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Community Features

On the Menu

Schools strive to serve nutritious, popular meals

Last year in the South Butler School District, The Nutrition Group's mascot, Molly the Cow, visited the students of the primary and intermediate schools with Erin Elwood, food service director, to teach the importance of dairy in their diets.

As Butler County schools ready for the fall semester, food service staff are gearing up to provide meals to the incoming scholars.

8/19/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Poster contest planned

BUTLER TWP — Butler Township is holding its annual Fire Prevention Week poster contest, and students in kindergarten through sixth grade may submit their entries.

8/19/2017 Community Features 0 comments

'CHUTING THROUGH THE BIG BLUE

Butler resident skydives at age 90

Tom Della Santa of Butler (in blue) free falls in tandem with Craig Cushing, an instructor for Skydive Pennsylvania. Della Santa made his first parachute jump on July 9 at age 90.

It's probably best not to dare Tom Della Santa of Butler.

8/18/2017 Community Features 0 comments

How to keep your dog safe from toxic foods

Some human food OK, some toxic

Dogs are often considered to be members of the family, and most dog owners want the absolute best for their canine companions. You may think that feeding your dog the foods that you enjoy most is a special treat, but you might actually be hurting more than rewarding your pet.

8/18/2017 Community Features 0 comments

500TH ANNIVERSARY

St. Luke's Lutheran to mark Reformation

Old wooden door is focal point

St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Saxonburg has mounted a former church door as a reminder of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

SAXONBURG — St. Luke's Lutheran Church, 310 W. Main St., has found a creative way to join Christian churches worldwide marking the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther sparking the Protestant Reformation.

8/17/2017 Community Features 0 comments

COMING TO AMERICA

Week helps international students get going atSRU

Undergraduates hailing from Japan, India, Belgium, Turkey and Hungary will begin arriving next week at Slippery Rock University, like this group from last year. Noora Alie, assistant director for international student services, recognizes the challenges they will encounter during their transition to the United States.

SLIPPERY ROCK — For more than 36 new freshman, exchange and transfer students arriving on campus this fall, Slippery Rock University is quite literally “a world away.”

8/16/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Who rates first: Your dog or your significant other?

They’re sweet, they’re cuddly and they love to give wet, slobbery kisses. Oh, and they take the cutest pictures.

8/16/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Plane History

WWII aircraft, modern airport on display

Visitors check out the B-17 bomber “Nine O Nine” at the Butler-Pittsburgh Regional Airport in 2013. The Wings of Freedom Tour featuring World War II aircraft will return to the airport Wednesday.

PENN TWP — Beginning Wednesday Butler County residents will be able to view both World War II vintage aircraft and the modern day Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport.

8/14/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Mad about Mah Jong

Ancient Chinese game has avid following

Mah Jong players gather every Tuesday afternoon in the South Butler Community Library in Saxonburg to throw down some tiles and socialize.

SAXONBURG — The South Butler Community Library was filled with the sounds of clattering, clicking tiles and calls of “Eight Bamboo” and “Red Dragon.”

8/12/2017 Community Features 0 comments

VETERANS TRIBUTE

Replica memorial to visit county

Visitors make a rubbing of a name at the American Veterans Traveling Tribute, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, when it was displayed in Hampton Township, Allegheny County, earlier this year. The replica will arrive in Butler County Aug. 23.

Butler has many parades, but not like the one planned for Aug. 23.

8/11/2017 Community Features 0 comments

'With a Purpose'

Churches unite to battle drugs, addiction

Putting up crosses that symbolize overdose deaths in Butler County last year are, from left, Jane Youngblood, Carl Bromley, Pastor Mark Wallace, Pastor John Pistorius and Carolyn Hillwig. The display represents Sunday's event at Chicora Park that will offer drug prevention and recovery strategies.

Churches in Chicora, Karns City and East Brady are collaborating for a cause.

8/10/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Trump backers request meeting with the pope

NEW YORK — Evangelical supporters of President Donald Trump have requested a meeting with Pope Francis over a recent critical article in a Vatican-vetted journal.

8/10/2017 Community Features 0 comments

DOUBLE DUTY

Some pastors juggle day jobs, ministry roles

Chad Gilstrap, co-pastor at Redemption Church in Wichita, Kan., measures a home in North Wichita. He has a real estate appraising business with his wife, Jennifer, in addition to working at the church. A number of ministers hold full-time jobs in addition to their duties as church pastors.

WICHITA, Kan. — Chad Gilstrap says his schedule is packed. On Sundays, he leads worship and pastors at Redemption Church. But being co-pastor at the church isn't limited to Sundays; the ministry continues throughout the week.

8/10/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Museum sets gun show on Saturday

The Harmony Museum is preparing for its annual antique gun show.

8/9/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Not Just Horsing Around

County equestrians compete in national finals

Jesse Dillaman of Slippery Rock, a member of the Grove City Area IEA Equestrian team, runs down into a sliding stop while riding a pattern with a horse he had not worked with before. His performance helped his team to a fifth-place finish at the 2017 Interscholastic Equestrian Association Finals in Oklahoma earlier this summer.

In rural Butler County, seeing a young man or woman riding serenely by on horseback is common. For some young equestrians, it is also a serious sport.

8/9/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Former 'Prairie Home' host Keillor busy as he nears 75

Comedy tour gets under way

Now that he has hung up his microphone as host of his popular public radio show, Garrison Keillor, who turns 75 this month, will embark on a 28-city “Prairie Home Love & Comedy Tour 2017,” which he vows will be his last.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Garrison Keillor is not spending his time in retirement baking Powdermilk Biscuits or drinking coffee down at the Chatterbox Cafe now that he's hung up his microphone as host of his popular public radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion.”

8/8/2017 Community Features 0 comments

Successful Approach

SRU taps coaches to keep students on track

From left, Emily McClaine, Earl Coburn, Corrine Gibson and Sunshine Mushrush discuss ways to improve Slippery Rock University student success. McClaine, Coburn and Mushrush were recently hired by the university to serve as success coaches. Gibson, director of the Office for Inclusive Excellence, will supervise the trio.

SLIPPERY ROCK — They won't be wearing whistles around their necks or conducting two-a-day practices, but coaches have arrived at Slippery Rock University ready to help students win.