Going Up?

So the school board decided to raise the taxes for the first time
since 2004.

We like the decision, because it saves some teaching jobs.

3 of which are elementary gym teachers.

We like that.


What we don't like, is spending more money.

But, it's only a 1 mill increase, which works out to be like
1.4% of your property taxes.


We applaud this decision.

Well done, board members.

Block Party!

Last year, the city hosted a rockin' block party.

There were vendors.
Tunes by DJ Frankie.
Debo the Clown
Face Painting
Games
Fireworks
Us!

It was such a success, that they decided to do it again.

Here are the deets...

-
New Kensington FIREWORKS AND BLOCK PARTY
********
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Block Party at 5 pm to 10 pm
4th Ave. between 8th and 9th St.
Fireworks at 9:30 pm from top of the Parking Garage
on 4th Ave. and 7th St.
*********
Come Join the Fun!!!
-

Here are a couple photos from last year...








Wait a second... how'd that last one get in there?



See you Saturday!

Look Out!

Yesterday we posted our normal Random Picture Monday.

It was a shot we captured this past Sunday as we drove by
the Freeport Rd. Dairy Queen, that we were told was to be open
this weekend.

But to our surprise, it was still mostly boarded up.

Actually, the boards were extended to the pavement now.

This was strange.

We then started getting some insider tips on our facebook page,
claiming that a vehicle smashed into the front of the DQ on Saturday
night.

We have no confirmation of this.

But it does explain the new/larger boards.

The question we now have, is what the hell do Newk residents
have against the local sweet treateries?

First it was the Donut Connection.

Now our beloved DQ that just reopened mere hours before.



Anyone know for sure this is what happened?

And how the hell did they make it through the posts and the
sign?

Random Picture Monday (06-27-11)

Maybe their meaning of "open" differs from ours?

Odds And Ends (6/24/11)

Today we are just gonna post some random stuff that
people either emailed us, or posted on our awesome
facebook page.

You too can join the fun.

"The sign @ the Dairy Queen says it's opening Sat!"

-Jamie

That is awesome news!

We will for sure be there.

Here's hoping we don't have to have anxiety when we order
like we always did before.

Did Vocelli's Pizza in Lower Burrel close?

-Brian

We could neither confirm or deny this, but our call
went unanswered.

Your site sucks and your stupid.

-Unsigned (via email)

You might be onto something here.

It very well could suck, and we may be stupid.

But we know how to properly spell "you're."

So we have that going for us.



-

See you all tonight at Community Days.

Check the other day's post for details.

Oh yeah...

Here is a great picture sent to us to make us hungry.

It's the 3800 lbs of potatoes going to be served up by the NKFD.

Yum.

Reader Needs An Answer

We get lots of emails.

Some of them are funny.
Some are informative.
And some are downright mean.

This one asks a question that we are unable to answer.

Any help from our readers would be appreciated.

Hey guys, Found the NEWK a while back and I love checkin on all the goings on back home you post. Was back in February and was downtown on 5th. There is a security company of sorts near where Isaly's used to be. Near there, there's a storefront with all kinds of Alex Jones pictures and stuff as well as outside speakers rebroadcasting Alex Jones' internet radio show. Curious to know what they're selling or what the story is. Any ideas?

-Dave

We really have no idea here.

We are too young to even remember where Isaly's was.
And we have no idea who Alex Jones is.

Mr. Jones ran the library at Valley when we attended,
but Alex isn't his first name.

C-Daze Are In 2 Days!

That's right, kids.

It's that time of year again.

Community Days is upon us.

We were gonna look up the info and write it all out for you.

But then we went to this awesome website...

www.newkenfire.org

And they had it all laid out for us.

It's copy and paste time...

Event: New Kensington Community Days 2011

Location: Memorial Park, New Kensington, PA

Get ready for the 20th Annual New Kensington Community Days celebration! Running from Friday, June 24th through Sunday, June 26th, this year’s event has some great things in store. The daily entertainment schedule is sure to keep everyone singing and dancing, with DaPhunk kicking things off on Friday at 6:30PM. Saturday Sour Mash starts off a great summer afternoon at 12:00PM, followed by the return of the classic Johnny Angel and the Halos taking the stage at 7:30PM. On Sunday, On the Ridge starts at 12:00PM.

Community Days is a family-oriented event, so there will be plenty to do for the kids! The Eat’n'Park Cookie Cruiser will be there on Friday. Debo the Clown and kids rides will be running all weekend long. Providing fun for the young and young-at-heart, the Parkvale Bank Hot Air Balloon will be on-site for hot air balloon rides all weekend! The Turner Tea Cruiser will be serving-up cold Turner’s iced teas, and Saturday the Lowes Workshop will be running all day.

As always, there will be plenty of food and crafters galore. Bring the kids, bring the neighbors–it’s a community fun-for-all! FREE parking will be available at the Valley High School lot in New Kensington and at the former Montgomery Wards/JC Penny lot in Lower Burrell, with free shuttles running to the park all weekend. Admission is only $2, and free for children 11 and under.

