Monday, November 30, 2009

6th Annual Holiday House Tour of Mt. Lebanon This Saturday

The sixth annual Holiday House Tour of six Mt. Lebanon homes is run by Coldwell Banker Real Estate's Route 19 South/Galleria office. The tour is from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and is followed by an Atria's-catered luncheon with silent auction, raffle and boutiques at Bower Hill Community Church, 70 Moffett St. Tickets, $20, are available at the Coldwell Banker office, 1539 Washington Road. Proceeds benefit Make-A-Wish. Information: 412-344-0500 or www.PittsburghMoves.com/Rt19S-Galleria.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09332/1016824-30.stm

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Long Struggle Takes Mt. Lebanon Mom To Top Of Legal Profession

TV lawyers have it way too easy, family attorney Angela R. Winslow says with a chuckle. For them, law school can be buttoned up in a 2-minute montage, and their cases are wrapped up in an hour, even less with commercials.

"There's so much more work involved, both in the courtroom and in getting there," she said. She would know. Especially the part about getting there.

About two decades ago, Winslow was a single mom with little education and less of a chance at a career in the legal profession. Today, she's a partner in the Downtown law firm where she once answered phones and took memos.

"I've worked hard to be where I am today," said Winslow, 45, of Mt. Lebanon. "When you work for what you get, no one can take it away from you."

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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Mt. Lebanon Musician Gets Bowl Bid

Next Wednesday, the U.S. Army All-American Bowl will laud one of the 97 high school musicians selected to play at the 2010 game. Mt. Lebanon High School's Daniel Cohen, who plays alto saxophone, will be honored and given a logo bowl jacket at 11:45 a.m. in the auditorium.

Dan will perform with other high school musicians during halftime of the nation's premier high school football game on Jan. 9 in San Antonio, Texas. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the game, which has the nation's best high school players in an east versus west matchup.

He is the only local student musician so honored and one of only four selected from the state.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09329/1016028-55.stm

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

ALCOSAN Meets To Discuss Sewer Problems

It is going to cost a lot of money to fix the region's antiquated sewer systems, Allegheny County Sanitary Authority officials told residents who attended a recent regional wet weather planning meeting. "It's going to be very expensive...several billion," said Glenda Murphy, one of several consultants contracted by ALCOSAN to work on the project.

Approximately a dozen residents and community officials attended the meeting held at the Mt. Lebanon Community Center. The meeting was the second in a series of public meetings the authority is holding to discuss the sewage overflow issue and its impact.

Link: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/11-25-2009-South-Hills-ALCOSAN

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Book Cellar Celebrates First Year At ML library

The Book Cellar at the Mt. Lebanon Public Library will celebrate its first anniversary Dec. 3 with an open house at the library. Started by members of the Friends of the Mt. Lebanon Library, proceeds from the Book Cellar help finance the library.

"This (Book Cellar) was in response to two book sales we held at the library every year," said Susan Fretterd, a member of the Friends. "It was a bigger and bigger job each year and we had to rent space for storage and haul the books back and forth, and it was unwieldy. And we asked, 'Why not have books for sale year round.'"

Link: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/11-25-2009-Mt--Lebanon-book-cellar

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Town Hall Meeting With Rep. Matt Smith

State Representative Matt Smith will be holding a town hall meeting next Tuesday, December 1 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM in the Commissioners' Chambers in the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building. The flyer I received about the meeting states:
"Please join me to hear about the recently passed state budget, health care, education, the environment and other issues important to you."

Link: www.pahouse.com/MSmith

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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Rating Good, Debt Level High Analysts Say Of Mt. Lebanon School District

A bond rating analyst praised the financial strength of the Mt. Lebanon School District, but warned about its high level of debt.

Standard & Poors, an off-Wall Street firm, gave the school district's $69 million bond issue a rating of "AA," or stable, based on its very strong wealth and income levels, strong local economy within the Pittsburgh area and strong financial position.

