Tube City Online

Filed Under: Cartoons, Commentary/Editorial || By Jason Togyer

March 29, 2013 | Link to this story

McKeesport Area School Realignment Begins in '13-14

Category: News || By Jennifer Sopko

McKeesport Area School District will kick off a district-wide realignment that consolidates students into five buildings, creates two new magnet programs and provides kindergarten through eighth grade students with either new or like new facilities for their education.

School directors approved the redistricting plan in February, which includes the establishment of two primary and intermediate school buildings for about 1,657 kindergarten through fifth grade students and the addition of a new sixth-grade academy to Founders' Hall Middle School.

The conceptual restructuring will be in place for the 2013-14 school year, although some students will be temporarily housed in alternate buildings and transferred to their permanent schools mid-year.

The district will launch magnet programs for kindergarten through fifth-grade students in both "schools within a school." The Academy of Math and Science will be located at the new Twin Rivers Primary/Intermediate School, scheduled to open in January 2014, while the Academy of World Languages will open in August 2014 at Francis McClure Primary/Intermediate School.

"It's been a long time coming," said Timothy Gabauer, district superintendent.

(more)

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Posted at 4:42 pm by Jennifer Sopko | Click here and put your ad on Tube City Almanac!
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March 28, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: Pump House Market Opens April 7

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report


Pittsburgh food trucks will help kick-off the third season of the Sunday Heritage Market at the Historic Pump House & Water Tower, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall.

Located at the trailhead of the Great Allegheny Passage, Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is sponsoring the bi-weekly market every first and third Sunday through September from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The market opens April 7.

Now in its third year, the vendor market, which is free and open to the public, is part of the ongoing effort of Rivers of Steel to promote the cultural heritage of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Besides the Pittsburgh Taco Truck, Oh My Grill and the Pittsburgh Dessert Truck, vendors for the April 7 market include Dragon Lady Tie-Dyes, Karen's Kind Beads, the Bulgarian-Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center; Brown Bird Green String; Divine Scentsations; Missy Steele Pottery; Robin Londino's Handcrafted Jewelry; Third Day Luxury Soaps and Rise Above Bakery.

The historic pump house is located near Lowe's in The Waterfront shopping complex and next to the Great Allegheny Passage hiking-biking trail. The historic site is also the location of a battle during the 1892 strike against Andrew Carnegie's Homestead Steel Works.

Cyclists are welcome to park in the pump house lot facing the road or by the water tower, where restrooms are available.

(more)

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March 28, 2013 | Link to this story

Penn State News: Local Prof Wins Award, Fellowship

Category: News || By Submitted Report

A faculty member at Penn State's campus in McKeesport has won a statewide award for excellence and been named one of the university's 2013 Teaching Fellows.

Veronica Montecinos, professor of sociology at Penn State Greater Allegheny, has been named recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Penn State Alumni Association.

The award was established in 1988 to honor distinguished teaching and provides encouragement and incentive for excellence, a spokeswoman said.

Montecinos joined the faculty in 1990. She is one three professors in the Penn State system to receive this year's honors. The others are Julia Spicher Kasdorf of the College of Liberal Arts and Jeffery Sharp of the Smeal College of Business, both in University Park.

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March 27, 2013 | Link to this story

Charity or Business?

Category: Cartoons, Commentary/Editorial || By Jason Togyer

© 2013 Tube City Community Media Inc., keywords Romoff, Ravenstahl, Star Wars



In an excellent column discussing Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's challenge to UPMC's tax-exempt status, Chris Potter, editor of Pittsburgh City Paper, says the health care giant is involved in a "media sh-tstorm."

"When you're claiming to be a charity, it's hard to imagine worse PR than a lawsuit accusing your CEO of hiring a private chef, chauffeur and jet," Potter says. "These days, even the new pope supposedly cooks for himself and takes the bus."

After discussing UPMC's strong-arm tactics against patients and providers, Potter concludes: "There's something UPMC needs to understand: This is why people hate you. Because too often when they expect you to act like a charity, you claim you need to run like a business ... but when they want to tax you like a business, you insist you're actually a charity."

. . .

