Joe Napsha stories, Page 96
Police: Aliquippa man shot near IUP campus, suspect soughtVideo
An Aliquippa man shot early Sunday morning multiple times during a late-night party at an apartment complex about a mile from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus was reported in critical condition at a Pittsburgh hospital, state police at Indiana said. The 19-year-old victim, who was not identified, is expected...
Irwin hosts craft show and karaoke charity event
Irwin was a hopping place Saturday afternoon with music and crafts for the 13th Annual Sing For Their Supper event and the Downtown Irwin Fall Craft Show. Karaoke singers at the C. Harper Family Courtyard at The Lamp Theatre helped to raise money for the Westmoreland County Food Bank. Restaurants...
Couple left homeless as fire destroys home in Marguerite, Unity TownshipVideo
Debra Stewart was sitting with family members in the side yard of her home in the Unity village of Marguerite on Saturday afternoon when they heard a hissing sound, then saw thick black smoke pouring out of the bottom of her mobile home. By the time they could get to...
Seton Hill’s ‘Labor of Love’ gives back to communityVideo
Seton Hill University basketball player Taylin Tyler got up early Saturday morning and joined about 300 of her classmates, faculty, staff and alumni in doing a variety of community service tasks at about 35 sites on campus and at nonprofit organizations in the Greensburg, Latrobe and North Huntingdon areas. “We...
Fayette man jailed on child abuse charges involving 2-year-old
A 29-year-old Fayette County man has been jailed for allegedly abusing a young child, state police at Uniontown said. The suspect, Dustin R. Lilley of Connellsville, is accused of injuring a 2-year-old child in Bullskin Township, police said. The child had to be treated at Children’s Hospital pf Pittsburgh. Lilley...
Iwin police chief resigns; acting chief named
Irwin council named a veteran police officer as the borough’s acting chief after the chief of seven years resigned last month. Chief Roger Pivirotto’s resignation was effective Aug. 20, but he will remain an employee until Dec. 2, Shari Martino, borough manager, said Wednesday. Council accepted Pivirotto’s resignation on Sept....
Debate rises over proposed North Huntingdon backyard chicken rules
After several North Huntingdon residents asked the municipality to permit chickens in residential neighborhoods, township officials appeared split over implementing rules that would allow hens to be raised on parcels less than a quarter acre. During an hour-long public hearing Tuesday, about a dozen residents supporting a proposed ordinance to...
Norwin, Franklin Regional recognized for Special Olympics
Norwin and Franklin Regional high schools are among nine in Pennsylvania to be nationally recognized as a Special Olympics Unified Champion Banner School for their commitment to inclusion in sports, academics, and extracurricular activities. “Receiving this distinction as a Unified Champion School shows that Norwin has made inclusion a priority...
Pennsylvania to send 5 weeks of $300 checks to eligible jobless
Pennsylvania will start distributing $1,500 in federal unemployment compensation to those without a job since the beginning of August because of the covid-19 pandemic. “Everybody who is currently receiving unemployment (compensation), with very few exceptions, will qualify for that benefit,” state Labor & Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said Tuesday. Unemployed...
Sing for Their Supper and Crafts planned
Downtown Irwin will be the site of the 13th annual Sing for Their Supper and Craft Show, an annual fundraiser for the Westmoreland County Food Bank, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 12. Those who think they have a great singing voice can entertain by singing along with a...
Pa. to distribute $300 weekly jobless benefit checks next week
The state said it will start next week to distribute the $300 weekly checks the Trump administration approved as the replacement for the $600-a-week benefits the jobless received before that funding expired at the end of July. The money from the federal Lost Wages Assistance program will be distributed to...
North Huntingdon to hold hearing on backyard chickens ordinance
The debate about keeping chickens in North Huntingdon’s residential areas will continue. Township commissioners scheduled a public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Town House, 11279 Center Highway, to hear another round of what has been heated discussion on the subject, including where residents can have chickens and how...
