April 09, 2024 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
Duquesne City Council unanimously approved the disposal of three blighted properties through the Allegheny County Vacant Property Recovery Program.
At April’s meeting, council approved a resolution authorizing the acquisition and subsequent disposition of 122 Overland Ave. to Jamie Gatewood of Duquesne.
County tax records indicate that the property includes a one-story 768 square foot home listed in “Grade D” condition. According to an online obituary, the previous owner passed away in 2017.
Two vacant parcels of land on Viola Street only identified by lot and block numbers were obtained by Mustard Seeds and Soil Properties of Glassport. According to its website, the company does property flips and other services.
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April 05, 2024 |
By Vickie Babyak | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
High school teacher Gerald McGrew, from Dravosburg, poses with his student, Nie’Zhay Jefferson, 16 years old, from McKeesport, as he explains the importance of using solar eclipse glasses while looking at the sun. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
On Monday, millions of people will observe a historic total solar eclipse as the moon’s shadow sweeps across the United States.
Mon Valley communities will begin to see the moon’s shadow slowly creep across the sun around 2 p.m. Between 3:15 to 3:20 p.m., viewers will see 97 percent “totality” with some darkness in the sky, and at approximately 4:30 p.m., phases of the eclipse will conclude.
Scientists say this year’s eclipse will be different from the 2017 solar eclipse.
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April 05, 2024 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Adam Reinherz photo)
McKeesport Area School District will vote to adopt a preliminary budget for 2024-25 during next week’s school board meeting. Business manager Joseph Villella presented the report at the district’s open agenda meeting Thursday.
MASD’s budget for the 2024-25 is projected to be $82.8 million, a $3.28 million decrease from the 2023-24 budget.
Total revenue is expected to be $82.47 million, a decrease of $9.9 million from the 2023-24 budget.
Revenue decline is due to the end of funding from the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Relief program, Villella said.
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April 04, 2024 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
Duquesne City Council will ask residents to serve on a committee that will study the adoption of a home-rule charter.
By a 4-1 vote, with Councilman Aaron Adams dissenting, council voted to approve a referendum to create a seven-member Government Study Commission.
Duquesne is currently governed by the state’s third-class city code, which can only be changed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. A home-rule charter would give the city more flexibility to adopt new ordinances, codes and bylaws.
Braddock, McKeesport and Monroeville are among the local home-rule communities in our area. Braddock created its government study commisison in 2018 and approved its home-rule charter in 2019.
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April 04, 2024 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Editor’s Note: The writer of this story sits on the board of directors of the McKees Point Development Group, a non-profit corporation that has been coordinating demolition and remediation efforts in the Downtown area. This is a conflict of interest. See previous explanations of this issue.
(Tube City Almanac file photo)
The fate of the long-vacant Penn-McKee Hotel could become clearer after next month’s city council meeting.
McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said the city has been meeting with potential developers and they will present proposals for the site of the historic — but severely deteriorated — building near the McKees’ Point Marina and the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail.
In 2022, engineers concluded that much of the hotel was probably too far gone to save.
“We are looking for things that can make us a destination point,” Cherepko told council Wednesday. “There are all kinds of things we can capitalize on, and we are most certainly are doing everything we can to make sure we don’t miss the boat.”
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April 03, 2024 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Crews work to clear a landslide that blocked CSX Railroad tracks and closed Arlington Avenue in the upper 10th Ward. (Tube City Almanac photo)
A landslide triggered by torrential rains closed a street in the city’s upper 10th Ward and temporarily blocked the CSX Railroad’s mainline through McKeesport.
Meanwhile, rising flood waters on Wednesday evening forced the closure of Water Street between Kane Regional Center and the Palisades Ballroom.
The landslide below the 600 block of Arlington Street was reported at around 12 noon on Wednesday, emergency officials said. River Road between 10th Ward and Port Vue is currently closed due to slide repair work and flooding under the Jerome Avenue Bridge.
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April 03, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: State & Region
This is a developing story and will be updated as necessary.
Water topped the end of Ninth Avenue near Kane Regional Center on Wednesday afternoon. (Tube City Almanac photo)
Roads remain closed throughout the Mon-Yough area after record rainfalls dropped up to 4 inches of rain on parts of Western Pennsylvania.
The Youghiogheny River is overflowing its banks in Elizabeth Twp. and water was lapping at the edge of the parking lot at McKees Point Marina.
City officials reported that the West Fifth Avenue end of the Mansfield Bridge was closed Wednesday morning due to flooding, while in White Oak, Route 48 was closed between Cool Springs Road and Lincoln Way; and Lincoln Way was closed between Route 48 and Coulterville Road.
White Oak police reported that Lincoln Way had reopened at noon Wednesday, but that part of Route 48 remained closed while crews removed debris from the road.
The stretch of River Road between lower 10th Ward and Port Vue was closed Wednesday afternoon due to flooding and a landslide, the McKeesport Fire Department reported.
The state Department of Transportation reported that Route 837 was closed between the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge and Dravosburg due to flooding. A section of Route 837 in West Mifflin also was closed, borough police said.
A strong storm system that arrived in California last weekend — causing parts of that state’s fabled Highway 1 to fall down a cliff into the Pacific Ocean — made its way across the United States on Tuesday, triggering blizzards and floods in the western part of the country, tornadoes in Indiana, and heavy thunderstorms in Ohio and West Virginia.
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April 01, 2024 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News, McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko, at right with police Chief Mark Steele, swears in new police officers (from left) Dale McGlaughlin, Seth Taylor and Jodi Leitzell at the March council meeting. (Tube City Almanac photo)
McKeesport police have created a floating school detail that is checking in with each of the city’s public, parochial and private schools on a weekly basis, Chief Mark Steele said recently.
In addition, new officers, new equipment and new tactics are being developed in an effort to improve community relations and bolster public safety, he said.
The two-person school detail is visiting buildings at least three days each week and has the flexibility to go where they can provide the most help, Steele said. “They can go to Twin Rivers, Founders Hall, South Hall, the high school, or Propel or Serra Catholic,” he said. “It’s up to them — whatever they feel is necessary.”
Steele said he met with principals of each of the schools recently to assess their needs and gauge whether they would appreciate an increased police presence. The principals welcomed the idea, he said.
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April 01, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, Duquesne News
A Braddock woman faces homicide charges in connection with the death on Saturday night of an East Hills man.
Latiya D. Hicks, 24, is being held in the Allegheny County Jail pending a preliminary hearing April 12 in Pittsburgh Muncipal Court. She is charged with fatally shooting Lamont Nichols, 30, of Pittsburgh inside an apartment on North Second Street in Duquesne.
Allegheny County police said that Hicks was arrested at the scene.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in Allegheny County Night Court, when Duquesne police officers asked “where is the shooter?” Hicks identified herself and directed them to her handbag, where a 9-mm handgun was found.
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March 29, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, Duquesne News, White Oak News
(Photo via Facebook)
The remains discovered in a wooded area of White Oak earlier this month have been positively identified as those of a Duquesne man who had been missing since May 2023.
The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office said Friday that a body reported to White Oak police on March 16 was that of 72-year-old Nicholas “Butch” Miljus Jr., formerly of West Mifflin. The cause and manner of death have not yet been released.
An Army veteran, Miljus, who was known around the community as “Cookie Man,” was reported missing to Duquesne police by his daughter in September 2023. According to reports, Miljus had been evicted from his residence in May 2023, and police said the last transaction on his bank account had been reported in June.
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