"It's always good to have an outside agency verify that you're in a strong financial position," said Jan Klein, director of business for the school district.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_653852.html

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Pittsburgh-Area Post Offices Still On Possible Closure List

The U.S. Postal Service has further trimmed its list of post offices facing possible closure, and four Pittsburgh-area locations remain on the new list.

The Postal Service has cut its list of potential closures from 371 locations nationwide to 241 locations.

The Mt. Lebanon Branch at 714 Washington Rd., the Homewood Branch at 566 Brushton Ave., the Neville Island Branch at 115 2nd St. and the Corliss Branch at 651 Hillsboro St. remain on the latest list.

Link: pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/11/16/daily49.html

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Zip The Cure: Mt. Lebanon Teen Takes Creative Approach To Fighting Juvenile Diabetes

Talking with Monica Oxenreiter, you have to remind yourself that she is only a sophomore in high school. The confidence in her voice and the wisdom in her words suggest she's far older. Perhaps her battle with juvenile diabetes, which began when she was just a baby, has given her a strength and poise that most teenagers have yet to develop.

This month, with encouragement from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Monica is launching a nonprofit organization called Zip the Cure. Her idea is wonderfully simple: If the people in each zip code across the country gave just $100, a total of $4.2 million would be raised for diabetes research. That modest goal -- getting entire communities to raise just $100 -- could create a windfall large enough to make real progress in fighting a disease that is striking a growing number of children across the country.

Link: www.popcitymedia.com/forgood/zipforthecure1111.aspx

Link: www.zipthecure.com

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Friday, November 20, 2009

Mt. Lebanon Student To Perform In Macy's Parade

Someday, Luke Steinhauer would like to play the role of Tony in "West Side Story" on Broadway. After making his Broadway debut, he envisioned himself performing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

The Mt. Lebanon High School sophomore hasn't made it to Broadway yet, but next Thursday, he'll fulfill his other ambition when he joins about 60 performers for the singing and dancing finale of Macy's annual parade.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09323/1014583-55.stm">

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Mt. Lebanon Man Behind New XBox Lacrosse Video Game

Carlo Sunseri of Mt. Lebanon never could play his favorite sport, lacrosse, on a TV screen until he convinced a video game creator in Scotland to convert a soccer game he'd built for the XBox 360 system.

This week, Sunseri introduced College Lacrosse 2010 as an independent, or "indie," game that other XBox users can download for $5.

To his knowledge, it's the first field lacrosse video game. "It's a pretty big deal in the lacrosse world," said Sunseri, judging from the online feedback he received via Facebook as he discussed plans for the game. The game is available via the online XBox Live Marketplace.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_653895.html

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Mt. Lebanon Girls In Top 10 Nationally

The Mt. Lebanon girls basketball team won WPIAL and PIAA championships last year with an undefeated record. It helped the Blue Devils develop a lofty national reputation this season.

USA Today came out with its Super 25 rankings today and Mt. Lebanon is ranked No. 9. The Blue Devils have all but one starter back from last season.

Link: community.post-gazette.com/blogs/varsityblog/archive/2009/11/18/mt-lebanon-girls-in-top-10-nationally.aspx

Link: www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/basketball/poll/2009-10-super25w.htm

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St. Clair Gets Fine Award

St. Clair and UPMC St. Margaret hospitals and Heritage Valley Health System were recognized Tuesday with Fine Awards for innovative efforts in improving the quality of medical care.

“Breakthroughs are happening every day on the front lines of patient care,” Milton Fine, president and CEO of The Fine Foundation, said in a prepared release. “These awards shine the spotlight on those often overlooked achievements and highlight the dramatic improvements our region is making to the health care system.”

A national committee chose this year’s three top winners out of nearly 40 applications, which were submitted last June.

