Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Baldwin and Whitehall boaters will get a heads up if a combined sewer overflow alert has been issued.
The Allegheny County Health Department will issue water advisories for the 2013 river recreation season beginning Wednesday, May 15, and continuing through Monday, Sept. 30. The advisories indicate whether water quality in rivers and streams is normal or if a combined sewer overflow (CSO) alert has been issued. Alerts are issued when significant rainfall causes sewers carrying a combination of sewage and storm water to overflow and contaminate rivers and streams. A CSO alert does not prohibit recreational activity but rather cautions people to minimize water contact during outings. Those with weakened immune systems and open cuts or sores are more vulnerable to infection from exposure to contaminated water. Boaters and others who enjoy the…
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Snow and rain is predicted.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood advisory for the Ohio River in Pittsburgh. The river at The Point is forecast to rise above 18 feet by Thursday evening, which will flood the Monongahela River Parking Wharf. The weather service forecasts the Ohio to crest at around 18.5 feet by early Friday morning and then fall below 18 feet by Friday evening. Here's a look at, roughly, the Baldwin-Whitehall forecast through Sunday night from the National Weather Service: This forecast, of course, is subject to change. Should you take any weather-related photos, contribute to Patch by adding them to this article. Just click on one of the green "Upload Photos and Videos" buttons above! And please tell us about troubled spots in the comments …
Sunday, November 25, 2012
These cases from the Pittsburgh area did not have a happy ending, but finding those missing persons might have brought closure to families.
As early as this July, people in the law enforcement community knew that the remains of Amanda Sue Myers of Pittsburgh had been identified through DNA comparison. However, it was only about a week ago when Pittsburgh police finally released the news. In July, two separate sources told Patch that Myers had been identified but that police wanted to hold off on releasing information until some interviews had been conducted. Amanda, who was 22 years old at the time of her death, was last seen alive in Pittsburgh at the end of 1999 but may have been in Florida and Tennessee as late as April 2000. She was not reported missing until 2007, according to the Pennsylvania Missing Persons website. Known unofficially as Homestead Jane Doe, Amanda was …
Monday, September 3, 2012
Patch has been featuring missing persons, homicide victims and the unidentified dead with open case files, but today, we are honoring the labors of those who work these cases by sharing some solved ones.
When someone goes missing, there's usually a large effort by law enforcement, family and friends to find him or her. When someone is murdered without a known suspect, police and relatives try to find out who did it. And when a body is discovered, and no kin claim it, advocates who work on such cases push to link circumstances or DNA to bring them home. In honor of Labor Day, Patch is recognizing the efforts of all those who work to solve these cases, bring the missing and unidentified home, and provide closure to the families or justice for the victims of unsolved homicides. Included in that are the many people who give the missing and unidentified "temporary homes" on websites like The Doe Network or NamUs until they are found or claimed…
Sunday, July 22, 2012
A newborn found dead on Neville Island in 1999 has never been identified.
Most babies are brought into this world wanted, cared for and loved. But there are some who aren't that lucky. On April 11, 1999, some buzzards circling near the Ohio River's edge caught the attention of two employees doing a security check on the 3-11 p.m. shift at Pittsburgh Gear Co., a manufacturing business on Neville Island. As they walked down a rutted path toward the banks of the river, the men saw what drew the buzzards' attention—the lifeless body of a baby boy caught in rocks and twigs in very shallow water off to the side of an old boat ramp. Part of his umbilical cord was still attached. According to an April 12, 1999, story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the men called police. Law enforcement officials said that they believed…
40.509009
-80.127876
5101 Neville Rd, Pittsburgh, PA
/articles/unsolved-cases-baby-bede-214ee3f2
/locations/7459492
Saturday, June 23, 2012
The 8-year-old boy disappeared from near his McKees Rocks home in 1991.
Willie Majewski was only 8 years old about 4 p.m. on Nov. 9, 1991, as he gathered his fishing gear and walked toward Chartiers Creek, which feeds into the nearby Ohio River. He wasn't reported missing for several hours after he disappeared. His mother was out playing bingo and didn't realize he hadn't come home. Willie's fishing gear was found later behind the Eat'n Park restaurant—along the banks of the creek, about 100 yards from a camp where homeless people stayed. His equipment had not been disturbed, and there were no signs of a struggle at the scene. Witnesses reported seeing Majewski in the McKees Rocks Plaza. One person saw him talking to a scruffy man in a store. Another said an unkempt man pulled him into a burnt-orange Chevy …
Friday, May 25, 2012
A 24-year-old woman was killed on Sunday in a jet ski accident at the Dashields Locks and Dam across the river from Edgeworth and Sewickley, just as National Safe Boating Week got under way.
An Aliquippa woman was killed and a Robinson Township man injured following a jet ski accident on Sunday on the Ohio River. Melissa Mason, 24, and Kevin Ludwig, 26, were both rushed to the Heritage Valley Sewickley hospital shortly after 4 p.m. that day. Ludwig was treated and released before 7 p.m., while Mason was pronounced dead at a Pittsburgh hospital, according to Lawrence P. Furlong, assistant supervisor of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's Bureau of Law Enforcement. With Memorial Day—the official start of boating season—quickly approaching, the Fish and Boat Commission, along with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are hoping to remind the public about safe recreational boating. Many residents in …
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Each weekend, beginning May 12-13, Patch will review a missing person, an unidentified body or a cold case involving a homicide victim from Allegheny or Washington counties.
The Pennsylvania Missing Persons website features the somewhat-haunting sketch of "Beth Doe" on its homepage. Nancy Monahan, of Penn Hills, who started and runs the website, chose the sketch because, in nearly four decades and despite social networking and modern forensics, no one has ever been able to determine where the woman came from or who she was. Monahan was intrigued, in part, because the woman would have been in her own age bracket. The details of the case are rather disturbing. The young woman had been dismembered and mutilated. She and her full-term, unborn child were stuffed in three suitcases and thrown from a bridge along Interstate 80 over the Lehigh River in Carbon County, PA. Police think that the killer meant for the …
Baldwin Dad
8:35 am on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Our rivers haven't passed my eye test for many years. more ›