Filed Under: News || By Jason Togyer
Category: News || By Jennifer Sopko
McKeesport Area School District will launch a pilot college preparation program for underachieving students designed to encourage them to work towards a career in science, technology, engineering or math, also called "STEM."
While the program is designed to improve the achievement gap between African-American and Caucasian students, participation is not limited to African-American students only, said School Director Terri Kisan, who chairs the district's Cultural Diversity Committee.
The main goal of the program is to identify students with talents and abilities in engineering and science fields that may not have the knowledge or awareness of college planning, Kisan said.
Category: News || By Jason Togyer
The McKeesport Area High School Orchestra was among the groups invited to perform at the Allegheny County Courthouse during the holidays.
The student group under the direction of Katelyn Panza performed from 11:30 a.m to 12:10 p.m. Dec. 14 on the courthouse's Grand Staircase.
Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report
The McKeesport-based Orchestra of the Alleghenies returns to the airwaves at 12 noon this Monday with a program of holiday music featuring Joe Negri.
The concert includes traditional carols as well as selections from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "The Polar Express," plus the jazz stylings of Negri, an internationally known guitarist warmly remembered by generations of children and parents from his appearances on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
For the fourth consecutive year, Pittsburgh's WRCT-FM (88.3) and McKeesport-based Tube City Community Media Inc. will present the annual Christmas concert by the orchestra (formerly known as the McKeesport Symphony Pops).
The broadcast over 88.3 FM also will be heard online at www.wrct.org.
Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report
Penn State Greater Allegheny will host its fall commencement at 7 p.m. Thursday in Wunderley Gymnasium on the McKeesport campus. Chancellor Curtiss E. Porter will preside as baccalaureate degree candidates are honored.
Keynote speaker will be Dara Ware Allen, the first chief operating officer of Leadership Pittsburgh. Allen previously served as the executive director of YouthWorks and as director of Penn State's Educational Opportunity Centers of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Allen has served the Pittsburgh Public Schools as the board representative of Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, as well as on numerous other local boards and steering committees.
Category: News || By Submitted Reports
Police are investigating a series of burglaries in Dravosburg and West Mifflin and are asking for help from residents.
West Mifflin police Chief Ken Davies announced last week that the borough is experiencing a rash of thefts. "As the holiday approaches, please keep your home and vehicle locked and secure," he said. "Some of the criminal activity is known to have occurred during daylight hours, but please keep your home well-lit as a prevention tool."
Borough residents who see suspicious people or activity should call (412) 461-3125, he said. Callers can remain anonymous.
Separately, McKeesport police announced Monday they are investigating burglaries in thefts in neighboring Dravosburg Borough. "Over the last week to week and a half, several burglaries have occurred," a police spokesman said. "A lot of these burglaries are occurring shortly after residents leave their house."
Anyone who looks suspicious or out-of-place should be reported immediately to 9-1-1, police said. Witnesses should try to get information such as a suspicious person's race, sex, size, clothing and any vehicle they may be driving, as well as what direction they're headed, police said.
Category: News || By Jason Togyer
Though it remains based in the city, the McKeesport Symphony Orchestra has adopted a new name for its 2012-13 season in hopes of expanding its reach and its mission.
Now marketing itself as the "Orchestra of the Alleghenies," the symphony opens its season at 7:30 p.m. Friday with a holiday concert at Bethel Park High School featuring Joe Negri. Negri will join the orchestra again for a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee at McKeesport Area High School.
Tickets are $10 for students, $18 for adults and $15 for seniors.
Negri is "a Pittsburgh icon," says Julie McGough, orchestra manager and librarian, who has worked with Negri before both in McKeesport and with the Beaver Valley Philharmonic. "He brings the audience into the music. They love seeing him perform and he's a master of the jazz guitar."
Although the legal name remains "McKeesport Symphony Society," the orchestra's new name is a reflection of the fact that funding for the arts is shrinking every year, says Bruce Lauffer, now in his 10th season as the orchestra's music director. Corporate donors in particular have been reluctant to sponsor the orchestra if it's confined only to McKeesport, he says.
Category: News || By Jennifer Sopko
McKeesport Area School District officials got some positive financial news last week from Business Manager David Seropian.
At the board's reorganization meeting, Seropian announced that the district's fund balance at the end of the fiscal year ending June 30 was more than $7 million --- almost $2 million more than was originally projected.
"The district had to make substantial budget cuts and continued to watch expenses throughout the year," Seropian told the Almanac this week via email. "We were pleased that the fund balance stayed basically the same, at slightly over $7 million."
The 2011-2012 Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ending June 30 was distributed to the board Dec. 5.
During budget talks this past spring, the board projected the district's fund balance --- something like a savings account, or surplus --- would be about $5.4 million at the end of June. Seropian credited the better-than-expected result to tight controls imposed on spending, combined with an increase in revenues.
The report is good news, considering that the school board needed to use just over $3 million of the fund balance to balance the current year's $59.8 million budget.
Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report
The Allegheny County Department of Public Works today announced single-lane alternating traffic through the work zone on the Mansfield Bridge from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The restrictions are necessary so crews may perform pavement patching, a county spokesman said. Police officers will control the flow of traffic during this time.
Category: Announcements || By Jason Togyer
Category: News || By Jason Togyer
The owner of Di's Kornerstone Diner vows to fight any attempt to evict her from the building she's rented for more than seven years.