Something new for this year: 96.9 BOB FM will be there on Saturday, June 25th from 6pm to 8pm – stop by the BOB FM booth for games and giveaways!

We'd like to thank the local firemen for everything they do
for this city.

We'd also like to thank them for having such a nice, and
wonderfully eloquent website.

Valley Wins! Valley Wins!

As we're ure you've already heard, the Lady Vikings
of Valley High won the PIAA state AAA softball championship
this past Friday evening in State College.

The 3-1 victory was the first championship for Valley.

It is a pretty big deal, we think.

Normally, news like this would be the main focus of our post.

But we pretty much suck at writing real news, but we're pretty
good at stirring the pot.

So when the team got back to town, late that Friday night.

The local fire departments and police decided to give them an
escort through the Newk.

As the sirens wailed, and the bright lights flashed, many residents
dashed to thier window to see what was going on out there.

Was it a fire?
Was it a riot?
Was theNewk team getting into trouble again?

Many things raced through the heads of the folks that
heard the ruckus.

We realized what it was, as we sat on our deck and had a celebratory
PBR Light.

We clapped as they drove by.

We felt proud.
We felt happy.
We felt good.
We felt drunk.
(That wasn't our first PBR Light of the evening.)

We then posted about the entrance on facebook, where we ended
up getting some mixed responses over the next day.

Mostly positive, but a few people weren't happy about it.

We made it rather clear how we felt about it.

We aren't saying we're right, and you're wrong.

But chances are that's the case.

As we've only been wrong once, and it was a doozy.
But we won't get into that one.

Did you hear/see the arrival?
What did you think about it?


Those are important questions.

But what's even more important is saying congratulations
to the young ladies and coaches that left their blood, sweat,
and tears on that field all season long.

Well done, ladies.

We are all proud of you.

(Even if we lost a little sleep because of it.)

Random Picture Monday (06-20-11)

Mister Softee isn't looking so great these days.

It's Summertime, Ya'll

The kids are out of school.

Old guys are shirtless while doing lawn care.

Big people are wearing clothes that are too small.

We sweat while doing basically nothing.


Yep, those are all signs of the apocalypse.

Err, we meant summer.


Now, we have been planning on taking a real vacation this year,
and it looks like it may actually happen.

That's right, kids...

The Newk team will be GTLing for a week at the Jersey Shore.

We'd mention Snookie here, but everyone mentions Snookie.

So we hope to meet up with Vinnie.


Now, we're rather sure we won't see any of the Jersey Shore
cast members.

And we'll be totally fine with that.

Actually, we'd prefer it.


Sorry guys.


Enough about us and our glamorous vacation plans.

What are the rest of you doing this summer?
(Other than reading thenewk.com of course.)

Go ahead, brag a little.

All of our friends do it on facebook all the time.

Tomorrow We Dine On Barons

We'd first like to say congratulations to the Lady Vikings
softball team at Valley.

They have made it all the way to the state finals (AAA), for the
first time ever.

They will be facing Manheim Central High School at Penn State's
brand new softball facility this Friday @ 5pm.

All of this coming after Valley took 3rd in the WPIAL playoffs.

When you're hot, you're hot.

And when we say hot...

we mean HOT!

Senior pitcher Caitlin Nealer is coming off a no-hitter
(striking out 13 batters) in their last game against last year's
state champs.

Valley becomes the only other local team (Leechburg) to reach the
state finals.

Leechburg won titles in both '92 and '95.


So go ahead and leave some good luck wishes for Coach Perroz
and the young ladies looking to make some local history.

Let's go Vikes!

WTF? (What The Fee?)

Like many people in the Newk, we never pay our
local taxes on time.

Every so often, we get a perfume laced letter from the
gals at the tax collection office.

They request our presence (money) at the office, as soon
as we can make it.

They usually throw in a little side note about the magistrate
getting in between us.

How kinky!
(We could be down for a ménage.)

But anyways, they finally caught up to us, and we spent some
quality time figuring out the totals of our newly found debt.

It was a solid total to begin with, but when the fees and charges
started getting in the mix, our generally cheery demeanor took
a turn towards Poo-pooville.

And nobody likes the scenery in Poo-pooville.


Now, we understand... our local taxes are used for all kinds of
good things around here.

But that doesn't make them easier to pay.


Before we ramble on, the catalyst for this post is the little known fact,
that if you don't earn any money for an entire year, you can still be
charged a large amount of fees for said year.

Example:

You are laid off for the entire year of (let's say) 2009.

No income = no local taxes, correct?

Yes.

Unless...

You don't tell them that you earned squadouche, and they come
looking for it.

Then you get to pay a substantial amount of moolah.

We just wanted to point this out to all of you.

Maybe it will save you some grief, as well as a few duckets.



We better get back to work, as our paycheck has a new destination.

Time To Smash The Donuts

We got word yesterday morning, that a vehicle
smashed through the front of the Donut Connection
on Tarentum Bridge Rd.

We like to check out such breaking stories, so we took a detour
on our way to get Glen's Custard to snap a pic or two.

