Patrick Varine stories, Page 59

Patty Irrgang of Murrysville has worked as an independent fashion designer and as a space manager in the University of Pittsburgh’s academic provost office. She also has spent nearly a half-century providing the food while tailgating at Pitt football games. During that time, she built up quite a recipe repertoire....

For Alison Bresnahan, there isn’t a better time to be a science teacher. From NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission to the James Webb Space Telescope to the Mars Perseverance rover to even the covid-19 pandemic, significant real-world events are inspiring the next generation of scientists — even if they don’t...

Work on a second fracking site in Murrysville could begin next summer if officials OK the project. Olympus Energy already owns and operates the Titan well pad off Bollinger Road. The company is proposing an eight-well pad off Logans Ferry Road near the northern tip of Murrysville. Olympus is seeking...

To call Gen. Daniel Sickles a colorful character might be selling his story a little short. From his political education in New York’s massively corrupt Tammany Hall to his affair with Queen Isabella of Spain to his attempted murder of his wife’s lover — who also happened to be the...

Murrysville Council last week delayed a vote on a $15.4 million 2023 budget, which does not includes a tax hike. The vote will take place at the final meeting of the year. Chief Administrator Michael Nestico said updates to some elements of the municipality’s salary ordinance require the municipality to...

When Bruce Spiegel was a child, he would look out his Greenfield window at the heart of American industry: the U.S. Steel Homestead Works. “I would look out into the night and watch the Homestead furnaces blowing blue flames,” Spiegel said. “I thought steel-making was never going to end.” In...

No one was injured early Tuesday morning as crews from Youngwood Volunteer Fire Department extinguished a garage fire endangering a nearby home on Trouttown Road in Hempfield. Firefighers were called to the 100 block of Trouttown Road shortly before 12:30 a.m. for a report of a one-story garage on fire....

He may train in Florida these days, but at Bellator 289 on Friday night, it will be Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia when Western Pennsylvania native Dalton “Hercules” Rosta takes on Philly middleweight Anthony Adams in a mid-card fight. “I always watched UFC growing up — Brock Lesnar, Forrest Griffin, Tito Ortiz,...

Anthony Bucciero of Murrysville was surprised to discover the similarities between the economies of Ukraine and Pennsylvania. “It’s a lot like Pennsylvania, with a lot of farming and manufacturing,” said Bucciero, CEO of Guardian Construction Management Services in Murrysville. “And to think that someone has just come in and bombed...

November may have started with balmy days and temperatures in the upper 70s, but Old Man Winter appears here to stay as the calendar rolled over to December, and a sizable number of drivers in Western Pennsylvania are scheduling appointments to have their regular radials swapped out for snow tires....

The recent death of longtime Fleetwood Mac member Christine McVie brought memories flooding back for music industry insiders recalling the band’s storied and tumultuous history. Pittsburgh concert promoter Rich Engler is among them . Although Engler has several stories about bringing the rock group to Western Pennsylvania, one of his...

From golf to gift certificates to spa days and symphony concerts, Blessed Sacrament Cathedral Parish in Greensburg will have something for everyone in its “Home for the Holidays,” a fundraiser for the church’s Bethlehem Project housing ministry. This year’s theme is “The 12 Baskets of Christmas.” “We’ve expanded the number...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Items must be submitted two weeks in advance to make the publishing deadline for the Star. Holiday happenings The following is a list of holiday-related events happening in the Star’s coverage area. Email events to pvarine@triblive.com. • First Presbyterian Church will host...

One of two brothers charged in a suspected mid-October shootout in Harrison was arrested Monday morning. Arrested was Troy Vickers, 30, of Tarentum. A felony arrest warrant is still active for his brother, 19-year-old Brian Vickers, also of Tarentum. Troy Vickers was arrested by the U.S. Marshal Western Pennsylvania Fugitive...

A 43-year-old Cleveland man is wanted for the aggravated murder of Adrianna K. Taylor, whose body was found Thanksgiving night in a Wilkinsburg backyard. An arrest warrant was issued for Anthony Kennedy, 43, in connection with Taylor’s death. Taylor, 23, was initially listed as missing by Cleveland police on Nov....

A Penn Hills man faces charges after, police say, he was responsible for a Nov. 10 shooting in Verona and fled from police afterward. Shuron B. Porter, 43, of Penn Hills was taken into custody early Monday in the 300 block of West Eighth Avenue in Tarentum, according to Allegheny...

A Rostraver commissioner is accused of disrupting a township Halloween event by threatening people and slapping a fellow commissioner in the face. John J. Lorenzo, 43, of Rostraver was cited with two counts of harassment or physical contact, disorderly conduct and an additional harassment charge in connection with the Oct....

It’s only appropriate that the 32nd annual Festival of Lights in Mt. Pleasant would feature one tree for every year it has taken place. That means nearly three dozen trees, decorated by members of the public, will be on display — and on sale — to benefit restoration work at...

Jefferson Hills police are investigating a fatal crash involving a pedestrian that took place Saturday evening along Route 51. Robbin Fisher, 61, of Pittsburgh was struck and killed by a moving vehicle while crossing the street, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Emergency officials were called to Route...

Police, firefighters and medics responded to an overturned car crash on the westbound side of Route 380, near 380 Auction Discount Warehouse in Murrysville on Sunday. There were no serious injuries, according to Murrysville Medic One officials. The crash happened shortly after 10 a.m....

A 23-year-old woman originally reported missing from Cleveland was found shot to death in a Wilkinsburg backyard on Thanksgiving, according to the Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner. The body of Adrianna Kiri Taylor was discovered shortly after 9:30 p.m. Nov. 24, in a backyard on the 800 block...

Police are investigating an overnight shooting in Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood. Police were called to a hospital around 2:40 a.m., after receiving a report that an adult male had arrived with gunshot wounds to the leg. The man was in stable condition but, police said, he was not cooperative in explaining...

State police have secured a warrant for a Homestead man they say drove the wrong way up a Parkway East ramp Friday morning, hitting both a vehicle and pedestrian before fleeing on foot. Police said troopers were monitoring traffic at the Forward Avenue on-ramp to I-376 around 9:40 a.m. Friday...