December 06, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, Crime and Police News
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.”
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December 04, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
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McKeesport’s 2021 budget cuts more than a half-million dollars in spending and keeps tax rates the same.
“We will continue to try to shrink this budget,” Mayor Michael Cherepko told city council at its December meeting. “I’m looking next year to try to get below $22 million, to $21 million.”
On Wednesday, city council, with six members participating via telephone due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unanimously approved the $22.1 million spending plan, which holds taxes at 8.26 mills on structures and 20.5 mills on land.
McKeesport is one of three cities in Allegheny County that has separate millage rates on land and buildings. Each “mill” represents $1 in taxes for every $1,000 of assessed value.
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December 04, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
The ramp from the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge to East Fifth Avenue, northbound, will remain closed through Dec. 11, the state Department of Transportation has announced.
A spokesman for PennDOT District 11 said the extended closure is necessary so that crews from Michael Facchiano Contracting of Mt. Lebanon can complete their work repairing joints and concrete.
The original schedule had projected the ramp could re-open last week.
The posted detour uses Bowman Avenue, East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard and Route 30 back to Fifth Avenue in East McKeesport.
December 01, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Politics & Elections
A federal judge in Pittsburgh has denied a request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order that would block state officials from accepting some of Allegheny County’s election results.
At issue are 2,349 disputed absentee and mail-in ballots that will likely decide the 45th Senatorial District race between State Sen. Jim Brewster and his challenger, Nicole Ziccarelli.
The ballots in question were signed, but not dated, by voters.
In her request last week, Ziccarelli, Republican of Lower Burrell, asked U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan to prohibit state officials from accepting Allegheny County’s certified results, which include those ballots.
Brewster, a McKeesport Democrat, holds a 73-vote lead out of more than 132,000 votes cast.
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December 01, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements
McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center has canceled its planned church tour and cookie walk due to the increased number of COVID-19 cases.
A spokesperson said the event, planned for Dec. 12, was scrapped after the Allegheny County Health Department advised residents to stay at home and avoid unnecessary social activities and travel.
The heritage center also will not be participating in this week’s Festival of Trees.
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December 01, 2020 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
East Allegheny School District was set to begin a new hybrid learning model on Dec. 7, but a surge in Covid-19 cases in Allegheny County and a new order from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, put that plan on hold.
At a special meeting held Nov. 23, the board voted to go completely remote until possibly Jan. 19.
The district was operating within a scaffolded learning model that allowed students with individualized education plans to attend classes in-person.
Allegheny is one of the counties in the state now considered an area of substantial transmission. The recent order from the Pennsylvania Department of Health recommends schools in those counties either go completely remote or commit to even stricter in-person mask guidelines.
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December 01, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Duquesne News
Mele & Mele & Sons crews pave an unidentified road following a pipeline construction project. The company is relocating to Duquesne and adding 20 new jobs. (Submitted photo courtesy Mele & Mele & Sons Inc.)
A Rankin-based construction company that has worked on projects at Allegheny County Airport and other prominent Pittsburgh-area locations is relocating to Duquesne’s industrial park.
Mele & Mele & Sons, Inc., has purchased a 14-acre parcel in the City Center of Duquesne for construction of a 16,000-square-foot office building and a 22,000-square-foot maintenance facility.
The firm will add 20 new jobs after relocating, a spokeswoman said.
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November 30, 2020 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Tube City Almanac file photo)
McKeesport’s Festival of Trees is coming together at the Jacob Woll Pavilion in Renziehausen Park—though smaller than in previous years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual event, a staple of the holiday season for the past 35 years, is scheduled to open to the public from 2 to 8 p.m. daily Dec. 3 through 7.
“We will do our best to continue this tradition—boosting our community’s morale and holiday spirit while respecting COVID-related guidelines and recommendations,” McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko says.
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November 26, 2020 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
Ma's Pantry volunteers Louise Beswick, Catie Sickler and Edward Sites, president, helped distribute the boxes of non-perishable food items part of the East Allegheny Gobble Giveaway. (Kristen Keleschenyi photo for Tube City Almanac)
East Allegheny School District collaborated with numerous community organizations to provide food, flu shots, clothing and school supplies to hundreds of local families at a Gobble Giving event held at the junior-senior high school on Monday.
Organizations on hand included the Allegheny County Health Department, Communities in Schools, Ma’s Pantry, Duquesne University School of Pharmacy, Turtle Creek Community Services, Auberle, and Nutrition Inc. Seventy percent of students that attend East Allegheny schools qualify for free or reduced lunches.
“There is a high level of food insecurity in the Mon Valley,” says Melanie Readal, public health administrator for the Allegheny County Health Department, “that's why a lot of times when we do events where we do work with our community partners and municipalities that we encourage food distribution just to make sure that we're decreasing the stigma around food insecurity.”
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November 26, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko is hopeful that an “amicable solution” can be reached that prevents the city’s 75-year-old LaRosa Boys & Girls Club from closing.
Meanwhile, state corporation records hint that a new organization is being formed to help sustain the club.
On his Facebook page, Cherepko said that on Tuesday, along with State Sen. Jim Brewster and State Rep. Austin Davis, he had a video conference call with leaders of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania to discuss the future of the LaRosa Boys & Girls Club on Ravine Street.
“I am very pleased with the meeting and wholeheartedly believe we will be able to reach an amicable solution that will allow us to serve our community in one way or another at the club’s current location,” Cherepko said.
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