Here are some fun figures for you. The full market value of UPMC McKeesport's main campus --- including the Mansfield, Shaw and Crawford buildings, and the parking garage --- is $73,277,500, according to Allegheny County tax records. (Whether or not anyone would actually pay $73 million for buildings in McKeesport is, um, an exercise for your imagination.)

The adjacent Painter Building is assessed at $465,700, and the Kelly Building is assessed at $4,493,000.

Unless my calculator is broken, if those properties were subject to property tax, UPMC would owe the city $339,694 this year. The school district would be owed approximately $1.4 million.

(more)

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March 26, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 26, 2013 | Link to this story

New School's Name Should Honor Queen Alliquippa

Category: Commentary/Editorial, History || By Jason Togyer


Last week, McKeesport Area School Board reversed its decision to name the new Seventh Ward elementary school after city founder John McKee.

The decision came after residents and alumni noted that McKee was a slaveholder. They felt --- with some justification --- that it would be borderline offensive to name a school after a slaveholder when a substantial percentage of children who will attend that school are descendants of former slaves.

This just proves that the school board needs to read Tube City Almanac. Last summer, I ran excerpts of Walter L. Riggs' "The Early History of McKeesport," which not only reported that McKee was a slaveholder, he was a mean dude who was disliked by his contemporaries.

In the vernacular of the day, McKee was what would have been called "sharp" --- meaning that he operated just barely inside the law. (Thus setting the standard in the Mon-Yough area for the next 200 years. I keed! I keed!)

. . .

The school board's replacement name is "Twin Rivers Elementary School." The new name --- obviously intended to be as inoffensive as possible --- was met on social media with a collective groan.

It says almost nothing about the McKeesport area, and besides being used by the Twin Rivers Council of Governments, "Twin Rivers" is used by literally a million other things in the United States, according to a quick Google search, including a casino, a car dealer and a golf course in Waco, Texas.

Nobody asked me, but the school board missed the boat. They could have honored people of color, native Americans, women and McKeesport's history, all at the same time.

They should have named the school for Queen Alliquippa.

(more)

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Posted at 5:25 pm by Jason Togyer | Click here and put your ad on Tube City Almanac!
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March 21, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: Volunteers Sought at Carrie Furnace

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report


Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is looking to expand its volunteer base at the Carrie Blast Furnace complex for the 2013 season.

Rivers of Steel is looking for volunteers with a connection to Pittsburgh's steel industry and heritage who can not only can interpret our region's steel story --- and learn to interpret the Carrie Blast Furnace site --- but can also share vignettes of their own steel-related experiences.

The first Carrie Blast Furnace tour date is April 27. The site will be open every Saturday in April through October, and every Friday and Saturday from June through August.

The only steel site of its kind open to tourists in the Pittsburgh region, the century-old furnace complex was the heart and soul of U.S. Steel's Homestead Works. A tour takes visitors through the whole steel-making process including the ore yard, the car dumper, the torpedo car, the blowing engine house, the hot stoves and the cast house surrounding Carrie Furnace No. 6.

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March 21, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 21, 2013 | Link to this story

RIP, McKeesport Connecting Railroad

Category: History || By Jason Togyer


For most of its existence, McKeesport Connecting Railroad did exactly what its name said --- beginning in 1889, it connected the National Tube Works Co., and later U.S. Steel's National Works, to the Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio and Pittsburgh & Lake Erie railroads. It also switched freight cars within the plant.

Naturally, for most of its existence, McKeesport Connecting Railroad was wholly owned by U.S. Steel. After the closure of National Plant in 1987, McKeesport Connecting continued to serve Camp-Hill Corp., though in recent years, it had no locomotives of its own --- it used equipment from another U.S. Steel-affiliated railroad, the Union Railroad.

With very little fanfare, the McKeesport Connecting's 123 year existence came to an end Jan. 1, when it was finally merged into the Union Railroad. (The Union runs from Penn Hills, down through the Mon Valley to West Mifflin, with branches to Clairton, Duquesne and Munhall.)

Like the Union Railroad and the nearby Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, McKeesport Connecting Railroad was owned by Transtar Inc., a subsidiary of U.S. Steel. In a filing with the federal Surface Transportation Board, Transtar noted that the decision to merge the two railroads was done "to simplify the corporate structure of the Transtar railroads (and) reduce the administrative, accounting, reporting and related burdens."

