Joe Napsha stories, Page 101
Irwin to let emergency declaration expire
Irwin Borough will no longer be under a covid-19 emergency declaration as of July. Council on Wednesday rejected a motion to extend the March 21 disaster declaration another 90 days. The current declaration runs through June 30. Mayor Bill Hawley had issued the declaration of a state of emergency for...
Greensburg YMCA reopens with restrictions
The Greensburg YMCA is opening its doors to members this week for the first time since March 15 when it was forced to close because the governor had placed restrictions on non-life-sustaining businesses. The YMCA, on South Maple Street, had a “soft reopening” with limited hours on Wednesday and will...
Norwin cafeteria workers OK 1-year deal
Norwin School District cafeteria workers agreed to a one-year extension of their current contract, which will provide members with a 40-cent-an-hour wage hike, while maintaining benefits. The school board this week approved the extension with the Service Employees International Union, which represents 54 cafeteria workers — 20 full-time employees as...
Irwin OKs medical marijuana dispensary
Medical marijuana users may be able to get state-approved products from a dispensary along Route 30 in Irwin in late fall. The three-member zoning board on Thursday unanimously approved an application from Franklin BioScience-SW LLC of Philadelphia for a special exception to locate the dispensary at the site of the...
Police probe death of 3-year-old girl in Oakmont
Allegheny County Police homicide detectives are investigating the death of a 3-year-old girl in Oakmont. Police said they were notified at 1:55 p.m. Tuesday that the girl, who was not identified, was found unresponsive in 500 block of 10th Street. Emergency responders started life-saving measures, and the girl was transported...
Greensburg OKs temporary sidewalk diningVideo
Any who enjoys al fresco dining on a nice summer day will have that opportunity when they patronize a Greensburg restaurant, tavern or brewery, thanks to the city easing restrictions on those activities. “It’s good they’re doing something to help the bars and the restaurants in the city,” said Natalie...
Kennametal to cut global workforce 10% by end of year
Facing a weakness in its industrial markets caused by the covid-19 pandemic, Kennametal Inc. said Tuesday it is accelerating its plans to permanently cut about 10% of its salaried workforce, a reduction on a global scale it expects to substantially complete by the end of the year. Kennametal, an industrial...
Norwin OKs tax hike by 5-4 vote
Norwin School District property owners will see a 2.9% increase in real estates taxes after the board board Monday narrowly approved the spending plan for the district. By a 5-4 vote, the board OK’d a $76.93 million budget that will increase property taxes in North Huntingdon, North Irwin and Irwin...
Jobless benefits to come via debit card to help prevent identity theft
Pennsylvania will distribute jobless benefits through a debit card sent in the mail over the next few weeks rather than a direct deposit into recipients’ bank accounts in an effort to counter identity theft attempts, state officials said Monday. The state Department of Labor & Industry has been issuing paper...
State giving small businesses $225M to offset covid-19 losses
The state plans to provide $225 million in grants to small businesses that lost money during the government-ordered shutdowns from March through May and had to spend money to adapt their operations to prevent the spread of covid-19. “The shutdown has had a terrible negative effect. We hope we can...
Trib Total Media big winner in SPJ contest
Trib Total Media was named the overall best daily newspaper in Pennsylvania in the Society of Professional Journalists Keystone Chapter’s Excellence in Journalism contest for 2019. It was the second consecutive year the Trib won the organization’s top award. “We are humbled by this recognition from such a prestigious, time-honored...
Norwin student linking mask users, makers
A Norwin High School student’s community service project connects mask users with area crafters willing to make them. Lydia Berger, who will be a senior, said she came up with the idea for the covid-19 mask initiative days after the governor’s stay-at-home order went into effect in March. ”I was...
Irwin plans ‘inside’ ethnic food festival
Irwin will have an Ethnic Food Day featuring haluski, brats, tacos, Italian meatballs, Japanese cheesecake and other delicacies at downtown restaurants on June 13, while maintaining social distancing now that Westmoreland County has moved into the green phase of covid-19 restrictions The event, set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,...
