Joe Napsha stories, Page 119
Flooding costs North Huntingdon car wash about $600,000 in damages, owner saysVideo
Every time there is a heavy storm and warnings of flash flooding, North Huntingdon car wash owner Ronald Palarino wonders if his business will be flooded again, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. “It’s frustrating. We had $300,000 to $400,000 in damage in September and there’s $300,000 in...
Staycation destination: Carrie Blast Furnaces in Rankin
Need a break? Looking for new adventure? There’s no reason to leave Western Pennsylvania. In this occasional series, we highlight “staycation” ideas found in our own backyard. For those who want to see a part of Pittsburgh area’s heritage as the center of the nation’s steelmaking, there is no better...
The Clarks to headline Irwin’s Main Street concert
Irwin’s popular Gig on Main — an evening filled with plenty of music and food in downtown Irwin, is planned for 6 to 11 p.m. Aug 3. A Pittsburgh band, The Clarks, will be the headline performers, as well as Twisted Fate and Spectrum Band. At least eight food trucks...
DNA from dreadlocks at 2015 Pittsburgh murder scene leads to Va. man’s arrest
A Virginia man whose two dreadlocks containing body tissue were found at a 2015 murder scene in Pittsburgh was arrested this week after DNA tests matched him with the hair samples, Pittsburgh police said. The suspect, Aaron Cross, who is incarcerated in Riverside Regional Jail in North Prince George County,...
Penn Township man pleads to damaging Siemens Corp. computer programs
A 62-year-old Harrison City man pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh on Friday to intentionally damaging his employer’s computer programs for a two-year period, the U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania said. David Tinley, 62, admitted to inserting “logic bombs” into computer programs he designed for Siemens Corp. in Monroeville,...
4 North Huntingdon police officers sworn in
Four new North Huntingdon police officers were sworn into duty this week by a Westmoreland County judge. Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio swore in Todd Cappetta, Shane Rebel, John Popovich and Jacob O’Brian-Rice as the police department’s new officers on Wednesday at the township commissioners meeting. The officers were hired in June...
Norwin library to have Buc Night at PNC Park
The Norwin Public Library is taking reservations until July 29 for Library Night at PNC Park, when the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Miami Marlins at 7:05 p.m. Sept. 4. Tickets are $23, which includes a free $5 concession voucher. For those who want to ride the bus to the game,...
Keep pets cool during heat wave, vet says
With the heat index expected to top 100 degrees Saturday, keeping the family’s four-legged companion cool is as important as keep the two-legged humans from boiling in the summer sun. “You don’t ever want to get them overheated. The only way dogs have to remove heat is by panting,” said...
North Huntingdon grants extension to fireworks company
Without much debate or verbal fireworks, North Huntingdon officials this week granted a fireworks company a 90-day extension of its temporary occupancy permit so it could attach the kind of facade the company had originally proposed around the base of its building off Route 30. The commissioners approved the request...
Irwin hires part-time police officer
Irwin has hired another part-time police officer. Devin Jay McCurdy of North Huntingdon was hired at the probationary rate of $12 per hour. After two weeks, he will be paid at the full part-time officer’s rate of $19 an hour, at the discretion of Chief Roger Pivirotto. The chief said...
New Stanton bugler heads to Gettysburg for Taps
A New Stanton bugler who has played at military funerals since he was in the eighth grade is set to play Taps Saturday at the Soldiers Monument in the Gettysburg National Cemetery as part of “100 Nights of Taps.” Jay Copenhaver, 63, who plays for the Youngwood Veterans of Foreign...
Science group predicts hotter weather for Pennsylvania, elsewhere in decades to come
If you think it is too hot and muggy in Western Pennsylvania these days, just wait until it gets worse in a few decades, according to a science advocacy organization that is warning about the dangers of climate change. The state will experience an average of 40 days a year...