The Gold Award went to a team at Mount Lebanon-based St. Clair for improving patient flow in the emergency department. Previously, patients waited an average 47 minutes before they entered a treatment room; now it’s 17 minutes. At the same time, patient satisfaction scores have risen 10 points and there were fewer cases of patients leaving the hospital before being seen. Team members will share a $25,000 award and the hospital received $5,000.

Link: pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/11/16/daily30.html

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Police To View Tape To ID Graffiti Scribbler

Police investigated threatening graffiti written on the wall of a boys' bathroom at Mt. Lebanon High School and determined no credible threat exists, according to the school district.

Students informed the administration this morning of messages written on the wall of a third-floor bathroom that said "11/19 Bomb" and "11/19 Shooting up the school."

Link: www.postgazette.com/pg/09322/1014469-100.stm

Link: www.thepittsburghchannel.com/allegheny/21653811/detail.html

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Sunday, November 15, 2009

Mt. Lebanon Bows Out With Loss In PIAA Volleyball

Mt. Lebanon entered the PIAA girls volleyball tournament with reason to believe it could earn a spot in Saturday's championship game at Central York High School.

The Blue Devils were unbeaten entering Friday's quarterfinals and riding a wave of momentum after winning their second Class AAA WPIAL title in three years one week earlier.

But their attempt to bring home the second state title in program history ended Saturday, as District 1 champion Bishop Shanahan defeated Mt. Lebanon in a four-set semifinal, 25-19, 19-25, 21-25, 18-25. Bishop Shanahan then won the title game, 3-0, against Allentown Central Catholic.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/highschool/s_653304.html

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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Mt. Lebanon Girls Reach Semifinals

Friday wasn't a banner day for WPIAL girls volleyball teams, but there are still two league champions with an opportunity to hang state title banners in their respective gyms.

Of the six area teams playing in yesterday's PIAA quarterfinals at Central York High School, only the WPIAL's Class AAA champion Mt. Lebanon and Class A title winner West Shamokin moved on to today's semifinals.

"We definitely want to represent our side of the state," Mt. Lebanon coach Dawn Begor said. "We want to show that our district is strong. We'd like to bring the championship back to the WPIAL, because it's been several years."

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_653191.html

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Residents And Groups Donating To Libraries To Cover Shortfall

When members of the Dormont/Castle Shannon/Mt. Lebanon Rotary Club heard about the severe funding cuts to community libraries, they turned to flower power.

The club sells poinsettias each year at the holidays to raise money for community projects. This year, proceeds from the sale will be split among the Dormont, Mt. Lebanon and Castle Shannon libraries.

"The way the libraries are, we thought we'd help them out," member Jason Baer said. "We give money to libraries from other efforts but, as a board, we decided maybe we could help them out more."

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09316/1012756-55.stm

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Mt. Lebanon Schools Address Underage Drinking

Mt. Lebanon School District Superintendent Dr. Timothy Steinhauer has announced the creation of a task force to address concerns about underage drinking.

"Recent reports of underage drinking in the community highlighted the need to review and reassess district programs and policies currently in place to address these issues," said Dr. Steinhauer in a blog post on the school district's Web site and in a note sent to parents.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09316/1012769-55.stm

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Lebo HS Community Advisory Committee

School Director Jo Posti reports that last Monday evening, Superintendent Timothy Steinhauer appointed the members of the Community Advisory Committee authorized by the School Board. The members are:
  • Kevin Doody
  • John Schrott
  • Ronald Liebow
  • Andrew Rhodes
  • Ellsworth Vines
  • Daniel Rothschild
  • David Disque
  • Robert Kinderman
  • Robert Hicks
  • Gary Gardner
  • Dirk Taylor

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Sunday, November 08, 2009

WPIAL Volleyball: Blue Devils Are Tops In AAA

It's one down and one to go for the Mt. Lebanon girls' volleyball team.

The Blue Devils claimed the WPIAL Class AAA title last night with a 3-2 victory against Seneca Valley in the last of three championship matches held at Chartiers Valley High School.