And it turns out, someone did crash into it.

We aren't sure as to what exactly happened, or even
what type of vehicle did this damage.

But here's a picture:


And here are some of our theories:

- Car chase past Wendy's gone awry.
- They were having a free cup o coffee Monday, and the seniors
got their DeVilles up over 35 for once.
- Someone thought the drive-thru was on this side.
- Donuts be drivin' suckas crazy.
- A couple was having a little AM love session on the backseat of the
family Tahoe, and kicked the gear shift into reverse.

Donuts make people horny, so we are going to put our
money on the last one.


Well, whatever the case may be, we hope that all involved
are okay and uninjured.

Let us know if you got some scoop.



We took another shot that has some sweet signage in it.


C-Daze are coming soon!

Random Picture Monday (06-13-11)

We love dogs.

We suggest you go adopt one of the lovable ones here.

New Ken Gettin Props

It's been a good week for our inbox.

One good email ofter the next.

This one comes from Luke.

Yo man, I was playing mass effect 2 when I happened upon the planet pictured. I think if I had landed there would have been an arby's, a six and save, and a little Chinese joint, LOL

Until Later Days,
Luke

Seriously.

How great has this website become?

We are blown away.


Have a great weekend, everyone.

We can't wait to see what you send us next.

Senior Project

We received this email yesterday...

Subject: Alyssa Ruediger - Senior Project (Weed and Seed, Hill Neighborhood Watch, New Kensington Police Department)

A requirement to graduate from high school is to complete a senior project. I only had to complete a minimum of 20 hours of community service, but I completed 68 and a half through being a part of the Hill Neighborhood Watch, the New Kensington Weed and Seed, and went on ride alongs with police officers and a sergeant from the New Kensington Police Department until I couldn't go on them anymore. After learning that most crimes stem from drugs, I decided to do my project on drug activity. I obtained my information through interviewing New Kensington Police Chief Ron Zellers, who was a undercover detective for sixteen years and his goal while holding the position as chief is to reduce the narcotics distribution in New Kensington as much as he possibly can. My goal is to have as many people as I can watch this video, educate them, and find something great to do with it. Forward this to anyone you know who would be interested in watching this.

Click below to view my video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-vQnmWwYkE

Alyssa Ruediger

New Kensington, PA Weed and Seed

Here is the video...




We'd like to thank her for sending this our way.

Well done, Alyssa.

We are proud of you.

Many Thanks

This past Saturday, we participated in an event that is very
close to our hearts.

Walk Now For Autism Speaks

Our team of around 40 people joined about 12,000 other folks
for this great event at Heinz Field.

Not only would we like to thank all the members of our team, we
would like to thank all those that donated to the cause.

Here are some of the local businesses that either participated
or donated:

Dunkin' Donuts (Tarentum)
Stella's Restaurant (Parnassus)
The Blind Pig Saloon (New Kensington)
FBR (New Kensington)
Chelsea Bakes! (New Kensington)

It was a beautiful day, and an amazing event.

Thanks again to everyone, and we mean everyone involved!

Random Picture Monday (06-06-11)

What's going on with the old Jerome-Costa Caddy building?

The Report Is Good

Around 2:30 pm yesterday, we got a disturbing report
that there had been a large explosion along the river in the
industrial section.

Early reports were saying that there were people missing, and
there was a huge fire being battled by all 5 fire stations.

photo by our pal www.davidcooperphoto.com

It's safe to say, the early word wasn't good.

It wasn't good at all.

As we drove home about an hour later, our eyes were stuck on
the Newk side of the Allegheny.

We saw no smoke, and no lights.

This, we thought, was a good sign.

We crossed the river and took a peak.

It didn't appear that all of the Newk was aflame, like the
initial report led us to believe.

We came home, grabbed a sandwich, and jumped online to
check the news sites.

And the reports were good.

Really good.

Here are the deets:

Ironmaster LLC had an explosion at 2pm.

All 3 employees inside got out safely.

The explosion may have been caused by the metal dust collection machine.



We are happy to hear that everyone is okay.

To celebrate this good news, we are going out drinking tonight.

Wait, it's Thursday, we always go out drinking on Thursdays.

We'll be safe, we swear.

Hell... you should join us.

We're Sticky

Not sure if you all noticed, but it was hotter than a
2-pecker'd dog out there yesterday.

As we walked to our car, a neighbor called out to us.

We turned our head, and immediately broke into a pouring
sweat, and ended up fainting.

As they made their way over to help us, they had a heat stroke,
and have now lost all use of their left side.

What we are trying to say, is it was a little hot.


Editor's Note:
As this post was being written, we google imaged
the word "hot," to find a picture to put here.

It's safe to say that we didn't see many pictures of the sun.

It's also safe to say that we were distracted for a
little over 23 minutes as we clicked through the images.


This is what we finally found on page 74...


It's a hot plate.

Not really the best picture to describe what we are trying
to get across.

But it was the first one without boobs in it.

Although it is quite sexy.



Stay cool.