Erica Dietz | Tribune-Review
Joe Grillo, of Lower Burrell, sings “God Bless America” during the flag ceremony at American Legion 868 on Monday, May 29, 2017.
William T. Larkin | Tribune-Review
Joe Grillo as Santa Claus photographed by the Valley News Dispatch for a holiday edition in the late 1980s.
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
After 16 years, Lower Burrell Councilman Joe Grillo said it’s time to go. He announced last week he would not seek reelection this year during a council meeting this week.
“I’ve given it long and hard thought since 2018 when I had a cancer scare,” Grillo said. “Thank God, I’m now a cancer survivor.”
Courtesy of Rosalie Kupec
Record-breaking Fallen Officer Food Drive in Lower Burrell on Jan. 16, 2021, benefitted the St. Margaret Mary Food Bank.
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
Beset by an unpleasant snowy, gray Saturday, donors still came out in full force for a record-breaking Fallen Officer Food Drive in Lower Burrell.
The food drive, in its third year, benefits the food bank at St. Margaret Mary Church in Lower Burrell. The fundraiser pays homage to two police officers who were gunned down and killed in separate events in the line of duty: New Kensington Officer Brian Shaw and Lower Burrell Officer Derek Kotecki. Their families and friends continue to raise money in their honor for scholarships, K-9 officers and community causes.
Tribune-Review
AP
Medical personnel work inside the covid-19 unit at University Hospital in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday, Dec. 16. Covid-19 cases nationwide have been increasing in recent weeks.
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
Headlines in the Dec. 13 Trib included “Calls flood ambulance services” and “Hospitals plead for public’s help.” Excela Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carol Fox describes staff holding the phone for a dying covid patient to hear a hymn sung by a pastor, and others holding the hands of patients as they die, alone. An EMT sees a “giant up-tick after the holiday of people not listening.”
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
One restaurant has a packed parking lot every day. For those who believe it’s a risk worth taking in the short term to make money, don’t use front-line workers to fix you when you let your guard down.
One owner blames the governor. You wouldn’t be “told what to do” and “treated like a child” if you weren’t acting like one.
Another said, “We all know that 99% of the people who get this virus recover from it.” No 98% do. Hypothetical: Sixty people eat at your restaurant without masks; three of them have the virus. Based on a 25% positivity rate, 15 people catch the virus. One could die from complications; one could become very sick, with millions of dollars in medical bills; one could be a long hauler.
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
Lower Burrell police said an Arnold woman who wrecked her car at Burrell Lake Park on Saturday tried to take an officer’s gun and Taser, and hit, kicked and spit on officers as they arrested her.
Michelle Pusateri, 37, also faces charges of child endangerment because police said she was driving under the influence with her 4-year-old son in the car.
Police said Pusateri fought them at the scene of the crash, in the police car, again when they reached the police station and after she was placed in a holding cell.