Laurels & lances: Trees, water & a grenade
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Laurel: To a church donation. Usually, when it comes to giving, it is people tithing to their house of worship which then in turn helps others. But one local parish is developing a habit of contributing to the community in a different way.
Guardian Angels Catholic Parish in Springdale will be providing the Christmas tree in Pittsburgh at the City-County Building. It is the third year in a row for the parish to donate the Pittsburgh Christmas tree. Of the last six trees, four grew on the grounds of Guardian Angels.
The tree moves Saturday and will be erected in time for the Nov. 23 Light-Up Night event, making Springdale an integral part of one of Pittsburgh’s — and Allegheny County’s — biggest annual events.
Lance: To low levels. Just like last year, state drought conditions are creating problems with local water.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone, given that levels are so low they are exposing the 206-year-old Great Crossings Bridge between Somerset and Fayette counties. That bridge has been under water since the Youghiogheny River Lake was created by a deliberate flood in 1943, making only periodic appearances when the late levels dipped.
The levels aren’t that low at the Beaver Run Reservoir, but they are low enough for the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County to ask customers to voluntarily conserve water.
Drought conditions that began in 2023 started with voluntary conservation but worsened to reach mandatory orders. The 100 billion gallon reservoir did not refill enough to lift conservation efforts until March.
Lance: To a ridiculous attempt. The number of guns making their way into airports only to be caught by Transportation Safety Administration officers is ludicrous. Pittsburgh International Airport has seen 37 weapons caught at checkpoints so far in 2024 — just shy of the record 44 from 2023 with six weeks to go in the year.
But on Tuesday, a West Virginia man upped the ante when he was caught with a live flash-bang grenade in his bag.
Zachary Velling, 25, of Morgantown was arrested and charged with carrying prohibitive offensive weapons and attempting to carry explosives on a plane, according to Allegheny County Police.
Authorities really couldn’t be clearer about not allowing weapons on a plane. Why do people keep testing the idea?