Briefs: VA opens 'hoptel' on University Drive
A 20-bed, hotel-like setting designed to provide veterans a more comfortable overnight stay when they visit the Veterans Administration's Pittsburgh Healthcare System, will officially open today.
The VA has spent $1.5 million to convert 20 long-term nursing care beds into a "hoptel" -- a combination hospital and hotel -- that provides private and semi-private rooms for veterans staying overnight. The facility, at the VA's University Drive location, includes a laundry, lounge/dining area, vending machines and a large-screen television.
The VA has opened similar facilities at several of its hospitals.
Downtown
Free health services offered for homeless
Four organizations are offering free physical and behavioral health services for the homeless at the Severe Weather Emergency Shelter, at Smithfield United Church, 620 Smithfield St.
Operation Safety Net of Mercy Hospital, the Community Human Services Corp., Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Allegheny County Office of Behavioral Health are offering the services from 8 to 10 p.m. Wednesdays until March 30. The shelter operates from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. between Dec. 1 and March 31 during severe weather.
For more information, contact Adrienne Walnoha at (412) 621-6531, ext. 10.
South Side
ASSET Inc. receives Mellon, Frick grants
ASSET Inc., a nonprofit education reform initiative, received two grants to help relocate and renovate its facilities and establish a customer feedback process.
ASSET, or Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching, provides professional development for teachers and science materials for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
The Richard King Mellon Foundation gave the organization a $100,000 grant to help relocate and renovate its new facilities on the South Side.
The Henry C. Frick Educational Fund of the Buhl Foundation gave ASSET a $25,000 grant to develop and set up a customer feedback system called Measuring ASSET Program Effectiveness.
West
Coraopolis
Felon gets prison on firearms charges
A Coraopolis man has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for violating federal firearms laws.
As a convicted felon, Hasan Reed, 25, was prohibited from owning a gun. On Aug. 25, a jury found that he illegally possessed a 9mm handgun.
Senior U.S. District Judge Alan N. Bloch also sentenced Reed to three years' supervised release.
South
Forward
Bunola River Road work will begin today
Work to reopen Bunola River Road between River Hill and Elkhorn road will begin today under an emergency contract.
A landslide dumped more than 100 tons of dirt, rock and trees on the road Tuesday. Ralph Beerbower, assistant construction engineer for PennDOT's District 11, said it will take about a week to clear and reopen the road.
Region Allegheny County
Nominating petitions for primary ready Feb. 8
Nominating petitions for most county, city and local offices appearing on the May 17 municipal primary ballot will be available beginning Feb. 8, according to the Allegheny County Elections Division.
The petitions, except for Common Pleas judge, may be obtained at the County Office Building, Room 601, at Forbes Avenue and Ross Street, Downtown. Candidates for Common Pleas judge may get petitions by contacting the State Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation.
Due to changes in the state election code, petitions issued in prior years by the elections division can no longer be used by candidates for this year's election cycle.
Feb. 15 is the first day candidates may circulate petitions for signatures. March 8 is the last day to circulate and file petitions.
Five schools lauded for foreign language
Five Allegheny County high schools are being recognized for offering exemplary foreign language programs, including Upper St. Clair High School, which received top honors from the state Modern Language Association.
Upper St. Clair was designated one of four "Golden Globe" schools statewide. Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill, part of Pittsburgh Public Schools, was named a "Silver Globe," Chartiers Valley High School in Collier and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Coraopolis, a Catholic Diocese school, received a "Bronze Globe" designation, and Fox Chapel Area High School received an honorable mention.
The schools were required to show evidence their programs met 11 criteria, including student participation, instructional practices, number of languages offered and staff development.
Beaver County
East Rochester native dies in Iraq copter crash
An East Rochester native was among the 31 U.S. servicemen killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash in Iraq.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd John House, 28, a medic, lived in East Rochester until age 6 and moved with his parents to Ventura, Calif., said his aunt, Sandy Hildman, of East Rochester.
House never got to hold his first child, James Cash House, who was born on Christmas Eve in Hawaii, where House had been stationed. House also is survived by his wife, Melanie, and his parents, Susan and Larry House, of Simi Valley, Calif. A memorial service is scheduled for Feb. 3 in Hawaii, and funeral services are being planned for mid-February in Simi Valley.
Western Pennsylvania
FEMA gives grants to two fire departments
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued a $59,376 grant to the Ingram Volunteer Fire Department in Allegheny County and a $77,055 grant to Manor Volunteer Fire Department in Westmoreland County, the state Public Emergency Management Agency said in a news release.