Mine cleanups in Cook, Fawn townships among those targeted by state program
An abandoned mine drainage treatment system meant to remove pollution from a tributary of the Loyalhanna Creek near Rector will be replaced and a highwall at the popular Tour-Ed Mine and Museum in Fawn will be made safer via a state program. “It’s a win-win all around,” said John Wenzel,...
Heavy rains don’t dampen enthusiasm of Trump supporters ahead of Westmoreland rallyVideo
Frequent and sometimes heavy rains Thursday could not keep supporters of Donald Trump from flooding Arnold Palmer Regional Airport hours before the president’s scheduled campaign rally. Drenched crowds stood in line at the Unity airport waiting to board buses to take them to a fenced-in holding area in front of...
Walat’s tavern co-owner in Somerset County found dead inside his bar destroyed by fire
The owner of a popular Somerset County tavern along Route 30 west of Jennerstown was found dead inside the building that was destroyed by fire early Wednesday, state police said. Martin Walat, a co-owner of Walat’s, a bar atop Laurel Hill Summit in Jenners Township, was discovered in the bar...
Pa.: Jobless must wait at least 3-4 weeks for promised $300 in assistance
For some 86,800 unemployed workers in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, the $300 check the Trump administration promised in early August probably won’t be in the mail for another three or four weeks, state officials said. The computer system the state Department of Labor & Industry will use to distribute the...
Norwin’s first hybrid school day went well, students say
The first day of class at Norwin Middle School for Avery Waszo was similar to her final day last school year — it was online. “It went well. There was not too much work,” said Avery, a 12-year-old seventh grader from North Huntingdon. Avery was one of 5,300 district students...
Plans tabled for new Kenny Ross Mazda dealership
North Huntingdon officials this week tabled a review of plans for a new Kenny Ross Mazda dealership, between the Kenny Ross Subaru and the existing Mazda dealership along Route 30. Kenny Ross Automotive Group’s plans for the new building were not ready to be reviewed, Ryan Fonzi, North Huntingdon planning...
Western Pa. farmlands preserved ‘forever’ with state aidVideo
Earning a living off the land has been in Alquin Heinnickel’s family since his great-grandfather came home after surviving the Battle of Gettysburg and the remainder of the Civil War to start farming in a village near New Alexandria. About 150 years later, the Heinnickel family’s agricultural holdings will remain...
Auto parts store proposed for former North Huntingdon motel site
The site of the former Penn-Irwin Motel that served motorists looking for a place to stay along Route 30 in North Huntingdon for 73 years could be a place for motorists to buy vehicle parts. Colony Holding Co. LLC of North Huntingdon plans to develop the now-vacant site for an...
New Queen of Angels principal coming home; faces unprecedented challengesVideo
For Jennifer Filak, taking her first principal’s job at Queen of Angels School in North Huntingdon was like returning home. “When I learned of the opportunity, I really felt like I was coming back home. My heart has always stayed here,” said Filak, a Penn-Trafford High School graduate and a...
Excela hires new chief operating officer
Sixteen months after a shake-up in the top leadership at Greensburg-based Excela Health, the health care system has a new chief operating officer. Jeffrey A. Tiesi, a Bethel Park native who was the senior vice president and chief operating officer at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, N.Y., has been...
Pennsylvania to jobless: $300 checks from feds could be weeks away
Pennsylvanians who lost their jobs when covid-19 slammed the economy probably will have to wait weeks before they see a weekly $300 check the Trump administration promised as a replacement for the extra $600 a week they had been receiving until late July, state officials said Monday. The state has...
Irwin’s Music in the Streets draws crowdVideo
Maybe it was the opportunity to get outside, listen to music, have a bite to eat and bit to drink that drew hundreds of people to downtown Irwin Thursday evening for the popular Music in the Streets. It was the type of gathering that would be the envy of many...
Police respond to gunshot fired in Derry
State and local police responded late Friday night to a report of a gunshot being fired in a residence in Derry Borough. Police had cordoned off an area around the 500 block of West Fourth Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Friday, according to emergency dispatches. Derry police could not be reached...