"I think it's terrible what they're doing," Diane Elias said. "Here's McKeesport, which has hardly any businesses left, and they want to throw me out."
But city officials said they've tried to find Elias another location for her East End restaurant, a popular spot for breakfast and lunch. Elias didn't like any of the options, they said.
City council this week approved a request from Enon, Ohio-based Speedway LLC to build a 24-hour gasoline station and convenience store at the corner of East Fifth Avenue and Elm Street in the East End.
Speedway operates nearly 1,500 locations in Ohio, the Midwest and southern United States, including a station on Route 30 in Irwin. According to reports in Convenience Store News and the Tribune-Review, the chain is expanding its presence in Pennsylvania and in addition to McKeesport, is also considering new locations in Delmont Borough and Hempfield and Unity townships in Westmoreland County.
A division of Marathon Petroleum Corp., Speedway is the fourth-largest U.S. convenience store chain, according to the company's annual report.
Building the McKeesport store will require the demolition of the former Pizza Hut building that houses Elias' restaurant. She rents the property from Harry Stewart Jr. of Dayton, Armstrong County.
Category: News || By Jason Togyer
Health insurance and related costs for the city's more than 160 employees will eat up about 15 percent of next year's budget.
That portion of McKeesport's $17.99 million 2013 budget --- $2.7 million --- is more than the fire department's total $2.4 million appropriation and about what the city will spend on property and street maintenance combined.
The problem isn't unique to McKeesport --- nationally, health care and related costs consume about 18 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, the highest percentage in the world, and private and public employers in the U.S. spend on average $8,047 per person for health insurance for their employees.
Hear Mayor Mike Cherepko's budget message (MP3 file, 7.9 MB)
Category: News || By Jason Togyer
City council on Wednesday by 7-0 vote approved McKeesport's 2013 budget.
Listen to Mayor Mike Cherepko's budget message (MP3 file, 7.9 MB)
Category: Announcements || By Jennifer Sopko
McKeesport Area School District announced the following special events in December:
. . .
Kindergarteners, Parents Learn About Rudolph: The second-annual parent involvement cross-curricular learning celebration will take place at 12:30 p.m. Monday in the Centennial Elementary School gymnasium.
Centennial's kindergarten students invite parents to participate in themed learning activities celebrating the "birthday" of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Cross-curricular activities are designed to help students meet the new National Common Core Standards, which involve the students digging deeper into concepts by doing hands-on activities.
Some of the activities planned for this celebration include learning stations such as sequencing a story to aid comprehension and using two-dimensional shapes to construct a reindeer.
Category: News || By Jason Togyer
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was corrected on Jan. 4, 2013. City council on Jan. 2, 2013, adopted a new budget with corrected figures for police department salaries.)
. . .
Citing a sensitivity to residents on fixed incomes, the city's 2013 budget holds the line on property, wage and other taxes and fees.
But balancing the nearly $18 million spending plan relies heavily on a new $1 million fee in lieu of taxes to be paid by the city's sewerage authority.
City council is scheduled to vote tonight on the proposed budget. Some positions are being eliminated through retirements, but no layoffs are planned, Mayor Michael Cherepko told the Almanac on Tuesday.
"For the most part, we have gone through and trimmed what we could trim," he said. "We did have some retirements, and we have the possibility of a few more."
Category: News || By Submitted Report
The city's 27th annual Festival of Trees hosts more than 70 Christmas trees, mostly with hand-made ornaments, decked out to represent themes, causes or local businesses in the Mon-Yough area.
Doors to the Jacob Woll Pavilion in Renziehausen Park open Thursday and the event continues through Monday. Hours are 12 to 9 p.m. daily. Admission is $2 per person, while children are admitted free with one canned good to be donated to local food pantries.
"Sleigh-hay Rides" through Renzie will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Monday and 12 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, courtesy of the city's public works department. Refreshments are being sold by culinary students from McKeesport Area High School, while one of Santa Claus' "helpers" will be available for photos daily from 12:30 to 4 and from 5:30 to 9.
Baked goods will be sold by the city's Semper Fidelis Club.
The nearby McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center will hold a holiday open house daily from 12 to 8 p.m. during the Festival of Trees, with four additional trees on display and the city's restored 1832 schoolhouse available for tours. Popcorn and hot chocolate will be available.
The neighboring Garden Club of McKeesport also will be open from 12 to 7 p.m. daily with handmade wreaths, swags and kissing balls made from live greens, along with other gifts and crafts.
A complete list of trees follows. (All descriptions were supplied by participants in the Festival of Trees.)
Category: News || By Jason Togyer
Recent TV commercials from a natural gas lobbying group have played up the benefit of increased drilling for U.S. Steel's pipe mill in Lorain, Ohio --- a sister plant to the electric-resistance weld mill in McKeesport.
But a nationwide glut of natural gas has caused drilling projects to slow down. Now, less than a month before Christmas, that appears to have taken a toll on workers at U.S. Steel's McKeesport Tubular Operations plant.
On Friday, the company announced that 142 people at the ERW mill in the First Ward will be laid off due to decreased demand for seamless steel pipe.
A U.S. Steel spokeswoman told the Daily News' Eric Slagle the company could not speculate on the duration of the layoffs. Workers at the plant are represented by the United Steelworkers union.
A story in the Post-Gazette by Len Boselovic noted that "competitive pressure from imports" also has depressed the market for steel pipe.
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