The grants were part of $1.1 million the federal agency handed out to 10 Pennsylvania fire departments in amounts ranging from $27,288 to $225,270. Overall, FEMA plans to give $750 million in fire grants nationwide this year. To date, Pennsylvania fire departments have received $36.3 million of that total.
The grants for Ingram and Manor are earmarked for operational and firefighter safety expenses.
Tri-state
Ohio
Top officers of Comair will take pay cuts
As part of cost-control measures needed to restore Comair Inc.'s competitiveness, the regional airline's new president says he and other top officers will take a 10 percent pay cut beginning March 1.
Comair President Fred Buttrell took over the company Jan. 17. He replaced Randy Rademacher, who resigned after Comair canceled its approximately 1,100 Christmas flights when a computer system used for scheduling flight crews failed. The shutdown and related expenses cost Comair and its owner, Delta Air Lines, $20 million, Delta has said.
In December, Comair, based at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, announced that managers and nonunion workers would not receive pay raises this year.
Three sections of code suspended by high court
The state Supreme Court has suspended three sections of its judicial code because of an appeals court judge's campaign to become a justice.
William O'Neill, an 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals judge, was defeated by Justice Terrence O'Donnell in the November election.
The three parts of the Code of Judicial Conduct have been suspended indefinitely, Supreme Court spokesman Chris Davey said.
State Rep. James Trakas, the Cuyahoga County GOP chairman, filed a complaint against O'Neill in July with the Supreme Court disciplinary counsel's office, Ohio State Bar Association and Ohio Elections Commission.
Cuyahoga River deemed safe to fish again
The Cuyahoga River, known for catching fire when an oil slick burned in 1969, now is clean enough for catching steelhead trout.
Don Killinger, research supervisor for the Cuyahoga County Health Board, said, "There has never been any recommendation by any agency to fish on the Cuyahoga River, especially in the Cuyahoga County area, because of the conditions of the river in the past and all the pollution."
The state Route 82 dam in Brecksville and the Gorge Park dam in Cuyahoga Falls once were among the most-polluted areas on the river. Their newfound fishing endorsement is listed on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Web site.
After years of clean-up efforts, an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency study found 62 species of fish in the Cuyahoga River when there were none nearly three decades earlier.
West Virginia
Gun Bash planned to aid the WVU rifle team
Plans are under way for the second Gun Bash to benefit the West Virginia University rifle team, which has won 13 national championships but no longer receives funding from the university.
The event will be July 29-31 at Mylan Park in Morgantown in conjunction with the Mountain State bike rally, said Mark Sellaro, a member of the team from 1971 to 1974 who now is part of the WVU Rifle Endowment team.
The university cut off funding for the rifle team in the spring of 2003.
The first Gun Bash last year raised more than $100,000, less than the expected $200,000 because heavy rain hurt attendance. It takes about $163,000 a year to fund the team.
Vigil held after police blamed in wreck death
Relatives and friends of an accident victim whose body lay undiscovered in a wrecked cargo van for about 15 hours after the crash kept a 15-hour vigil in front of a state police detachment because they say troopers botched the investigation and maybe a chance to save his life.
An autopsy indicated that Dwight Ernest Ferguson, 21, of Wayne, likely died within minutes of the crash. A tow truck operator found his body inside the van after it was taken to a tow company's salvage yard.
The Jan. 18 crash along Route 152 in Lavalette also killed Ferguson's friend, Darrell Maynard, 21, of Wayne, who was ejected from the vehicle and later died at a Huntington hospital.
The vigil lasted from late Friday night through early Saturday afternoon at the Wayne detachment. About 50 people participated for at least part of the vigil, one attendee said.
City councilman pleads guilty to drug charge
A Martinsburg city councilman has agreed to plead guilty to one count of delivery of a controlled substance and to resign from office in exchange for a reduced sentence and bail.
As part of Friday's plea bargain, Frank Idoni also agreed to plead no contest to a misdemeanor count of battery and to turn over any guns in his house to the Martinsburg Police Department. A second count of delivery of a controlled substance will be dismissed.
The plea bargain must be approved by a circuit judge.
Under the agreement, Idoni would be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for the drug charge and one year for the battery charge. Both sentences would be suspended in favor of five years' probation, said Berkeley County Assistant Prosecutor Joshua Henline. Idoni posted bond Friday and was released.
Man was cooking meth before blast, police say
A man who was killed in an explosion apparently was in the process of cooking methamphetamine, state police said.
The body of Alva G. Brady, 39, of Frametown, was discovered after the Saturday morning fire in an outbuilding was extinguished.
