July 10, 2018 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Conflict-of-Interest Note: The writer of this article has a conflict of interest. See editor's note.
(Photo by Nyttend via Wikimedia Commons)
McKeesport will partner with a Pittsburgh-based preservation society to determine whether the city's landmark Penn-McKee Hotel can be saved and reused for other purposes.
At Wednesday's meeting, council by 7-0 vote approved an agreement with the Young Preservationists Association to conduct an environmental assessment of the long-vacant hotel as well as an architectural and feasibility study.
Matthew Craig, executive director of the YPA, said the study will consider historic reuse of the entire block of Fifth Avenue between Strawberry and Mulberry alleys, which includes a former Moose lodge and several pre-Civil War houses.
YPA intends to work closely with city officials and volunteers throughout the process, Craig told council.
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July 10, 2018 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
The Wilmerding YMCA was expanded in 2006 at a cost of $750,000. The renovations, designed by Penner & Associates architects, added a two-story wellness center and family locker room and reconfigured the existing lobby and administrative area. (Photo copyright Penner & Associates.)
The YMCA in Wilmerding will close Aug. 31, a spokeswoman for the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh has announced.
The closure of the facility on Ice Plant Hill Road is related to the Greater Pittsburgh Y's reorganization in federal bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy proceedings began May 8.
More than 1,100 Y members will be affected, along with six full-time employees and 70 part-time employees.
The Wilmerding Y was the last remaining facility in the Mon-Yough area, absorbing memberships of people who had belonged to the McKeesport YMCA. Closing the facility will save the Greater Pittsburgh Y about $163,000 per year.
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July 09, 2018 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A man who was found dead Sunday morning alongside a highway in the Dixon Hollow area of North Versailles Twp. was likely shot inside a car, police said.
The victim was identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office as Zack Moore, 28, no address given. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Allegheny County police Lt. Andrew Schurman said township police and paramedics were dispatched to East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard just after 5:30 a.m. Sunday after a 9-1-1 caller reported that a man was lying on the road near Dixon Avenue.
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July 09, 2018 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
* Correction appended. Rev. Truss' name was misspelled. We apologize for the error.
Rev. Earlene Coleman of Bethlehem Baptist Church charges up participants prior to a prayer walk Friday in Downtown McKeesport. (Vickie Babyak photo special to Tube City Almanac.)
Participants in a prayer walk through Downtown McKeesport on Friday carried with them a message of hope.
"We will not see our city destroyed," said the Rev. Earlene Coleman, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, before about 80 walkers set off from the McKees Point Marina. "We will not see McKeesport die, but it will live again."
The event was organized by the McKeesport Unit of the NAACP. Brenda Sawyer, unit president, said the walk --- up Fifth Avenue to UPMC McKeesport hospital, then back down Lysle Boulevard to the marina --- was "beautiful."
Participants included members of McKeesport city council and McKeesport Area school board, McKeesport Area School Superintendent Mark Holtzman Jr., state Rep. Austin Davis and state Sen. Jim Brewster.
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July 05, 2018 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
CORRECTION: This article had Brenda Sawyer's last name wrong. I apologize for the error. -JT
Members of the McKeesport unit of the NAACP will hold a prayer walk through Downtown on Friday evening to highlight the need for peace and an end to violence.
Brenda Sawyer, unit president, said all faiths and races are welcome to participate in the walk, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the McKees Point Marina and continue up Fifth Avenue to McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, then return.
"I'm emphasizing this is a prayer walk and not a protest of any kind," Sawyer said. It's the first prayer walk organized by the McKeesport NAACP in recent memory, she said.
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July 04, 2018 |
By Lynne Glover | Posted in: Crime and Police News, McKeesport and Region News
Engraved on Kimmie Krimm’s marker: “When you look up into the evening sky and see the brightest star shining down on earth, pause for a moment and remember that star’s name is Kimberlie Rose Krimm.” (Lynne Glover photo, special to Tube City Almanac)
Having recently been released from the hospital, Jeanie Krimm said it was simply too much for her to plan a 20-year anniversary remembrance for her daughter, Kimberlie Rose Krimm.
Fourteen-year-old Kimberlie Krimm's body was found 20 years ago this week, on July 6, 1998, on a hillside at McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery by a utility worker.
“People talk about pain,” said Jeanie Krimm, two decades after her daughter’s death. “They don’t know pain until they lose a child. I’ll never be the same. Never.”
Part of the suffering is not really knowing what happened to Kimberlie, and how and why she died. The cause and manner of Kimmie’s death were ruled “undetermined” by the Allegheny County Coroner's Office—and it was never officially declared a homicide.
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July 04, 2018 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
(Courtesy Dr. Zoot and Zoot Island)
A band that describes itself as "a perfect mix of Caribbean, Latin, reggae and American Top 40" will rock Renziehausen Park before what organizers hope will be a perfect mix of fireworks for Independence Day.
Zoot Island --- made up of members of the Dr. Zoot swing band --- will take the stage at the Lions Bandshell at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The concert is sponsored by the McKeesport Lions Club, the Allegheny Regional Asset District, the city of McKeesport and Mayor Michael Cherepko. Admission is free but attendees should bring a blanket or chair to sit on.
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July 03, 2018 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, White Oak News
(Photo courtesy St. Angela Merici Church via Facebook)
St. Angela Merici Church, 1640 Fawcett Ave., White Oak, will hold its Family Festival from 6 to 10 p.m. July 12, 13 and 14, a spokeswoman said.
Nightly attractions will include "a huge flea market," basket raffle, Kids’ Kingdom, card games, midway games, bake sale and bingo.
The main food booth will include stuffed cabbage, haluski, pierogies, grilled foods and an Italian booth with homemade pizza and hot sausage. Kids’ favorites and walking tacos also will be available.
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July 03, 2018 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Work began this week on renovations to the first of five pavilions at Renziehausen Park.
And, in a separate development, McKeesport officials have given a contractor orders to proceed with construction of a new amphitheater at Gergely Park on the Youghiogheny River waterfront.
General contractor on the $184,750 project to repair four pavilions at Renzie is Plavchak Construction Co. of Jefferson Hills. The work will include new roofs, signage, benches and other updates to four pavilions.
McKeesport officials had hoped the renovations would be completed in the spring. But A.J. Tedesco, city community development director, told The Almanac the city decided to plan the work around pavilion rentals to minimize inconvenience to park visitors.
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June 29, 2018 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements
Emergency repairs to Route 30 in East Pittsburgh cost more than $6.5 million and required the movement of 39,000 cubic yards --- about 55,000 tons --- of crushed concrete.
But the reopening of the highway on Wednesday afternoon -- a little more than two months after it was closed abruptly --- is "excellent news for area residents," state Sen. Jim Brewster said.
The highway, which carries 21,000 vehicles per day, had been closed between the George Westinghouse Bridge and Electric Avenue since April 7, when a landslide caused the highway to collapse and damaged a house and an apartment building below.
Motorists from the Mon-Yough area and Westmoreland County were forced to use a lengthy detour over surface streets in North Braddock, East Pittsburgh and North Versailles Twp.
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