Excela Health lights its hospitals green as Westmoreland, region move to new phaseVideo
Excela Health bathed the facades of its hospitals in Greensburg, Latrobe and Mt. Pleasant in green lights at 12:01 a.m. Friday to mark Westmoreland County’s transition into the green phase of the governor’s designation for loosening the covid-19 restrictions on economic activity. The green lighting at hospitals will continue nightly...
Gov. Wolf: Masks, social distance could remain this fall as part of Pennsylvania’s ‘new world’
While most of southwestern Pennsylvania celebrated Friday as the region moved to the less-restrictive green phase of the pandemic reopening plan, Gov. Tom Wolf made clear that more hurdles must be cleared before all limits are lifted. Just what those stages might be has not been determined. “We’re trying to...
J.C. Penney stores closing at Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer, Monroeville, near Butler and in the Beaver Valley
Four J.C. Penney stores in Western Pennsylvania will close as part of the retailer’s plans to shutter 154 stores, in what it said Thursday was the first round of store closings. Stores at the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer; Monroevile Mall in Monroeville; the Clearview Mall near Butler; and the...
5 Western Pa. UPMC hospitals given covid-19 drug
Five Pittsburgh-area UPMC hospitals have received shipments of the antiviral medication remdesivir to treat hospital patients with covid-19, the Pennsylvania Health Department said. UMPC Presbyterian, Mercy, Shadyside and St. Margaret, all in Pittsburgh; and Passavant in McCandless were among the 73 hospitals in the state to receive a total of...
Racial injustice protest planned in Irwin ParkVideo
A protest against racial injustice is planned this weekend in Irwin — which would be at least the third such event in Westmoreland County in response to the death of George Floyd. “We had seen the other protests and we thought the community needed this event to raise awareness” about...
Police: Brentwood homeowner killed intruder during burglary
A Brentwood homeowner shot and killed a burglar Wednesday night, Allegheny County Police said. Mitch W. Verheyen, 38, of Brentwood, was shot by the owner during a burglary in the 100 block of Bellcrest Avenue, police said. Verheyen was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of the shooting,...
North Braddock shooting leaves 1 dead, 1 wounded
A 19-year-old man was shot to death Wednesday afternoon in North Braddock and another man wounded, Allegheny County Police said. Demond Terrell Scott, 19, of Duquesne was transported to Forbes Regional Hospital where he died, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. Scott and another man, a 20-year-old who was...
Injuries reported in quad head-on collision in Mt. Pleasant Township
Fire departments and emergency medical personnel were dispatched to a collision of two quad all-terrain vehicles Wednesday night near the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Mt. Pleasant Township, the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety said. The crash on Turnpike Road was reported at about 7:25 p.m. when one quad t-boned the...
Westmoreland green phase: No temp checks at courthouse, offices opening
Westmoreland County is moving to green status on Friday, meaning courthouse visitors won’t need a temperature check to enter, and some restrictions on access to row offices will be lifted. Gov. Wolf announced last week that Westmoreland would be joining other counties in southwestern Pennsylvania in moving from the yellow...
Pittsburgh area jobless rate jumps to 16.8% in April
The Pittsburgh region’s jobless rate jumped to 16.8% in April, with 200,400 people unemployed in the seven-country region as pandemic-related shutdowns gripped the economy. The combined unemployment rate for Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties was the highest since January 1983, the state’s Center for Workforce Information...
Farming workshop in Unity offered to veterans, military personnel
Veterans and military service members in the agriculture industry can get a view of the farming business on June 12 at the Veteran Farming Workshop in Unity. The Pennsylvania Veterans Farm Project is sponsoring its first farm workshop in Westmoreland County from 9 a.m. to noon at Ralph and Ann...
Pa. launches covid-19 testing of nursing home residents, staff
The state launched its initiative to test residents and staff at all personal care and nursing homes for covid-19 as the first stage of a sweeping plan for ongoing testing at the more than 1,900 facilities. “We will have to continue (testing) until we have a vaccine” for covid-19, state...
