Foster Road in White Oak is scheduled to close today for repairs, weather permitting, a district spokesman for the state Department of Transportation announced. The closure is expected to last through Dec. 24.
Crews need to repair damage caused by a slide on Foster Road between the two intersections with Carmella Drive, a PennDOT spokesman said.
The posted detour includes State Street, Lincoln Way and Crooked Run Road.
Western Pennsylvania communities are facing many of the same challenges today as they did decades ago — and if leaders don’t focus on the root causes of those problems, the challenges will persist for generations into the future.
That was the message of speakers participating in a forum Thursday organized by Penn State Greater Allegheny.
“We tend to place the blame on the people, instead of on the problem, or the institutions or policies that created those policies,” said Dannai Wilson, program manager of maternal and child health with the Allegheny County Health Department. “It’s not a people’s issue. It’s a systemic issue.”
Wilson was one of four participants in the forum that discussed the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of racial inequities for women of color as part of the McKeesport campus’s annual “Crossing Bridges Summit.”
North Versailles Twp. commissioners have tentatively approved a 2021 budget with no tax increase.
At its November meeting, the board of commissioners adopted a $8.06 million spending plan, which includes $7.56 million in the general fund, $304,603 in the liquid fuels fund and $205,010 in the fire tax fund.
Commissioners also fixed the property tax rate for 2021 at the current 7.25 mills.
The budget will be on display in the manager’s office in the township building, 1401 Greensburg Pike, during regular business hours until the next regular meeting on Dec. 17, when commissioners will vote to officially adopt the budget.
North Versailles Twp. officials are going to try to reduce wear-and-tear on several roads by establishing weight limits.
At their November meeting, commissioners approved an ordinance establishing limits on 12 township roads after officials determined they were being damaged due to the excessive weight of large vehicles traveling on them.
Vehicles exempted from the weight limits include emergency vehicles, school buses, vehicles making local deliveries or pick-ups and garbage trucks.
McKeesport officials have posted a video of this year’s Festival of Trees in Renziehausen Park and now are encouraging residents to submit photos of their own holiday trees to be part of a virtual festival.
A slimmed-down Festival of Trees—the 35th annual event—concluded on Monday evening at Jacob Woll Pavilion. Past events have included 75 to 90 hand-decorated Christmas trees representing various Mon Valley groups, churches and organizations.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event had only about 40 trees, and many of the usual amenities—including refreshments and hay rides through the park—were canceled.
An online forum Thursday afternoon will discuss how income inequality leads to poor health for Black women.
“Socioeconomic and Environmental Perspectives on Black Women’s Health” will be moderated by Johnathan White, history lecturer at Penn State Greater Allegheny campus in McKeesport. The event begins at 3 p.m. and will be streamed live on Penn State’s website at watch.psu.edu/crossingbridges.
The panel discussion is the second in this year’s series of Crossing Bridges Summit events. The first, in October, examined Black women’s health from a medical perspective.
Jacqueline Edmondson, Greater Allegheny chancellor and chief executive officer, said the Crossing Bridges Summit committee selected this year’s theme after reading the 2019 report “Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Race and Gender.”
In March, we had to ask the most of our residents: We asked them to stay home.
We asked them to forego their financial security, close businesses and have faith in the government to do the right thing.
“We’ve got your backs,” we said. “Programs will be available to you if you find yourself unemployed as a result of COVID-19.”
And while programs were made available through the federal CARES Act, so many residents and small business owners in my district alone have gone without, falling through the cracks created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What would have been on your Christmas or Hanukkah gift list in 1978?
This week 42 years ago, McKeesport-based G.C. Murphy Co. was offering a Radio Flyer wagon for $7.77, a Polaroid “One-Step” Instant Camera for $29.94, and boys’ jeans — in Murphy’s own “Big Murph” brand name — for $5.97.
The five-and-10 chain had more than 500 stores that year, including locations at 315 Fifth Ave. in Downtown, Olympia Shopping Center in Versailles, 559 Miller Ave. in Clairton, 108 South Second St. in Elizabeth and 129-131 East Main St. in West Newton.
More than 1,000 people worked at Murphy’s corporate headquarters, or “home office” on Fifth Avenue—part of the 500 block now targeted for demolition and redevelopment—and hundreds more were employed at Murphy’s giant distribution center, which stretched from 28th Avenue to 35th Avenue in Christy Park.
• Arrest records published here were provided by the McKeesport Police Department. • Not all arrest records are published. • An arrest does not mean the person identified has been convicted of a crime. • All people arrested are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The McKeesport police annual fund drive is underway.
A spokesman said the donations are used to purchase non-budgeted items and equipment used by officers while serving McKeesport and Dravosburg, which is patrolled by city police under a contract with the borough.
Donations are strictly voluntary, a spokesman said.
“The items purchased from these donations are used on a daily basis by our police department,” he said. “Several of these items would not have been purchased if it were not for the generosity of the local businesses and private citizens of both McKeesport and Dravosburg.”