Firm wants to open marijuana testing lab in Trafford — Western Pa.’s first
A Michigan-based firm wants to open Western Pennsylvania’s first medical marijuana testing laboratory, which would move from Clearfield to Trafford. Lansing-based ACT Laboratories Inc. is seeking a variance from Trafford Borough to operate the lab at 109 Brinton Ave., in a building owned by Trafford Emergency Medical Services Company No....
North Huntingdon fireworks store sparks debate over building design
A newly constructed fireworks store off Route 30 in North Huntingdon may have to close because of a dispute with the township over the company’s failure to construct the metal building’s facade according to the approved land development plan. Township officials told Wholesale Fireworks representatives the Hubbard, Ohio, firm must...
Irwin Borough seeks solution to fire siren, leaky roof
The buckets that catch rainwater inside Irwin Borough’s offices will have to remain in place as borough officials try to solve a recurring problem — what to do with the town’s fire department siren atop the borough building roof, where water continues to leak inside the structure. Borough officials last...
Library to host French and Indian War speaker
A member of Fort Ligonier’s education department will discuss the French & Indian War and the role Western Pennsylvania played in that global conflict during a program at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Norwin Public Library, Caruthers Lane, Irwin. David Gerstel, an educator at historic Fort Ligonier, will provide the...
Donation helps Sewickley recreation group fix ballfield
The Sewickley Area Athletic Association improved its pony league ballfield in Herminie, thanks in part to a $5,000 donation from a Texas-based energy company. Before the baseball season began the spring, the athletic association made long-term major field improvements to the baseball field, including grading the field and installing French...
Greensburg group holds protest against planned ICE raids on illegal immigrantsVideo
As she stood at a candlelight vigil in Greensburg on Friday to protest the treatment of immigrants in detention centers along the Mexican border, Sister Colette Hanlon recalled seeing federal agents dropping off busloads of exhausted parents and young children at the pastoral center in El Paso, Texas, where the...
Van fire, crash, jam I-70 eastbound in Rostraver
The eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 in Rostraver were backed up Friday afternoon because a van caught fire along the highway, then an accident occurred in the traffic backlog, a Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety supervisor said. The van caught fire around 5 p.m. on the interstate between Routes...
Hempfield WWII veteran Joseph Churbock Sr. valued family
Joseph Churbock Sr. of Hempfield Township was part of the Greatest Generation of Americans, who served their country in war and came home to marry and raise a family. “He instilled the importance of family in us,” said his son, David Churbock of Hudson, Ohio. “He was always busy with...
Kennametal to close Hempfield plant
Kennametal Inc. said Thursday it will close its Carbidie manufacturing plant in Hempfield as part of its overall restructuring that includes shutting down two manufacturing plants in Germany and a distribution center, all within the next two years. Pittsburgh-based Kennametal, which has corporate offices in Unity, said operations at the...
North Huntingdon to hold hearing on liquor license transfer
The public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed transfer of a liquor license into North Huntingdon during a hearing at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Town House, 11279 Center Highway. Isano II Inc., is asking the commissioners to approve the transfer a liquor license to a site...
Ross Perot’s ties to Western Pa. began with marriage to Greensburg native
A young Naval officer from Texas who came to Greensburg in 1956 to marry a local girl and went on to become a billionaire and two-time presidential candidate, is being remembered as a kind and thoughtful man who used some of his wealth to help make the region better. Lt....
Blood banks seeking donors; says blood supply in region at ‘critical shortage’
The American Red Cross and Vitalant Pittsburgh put out an emergency call Tuesday for blood donors. It is down to less than a three-day supply of most blood types, the Red Cross said in a statement.. The Red Cross said it has less than a two-day supply of type O...
West Overton’s distillery making whiskey; won’t be ready until July 2020Video
West Overton is distilling rye whiskey this week, just like it did when Henry Clay Frick’s grandfather, Abraham Overholt, was making it in a log building at his East Huntingdon farm in 1803. The production of Old Overholt was stopped in 1919 when the 18th Constitutional amendment — Prohibition —...