Considering that these days, the McKeesport Connecting Railroad wouldn't even have made a good property to own on Monopoly, it makes sense, but it still seems like an ignominious end.

You can still see equipment registered to the McKeesport Connecting --- mostly (all?) black open-topped pipe-carrying cars with the letters "MKC" stenciled on the side --- but those will likely start to disappear, too.

About the last remaining evidence of McKeesport Connecting's independent existence is an abandoned railroad roundhouse in the RIDC Industrial Center of McKeesport.

Digging through my musty archives, I found a brochure issued by the McKeesport Connecting Railroad. It's posted now in Tube City Online's Steel Heritage section.



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March 20, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: New Police Chief on Campus

Category: News || By Submitted Report

Patrick McElhinny is the new chief of police at Penn State Greater Allegheny. McElhinny comes to the McKeesport campus from Hermitage, Mercer County, where he worked on the police force for 34 years, including seven years as chief.

McElhinny earned a bachelor of science degree in administration of criminal justice and a master of science degree in strategic leadership, both from Mountain State University in Beckley, W.Va.

A graduate of the FBI National Academy, McElhinny has been president of his local lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police and the Mercer County Chiefs of Police Association, and serves on the boards of a number of police-related organizations.

"I chose Penn State because I wanted the experience of a campus setting and the different challenges of policing that presents," McElhinny said. "It is an honor to be here, and I look forward to meeting and working with the campus community."

His first order of business is "to become familiar with the police officers, staff and faculty, and assess the needs of the campus," he said.

(more)

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March 17, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 15, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 15, 2013 | Link to this story

Police Beat: 34 Named in Drug, Gun Ring

Category: News || By Submitted Report

Thirty-four people, mainly from the Mon Valley, were indicted yesterday on charges of narcotics and gun trafficking after a year-long local, state and federal investigation.

The investigation was a response to the increased violence and incidence of drug trafficking in Homestead and vicinity, "much of which was attributed to a gang ... known as the 'Uptown Crew,'" said Gary Perdue, special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton announced that the charges were contained in six related indictments, returned by a federal grand jury on March 6.

The investigation included the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the state Attorney General's office, the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office, Allegheny County police, and Munhall, Pittsburgh and West Homestead police.

Hickton called the prosecutions part of a federal "community impact prosecution strategy" aimed at eliminating violent criminals town-by-town and to "replace despair with hope."

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March 14, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: Cancer Society Seeks Study Volunteers

Category: News || By Jason Togyer

The American Cancer Society is seeking volunteers from the local area to become "champions" to participate in a historic nationwide study --- or at least help spread the word.

Sharon Stalter, health initiatives representative for the ACS branch that serves the Mon Valley, calls it "a once in a lifetime" opportunity.

"We need to recruit about 1,000 people out of the Greater Pittsburgh area, so we're looking for any opportunity to raise awareness," she says.

The ACS is beginning a 20-year research study to gather information about cancer, its causes and methods of prevention. A similar study begun in the 1950s helped establish the links between smoking and lung cancer, Stalter says, while another begun in the 1980s identified links between certain kinds of cancer with obesity and hormone replacement drugs.

The society is recruiting people between the ages of 30 and 65 with no previous history of cancer (except for certain times of skin cancer). Volunteers are asked to complete a short questionnaire and must have a blood test done.

Their personal information is kept anonymous, Stalter says. Nationwide, about 300,000 volunteers are being recruited.

(more)

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March 14, 2013 | Link to this story

Road Work: Glassport-Elizabeth Construction Slated

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

Work begins next Monday to improve Glassport-Elizabeth Road between Glassport, Lincoln and Elizabeth Twp., a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation said.

Crews will improve drainage and resurface about 3.4 miles road between Wall Street in Glassport and Lovedale Road in Elizabeth Twp. Lane closures and restrictions will occur as needed in the work areas daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and overnight from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Fridays through mid-June, said district spokesman Jim Struzzi.

The project is included in a $1.6 million contract with Tresco Paving of Plum Borough for improvements on several roadways in Allegheny County.



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March 14, 2013 | Link to this story

Penn State News: James Joyce Scholar Visits City

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

The Teaching International program at Penn State Greater Allegheny will host James Joyce scholar William Brockman for a lecture at 12:15 p.m. March 21. The event in the Ostermayer Room of the Student Community Center is free and open to the public.

