Category: News || By Staff and Wire Reports

An alert reader passed along this photo of a sinkhole in the parking lot of Norwin Hills Shopping Center on Route 30 near the Irwin exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The photographer, who asked to remain anonymous, says the sinkhole was about 10 feet in diameter on Sunday. By Monday, when this photo was taken at the North Huntingdon Township shopping center, the cave-in was 20 feet wide and 45 deep.

Last week's heavy rains are being blamed for causing a pipe to collapse under the parking lot, opening the sinkhole, according to the Tribune-Review. The shopping center remains open.

(Tube City hard-hat tip to "DPBKMB.")

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Preservation Effort Sought: McKeesport Heritage Center is in talks to create a permanent process for preserving and re-using historic buildings in the City of McKeesport.

The announcement was made Saturday afternoon following a presentation on McKeesport architecture by Heritage Center Executive Director Michelle Wardle and local photographer and historian John Barna.

About 60 people were in attendance.

Jason Togyer, a member of the board of directors, told the audience that the Heritage Center is in discussions to bring Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation into the city to salvage, restore and find new owners for commercial buildings in the Downtown business district.

The effort would be coordinated and done with the consent of elected and appointed officials, including the mayor's office, council, the Redevelopment Authority, McKeesport Housing Corp. and other city agencies, he said.

A meeting has been tentatively scheduled for mid-July between the affected parties, Togyer said.

For more details, see Michael Divittorio's story in Monday's Daily News.

Residents, business owners and others interested in receiving more information --- when it becomes available --- are asked to call McKeesport Heritage Center at (412) 678-1832, or email jtogyer@gmail.com.

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Tax Rebate Deadline Extended: The deadline for senior citizens to claim a property tax or rent rebate has been extended from June 30 to Dec. 31.

The state-run program provides rebates on property taxes or rent paid in 2008 to lower-income residents who are 65 and older, or 50 and older and widowed.

Permanently disabled residents 18 years or older also qualify.

Income restrictions apply, and homeowners who make under $35,000 per year qualify for different levels of rebates. Renters must have incomes of less than $15,000.

Rebate checks will be mailed after July 1.

For more information, visit www.PaPropertyTaxRelief.com or call 1-888-222-9190.

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Bill Would Extend Unemployment: A Mon-Yough legislator has introduced a bill to extend unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania by seven weeks.

The legislation proposed by state Rep. Marc Gergely, White Oak Democrat, would create a temporary trigger for extended benefits, which currently kick in when the so-called "insured unemployed" rate reaches five percent and is at least 20 percent higher than the total unemployment rate in the previous two years.

Those conditions were met in February, according to the state Department of Labor and Industry.

The so-called "insured unemployed" rate counts only those workers who have qualified for benefits, or not yet exhausted those benefits.

Under Gergely's bill, H.B. 1770, extended benefits would kick in whenever the total rate of unemployment reaches 8 percent statewide.

Extended benefits are usually paid 50 percent by the state, and 50 percent by the federal government.

But the federal stimulus package --- passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama earlier this year --- temporarily waived the state's 50 percent match and allowed them to tie their extended benefits to the total unemployment rate, rather than the insured rate.

Gergely said yesterday that nearly 60,000 people would benefit if the alternative, temporary trigger was approved. Pennsylvania residents would be eligible for up to 79 weeks of unemployment compensation.

As of today, 67 other legislators had added their names to the bill, including Mon-Yough area state Reps. Jim Casorio, D-Irwin; Bill Kortz, D-Dravosburg; and Ted Harhai, D-Monessen.

According to Gergely, acting chairman of the House Labor Relations Committee, 29 states have either changed their extended benefits rules already, or are close to doing so.

The legislation would be effective only while the federal stimulus money is available, he said.

Opinions expressed at Tube City Online are not those of McKeesport Heritage Center, its directors, staff or volunteers.