Patrick Varine stories, Page 60

Curtis Johnson of Indiana Township has big plans for the buck he bagged Saturday morning. “I’ll get a pound of the deer jerky, and bologna as well — I love the bologna you guys do,” Johnson told the staff at Wright’s Deer Processing in Clinton Township, near Saxonburg. Since the...

A body recovered from the Monongahela River on Wednesday has been identified as 66-year-old James Aiello, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office. Emergency officials were called shortly before 3 p.m. to the 200 block of Washington Avenue along the Monongahela, where Aiello’s body was discovered. Aiello was not...

A teenage boy was listed in stable condition after accidentally being shot in the face Wednesday in Pittsburgh’s Perry North neighborhood, according to police. First responders were called to the 3700 block of Baytree Street just after 4:45 p.m. for a report of a teen who had been shot in...

A Grove City College professor and director of a Pennsylvania think tank has been tapped to serve as editor for conservative magazine The American Spectator. Paul Kengor, a political science professor and senior director for the conservative Institute for Faith & Freedom think tank, will serve as the new editor...

A Munhall funeral home owner has been charged with abuse of a corpse after, police say, he left a body unrefrigerated for more than a week. Michael Aldrich, 74, director at Aldrich Funeral Home in Munhall, was charged by Munhall police. The family of Dexter Owens, who died in late...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Items must be emailed two weeks in advance to make the 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 its...

It was midnight, and John Hartman really wanted a cup of coffee. The date was July 9, 1998. Hartman had just finished his shift with the North Franklin police and was getting ready to pick up a second shift, with the nearby North Belle Vernon police, that wouldn’t end until...

Members of the Franklin Regional Thespians typically have a good deal of reference material when they’re looking for ideas about how to stage a play or present a character. As the group prepares to perform “Elsewhere” later this month, that material is nowhere to be found. That’s because they are...

With Delmont officials staring down the barrel — or pipe, perhaps — of millions of dollars in sewage projects, along with other state-mandated pollution reduction work, the search for grants is on. Borough engineer Kevin Brett recommended getting the application process started for two potential grants offered by the Pennsylvania...

Like so many of those who work to help others, Lois Bowman of Washington Township is involved with more than one community group. In addition to working as a Delmont Public Library staff member, Bowman donates her time to the Delmont Meals on Wheels program. “I didn’t know if we’d...

When members of the Laurel Highlands Workforce and Opportunity Center board were looking for a model, they didn’t have to look far. “We’re a replication site for Manchester Bidwell in Pittsburgh, which has been around for 50 years,” CEO Greg Daigle said. “When it comes to adult training, you go...

When the Opus 2 string orchestra hits the first notes of its 2022-23 season, the baton will be in new hands. South Hills native Evan Reichenfeld, 26, will take over as the orchestra’s conductor, continuing the mission his great-grandfather Eugene started nearly seven decades ago. “My great-grandfather taught music in...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Items must be emailed two weeks in advance to make the deadline for the Star. Bus trip to holiday market The Murrysville and Hempfield parks and recreation departments will co-host a Dec. 14 bus trip to the People’s Gas Holiday Market in...

The Greensburg Hempfield Area Library took a $50,000 hit to its budget this year, when an upstairs tenant chose not to renew its lease. And, even though the Southwest Greensburg referendum on Tuesday’s election ballot only affects $15,000 in library funding, it is a hit director Jamie Falo is happy...

Allegheny County public works officials announced recently that Nadine Road in Penn Hills would be closed a week longer than expected for drainage repairs, reopening today, Thursday. For frequent users of Nadine, which connects Lincoln Road to Allegheny River Boulevard, the news likely was not a surprise. It has closed...

Physical endurance isn’t something new to Murrysville native Darren Miller. Shortly after his 30th birthday, Miller completed the Ocean’s Seven, a global open-water swimming challenge, including a 9-mile swim in 3 hours, 42 minutes across the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco. But endurance swimming just happened to be...

One person was flown by medical helicopter from the scene of a crash Tuesday evening in Rostraver, according to county emergency officials. A Westmoreland County 911 supervisor said first responders were called to Route 51, just north of the county line in Rostraver, for a report of a one-vehicle crash...

Bishop Larry Kulick was excited to hear the stories coming back from past attendees at the Diocese of Greensburg’s three annual men’s conferences. “It turned out to be very successful, and we heard that many of the participants went back to their home parishes and became leaders,” Kulick said. Not...

On paper, 300,000 square feet already seems like a pretty big number. But seeing it take shape really drives home just how large the new beer and soda distribution warehouse for the Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale Co. will be. Work began over the summer on the distribution center, off of...

Newlonsburg Presbyterian Church will fill with music today, thanks to a new digital Allen GX335 GeniSys series organ church officials have installed. The church’s music director and organist, Becky Gard of West Mifflin, will be joined by her brother, Patrick Gard, who is the music director and organist for St....

As the health system that would become Forbes Hospital began growing in the 1970s, following the merger of Wilkinsburg’s Columbia Hospital and Pittsburgh Hospital in the city’s East Liberty neighborhood, it had a dedicated hospice facility. “Over the years, that shifted to a floor at West Penn Hospital, and eventually...

As an independent artist, Andy Davis of Mt. Pleasant doesn’t have a major record label backing his work, and the money that goes into his music career comes mostly out of his own pockets. “To be able to do that, and continue to see things progress, is really unbelievable,” Davis...

The Emmanuel Reformed United Church of Christ in Murrysville often goes by the much shorter moniker of Hill’s Church. But where did the nickname originate? On Oct. 23, more than 100 people who can trace their lineage back to one of the men who donated the land for the church...