Brockman's talk will be titled "The Irish James Joyce in the 21st Century World." Brockman has been the Paterno Family Librarian for Literature at Penn State since 2001. Previously he held positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Drew University.

The Teaching International program at Penn State's campus in McKeesport has been in place since 2004. Its goal is to educate students about world trends by studying different regions and issues of global importance. This year's focus is on the Celtic Nations and water.

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March 13, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 13, 2013 | Link to this story

Police Beat: Two Local Men Indicted in Drug Case

Category: News || By Submitted Report

Two Mon-Yough area men are among 10 people indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in connection with heroin trafficking in Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

According to U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton, named in a 16-count indictment are Keontae Spears, 29, of North Versailles Twp.; Jamie Argyle, 24, of Duquesne; Javon Harvey, 36, of West Bloomfield, Mich.; Terrell Williams, 33, of Perrysville, Pittsburgh; Carl Thompson, 34, of Detroit; Demetrious Levy, 42, Tierone Barnes, 30, Brandon Wise, 29, and Ronald Glass, 42, all of Washington, Pa.; and Donte Newton, 28, of Monessen.

Prosecutors claim that between June 2011 and May 2012, the men named in the indictment were involved in a conspiracy to sell more than a kilogram of heroin. Additionally, Levy, Spears, Harvey and Wise are accused of firearms violations, Hickton said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara K. Swartz is prosecuting the case, Hickton said in a news release. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and state police conducted the investigation leading to the indictment.



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March 12, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: Lenten Services Continue Tomorrow

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

McKeesport Area Ministerium and Jericho People continue their non-denominational Lenten services on Wednesdays during the weeks leading to Easter.

The next service is tomorrow at Faith Lutheran Church, 1856 Lincoln Way, White Oak. The following service is March 20 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Walnut Street at 220 Eighth Ave., Downtown.

Each service starts at 12 noon and a light luncheon follows, ending by 1 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend and public participation is encouraged, a spokesperson said.



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March 12, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 12, 2013 | Link to this story

Penn State News: Ice Cream Sale on Now

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

The Penn State Greater Allegheny Alumni Society is bringing back the Penn State Creamery Ice Cream and Ye Old College Diner Stickie Sale.

The deadline for orders is March 29, a spokeswoman said. Order forms are available online. Ice cream will be available May 4.

Please download and complete the order form and mail the form with payment to Penn State Ice Cream Sale, 4000 University Drive, McKeesport, PA 15132. Checks should be made out to "Penn State Greater Allegheny."

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March 12, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: Meeting for Women Veterans Slated

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

A town hall meeting for women veterans will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood, the Allegheny County Division of Veteran Services announced.

The event will include information about services available such as health care, employment, education and family-related programs. Employers have also been invited to discuss potential employment opportunities in the region.

Keynote speakers include Dr. Patricia Hayes, chief consultant, patient care, for the Veterans Administration, who will speak about issues surrounding women veterans' health. Lt. Col. Michele R. Papakie, Inspector General, 171st Air Refueling Wing, also will address attendees.

Allegheny County has more than 7,200 female veterans who will be the focus of the town hall event.

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March 12, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: Art Group Hosts Landscape Painter

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report


McKeesport Art Group hosts landscape and still life painter Paul McMillan at its March meeting.

The art group meets at 7:15 p.m. Monday in the Art Room of McKeesport Area High School, 1960 Eden Park Blvd., and the public is invited.

Born in Kansas, raised in Texas, McMillan has worked in Taos, N.M. and Ithaca, N.Y., but now resides and works in Pittsburgh. He is a self-taught artist best known for his landscapes and still life paintings. McMillan's style ranges from classical to abstract and has occasionally included his original poetry and music as subject matter.

His artwork is strong in light, shadow and atmosphere, with deep, rich colors. Most of McMillan's paintings are created with a wet color technique, using stand oil mixed with small amounts of beeswax and mastic resin as a medium. This adds to the depth and luminosity of pigments and works well for both impasto and smooth surfaces.

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March 07, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 07, 2013 | Link to this story

Summer Launch Hoped for New Demolition Program

Category: News || By Jason Togyer

City officials hope that by this summer, they will be able to launch a new program to tear down abandoned houses using public-works employees.