"We've been ranked No. 1 [in both the WPIAL and PIAA] all season," Mt. Lebanon setter Kate Begor said. "We reached one goal with today's title. We still have one more goal to reach. Hopefully, we can win the state title next week."

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09312/1011833-364.stm

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Mt. Lebo Blanks USC In AAA Title Game

Junior forward Zach Batteer scored on a free kick from 30 yards out with 8:37 remaining in the second overtime Saturday night, leading top-seeded Mt. Lebanon (19-1-1) to a 1-0 victory against Upper St. Clair (18-3-2) for the WPIAL Class AAA boys soccer championship at Elizabeth Forward.

The championship is Mt. Lebanon's 10th — the most of any Class AAA school — and its first since 2002.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/highschool/s_652157.html

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Shaler Blocks Mt. Lebo To Advance

Shaler coach Neil Gordon said he doesn't typically like to line up receiver Jesse Della Valle in the backfield. He couldn't have been upset with the result last night, however.

Della Valle rushed for 147 yards and three scores on 34 carries, leading Shaler to a 23-21 Class AAAA first-round playoff victory at home against Mt. Lebanon.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/highschool/s_652030.html

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Thursday, November 05, 2009

Ward 5 Commissioner Dan Miller Elaborates on the Present and Future of Mt. Lebanon

Ward 5 Commissioner Dan Miller has a column in the current issue of MTL magazine on the municipal budget and municipal services. Over at his blog, he has posted a much longer, richer version of the same piece. Surf over for an unusually detailed look at how Mt. Lebanon produces its budget sausage.

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Mt. Lebanon Budget Proposal Has No Tax Increase

Mt. Lebanon Municipal Manager Stephen Feller presented his recommended 2010 budget this week, calling it a "bare bones, conservative proposal that reflects the difficult times we are in."

The total budget for all funds is $43.7 million, and the recommended general fund budget is $30.4 million, which is a 1.4 percent increase from the 2009 operating budget. The budgets for all funds are balanced using a combination of ongoing revenues and available reserves.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010907-55.stm

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Parents Say School Failed To Warn Of Dangerous Gas

What if your child's school was infected with a dangerous gas, but you were never told about it?

Team 4 has learned testing at a school in Mt. Lebanon found high levels of radon, but parents say they didn't find out until Channel 4 Action News investigative reported Paul Van Osdol told them.

Howe Elementary in Mt. Lebanon is a Pennsylvania school of distinction. But five years ago, the school distinguished itself in another way: high radon levels.

Link: www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/21529957/detail.html

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Mt. Lebanon Board OKs Building Panel

The Mt. Lebanon School Board has voted to create a community advisory committee to review the design plan for the pending $113 million high school renovation project and make recommendations to the board.

The 5-3 vote came during a reconvened meeting held last Thursday. Directors Elaine Cappucci, Susan Rose and Josephine Posti dissented. Faith Ann Stipanovich was absent.

Arguments in favor of the committee included that it provides an additional point of view at no cost and that members' due diligence could save the district costly overruns and delays.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010918-55.stm

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Underage Drinking Parties Targeted In Mt. Lebanon

Mt. Lebanon police made numerous arrests for underage drinking at two separate parties allegedly hosted by parents during the month of October. Spokesman Lt. Aaron Lauth said he wouldn't call it a crackdown, but said it was unusual to have two such parties so close together.

"It's a concern to us, and we deal with it appropriately when it comes about," he said. "Do we always know when it occurs? No." Shortly before midnight on Oct. 10, police arrived at the Youngwood Road home of Eric and Marian Nabors to investigate reports of a possible underage drinking party. According to the police report, two young men and one young woman, al

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010922-55.stm

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Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Lebo Election Results

Just in case you haven't heard already....

