Mary Ann Thomas stories, Page 45

Two Pennsylvania teens were hit with felony charges Friday in connection with a social media video that authorities say showed them torturing a wounded deer, state Game Commission officials said. The charges against Alexander Brock Smith, 18, of Brookville and an unidentified 17-year-old boy stem from a video posted Nov....

If you’re noticing more American robins lately — flocks of them — so did residents counting birds in the Pittsburgh area for the 120th annual National Audubon Society Bird Count. Volunteers tallied a little more than 28,000 birds among 72 species in the Pittsburgh area count circle during a Dec....

Not everyone can have a bird feeder, let alone one that attracts the pretty, prized birds like Eastern bluebirds. Without so much a kernel of corn or a sunflower seed, residents can take a nature break to watch all the action at a live webcam trained on six feeders and...

A new mayor and council member who were elected last year in Lower Burrell were sworn in during a reorganization meeting Monday. A political newcomer, Rosina Albanese, 27, was sworn into office Monday by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Chris Scherer. The city’s new mayor, John Andrejcik, also was sworn...

The newest member of Apollo Borough Council is heading up a new citizens’ advisory board and public relations committee. Apollo’s newest council member isn’t really so new. Jen Mullins was appointed to council late last year to fill the seat of Diane Bradshaw, who resigned in November shortly after winning...

Cheswick Council is looking to appoint someone to fill an empty two-year seat. Michael Girardi, who won two seats in the Nov. 5 election, said Monday during a council reorganization meeting that he would take the seat he won with a four-year term. That leaves the two-year seat he won...

If you like moon gazing, 2020 will not disappoint — as long as cloud cover over Southwestern Pennsylvania doesn’t obscure a rare blue moon on Oct. 31 and two supermoons included among this year’s 13 full moons. According to NASA, a Blue Moon is the second full moon in a...

One of John Andrejcik’s first official acts after being sworn in as Lower Burrell’s new mayor Monday night was to appoint brother-in-law John Marhefka as the city’s acting police chief. When asked after Monday’s council reorganization meeting whether making move could represent a conflict of interest, Andrejcik said, “Absolutely not.”...

Harmar Township has secured a $42,000 state grant which it will match to install a dek hockey rink and renovate the basketball court at Acme Park along Herron Avenue. The project was prompted by the lack of use of the park’s tennis courts, according to township officials. For more than...

PNC is closing its branch in the Hillcrest Shopping Center in Lower Burrell. A bank spokeswoman confirmed that the Hillcrest location will close March 20. “The way that customers are using branches has been changing,” said Marcey Zwiebel, PNC’s director of corporate public relations. “We have been making adjustments to...

Buffalo Creek in Butler County is in third place in online voting being conducted to identify the Pennsylvania River of the Year. State residents have until Jan. 17 to cast their vote at the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers website. The group that nominated the winning river will receive...

Researchers from Duquesne and Chatham universities will conduct testing of Little Buffalo Creek and its tributaries to try to determine the source of pollution that is sullying their waters. The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania landed a $13,700 grant to pay for the testing, which will be done this year...

A woman died Wednesday in a single-vehicle crash inside Pittsburgh’s Armstrong Tunnel. Authorities identified the woman as Barbara Ann McMillin, 57, of the South Side, who died after she struck the side of the inbound tunnel at Second Avenue around 9:45 a.m. First responders could not revive her, and she...

A wayward pig eluded capture for several hours Monday in Springdale Township after attempts by residents and police to lure and lasso the 100-pound, black-haired swine failed. No one was injured but jokes abounded on the Facebook page “Springdale Borough News,” with one poster wryly noting that Monday was National...

Harmar, Cheswick and Springdale Township were awarded a $250,000 state grant — about half of what they requested — to fix the pothole-riddled Low Grade Road. The road, almost a mile long, has been plagued by major drainage problems for years. State Sen. Lindsey M. Williams, D-West View, pushed for...

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is offering a free boating basics class Jan. 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Boat Show that weekend at the Monroeville Convention Center. Anyone attending the free class will also receive free admission to the Pittsburgh Boat Show,...

The Pennsylvania Sea Grant has developed an app for the public — primarily anglers, boaters and other users of waterways — to identify and report aquatic invasive species. These invasive species can harm natural resources and impact public use of waterways. According to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, some...

Only one person, a councilman whose term was running out, applied for appointment on the board governing the newly formed joint police department between Cheswick and Springdale Township. Both communities merged their police departments in May 2019 to form the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department. Each municipality has two representatives...

The average Harmar homeowner could save about $34.50 in real estate taxes in 2020 as supervisors recently passed a $10,000 increase for the homestead tax exemption. The township supervisors last Thursday passed the township’s final 2020 budget of $2.7 million. It does not include a tax increase. The township real...

Dave Lynch had pulled two double shifts when his phone started ringing and texting about a Ford truck while he drove on Route 28 to his Indiana Township home. “I thought it was some solicitation, and I wasn’t interested in buying anything,” said Lynch, 54, who works in law enforcement....