September 01, 2017 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Crime and Police News
(UPDATED with additional information from medical examiner.)
Two people are dead and a third is hospitalized following a shooting this morning in lower 10th Ward.
The victims have been identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office as Kimberly Lesko, 55, and Melodie J. Robb, 52. Both women were pronounced dead at the scene at 3:26 a.m. today, the medical examiner’s office said.
The medical examiner’s office said the incident occured at 3:07 a.m. in a home in the 400 block of Gross Street. Upon arrival, McKeesport police found three people suffering from gunshot wounds, Allegheny County police Lt. Andrew Schurman said in a prepared statement.
The third victim, a man whose name was not released by police, was taken to the hospital. Allegheny County homicide detectives are investigating.
This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.
August 31, 2017 |
By Josh Rizzo | Posted in: Sports
There’s been one topic of conversation throughout the offseason for McKeesport senior quarterback John Harper and his teammates: How can the Tigers follow their best season in 11 years by taking another stride forward?
McKeesport reached Heinz Field to play in the newly-created WPIAL 5A championship game last December before falling in a heart-wrenching overtime contest, 38-37, to West Allegheny.
“That’s all we’ve been talking about every day, honestly,” said Harper, who will start under center for the first time after playing at running back and defensive back last season.
The Tigers, who finished 9-3 last season and tied for second place in the Big East Conference, won the last of their three WPIAL crowns Class 4A back in 2005.
McKeesport will kick off its run toward another championship at 7 p.m. Friday against Franklin Regional in Murrysville. (Editor's note: The game will be televised on WPNT-TV "The Point" 22.)
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August 30, 2017 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
West Newton Public Library will hold its fall book sale from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 8 and 9 at the historic John Plumer House on South Water Street in the borough.
A spokesman said there are four rooms "packed with books" and that visitors can fill a bag with books for $5.
For more information, contact the library at (724) 633-0798.
August 30, 2017 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
Christy Park United Methodist Church, 29th Avenue at Beale Street, has scheduled a number of upcoming events, a spokeswoman said.
- "Kids' Kitchen" will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 6. All kids are invited to come and help bake cookies for the upcoming pancake breakfast.
- A pancake breakfast will be held from 8 a.m. to 12 noon Sept. 9, with bake sale. Proceeds benefit the church and its activities.
- A barbecue dinner will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Oct. 7, featuring sauces prepared by McKeesport's own BBQ Stu Wilson.
For more information, about the church, call (412) 678-3110 or visit the Facebook page.
(Photo courtesy Christy Park United Methodist Church, via Facebook)
August 30, 2017 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A West Mifflin man who once ran one of the largest mortgage brokerage businesses in the Pittsburgh area pleaded guilty this week in federal court to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
James Nassida, 49, faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, said Soo C. Song, acting U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh, in a prepared statement.
Sentencing before Senior U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose has been scheduled for Jan. 10, a spokeswoman said.
Nassida and his sister, Janna Nassida, were convicted in 2016 of conspiring to submit fraudulent mortgage applications through their business, Century III Home Equity in Baldwin.
But James Nassida was granted a new trial earlier this year after Ambrose concluded that his attorney had fallen asleep numerous times during the first trial, denying him of his right to legal representation.
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August 30, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Above: McKeesport fire Chief Jeff Tomovscik and firefighter Jay Pravdica pose with a new fire engine added to the city's department. The city has also purchased a new ladder truck. Tube City Almanac photo.)
If you're a car buff, a 500-horsepower, 12-liter engine sounds pretty impressive. (That's about 732 cubic inches, for those of us who don't speak metric.)
But when you put it into a 52,000-pound vehicle, such as a fire truck carrying a 78-foot-long steel ladder, "it's working pretty hard," says Jeff Tomovscik, McKeesport fire chief, about one of the two new trucks recently added to the city department.
Purchased with the assistance of the federal Community Development Block Grant program, Tomovcsik says the new ladder truck and fire engine are safer, carry better equipment and are designed to fight fires more efficiently than the 1998-vintage equipment they replace.
"As well as they served the city, (the 1998 trucks) were becoming very problematic mechanically, and getting expensive to service," he says. "These trucks take a beating. We're a busy department with tight roads and a lot of hills."
In theory, better equipment also helps improve the ISO, or Insurance Services Office, fire suppression ratings for the city, which can lower insurance costs for all property owners.
The McKeesport department, whose two stations are staffed 24 hours a day by paid firefighters, answers roughly 1,400 calls per year, including 25 to 40 residential fires, Tomovcsik says.
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August 25, 2017 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
The sixth-annual Joan Burns "Fun Walk 4 Kane" gets underway at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 16 at Kane Regional Center in McKeesport, 100 Ninth Ave. at Water Street.
The first 100 people to register get a T-shirt, a spokeswoman said. Prizes will be awarded throughout the day.
All proceeds benefit the Kane Foundation, a non-profit charity which provides special events and extracurricular activities for residents of Allegheny County's four Kane skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers. The other three are in Pittsburgh's Glen Hazel neighborhood, as well as Scott and Ross townships.
The walk is named for retired McKeesport Area teacher Joan Burns, a Kane volunteer and one-time resident who died in 2013 at age 59.
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August 24, 2017 |
By Mary Shelly | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School District's new superintendent has begun a "comprehensive study" of the system.
At this month's school board meeting, Mark Holtzman Jr. told school directors that he and Tia Wanzo, assistant to the superintendent, are interviewing people in leadership roles, including labor union representatives, central office administrators and building principals.
"We're going to survey all of our teachers and support staff in our district, asking for feedback on some of the major departments, (and) how the schools operate,” said Holtzman, formerly the district's director of secondary education and teacher evaluation, who began his new role July 1.
This process is an effort to gather the core values of every school in the district. From the interviews and surveys, the board will be asked to “generate initiatives for the next five years,” Holtzman said.
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August 24, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
More than 20 people from the Mon-Yough area have been arrested in connection with drug trafficking in Allegheny and Washington counties after a federal grand jury returned two indictments this week.
Three of the suspects named in the indictments remain at large. Eighteen of the people charged are from Clairton.
The indictments were unsealed Thursday.
In all, 27 people have been charged in connection with two separate, but related investigations into trafficking of cocaine, heroin and illegally obtained prescription narcotics, said Acting U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song in a prepared statement.
The investigations were conducted by the FBI, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County police and the Allegheny County sheriff's department, and funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program, Song said.
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August 23, 2017 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A McKeesport man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of violating federal drug laws.
The one-count indictment, returned Tuesday in Pittsburgh, charges Michael Henry, 35, with conspiracy to distribute heroin and the prescription drug fentanyl, a narcotic pain reliever.
In a prepared statement, acting U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song said that the indictment is a product of a 12-month investigation into drug trafficking in Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties conducted by the FBI's Greater Pittsburgh Safe Streets Task Force, which includes officers from the Allegheny County, Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg police departments, the Allegheny County sheriff's department and state agencies.
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