Patrick Varine stories, Page 77
McKeesport man charged with sexual contact with minor in Delmont
A McKeesport man turned himself into Delmont police on Monday, after a warrant was issued this month charging him with unlawful sexual contact with a minor. Police said Alfonso B. Washington Jr., 45, was arraigned on that charge and additional charges of indecent assault of a minor, corruption of minors...
Penn-Trafford students, staff have helped fund 75 ‘wishes’ through annual telethonVideo
Students in Steve Vinton’s video production class at Penn-Trafford High School have the four hours of their annual holiday telethon planned down to minute. Part of that plan includes throwing out the whole plan at a moment’s notice. “Sometimes, with live production, things can go wrong,” said senior Phelan Newman,...
Delmont officials want firefighters to attend borough safety meetings
Delmont officials will withhold an annual contribution to the borough’s volunteer fire department until firefighters begin attending borough safety committee meetings. Council voted to hold a $2,000 donation to the department at its meeting Tuesday. “We still have an issue with them even coming to our safety committee meetings,” Councilman...
Greensburg woman: ‘I’m a quilter who doesn’t like to quilt’Video
Despite describing herself as “a quilter who doesn’t like to quilt,” Ginnie Leiner of Greensburg has more than 196 quilts to her credit, having taught herself the craft in her late teens in the 1970s. “It’s a passion,” said Leiner. “An obsession, my husband would say.” More than a dozen...
Police: Teen in stable condition following Mt. Oliver shooting
A 15-year-old girl is in stable condition after police said she was shot in the stomach late Saturday night in Mt. Oliver. Emergency responders were called to the 100 block of Penn Avenue in Mt. Oliver just after 11:15 p.m., where they found the victim, who was taken to a...
Santa and the Grinch bring holiday cheer to North Huntingdon
It was smiles for Santa and a healthy mix of smiles and trepidation for the Grinch at a holiday pancake breakfast Sunday morning in North Huntingdon. Hartford Heights Volunteer Fire Department hosted the breakfast, which also included a face-painting station....
Pittsburgh region gets its first taste of winter weather
It wasn’t much snow — between a half-inch and an inch in most places — but it was enough to bring on hazardous road conditions across western Pennsylvania late Saturday night into Sunday morning. “It’s been a fairly uniform snow across the area,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Lee Hendricks....
Nature calendar honors Delmont man’s memory, will benefit borough library
Tom Washburn of Delmont loved the beauty of the outdoors. He traveled to Wyoming, Alaska and other points west, not just to indulge in his passion for fly fishing but also to take in the sights and sounds of the natural world. He captured much of that on his camera...
Worthington woman dead, 2 injured following McKees Rocks Bridge crash
A Worthington woman was killed and another person was in critical condition following a head-on crash Saturday evening on the McKees Rocks Bridge, officials said. The woman who perished in the wreck was 38-year-old Kendra Fennell, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. She was pronounced dead at the...
Jeannette-area Wreaths Across America chapter expands to honor 1,800 veteransVideo
When Halle Copeman arrived at the Wreaths Across America event last year, she was running behind; there was only one headstone left where she could place a wreath. “I walked up, and it was my best friend’s grandmother,” Copeman of North Huntingdon said. “I got chills.” Copeman returned this year...
Vehicle hits porch of one property, goes sideways into a neighbor’s garage in Derry Township
No one was injured when a vehicle struck the porch and sidewalk of one property, before hitting the garage of another late Friday night, fire officials said. Bradenville Fire Chief Mark Piantine said an unidentified driver left Route 217 near its intersection with Route 30 shortly before 11:15 a.m. Friday....
3 people hurt, 1 critically, after vehicle hits 2 homes in Marshall-Shadeland
Three people were taken to local hospitals, including one in critical, but stable, condition after a vehicle struck two homes early Saturday morning in Pittsburgh’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood, according to police. Police were called to the 2600 block of Woodland Avenue for a report that an SUV had struck the porch...
Murrysville area: Cornhole tournament, food-truck festival, more
Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Cornhole tournament to benefit FR softball A cornhole tournament in Delmont will benefit the Franklin Regional Lady Panthers softball team. It will take place at 6 p.m. Jan. 28 at St. John Baptist de La Salle’s banquet hall, 497 Athena Drive. Two-player...
‘The Pittsburgh Novel’ catalogs Western Pennsylvania fiction back to the late 1700s
As a young man in the early 1960s, Peter Oresick stopped at his local library and borrowed a copy of “Request for Sherwood Anderson,” a story collection by fellow Ford City native Frank Brookhouser. In the book, he recognized settings and surnames from his hometown – and that was the...
1 juvenile dead, 1 in critical condition following shootings in McKeesport
A 16-year-old is dead and another juvenile was in critical condition following a shooting Tuesday afternoon in McKeesport, according to Allegheny County Police detectives. First responders were called to the 3400 block of Versailles Avenue shortly after 3:30 p.m., county officials said. They found two juvenile shooting victims, both of...
Murrysville cooking instructor publishes cookbook
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....
Real-world events, from Mars rover to covid-19 to Artemis rocket, are shaping future scientists
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...
Murrysville holds public hearing for 2nd fracking well on Plum border
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...
Gettysburg Union general’s revolver, cane, brigade sword up for auction this weekend
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...
‘Monticello Lights’ fundraiser will benefit Project Bundle-Up, Delmont police this yearVideo
Clark Griswold’s got nothing on the residents of Monticello Drive. Between a dozen of them, they will invest more than 200 hours and use more than 500 strands of lights as they decorate their Delmont homes and yards for the annual Monticello Lights fundraiser. “We’ve added lights, repurposed some things...
Murrysville set to vote on 2023 budget with no tax hike
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...
‘City of Steel’ lets former workers chronicle the rise and fall of Pittsburgh steel industry
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 injuries in Hempfield garage fire
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....
New Castle native prepares to enter the cage at Bellator MMA event
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,...
Murrysville man helps resettle Ukrainian refugees with sponsor program
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...
