Recent Stories

Articles by Tracey Ferguson

August 19, 2019

Life Changing Gift: A Surprise for Local Man

The look on CJ DeGennaro’s face was priceless. CJ, 31, suffers from cerebral palsy. On August 17, CJ received the gift of a Safe Step walk-in tub, but it was a complete surprise to CJ. CJ had been nominated 110 times during the last two years to receive this tub by his friends, his family, his community. A crowd that worked hard to make this happen gathered in his driveway. As his family and friends and nominators stood around awaiting CJ’s return from breakfast at Christy’s diner, they anticipated his reaction. Pop out comments from the crowd filled the summer…

August 16, 2019

Board to Re-evaluate Soccer Program Funding in September

During  a special board meeting on Friday morning, Ellwood City School Board decided to allow the soccer program to use the Ewing Park School property for practice and to order nets to facilitate those practices, according to District Superintendent Joseph Mancini, who was reached for comment following the meeting. He said the games will continue to be held at Stiefel Park. He added that the board will re-evaluate the funding request at the September board meeting. Practices are being moved to Ewing Park to allow for more practice availability time in the hopes to attract additional players. This “special meeting”…

August 15, 2019

RACE Swim Team Hosting Tryouts

RACE is looking to build a team for the 2019-2020 swim season and will be hosting tryouts on Monday at 5 p.m. “Joining a swim team can give kids many benefits and be incredibly rewarding,” said Gwen Nulph, RACE coach. “It gives them the chance to be part of a team, build camaraderie, improve skills, get consistent physical activity, set and strive for goals, and have a lot of fun!” What is RACE?  Riverside Aqua Club of Ellwood (RACE) was established with the purpose of teaching competitive swimming and developing teamwork. Its mission is to build and maintain a competitive…

August 14, 2019

Local Woman Qualifies For Olympic Swimming Trials

She never imagined she would have the chance to do what she loves on a world stage. Taylor Petrak, 2017 Lincoln High School Graduate, has qualified for the Olympic Swimming Trials. As a very young “fish in the water,” Taylor didn’t necessarily have her sights set directly on the Olympics. “I never had any specific goals of making it to the Olympics,” she said. “It was not on my radar.” But a wave of talent and speed now has the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics in a major spot on Taylor’s radar. She qualified for the trials on July 23 posting…

August 13, 2019

Council to Vote to Amend Hospital Zoning Ordinance

Ellwood City Council will vote August 19 to amend the hospital/medical district zoning ordinance that they originally passed in in a unanimous vote on May 20. They will vote to add to the definition of “Health Services” “facilities and residences included in a continuum of care entity.” Borough Manager David Allen said the wording basically boiled down to nursing homes. Solicitor Ed Leymarie said the move will resolve an appeal filed by Penn Med LLC, a lender who is seeking a more than $5 million judgement against Americore Health LLC, Ellwood Medical Center LLC, and Ellwood Medical Center Real Estate…

August 9, 2019

ECASD Security Update: School Police Officer Replaced; Vestibule Completion Delayed

In an effort to make Ellwood City Area Schools more secure, The Ellwood City Area School Board—during the spring and summer months—hired two armed school police officers for the 2019-2020 school year and also voted to improve security vestibules at North Side, Hartman, and Perry Lower Intermediate. Updates, new votes occurred during this week’s ECASB’s agenda and regular meetings: School Police In July the board hired Robert Lagoon of Zelienople and Brad Koscinski of Grove City as the first armed officers to serve the school district. During the board’s regular meeting on Thursday the board voted to accept the resignation…

August 9, 2019

ECASB Approves Goals for Upcoming Year

During Thursday’s meeting, The Ellwood City Area School Board directors approved goals for the upcoming school year. A list of 25 goals was discussed at Monday’s Agenda Meeting and trimmed down to three major ones to focus on moving forward—many of the 25 were administrative type ongoing goals or goals that the board needs to work on internally. The top three: Continue to improve district climate by incorporating both small and large changes that can make a big impact. Look into using a school climate survey for the Intermediate Unit to identify and pinpoint areas where improvement is needed. Evaluate…

August 9, 2019

Chromebook ‘Surplus’ to Benefit Seventh and Eighth Graders

Seventh and Eighth graders in the Ellwood City Area School District will no longer have to “share”  Chromebooks. The announcement came during Monday night’s School Board Agenda Meeting on Monday night. Quickly after the announcement, School Director Renee Pitrelli said she felt the decision was made without board approval. Pointing out that this was the first time she had heard about this one to one Chromebook distribution. “The administration doesn’t make a decision for us,” she said during Monday’s meeting. Her point that board approval should be given for such decisions was met with explanation by administrators and school staff…

July 10, 2019

Lagoon, Koscinski Hired as Armed Police Officers for Ellwood City Schools

The Ellwood City Area School Board hired two armed school police officers for the 2019-2020 school year. Robert Lagoon of Zelienople and Brad Koscinski of Grove City were announced as the first armed officers who will serve the school district thanks to a $156,400 grant provided by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The grant will allow the district to employ the two officers for two years. A unanimous vote by the board to hire the men was followed with praise from one board member. “I’d like to thank Mr. Mancini and Mr. Sovich for seeing that we were…

July 1, 2019

First Recipients of Annual Eric Ryan Corporation Employee Scholarship Named

Cassie Widmaier and Mia DeCaria are the first recipients of the annual Eric Ryan Corporation Employee Scholarship. “The future of our youth is important to the staff at Eric Ryan Corporation and to me,” said ERC CEO Keith Venezie. “I am pleased to be able to help assist students with their career goals. A solid college education is a huge step toward achieving those goals, and I look forward to seeing how it will impact their success and our community.” Eric Ryan Corporation developed this scholarship award for the children of ERC employees. The $500 scholarship was open to any employee…