tenants that include universities,...

At a time when many school boards are being confronted by yelling parents irate over mask mandates, Burrell School District is offering up private meetings with students’ parents to work through the mask issues. Two lawsuits are pending in Pennsylvania challenging the legality of the recent mask mandate at schools....

After protest from neighbors, the Dollar General along Route 780 and Dewey Drive in Upper Burrell has cleared all township hurdles, and development of the site has begun. The store is tentatively slated to open in late fall, said Katie Ellison, spokeswoman for Dollar General Corp. Although the store, along...

For the fifth year in a row, the federally endangered piping plover has nested at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, the only site in the state where the sparrow-sized, white-and-tan shorebird nests, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. But this year was a little different. Piping plovers are known...

Burrell School District and Penn State New Kensington each will receive $25,000 from Arconic Foundation’s $1.1 million in donations in Western Pennsylvania this year. The grants to 21 nonprofits will support education, social equity, environmental sustainability and human needs programs throughout the region. Arconic Foundation invests in communities where Arconic...

Burrell’s Marching Band is holding its first Car and Motorcycle Show on Oct. 2 to raise money and to offer a community event with live student music. About than 100 cars and motorcycles will be on display, said Michael Pagnotta, a music teacher and Burrell’s band director. “It will be...

Lower Burrell’s No. 3 volunteer fire company canceled its free movie night Saturday after the shootings of three people at another city firehall. Three guests were shot at a baby shower at Lower Burrell No. 1 Volunteer Fire Department in the city’s Kinloch section. That was about two hours before...

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recently released results from multiple studies that again show that the best place to catch legal-sized walleye in the three rivers is in the Allegheny River close to Pittsburgh. “The Three Rivers have a reputation for producing trophy-sized walleye, with the lower Allegheny probably...

Lower Burrell and its police officers have ratified a new labor agreement that includes a 12.5% wage increase over the five-year term of the contract. City council approved the contract, 4-0. The contract covers Lower Burrell’s 17 full-time police officers. Under the state’s Third Class City Code, part-time officers are...

About 3.5% of Burrell School District’s 1,825 students have been granted medical exemptions allowing them not to wear masks in school, the district’s top official said Thursday. Of those granted a medical exemption, a portion have yet to turn in necessary medical documentation, Superintendent Shannon Wagner said. Those students don’t...

An event featuring live entertainment and a procession of emergency vehicles is being held in Lower Burrell this weekend to benefit three area police departments and a foundation supporting injured first responders. The second annual Back the Blue fundraiser will get underway at 12:30 p.m. Saturday with a motorcycle and...

Lower Burrell Volunteer Fire Company is offering a free movie night Saturday at the station along Leechburg Road. The movie, Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon,” will be projected on a large screen outside in the fire station parking lot. Residents will need to bring chairs. The movie takes place...

Fireworks are still illegal in the tight residential areas of Apollo, but a new ordinance updates an 84-year-old one that deemed fireworks illegal in the entire town. Anyone caught with fireworks under the old ordinance, which didn’t factor in inflation, could be fined $1 to $100. The borough’s new ordinance...

There was a serious five-mile gap in the McKeesport to Munhall section of the Great Allegheny Passage a decade ago that was solved by an additional off-road trail and two “flyover” bridges over live railroad lines. To celebrate closing the gap in the GAP trail, the Steel Valley Trail Council...

When Kimberly George of Lower Burrell and her dog, Bean, died in a house fire Wednesday night, her mother and husband said they lost their best friend. A state police fire marshal and Lower Burrell police are investigating the cause of the blaze at Kinloch home of George, 50, and...

PennDOT said it plans to reopen the northbound ramp from Route 28 to the Highland Park Bridge in Sharpsburg on Saturday afternoon, weather permitting. The ramp, Highland Park Bridge/Aspinwall (Exit 6), has been closed since June 21. Work done on the ramp included concrete and steel repairs, drainage upgrades, painting...

Two 9/11 observance ceremonies will be held on Saturday in Lower Burrell. One will take place at the American Legion Post 868 at 9:30 a.m. and the other at Flyer’s Field off in the afternoon. Both events are open to the public. The American Legion will host a 45-minute 9/11...

It’s not surprising that the owner of the Alle-Kiski Valley’s most celebrated cat, Pudgie-Wudgie, would somehow have had a hand (or a paw) in the making of the Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley’s new shelter in New Kensington. There is a wing dedicated to Pudgie-Wudgie and his owner, the late...

Apollo-Ridge School District closed its middle school for in-person instruction this week because of a high number of positive covid-19 cases. Nearly half of the 280 students at Apollo-Ridge Middle School in Kiski Township are under quarantine for exposure to covid-19. There were 20 active cases involving students in the...

Ken Hulst wanted to give one of his kidneys to his brother-in-law, former Lower Burrell Mayor Rich Callender, who needed a kidney for long-term survival. Hulst, a former Lower Burrell resident, died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — ALS — on Aug. 28. Within 24 hours, Callender received one...

While the Alle-Kiski Valley is rich with Civil War connections, Apollo stands out given the high percentage of men from the area who fought in the war, according to local historian Ray Rusz. Rusz, of North Apollo, was among a group of area residents who recently provided Pittsburgh-area Civil War...

PA CareerLink Alle-Kiski said Friday it has received more than 300 job postings in the past month. “Jobs are available from virtually every business sector,” said Phil Grove, account representative for PA CareerLink Alle-Kiski. Jobs range from ones for which applicants need no previous experience to ones requiring advanced degrees,...

Lower Burrell police have charged a city man with illegally entering a city home, sleeping on the couch and then leaving the house wearing a pair of blue athletic shoes owned by one of the residents. Nicholas Sabo, 19, is charged with criminal trespass, loitering and prowling and public drunkenness....

Upper Burrell supervisors have unanimously approved a new Marcellus shale natural gas well. Several residents objected at a hearing Wednesday night to the location of an access road and potential drainage concerns. Olympus Energy LLC, of Canonsburg, requested permission to develop a Marcellus shale well pad at 4806 Seventh Street...

The first day of school for the Burrell School District on Wednesday got off to a soggy start with flash flooding impacting the region. While some buses were rerouted because of flooded intersections, the students still made it to school, Superintendent Shannon Wagner said. “It is amazing to have our...