Patrick Varine stories, Page 79

On a school day in November, Allegheny Valley School District officials had 11 teachers off work and only one substitute to call in. The district was considering using some of its American Rescue Plan funding to help bring in additional substitutes, serving as yet another example of a district struggling...

A Maryland man who worked at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges after prosecutors say he delivered restricted data on the design of U.S. nuclear warships to an undercover federal agent he believed was representing a foreign government. Jonathan Toebbe, 43, of Annapolis, used...

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court this week denied the Murrysville Watch Committee’s appeal of its failed challenge to Murrysville’s fracking ordinance. Initially filed as a challenge to the Murrysville Zoning Hearing Board, which upheld the ordinance on unconventional gas well drilling, appeals at the county (2020) and now state level (2021) have...

David Stumpf of Monroeville had just placed his drink order Saturday night at the Brewery at Luciano’s when “the wall behind us just exploded.” After nearly two years of waiting out covid-19 restrictions, the new restaurant hadn’t even been open a week when a vehicle struck the building Saturday night....

An 18-year-old Pittsburgh resident was arrested and charged with robbing a car at gunpoint on Thursday. Mt. Oliver police responded to the 200 block of Rustic Avenue shortly before midnight on Thursday for a report of an armed robbery. They found an uninjured 30-year-old male victim at the scene, who...

Allegheny County Police homicide detectives are investigating the death of a Turtle Creek woman whose body was found on a hillside in Monroeville on Saturday afternoon. Shortly after noon, emergency officials were called to the 500 block of Rosecrest Drive in Monroeville, where they discovered the body of Christina Spicuzza,...

The second of two men wanted in connection with a Jan. 30 shooting in Greensburg was arrested Friday afternoon, according to police. Stevin “Twogunz” S. German, 27, of Allison, near Uniontown, was charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment after allegedly engaging in a shootout with Evan R. Curley, 24,...

A man is in stable condition after being stabbed in the early hours of Saturday morning in Plum, according to Allegheny County Police. First responders were called to the 600 block of Glengarry Court in The Highlands subdivision off of Old Leechburg Road, where they found a man with stab...

No one was injured following a fire Saturday morning near Monroeville’s Monroe Heights neighborhood. Multiple fire companies responded to the 2500 block of Haymaker Road, near the end of Kayser Drive, for a report of a working house fire shortly after 8 a.m. Firefighters at the scene said no one...

While no one was hurt, the loss of the Laurelville Retreat Center’s maintenance building in a large fire early Saturday morning took out the resort’s main base of operations, according to its director. Firefighters from multiple companies responded to Laurelville Retreat Center along Mennonite Camp Road in Mt. Pleasant for...

It’s tough to reconcile how I feel about “The Book of Boba Fett.” On one hand, it was a series full of great moments, bridging a lot of the current “Star Wars” properties in a way that feels really great, especially as it takes place in the dustier, grittier universe...

Export officials ended 2021 by tightening up the borough’s ordinances regarding rental properties, particularly instituting a $100 annual license that landlords must acquire along with mandatory inspections. Initially proposed as a $200 annual fee in the 2022 budget, council ultimately settled on a version that cut the fee price in...

Delmont officials are moving ahead with multiple infrastructure-related projects, including progress on two state consent orders aimed at addressing storm water and sewage issues in the borough. As part of the consent order Delmont entered into along with the Franklin Township Municipal Sanitary Authority and its client communities, public works...

Submit news, briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. “Egg My Yard” registration opens Feb. 21 Murrysville residents seeking to have their yards “egged” this Easter by the recreation department can begin signing up on Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. Department members will hide candy-filled plastic eggs for a “family-sized” egg...

Chris Bigley moved to Delmont eight years ago for its small-town charm and historical significance. As a resident, he’s attended events like the Apple’n Arts Festival and the Delmont Pilgrimage with his family, and wanted an opportunity to give back. He now has that chance for at least the next...

Delmont Mayor Alyce Urban is empowered to break a tie vote, if one should come up at a council meeting. But in six years, she hasn’t been called on to do so. Tuesday night, she had to do it twice in order to fill the seat vacated by her husband,...

Pittsburgh police continue to investigate a fatal shooting Tuesday night in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of East Hills. Zone 5 officers responded to the 2200 block of Wilner Drive around 7 p.m. for a report of a man who’d been shot. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as...

Police and EMS were on the scene of a multi-car crash on Route 30 just south of Adamsburg on Tuesday night. The eastbound lanes of Route 30 reopened shortly after 11 p.m., following multiple crashes an hour earlier in the area where the highway is carried over Edna Road in...

The bridge carrying traffic from Rosslyn Road onto the inbound side of the Parkway West remains closed a little less than a week after a truck crashed into its support structure on Feb. 2. The crash happened about a mile west of Exit 65 on Interstate 376. The bridge on-ramp...

The bulk of Franklin Regional School District’s capital plan for the coming school year is demolishing the former Heritage Elementary School, although the cost has gone up substantially after asbestos was discovered in the building. A little less than half of the $2.25 million capital budget for the 2022-23 school...

At the Goodwill store in the Hollywood Square shopping plaza just off Route 22 in Salem, things have been busy the past few months. “We have way more business here than we did in the Murrysville location,” said assistant manager Jenny Desport. Part of it, she said, is due to...

While its formal dedication will take place this summer, the Export train station will be opening its doors to the public on the weekends. Built to replicate the borough’s former station, the building will house local history, with the Export Historical Society creating rotating displays and holding its monthly meetings...

War is coming to Pittsburgh this summer. But it’s not the kind with tanks and guns — it’s the kind with guitars and drums. Legendary funk-soul band War will headline the 2022 Western Pennsylvania Juneteenth Homecoming Celebration, announced this week for June 17-19. And while last year’s Juneteenth celebration at...

Getting across Route 66 remains the key challenge to its completion, but the plan this year is to get the Westmoreland Heritage Trail about 700 feet closer to Delmont. Export council this week gave the go-ahead for trail officials to move forward with extending the western half of the trail...