School District (4 of 6 elected)

Mary D. Birks - 5085
Dale F. Ostergaard - 4842
Daniel L. Remely - 3692
Josephine Posti - 3535
Alan R. Silhol - 3502
Robert Gardner, Jr. - 3224

Commission - Ward 2

Matthew J. Kluck - 961
John M. Daley - 883

Commission - Ward 4

David C. Brumfield - 769
Dale K. Cowher - 660

Treasurer

John C. Ferguson, Jr. - 3668
Joseph Senko - 2681

Constable

Dimitro C. Kulik - 3759
Edward J. Kitchen - 3641

Magisterial District Judge

Blaise P. Larotonda - 7764


Link: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/11-04-quiet-elections

Link: www.county.allegheny.pa.us/elect/200911gen/summary.asp

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Mt. Lebanon Police Find Juveniles Consuming More Alcohol

Mt. Lebanon police broke up two underage drinking parties in private homes in the past few weeks, said police Lt. Aaron Lauth. Even though the number of parties are dropping, he said, the level of alcohol consumption among juveniles is rising.

One party was discovered at 1:23 a.m. Oct. 25 at 416 Serpentine Drive, and the other occurred at 11:57 p.m. Oct. 10 inside 61 Youngwood Road, Lauth said.

Numerous citations for underage drinking, corruption of minors or furnishing alcohol to minors were issued. "(Underage drinking parties) were declining over the past couple of years, until these two most recent incidents," Lauth said. "It's more what goes with it, as far as other things that can happen with juveniles getting intoxicated."

Link: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/11-04-ML-underage

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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Vote Today!

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Beside the School Director, Commissioner, and Mt. Lebanon Treasurer elections, there are some important judicial elections, too.

I voted. Have you?
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Sunday, November 01, 2009

More on the Lebo HS Community Advisory Committee

The recent post (here), on the approval of a Community Advisory Committee to work with the School Board and the project architects on the design for a new Lebo high school, may have set a BlogLebo record for the number of comments on a single post!

In case you don't have time to read all the way to the end of that thread, I especially commend Tom Moertel's comment at the very end. Tom points out, correctly, that much of the disagreement over the direction, pace, timing, and cost of the high school renovation/replacement project can be traced to the fact that two distinct issues have been conflated: One issue is what to do with and about the current high school facility, which has some serious problems. A separate, distinct issue is what kind of high school facility Mt. Lebanon wants and needs for the next 30 or 50 years. People who are in favor of moving forward immediately and aggressively, with no further delay or review of designs, seem to be focused largely on the first, near-term issue. People who are in favor of reviewing the design, to ensure that the Mt. Lebanon invests its building money wisely over the long term, seem to be focused largely on the second issue. (Tom puts this conflicts more eloquently than I have.) It is not clear whether anything can be done about the fact that these two issues have been lumped together. It does seem to explain, however, much of the fact that groups of people in Mt. Lebanon have been talking past one another about the high school project for months and months.

Meanwhile, two School Board members have posted their own thoughts about the Community Advisory Committee and why they voted for it (Fraasch) and against it (Posti):

James Fraasch, in a long post, notes:
Contrary to what was said by some members of the public at the meeting, there is not a single board member who wants to start this group in order to delay the progress of the high school project. Accusations like that are just absurd. There is community buy-in on a high school project. This is something I have learned since I first got on the Board. We simply need to make sure we are collectively buying-in to the right project.
Jo Posti, also in a long post, notes that she supported the concept of a CAC but ultimately voted against it because of concerns over the process that led to its formation and because of unresolved concerns about the scope of its work. She wrote:
As for a mission, the resolution currently reads, “The purpose of the CAC will be to meet with the School District’s design professionals and design teams to provide input and recommendations to the School Board.” Mrs. Rose suggested clarifying this mission in order to better focus the committee’s work to read: “The mission of the CAC is to review construction design documents to see constructive and economical recommendations that do not significantly alter the design or increase the cost of the Project.” This, in my opinion, was an important point of clarification in order to make the best use of these volunteers’ time and expertise. Unfortunately, without clarification on the mission and timeline I was unable to support the resolution.

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