May 14, 2021 |
By Siana Emery | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Eleven candidates — including three incumbents — are seeking four positions on the McKeesport Area School Board during next week’s primary.
School Director Ivan Hampton is not seeking re-election.
The primary election is Tuesday, May 18, and gives voters who are registered as either Democrats or Republicans the chance to choose their party’s candidates for the November general election.
Seven candidates are cross-filed as both Republicans and Democrats, while four candidates are running strictly as Democrats.
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May 13, 2021 |
By Vickie Babyak | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Friends and family of Jamie Brewster-Filotei gather around a bench at Jamie Brewster-Filotei Memorial Field on Wednesday. The bench was donated by members of the staff of state Sen. Jim Brewster, shown at right, with his wife, Linda, at left. (Tube City Almanac photo by Vickie Babyak.)
A large crowd of friends, family members and former students gathered Wednesday evening to celebrate the life of Jamie Brewster-Filotei, former McKeesport Area school teacher and vice president of city council.
During a ceremony in Renziehausen Park, a baseball and softball field was renamed for Brewster-Filotei, who died May 12, 2020 of non-small cell lung carcinoma.
The event began with an invocation by the Rev. William B. Meekins Jr., senior pastor of the McKeesport Charge of the United Methodist Church, which Brewster-Filotei attended.
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May 13, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Duquesne News
(Image via Google maps)
More than a dozen fire companies from two counties spent several hours Wednesday night battling a blaze at a Duquesne building that forced six people out of their apartments.
The Allegheny County fire marshal’s office is investigating the source and cause of a fire that destroyed the second floor of the building at 414 Grant St. and threatened a neighboring church.
No injuries were reported, but Duquesne fire Chief Frank Cobb said some fire hoses and a ladder were damaged when part of a second-story porch collapsed.
There were two apartments on the second floor of the building. The first floor at one time housed Capristo’s Barber Shop but it was vacant and was being remodeled, Cobb said.
The American Red Cross is helping the victims, Cobb said, and a GoFundMe has been set up for one of the displaced families.
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May 13, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
North Versailles Public Library is the latest institution to join Inquire Within, a partnership between local libraries and Pittsburgh’s WQED-TV to share resources from the nation’s public broadcasting service.
The TV station and Gateway Health Plan will welcome North Versailles Twp. to the “Inquire Within” program with a goodie bag distribution at the library from 10 a.m. to 12 noon Saturday (May 22), a spokesman said.
George Hazimanolis, the station’s senior director of corporate communications, said Inquire Within provides PBS educational programming content to local libraries to enable them to create family-friendly events and programming for children and parents.
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May 13, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Raised beds, such as these ones growing greens, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and strawberries, are one way to help keep lead contamination out of fruits and vegetables. (Jennifer Feuchter photo via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)
Fruit and vegetable gardeners in McKeesport who are concerned about possible lead contamination in their soil will be able to get a free test done May 22.
During the event, organizers also will provide free information to gardeners about how to keep lead contamination out of their vegetable patches this spring and summer. Advance registration is required at bit.ly/McKeesportLeadTesting.
The event is being organized by “Get The Lead Out, Pittsburgh” in cooperation with the Allegheny County Conservation District and Women for a Healthy Environment.
A sampling of home gardens in McKeesport in December 2020 concluded that 83 percent had levels of lead exceeding safe standards. The soil samples were tested by Penn State University.
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May 12, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
(Vintage postcard of Kennywood’s Kiddieland, circa 1940. Tube City Online collection)
Preservation Pittsburgh’s Landmark Lectures series will examine the history of Kennywood Park at 6:30 p.m. May 20.
A spokesperson said the free virtual lecture on Kennywood Park will be presented by Pittsburgh natives and former Kennywood employees Brenton Asti and William Prince, who will lead the presentation that connects classic amusement parks with historic preservation opportunities.
Their lecture will discuss the park’s history, architecture, its significance in the amusement industry and how recent ride removals have sparked preservation concerns and interests.
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May 11, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Tube City Almanac photo)
City officials, friends and family will gather Wednesday evening (May 12) to dedicate an athletic field at Renziehausen Park to former McKeesport Councilwoman Jamie Brewster-Filotei.
The dedication at 6 p.m. will take place on the one year anniversary of Brewster-Filotei’s death at age 46 after a nearly three-year battle with non-small cell lung carcinoma.
“Obviously we know what Jamie meant to this community, we know her extreme commitment to our youth, and we know her as an athlete as well, whether it was coaching or playing,” Mayor Michael Cherepko told city council last week.
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May 09, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
The federation of the state’s largest labor unions has joined local elected officials in questioning a decision by U.S. Steel to cancel more than $1.5 billion in upgrades to its three Mon Valley facilities.
In a joint letter to U.S. Steel’s chief executive officer, leaders of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO called themselves “shocked, disappointed and bewildered” by the corporation’s April 30 announcement that it will not carry through with its plans to construct an “endless caster” at Edgar Thomson Plant as well as a co-generation energy facility at Clairton Plant.
“Over the years we have diligently and cooperatively worked with your government affairs team and the Pennsylvania Steel Alliance to encourage new manufacturing in the Commonwealth and beyond,” wrote Rick Bloomingdale, president of the state AFL-CIO, and Frank Snyder, secretary-treasurer, in the letter made public May 6.
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May 09, 2021 |
By Vickie Babyak | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Brandy Daye, assistant principal of Twin Rivers Elementary School, discusses summer employment opportunities for the high school students during "The Voices of Change" meeting. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
A growing group of McKeesport Area High School students are learning about their cultural differences — and finding out that more unites them than separates them.
“The Voices of Change” includes students and faculty facilitators, who are focused on discipline, diversity and academics, said the organizers. Since their first meeting in March, which attracted about a dozen students, the group has continued to expand.
In the past few weeks, the group’s popularity has grown and membership continues to increase for the upcoming new school year.
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May 09, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements
Thomas Bell, born Adalbert Thomas Belejcak in Braddock, worked in Carnegie Steel’s Edgar Thomson Works and at various industrial jobs before becoming a full-time writer. He died of cancer in 1961. (Images courtesy Carnegie Mellon University Libraries)
An upcoming program at McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center will discuss a landmark novel set in Braddock in the period between the Civil War and World War II.
Dr. Kirsten Paine, a visiting lecturer for the English Department of the University of Pittsburgh, will discuss “Out of This Furnace” by Thomas Bell during an online presentation at 7 p.m. May 19. The program is free but pre-registration is required.
Bell’s novel, first published in 1941, examines the struggles of three generations of Eastern European immigrants who came to the Mon Valley to work in the local steel mills. Bell, who was born in Braddock in 1903 to immigrant parents from Slovakia, himself worked in the mill beginning at the age of 15 as an apprentice electrician.
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