Patrick Varine stories, Page 76

Sunday’s snowy weather has emergency crews responding to a number of crashes across western Pennsylvania as winter makes a last gasp before spring. About an inch-and-a-half of snow that began accumulating late Saturday night caused state police to close the Walworth bridge carrying Lincoln Highway over Route 119 in Southwest...

Tony Bucciero was at a sporting clay fundraiser when his shooting foursome included the coach of a youth clay-shooting team. “He was telling me they had 80 kids, more than the football team, and that they had to cut it off at 80,” the Murrysville resident said. Over at the...

Pittsburgh Police detectives thanked the public for their help locating a missing man they said was endangered. Brendan Crowley, 35, was safely located as of 10:50 p.m. on Saturday night, according to police. He had last been seen in the city’s Oakland neighborhood on Tuesday, March 22....

Pittsburgh music producer Gregg Gillis made an international name for himself mashing things together — the Spencer Davis Group and Texas rappers Underground Kingz. Procol Harum and Lil’ Jon. Black Sabbath and Ludacris. On April 8, Gillis — better known as Girl Talk — will debut his latest effort, but...

When Becket Pottinger of Murrysville advanced to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard U14 Eastern Ski Championships this month, his father credited his training — both on and off the slopes. “He was beating kids by three and four seconds, and honestly a lot of that has to do with biking,”...

Submit news, briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Municipal cleanup week begins April 25 Murrysville Cleanup Week will take place April 25-30. Residents can receive permit passes to take items to the Valley Landfill, 6015 Pleasant Valley Road, from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the week, and from 7-11...

In 2020, Gateway band director James Hoeltje was in the middle of rehearsing a song from the musical “The Drowsy Chaperone,” called “Toledo Surprise,” when the cast got its own surprise. They were sent home, at first for two weeks and then for the remainder of the school year as...

If you get a call asking to donate to the families of two fallen Pennsylvania state troopers, the president of their association wants you to know: It’s fake. The Pennsylvania State Troopers Association warned residents statewide this week about groups pretending to raise money for the families of troopers Martin...

A 23-year-old Rankin man was arrested in connection with a fatal shooting Friday in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood. Akeyba Sanchez was charged with criminal homicide and denied bail, according to court documents. Zone 3 police officers on patrol near Brownsville Road and Bausman Street heard gunshots around 2:45 a.m. on Friday,...

In the final year of a statewide tick surveillance program that began in 2018, state researchers are seeing a troubling uptick in a form of Powassan virus carried by black-legged ticks, the same species that spreads Lyme disease. Deer tick virus was present in more than 80% of tick samples...

A Murrysville political organizer will challenge fellow Republican and state Rep. Jason Silvis in the May primary election for the newly shaped 55th District. Jill Cooper of Murrysville been active in local politics for more than a decade, working as part of the Murrysville Export Republican Committee and serving as...

Allegheny County officials on Friday released a feasibility study for a project connecting the Westmoreland Heritage Trail to the Great Allegheny Passage by way of the Turtle Creek Valley, which runs through Pittsburgh’s east suburbs. Several proposed routes could serve to link the Westmoreland Heritage Trail from its western terminus...

The competition generated by sibling rivalry means that following in your big brother’s or sister’s footsteps isn’t always appealing. But for Becket Pottinger of Murrysville, whose older siblings were both competitive skiers, it’s motivation. “Watching the way they ski, hearing the advice they’ve been given, plus going to almost all...

Gary Bardine isn’t into social-media commenter flame wars. The fourth-generation butcher at Bardine’s Country Smokehouse in Crabtree is into good, quality food — even if it generates a few negative comments on his Facebook page. “I brought some American wagyu in as a gift for my brother,” Bardine said. “He...

When the new maps for Pennsylvania’s legislative districts were released, state Rep. Bob Brooks was more than a little disappointed to discover his 54th District was being shifted across the state to the Norristown area. On Thursday, the Murrysville Republican announced he will not seek re-election. “Government has many forces...

Submit news, briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Easter pet photos session at Heritage Trail The Murrysville Recreation Department will host an Easter pet photos session from 10 a.m. to noon, April 9 at the Westmoreland Heritage Trail visitor center on Route 22. The event is free to attend, but...

Franklin Regional School Board members, administrators and parents on Wednesday continued their discussion about the district’s decision to pause the teaching of “Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi’s award-winning graphic novel, in the ninth grade honors English class. District officials said earlier this month that the school board’s curriculum committee wanted to make...

A Carroll Township man died of injuries suffered during a fire at his home early Thursday morning, according to emergency officials. Firefighters were called to Van Voorhis Lane in Carroll, across the Monongahela River from Monessen, around 5:15 a.m. Thursday morning. Crews from Carroll Township, Bentleyville, Monongahela, New Eagle and...

State police arrested a Perry man they said charged them armed with a pair of large knives on Tuesday. Troopers responded to a residence near Water and First streets in Perry Township, Fayette County, shortly after 1 a.m., for a report of man who had ingested rat poison and threatened...

Krystyna Lewczenko couldn’t be more proud of her nieces. Hailing from Wroclaw in the southwest of Poland, Lewczenko said they recently drove all the way to the Ukrainian border to help take in some of the women and children fleeing the country, as Russia’s invasion continues taking lives and displacing...

The time, thought and effort that English teachers and librarians put into their work is not random, says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director for the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “They have college degrees, they care very deeply about the work they do, and to suggest that the objections of...

During her time as director of a memory-care facility in Rhode Island, former teacher Doreen Putnam began to notice the children who were coming to visit residents whose cognition had been affected by diseases such as Alzheimer’s. “They really didn’t understand what was happening to their grandma or grandpa,” Putnam...