Regional Roundup: Lincoln Way Hearings, VFW Honors

Category: News || By Staff and Wire Reports

Hearing on Lincoln Way Expansion: State transportation officials will hold two public meetings next week to discuss the widening of Lincoln Way in White Oak.

PennDOT District 11 spokesman Jim Struzzi said the meetings are slated for 12 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the White Oak Athletic Association, Lower Heckman Road. An overview of the project is scheduled for noon sharp.

The state is considering plans to widen more than a mile of the congested two-lane road between Route 48 and State Street --- the red-light controlled intersection near the borough's ambulance station.

Work would include:

• Addition of a turning lane between Route 48 and Auld Street (near the former Feig's Bakery and the Market Village shopping center)


• Realigning the intersections of Lincoln Way with Henderson Road and Guise Street to create a single intersection


• Upgrading traffic signals and widening intersections; and


• Restricting access to parking lots.

Portions of many parking lots, driveways and front yards will be taken for the project.

Originally a quiet rural road and later a suburban residential street, beginning in the 1970s Lincoln Way became the home of many medical and professional offices formerly located in the city.

The additional demands on the two-lane road have created frequent traffic jams.

Construction would likely begin in the summer of 2011 and take several years to complete.

. . .

Vets Greet Returning Guardsmen: Members of a West Mifflin veterans' post traveled to Westmoreland County this month to welcome home Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers returning from a nine-month tour of duty in Iraq.

The 656th Signal Company, based at Torrance Armory outside Blairsville, was adopted in May by members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Intrepid Post 914, says Mike Mauer, the post's quartermaster.

Returning guardsmen were greeted Sept. 19 with bagpipers, refreshments and a $100 donation to the unit's morale fund.

For Jake Bradich, senior vice commander of Post 914, the scene was familiar. Bradich --- himself a former member of the 656th --- remembers being greeted by the VFW in Bangor, Maine, upon his return to the United States from a tour in Iraq.

"The halls of the airport were lined with Veterans of Foreign War members, eager to congratulate us and shake our hands," he says. "Now here I am as a member of West Mifflin's VFW Post 914, doing the same thing. I'm glad I'm able to be here to thank the members of the 656th Signal for a job well done."

Based at Camp Taji, 20 miles north of Baghdad, the 656th was tasked with maintaining phone, Internet and radio communications for the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Above, Mauer and Bradich prepare to welcome the returning soldiers. (Submitted photo courtesy VFW Post 914.)

. . .

Greenhouse Blooms in Turtle Creek: A Canadian natural gas and electricity retailer helped students at a charter school in Turtle Creek erect a greenhouse earlier this month.

Workers from Direct Energy helped install the greenhouse in a "surprise" visit Sept. 18 to about 400 students at Propel East.

Students will use the greenhouse to study plants, grow vegetables, house a butterfly garden and conduct solar energy experiments, a spokeswoman said.

Propel serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade in the Woodland Hills and Penn Hills school districts.

At right, Direct Energy employee Chelsea Sobek speaks to two Propel East students during the greenhouse build. (Submitted photo)

. . .

Food Drive This Month: Duquesne-based Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is looking for volunteers to man collection points at local Giant Eagle stores.

Spokeswoman Iris Valanti says the 10th annual Fall FoodShare begins Oct. 31 and runs through Nov. 8. Shoppers at Giant Eagle will be asked to purchase a few extra items for the hungry, or make a cash donation at the register, she says.

Volunteers are required to hand out lists of the "most-needed" food items and collect donations in about 100 stores, Valanti says. All donations and funds donated remain in the county where they were given.

Visit the food bank's website for details and to register to volunteer.

. . .

News Website Gets New Look: The Daily News unveiled its newly redesigned website this week.

The redesign brings the city-based paper, currently celebrating its 125th anniversary, into the Tribune-Review family of websites, collectively known as "PittsburghLIVE."

Based in Greensburg and Pittsburgh, the Tribune-Review's parent company purchased the Daily News in April 2007. The Trib's other Mon-Yough area newspapers include the Monessen Valley Independent and the weekly Norwin Star.

The website can be reached via the old URL, www.dailynewsmckeesport.com. The newspaper launched its online presence in 1997, though many locally written articles are available only to paid subscribers.

Your Comments are Welcome!

It is unfortunate that the Daily News ownership charges for their online edition. They just don’t get the Internet yet.

Paul
Councilman Shelly - September 30, 2009

it is unfortunate that you don’t think it’s worth 50 cents/day to keep a local newspaper alive in the city where you want to be mayor ….
fritzi ritz - September 30, 2009

The Daily News has been doing something most newspapers will wind up having to do. There is no value in putting all your stuff on-line for free. Indeed, The Associated Press and other media organizations now are trying to close the barn door on stuff that has been going out for years for free over the Internet. Councilman, I think The Daily News gets the Internet better than many other news organizations. It respects those willing to plunk down their 50 cents for the dead trees edition.
Does it matter - September 30, 2009

To the people running White Oak. Isn’t this a little bit of dejavu? About ten years ago you did the exact same thing and paid a firm to display a model of Lincoln Way with the same plan, including moving cars. The kids really liked it. The only difference was in that model you went European and added roundabouts instead of red lights at the intesections. I hope somebody was smart enough to dig up that model and modify it instead of spending taxpayer’s money on a new model. I will come down to take a look at it. I suggest you then store it where you can bring it out again in another ten years and suggest the same ideas all over again. This has been going on for the last thirty years or longer. About time somebody with initiative takes charge and gets the job done. He might get elected Mayor.
Bart Caudill
Bart Caudill - September 30, 2009

I grew up in Mckeesport and live elsewhere now. It was an enjoyable pastime to read about my old hometown doings, especially the “Police Blotter” in The Daily Snooze.

The New York Times and the Washington Post both relented on pay for view.

I have a hard time believing the Snooze content is so much more worthy of exclusivity.

Maybe they need to take a look at the Post-Gazette’s newest iteration of pay per view?
BarryG - September 30, 2009

My point was that money is made on the Internet by selling advertising. People give away valuable content to make more money by selling ads. I would like to see the Daily News stay viable. For that to happen, they have to change with the times, just as all businesses do. My criticism of Trib Media (on this point) is constructive.
Councilman Shelly - October 01, 2009

And just how in the hell do they expect to merge Guice and Henderson into one intersection. The only conceivable idea I can think of would be for PennDOT to acquire Epler’s Texaco and then re-route through there. I would guess they would then have traffic cut through where the gas pumps are now at about a 45-degree angle, being that they really dont have much land to work with there.
Keith Paradise - October 02, 2009

Jason, I just wanted to comment on your pictures. Time and time again your site has great photos, whether they are yours personally or used by permission. The quality of these are just superb. To look at one of the local news sites and compare thier photos to yours is a no brainer, you got them beat by a mile. Plus you pictures are routinely relevent to the adjoining copy, where others miss the mark. Thanks.
Adam - October 02, 2009

Thanks for your compliments, Adam, but they belong to Mike Mauer of VFW Post 914, and to Propel Schools — I didn’t take any of these!
Webmaster - October 02, 2009

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