Community Corner
New Food Truck + Major Road Closure + Pittsburgh Man Charged 25 Years
The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Pittsburgh.
Hello, everybody! HAPPY FRIDAY! Any fun plans this weekend? I'm hoping to hit one of the local ice skating rinks to get into the holiday spirit.
I'm back in your inbox this morning to walk you through the most important things happening in Pittsburgh today. In today's Daily, we'll cover these stories and more...
- Hills Department Stores Snack Bar Being Revived As Food Truck
- Major Pittsburgh Road Partially Closed After Tree Takes Down Wires
- Pittsburgh man given 25 years for cocaine trafficking and shooting a federal agent
Plus— 5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend! Here we go!
A couple of morning showers. High: 41 Low: 29.
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Here are the top stories in Pittsburgh today:
1) The weekend is coming, and so are many local events. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is back in Pittsburgh for 2022 with the return of "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve: The Best of TSO and More" at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available for both the matinee and evening shows. For more information, call 412-642-1800. Also this weekend, the Pittsburgh CLO's "A Musical Christmas Carol" continues at the Byham Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. Michael Cerveris stars as the miserly character who totally redeems himself by the end of a nightmarish night before Christmas. Tickets for the morning show are priced as low as $15. The Sunday schedules features noon and 4 p.m. show times. Call 412-456-6666 or go to trustarts.org for information. Saturday also marks the day for the Pittsburgh Santa Crawl, a holiday themed bar crawl on the city's South Side from 2 to 10 p.m. featuring more than 10 bars. Organizers call it an opportunity to "explore the city and celebrate the holiday season one bar at a time." Tickets are priced at $20 in advance and $40 the day of, and include a refillable Santa mug, access to South Side bars including Mario's, The Flats on Carson, Skybar, Fin McCools and more, plus food and drink specials. Participants are encouraged to dress festively and drink responsibly. For more information, visit thepittsburghsantacrawl.com .
(TribLIVE)
2) The Hills discount department store chain has been nothing but a memory for more than two decades, but one man plans on reviving a significant part of its legacy - the famous snack bar. Jason Powell of Aliquippa will launch a Hills-themed food truck in the spring that will bear the department store's logo feature the snack bar items that people still recall fondly, such as hot dogs, popcorn and pretzels. Powell has received a positive reaction to his plan, which has rekindled fond recollections of the store. "Everybody that I've ever talked to has nothing but great things and memories about Hills," he told WTAE-TV. "So to be able to bring that back to the community, it's heartwarming."
3) A major Pittsburgh road is partially closed due to a tree taking down nearby wires. The inbound lanes of Route 51 are closed this morning after a tree fell onto power lines early Friday. The closure is at the intersection of Route 51 and Edgebrook Avenue; traffic is being detoured up Edgebrook Avenue. The incident has left more than 700 homes without power as of 7:30 a.m. According to Duquesne Light's website, the affected areas include Baldwin, Beltzhoover, Brentwood, Brookline and Whitehall. There's no word on when power will be restored or when Route 51 will fully reopen.
(Patch)
4) A Pittsburgh man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in connection to cocaine trafficking as well as shooting a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent in June 2020, a release from the Department of Justice announced Thursday. Dion Williams, 46, was given a 20-year sentence for the drug-trafficking violation and assaulting the agent. He received an additional five years for going against his supervised release for a prior drug-related conviction. Federal agents had become suspicious of Williams by May 2020. Williams admitted in his guilty plea that he had distributed up to 2 kilograms of cocaine with others. During a search at Williams' Bluff neighborhood residence, Williams shot an agent in the shoulder. The agent was taken to the hospital and survived the injury. Williams eventually surrendered himself to federal custody "without further incident" after the shooting, the release says.
5) The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium will unveil a brand new name in the new year. PPG says it will give up the naming rights and instead focus its support on science, technology, engineering and math education programs at the zoo in the city's Highland Park neighborhood. Starting Jan. 1, the name will simply be "Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium" — without the "PPG" that has been included for the last 20 years. "The new teen-focused STEM education funding will offer local at-risk middle school students learning opportunities at their schools and in the zoo's teen learning lab, as well as offering on-grounds animal encounters, career shadowing experiences, and team project opportunities," the zoo and PPG said in a joint statement Thursday. The naming rights deal began in 2002 and was extended in 2011. It expired in April, but the zoo and PPG agreed to keep the name in place through the end of the year. "Since investing in the naming rights sponsorship in 2002, PPG's business has evolved and its perspective on where the PPG Foundation can provide the strongest value as a community partner has continued to transform," Malesia Dunn, executive director of the PPG Foundation and corporate global social responsibility, said in the statement. "We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium through STEM educational programming."
News You Can FEEL GOOD About!— This is a new section of the newsletter I am trying out in Friday editions of the Pittsburgh Patch. My goal is to share some of the best things going on in the Pittsburgh area that can give us all a smile. Know of something I should share? Send it my way at rachtask24@gmail.com.
A local motorcycle club arrived at UPMC Mercy today with a special delivery —toys for pediatric patients at UPMC Mercy Burn Center! Check out some photos here: (WPXI Pittsburgh)
Today in Pittsburgh:
- The Youth Arts Council's Winter Teen Night (5:00 PM)
- Salsa Showcase &Dance - Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center (5:00 PM)
- Dazzling Nights Pittsburgh (5:30 PM)
- Christmas Party - Brentwood Library (7:00 PM)
- Ugly Sweater Party @ Live! Casino (7:00 PM)
- PBR Buckin' Birthday @ Live! Casino (7:00 PM)
- The Dinner Detective Comedy Murder Mystery Dinner Show (7:00 PM)
- Chatham Baroque: The Art of the Trio – Holiday Edition (7:30 PM)
- DJ Sports & Social Steel City (10:00 PM)
- Brushes and Birds featuring Maria DeSimone Prascak (12:00 AM)
From my notebook:
- Visit Pittsburgh: "Celebrate the City of Champions with day 9 of our 10 Days of #LovePGH Giveaways! 🐧🏈🏴☠️⛳️💛Enter for a chance to win one of our one-of-a-kind Pittsburgh sporting experiences! HOW TO ENTER: ➡️ Like this post & follow our page! ➡️ ." (Visit Pittsburgh via Facebook)
- Pittsburgh Bureau of Police: "Pittsburgh Police Special Victims Unit detectives continue to search for Donald E. Arrington. It's been one year since he was last seen in McKeesport on December 15, 2021. He would now be 64 years old. " (Pittsburgh Bureau of Police via Facebook)
- Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens: "We still need your help! Our guests below are still looking for the lovely person that snapped photos of them during their proposal at Phipps. They still have not received their photos yet. " (Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens via Facebook)
- Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh: "#Bestof2022 From football to baseball to hockey, our adoptable animals know all the stars of Pittsburgh sports! The results of this photoshoot are on sale now at HumaneAnimalRescue.org! Penguins & Paws is a great gift this holiday season!" (Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh via Facebook)
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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Friday. I'll see you back in your inbox tomorrow morning with another update!
— Rachel Tasker
About me: Rachel is a native Pennsylvanian with stops in Erie and State College before making Pittsburgh her home in 2020. She's got a background in a little bit of everything... from working in media newsrooms and public health to the 2016 Presidential election in Washington, D.C. and the 2019 Super Bowl where (surprise!) Tom Brady won... AGAIN. She loves good coffee, bad reality T.V., attending local events and trying new food in the 412. She resides in the South Hills.
Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Pittsburgh Daily? Contact me at pittsburgh@patch.com