Council last night by 6-0 vote authorized a $488,584 loan from First Commonwealth Bank to purchase two 10-ton dump trucks with salt spreaders, one 1-ton truck, one excavator and a trailer. The equipment will be purchased through the state's joint-purchasing program, called "COSTARS."

The excavator, trailer and one of the trucks are designed to allow city officials to move more quickly to demolished blighted homes. The city currently has 400 abandoned houses targeted for demolition, with more being added all the time, Mayor Mike Cherepko said.

"We are not going to waste time," he said. "If we can get the excavator in April and get our guys trained, we want to jump on this as soon as possible. Definitely by this summer."

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March 07, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: Project Prom Giveaway at Century III

Category: News || By Submitted Report


For the 10th year, Project Prom will give away dresses and gowns to local high school girls.

Hours are 3 to 7 p.m. March 11 through 14 and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 16 at the Project Prom shop, located on the third floor of Century III Mall in West Mifflin, a spokeswoman said.

Eligible local high school girls will be offered the opportunity to select from among hundreds of dresses --- new and gently worn, in the latest trends, in a wide range of sizes and colors. Accessories, including shoes, purses, wraps and jewelry also will be available to complete the ensemble.

Each participant will be paired with a stylist to help them find a gown and accessories.

In order to be eligible for Project Prom, girls must be actively enrolled and attending an Allegheny County high school and live in a foster or group home or in a household that receives public or food assistance, has a parent or guardian who is receiving unemployment compensation, or is receiving drug and alcohol treatment or mental health or mental retardation services.

A list of eligibility requirements is posted on the county's website.

Last year, more than 250 young ladies were assisted through Project Prom. A similar program called "Project Prom for Gentlemen" helps provide male formalwear.

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March 07, 2013 | Link to this story

Aw, Shucks

Category: Shameless Horn-Tooting || By Webmaster

Alert Reader Andrew writes:

I just wanted to relay what a pleasure it was to stumble across Tube City Online. My wife and I are part of the mass exodus of late 20's/early 30's professionals that left the city looking for better employment opportunities, currently residing in Charlotte, N.C. My wife is from Butler, I grew up in McKeesport (Christy Park) and Elizabeth Township. My mother's family (100% Italian) have lived in Christy Park for 3 generations. I'm also a Serra grad as well.

We were successful in finding better employment opportunities; however, we've been missing family and the Pittsburgh area lately for the last few months. I've been trying to reconnect with family, Italian heritage, and the Mon Valley in general via the internet, and your website was a pleasant surprise.

We've decided that we'll be moving back to the Mon Valley (work can transfer with me) for the family, affordable housing, and the fact that there's nowhere else like it. We've been in two of the shining gems of the new southeast (Nashville and Charlotte) for the last few years. While they may be newer, cleaner, etc., they can't compare with the character and people of southwestern PA.

Well, enough blabbering for now. Again, great job with the website and best wishes.

Aw, shucks. (Of course, as we all know, one "awsh-t" award cancels 1,000 "attaboy" certificates.)



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March 06, 2013 | Link to this story

Today's Quote

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In support of the "McKeesport Message" campaign created by the Mayor's Select Committee on Crime and Violence, Tube City Community Media Inc. is tweeting inspirational quotes. To suggest a quote, email tube city tiger at gmail dot com or send a tweet to @tubecityonline.



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March 06, 2013 | Link to this story

New Street Names Will Honor Former Mayors

Category: News || By Jason Togyer


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Two short streets will be renamed in honor of former mayors Lou Washowich and Joe Bendel.

At tonight's meeting, city council is expected to vote on proposals to rename Marshall Drive Extension for Washowich, who served from 1980 to 1995, and Water Street for Bendel, who served from 1995 to 2000.

Washowich, who worked for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission after leaving office, is now retired. Bendel died in 2003.

Both streets to be renamed have significant links to the two former mayors, Mayor Michael Cherepko said. Planning for Marshall Drive Extension, which was completed in 2009, began during Washowich's term, and the former mayor was instrumental in convincing Tom Clark Chevrolet --- which is bounded on one side by the street --- to move into the city.

