Editor's note: This is the seventh of 12 stories looking back at the top local news from each month in 2008. The stories will appear daily, except Sundays, on this page. On Dec. 31, the Valley News Dispatch will publish its review of the top news, sports and business stories of the year.
Two local mysteries heated up in July with a suspicious fire in Clinton Township and the exhumation of a Kiski Valley woman linked to our region's nuclear legacy. Here's a look at those and other top local stories from July.
•The phrase "last call" won't be heard during volunteer firefighters' events in Tarentum. Borough council banned alcohol at all events on borough property. This decision affects two of the biggest fundraisers held by the borough's fire departments. The move came on the wake of the Tarentum Festival in June, during which police received complaints of damage to private property, public urination and a fight on the final night of the festival that nearly started a riot among the 5,000 to 6,000 people gathered at the grandstand.
•More positive legislation moved forward for neighboring Brackenridge and Harrison when the state Legislature allowed the creation of a tax-free zone for a new hot strip mill at Allegheny Ludlum. The legislation cleared the way for a possible Keystone Opportunity Zone that likely would include part of Ludlum's Brackenridge Works and straddle the borough and township.
If created, the Keystone Opportunity Zone would accommodate construct of a state-of-the-are hot strip mill that represents close to a $1 billion investment by Ludlum's parent company, Allegheny Teledyne, Inc.
•A state police fire marshal could not determine how a fire started at the Excell Minerals plant in Clinton Township. The blaze caused millions of dollars in damage. No one was working at the plant, which makes a fertilizer used on golf courses. An air-conditioned Port Authority of Allegheny County bus was used to help volunteer firefighters from falling ill due to hot temperatures and fighting the blaze.
•The mystery surrounding a local woman's death during the Kiski Valley's years as a producer of atomic weapons took another turn.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht and Joseph A. Mancuso, a funeral director and long-time forensic expert, examined the exhumed body of Pauline Sulava. The experts found her body to be in excellent condition and were able to obtain what they needed to attempted to document what killed Sulava, 44, at such an early age.
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