May 31, 2020 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School Board held a moment of silence at the start of the May 27 meeting to honor retired educators Jamie Brewster-Filotei and Robert J. Pupich Jr.
Brewster-Filotei, 46, was a teacher in the MASD for more than 20 years. Pupich, 63, was a coach and teacher in MASD and the Thomas Jefferson School District.
Both succumbed to illness and passed in recent weeks.
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May 29, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements, Duquesne News, McKeesport and Region News, North Versailles Twp. News
Roman Catholic churches in Duquesne and Wilmerding are among more than 60 in Western Pennsylvania that will merge into new parishes on July 1, Bishop David Zubik announced this week.
The mergers, which affect every part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, will create 15 new parishes, the diocese said in a press release.
They are among the latest changes that began in 2015 under the program the diocese calls “On Mission for The Church Alive.”
In a letter to parishioners released Wednesday, Zubik said the parishes to be merged had already been working closely together since October 2018 in regional church groupings to share clergy and resources.
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May 29, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements
A vigil will be held Saturday in Pittsburgh for the McKeesport woman who died after falling from the ninth floor of Midtown Towers, Downtown.
Central Outreach Wellness Center, a medical practice which specializes in treating members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, will host the vigil for Aaliyah Johnson, 32, beginning at 2 p.m. at its location on Pittsburgh’s North Side, 127 Anderson St.
Johnson was found dead Tuesday morning along the 500 block of Sinclair Street. County homicide detectives are investigating her death and said they believe she fell or jumped from her apartment window.
Foul play is not suspected, police said this week, but the cause and manner of Johnson’s death remain under investigation.
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May 29, 2020 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
As school districts grapple with restrictions on large gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting cancelations or postponements of graduations, senior celebration days and the prom, many districts have planned alternative events to comply with social-distance requirements.
In the McKeesport Area School District, officials began looking at creative ways to connect with students, according to Mark Holtzman Jr., district superintendent.
One of the options they considered is a “senior procession,” to be held on June 3, the day seniors would have graduated. Holtzman announced the senior procession at the board’s meeting on Wednesday.
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May 29, 2020 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School Board has approved a $71.2 million preliminary budget that includes a 0.80-mill property tax increase.
At Wednesday’s meeting, school directors voted 6-2 to approve the preliminary spending plan for the 2020-21 fiscal year. School board members James Brown and David Donato voted against the budget.
The tax increase will take the district's millage from 20.16 mills to 20.96 mills and represents a $40 increase on a house assessed at $50,000. It will be the third year in a row that MASD has raised its property tax rate. School property taxes increased 2.11 mills in 2018 and increased 0.68 mills in 2019.
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May 28, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Politics & Elections
(Tube City Almanac photo)
Nearly 87,000 voters in Allegheny County have already returned their absentee ballots in advance of the June 2 primary election, a spokeswoman said this week.
Tuesday was the last day for voters to request a mail-in ballot for the primary, where voters in the Republican and Democratic parties will be selecting their nominees for President, representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and in many districts, the Pennsylvania Senate.
State and county officials have been encouraging voters to cast absentee ballots when possible because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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May 28, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
Judith Sutton presents a history lesson to a group of young visitors at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. (Photo courtesy Sen. John Heinz History Center)
McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center will kick off its summer speaker series with a discussion of how women fought — and won — the right to vote in 1920.
Judith Sutton will present “Suffrage: The Road to the Vote for American Women” at 7 p.m. June 18. The event will be free and Sutton’s presentation also will be streamed live on Facebook, and available on Zoom.
Advance registration is required and will open during the first week of June, a spokesperson said.
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May 28, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements
Five sites in the Mon Valley have begun offering free tests for COVID-19, including clinics in McKeesport, Braddock and Homestead.
Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said the tests are being offered at no charge, and patients do not need a doctor’s referral. Anyone experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 should get tested.
Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fever, chills, muscle pain, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. Other less common symptoms include nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
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May 27, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A McKeesport man is being held without bail in the Allegheny County Jail in connection with a stabbing at a Downtown apartment building.
Jeffrey S. Leisten, 52, is charged by county police with homicide, burglary and robbery in the death of Gordon Danielson Jr., 57, at McKeesport Downtown Housing, 523 Sinclair St.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 10 before Allegheny County Judge Kim Berkeley Clark.
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May 27, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A city woman died after falling or jumping from a ninth-story window at the Midtown Towers apartments, Allegheny County police said.
Aaliyah Johnson, 32, was pronounced dead at the scene in the 500 block of Sinclair Street at around 8:21 a.m. Tuesday, said county police Lt. Venerando Costa.
A passerby discovered Johnson’s body on the sidewalk and called McKeesport police.
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