Patrick Varine stories, Page 24

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com or bpoole@triblive.com. Food pantry distribution The Garden City Food Pantry will host a series of food distribution days beginning in June. The food pantry is open from 9-11 a.m. and 6-7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month. Food distribution days...

For American soldiers stationed overseas, a small reminder of home can be a big deal. Nonprofits like Military Connections in Penn Hills regularly collect care packages to send to service members abroad. In the early 1900s, that reminder took the form of the “Donut Lassies,” Salvation Army workers who traveled...

Heritage trail Poker Run set for next month Westmoreland Heritage Trail officials will host their annual festival and poker run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Murrysville. Each participant in the poker run will stop at five checkpoints along the trail to choose a playing card from the deck....

A new Delmont stormwater authority will function as a utility and assess a stormwater fee on property owners, a borough official said this week. The fee will be based on the amount of impervious surface on a given property, councilman and authority board President Stan Cheyne, with the goal of...

What began as a teenage Eagle Scout’s effort to clean up an overgrown hillside has become a full-scale mining operation for the Export Historical Society. That’s an exaggeration, but not by much. In 2018, Troy Florian’s Eagle project was clearing brush, vegetation and dirt atop an old Westmoreland Coal Co....

Murrysville Community Library staff wants to give local authors a chance to connect with local readers, and will host its first-ever author fair next month. “At the end of our summer reading program last year, the one thing we got a lot of was requests for more literary events,” said...

The Jeannette Community Band will open its 36th season with a May 26 concert at the Jeannette American Legion, 109 S. Fifth St.. The 7 p.m. concert will feature the band of more than 60 volunteer musicians from the city and surrounding communities. In addition to director Ron Stemple, Maria...

Borough groups and businesses are taking advantage of the warm weather to bring a summer full of music to Irwin’s downtown. “We wanted to please a variety of crowds with different types of music, so we branched out this year with some acts little different from what we’ve done in...

Federal prosecutors say a Hampton man received information from a corporate Dick’s Sporting Goods employee that he used to net more than $800,000 in profits. Frank T. Poerio Jr., 62, has been charged with four counts of securities fraud, U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan said Friday in a news release. Olshan...

A Verona man who led police on a high-speed chase before fleeing the state in April has been returned to Allegheny County, according to the county sheriff. Hermas U. Craddock, 37, of Penn Hills traveled first to North Carolina and then Florida according to police, where he was arrested April...

A South Fayette man has been charged with riot, fleeing from police and other charges in connection with a street-racing incident in Downtown Pittsburgh the night before the Pittsburgh Marathon. Police said Jason Stotlemyer, 32, fled from two attempted traffic stops. Pittsburgh Police were called to the intersection of Liberty...

The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that a gun found Friday in Donegal Lake is related to the fatal shooting in December of a St. Clair Township woman. Dive teams from the Greensburg Police Department and Murrysville Medic One discovered the revolver about 70 feet offshore, Medic One Director...

Avian admirers in southwestern Pennsylvania will mark World Migratory Bird Day on Saturday. In Westmoreland County, the Westmoreland Bird and Nature Club is encouraging residents to take part in the Global Big Day, hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its eBird app. Participants are asked to observe and...

Who wants to buy a used prison toilet? Judging by the volume of calls auctioneer Bill Anderson has received about the sink-and-toilet combos that are being auctioned from the former state prison in Hempfield, some people are considering the purchase. “The county put out the legal notice for the auction...

Westmoreland Heritage Trail officials will host their annual festival and poker run June 1 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Murrysville. Each participant in the poker run will stop at five checkpoints along the trail to choose a playing card. At the end of the event, participants will have a...

The Murrysville Area Watershed Association gained the support of Export officials Tuesday night for an acid mine remediation project that would prevent additional heavy metals and other elements from entering Turtle Creek. The association initially pitched Murrysville council on the project more than two years ago, after working with Monroeville...

Writers from across Southwestern Pennsylvania will take part in an author expo Saturday, May 18, at the Mt. Pleasant Public Library. It will be from noon to 3 p.m. at the library, 120 S. Church St. Library Director Sarah Buzzard said she was inspired to organize the event after meeting...

PennDOT officials announced the following road work and related closures: • A portion of Hecla Road between Aster Road and Mt. Pleasant Road will closed beginning May 13, as work crews complete the new Route 981 and Hecla Road approach to the roundabout. The work is part of the $55.2...

A New Kensington man was among three people arrested by state police Monday after leading them on a high-speed chase in Somerset County that at one point reached up to and over 120 mph. Pharoah Sewell, 20, of New Ken­sington was charged along with Davontae Trevon Clayton, 19, of Belle...

Judy O’Connor loved to laugh. “When I’d come home to take care of her the last few months, we’d almost always listen to one of comedian Jim Gaffigan’s stand-up albums,” said her son, Rev. Terrence O’Connor of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Judy Levine O’Connor, wife of former Pittsburgh Mayor Bob...

It might not be accurate to say Riley Bain was born to portray Alice from “Alice in Wonderland,” but there’s no doubt that she’s done plenty of research for the role. “I have an obsession,” said Bain, 17, a Franklin Regional junior. “I had an ‘Alice’ party for my 16th...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Protect PT hike in Murrysville Citizen environmental group Protect PT and the Turtle Creek Watershed and Airshed Communities will host a May 18 hike in Murrysville’s Duff Park. It will be at 10 a.m. Local residents will share their connection to the...