Joe Napsha stories, Page 98
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...
State takes $300 weekly jobless aid from feds; wants $600 checks restored
The state is accepting half a loaf in terms of federal stimulus aid for certain unemployed people because it’s better than getting nothing at all, saying it will apply for the $300 weekly checks that have replaced the $600-a-week benefits that were cut off at the end of July. It...
Motorcyclist hurt in Route 66 crash in Washington Township
A motorcyclist was injured late Friday night in a crash along Route 66 near the intersection of Route 356 in Washington Township, the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety said. Emergency responders set up a landing zone for a medical helicopter shortly after the accident was reported at 11:10 p.m....
2 motorcycles crash in South Huntingdon
Two motorcyclists crashed along Mt. Pleasant Road in South Huntingdon on Friday night, according to a Westmoreland County Public Safety supervisor. Turkeytown firefighters responded the crash, which was reported at about 8:10 p.m. Additional details were not immediately available....
Car overturns on Route 356 in Allegheny Township
A motorist was trapped in a vehicle that went over a guardrail and overturned off Route 356 in Allegheny Township on Friday night, according to dispatches from Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety. Emergency responders were at the scene around 7:45 p.m. and were cutting brush around the vehicle to...
Passavant Memorial Homes extends extra pay when state rejects bid for aid
Despite not receiving state aid for hazard pay for frontline workers, a McCandless-based nonprofit will give its employees at 140 community group homes across the region an extra $3 an hour until late October — an initiative that will cost the company about $2 million. Passavant Memorial Homes Family of...
Irwin restaurant opens amid pandemic; state restrictions hurt eateriesVideo
Candy Zambo says it was just her luck that she tried to open a restaurant in downtown Irwin in midst of a pandemic. “I’ve wanted to do this. I’ve always loved the restaurant industry,” Zambo said, undeterred by the circumstances surrounding the opening of Candy’s Corner Cafe at 435 Main...
I-79 traffic patterns switching in South Fayette
Motorists traveling along Interstate 79 in South Fayette in southern Allegheny County and in Cecil Township in northern Washington County will experience a shift in lanes beginning Thursday night, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said. Construction crews will begin shifting the traffic lanes at 8 p.m. Thursday and expect to be...
State hands out $50 million for $3/hour raises for frontline workers
Pennsylvania’s process for determining which companies with frontline workers in the battle against covid-19 will be reimbursed for hiking their workers’ wages by up to $3 an hour through late October has left some health care companies wondering how the decisions were made. “There’s not really a rhyme nor reason”...
Turnpike to close Beaver Valley to Cranberry section for bridge work early Sunday
The Pennsylvania Turnpike will be closed between the Beaver Valley and Cranberry interchanges early Sunday so that crews can remove the bridge structures for the new Freedom Road Bridge spanning the toll road at milepost 28 in Butler County. The turnpike will be closed in both directions between the Cranberry...
Stewartsville Lions Club to sell barbecue chicken
The Stewartsville Lions Club will hold a chicken barbecue sale beginning at 11 a.m. Aug. 30 at the Holiday Travel parking lot, Route 30, across from Norwin Town Square in North Huntingdon. Due to social distancing guidelines, meal orders will be taken from the customers, who will remain in their...
Race for Grace to hold golf outing at The Madison Club
The Race for Grace Foundation, which raises money to fight childhood cancer, is holding a golf outing on Sept. 12 at The Madison Club, Yukon Road, Madison. Based in North Huntingdon, the foundation is named in memory of Grace Ekis, the daughter of Brian and Tamara Ekis. She was 5...
Norwin schools estimated repair tab: $15M – $17M
Norwin officials were told this week that — based on a master facilities study — between $15.4 million and $17 million is needed in the immediate future for repairs to the district’s buildings, stadium and pavement. All of Norwin’s four elementary schools, along with the intermediate, middle and high schools,...
Greensburg’s Lynch mansion, with 38 rooms and carriage house, on market for $900KVideo
A historic three-story brick Greensburg mansion built by an associate of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, replete with seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, parlor room and a brick carriage house, is on the market for a mere $895,000. The 38-room, 6,000-square-foot stately manor was built for Thomas Lynch between 1905 and 1907...
Norwin hires new athletic director in 5-4 vote
Norwin hired an athletic director Monday who was Greensburg Salem’s athletic director the past 20 months and previously was an assistant athletic director at Norwin. Mike Burrell Jr. was hired by the school board on a 5-4 vote at a pro-rated school year salary of $84,000. Burrell’s first day on...
Virtual teaching: Be improvisational, engage students, experts say
As teachers get ready to return to a school format in which many will have to do virtual instruction, area experts in online teaching offer some advice. Connect with students, offer rigorous instruction, be a bit improvisational and refrain from simply providing students at home with the same lesson as...