As for Water Street, Cherepko said the adjacent McKees Point Marina owes its existence to Bendel. "It's no secret that was his vision," he said. "People questioned it, but now it's a destination point for the city of McKeesport."

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March 05, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 05, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: Crews Preparing for Storm

Category: News || By Submitted Reports

Road crews are preparing for a winter storm expected to dump 6 to 8 inches of what forecasters called "heavy and wet" snow on the Mon-Yough area through tomorrow.

Rain is expected to begin this evening in the McKeesport area, changing over to freezing rain, ice and then snow by midnight. The storm is part of a larger system that stretches from the upper Midwest through the Ohio Valley.

Workers are already pre-treating highways and state-owned roads with anti-icing materials, said Jim Struzzi, district spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

Since Sunday, the same storm has already dumped two feet of snow in Montana and several inches of snow in Illinois. The storm could produce 10 to 20 inches of snow in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.

Locally, National Weather Service forecasters in Moon Township said 3 to 5 inches of snow is expected in the upper Mon Valley overnight, with a low of 29 degrees.

Another 1 to 3 inches of snow is possible Wednesday, forecasters said. Conditions should improve Wednesday night and Thursday. Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties are under a Winter Storm Warning through 5 p.m. Wednesday.

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March 05, 2013 | Link to this story

Sentencing Slated May 22 in Attorney's DUI Crash

Category: News || By Jason Togyer

Sentencing is set for May 22 in connection with a car accident involving city Solicitor J. Jason Elash.

According to court officials, Elash, 41, of Christy Park pleaded guilty Monday before Allegheny County Judge Edward Borkowski to three related counts of driving under the influence, including driving with a blood-alcohol content level between 0.10 and 0.16, and to one count of driving at an unsafe speed.

The crash happened on Route 48 early on the morning of Jan. 22, 2012.

With the plea, Elash faces the possibility of state disciplinary action ranging from a private reprimand to a suspension of his law license.

Under state law, attorneys convicted of a crime must report their convictions to the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania within 20 days. The board then decides if and how to punish the attorney.

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March 03, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 03, 2013 | Link to this story

Police Beat: Waterfront Hotel Robber Sentenced

Category: News || By Submitted Report

A Pittsburgh man accused of a string of armed robberies --- including one at a hotel in the Waterfront --- has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison.

Jay G. Mathis, 46, whose last listed address was on Remington Drive, East Hills, was sentenced Friday by U.S. Chief District Judge Gary L. Lancaster.

According to U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton, Mathis began a six-month-long crime spree on Jan. 8, 2009 by robbing a National City Bank office on Walnut Street in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood. It ended with the robbery of the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in West Homestead on June 19, 2009.

Mathis, who prosecutors said was a former Homestead resident, was on parole at the time following a 10-year prison sentence for a previous bank robbery conviction, prosecutors said.

During the robbery of the Marriott, Mathis pointed a small black revolver at the desk clerk and took about $221 cash, prosecutors said. After leaving the hotel, Mathis led police on a high-speed car chase and shot at a Homestead police officer, forcing him off the road.

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March 02, 2013 | Link to this story

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March 01, 2013 | Link to this story

Briefly Noted: MHS Hall of Fame Seeks Nominations

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

The McKeesport High School Alumni & Friends Association once again is accepting nominees for induction into the McKeesport High School Hall of Fame.

Anyone can nominate, said Linda Croushore, association president. Candidates must have attended McKeesport schools, have graduated at least 10 years ago if they completed high school here, and have gone onto lives marked by outstanding accomplishments in the public or private sectors.

Applications are being sought now for the 2013 class, to be inducted at the annual Alumni Recognition Night dinner and program on Sept. 7 at Pluma, North Huntingdon Twp.

This will be its 26th class of inductees, a spokeswoman said. To date, 170 people have been elected to the McKeesport High School Hall of Fame.

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March 01, 2013 | Link to this story

Penn State News: Two Named All-Americans

Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

Two players from the women's basketball team at Penn State Greater Allegheny were named All-Americans by the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.

Honored from the McKeesport campus were sophomore guard Taylor Fulton of West Mifflin and sophomore forward Christina Floyd of Philadelphia. Fulton was named to the first team and Floyd was named to the second team, a spokeswoman said.

The USCAA national championships are being held this week at Penn State Eberly in Uniontown.



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