Patrick Varine stories

A Wilkins man has been sentenced to less than a week in jail for his role in a fatal crash in early 2024. Aaron J. Butler, 21, was sentenced last week to three to six days in jail after entering a guilty plea in connection with the April 7, 2024,...

Flowers were left at the entrance to Franklin Regional Senior High School on Monday, a gesture of sympathy after a student committed suicide behind the school early Sunday morning. Franklin Regional officials said resources from Westmoreland County Behavioral Health as well as the University of Pittsburgh’s youth counseling service will...

Nostalgia is a powerful emotion. In the arts and entertainment industry, it leads to all kinds of things from film sequels and reboots to band reunions to the relaunch of once-beloved products. For D&E Collectibles owner Bobby Eisel, it has led to the steady growth of Toypalooza, the annual vendor...

An acid mine water remediation project, first pitched to Murrysville officials three years ago, has received $2 million in support from the state Department of Environmental Protection. As part of more than $5 million in mine-related grant funding, the department awarded $2.1 million for the Murrysville Area Watershed Association to...

Chad Warhold, owner of plumbing, heating and air conditioning company Warhold Mechanicals in North Huntingdon, is expecting to add some last-minute jobs to his calendar between now and the end of the year. That’s because in addition to tax credits for solar energy installation, tax credits for homeowners who upgrade...

Email news briefs and email listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Rotary Oktoberfest The Murrysville-Export Rotary Club will host its annual Oktoberfest German festival from 3-8 p.m. Sept. 20 at White Valley Park. The afternoon will include German food, beer and wine, pizza, barbecue and refreshments, live music by The Kosmix, therapy horses...

Monroeville officials will pivot from planning a new Valley Park bridge to expanding the Saunders Station access area for the Westmoreland Heritage Trail. “We accepted a grant to build a new bridge over Turtle Creek, and the feasibility of that is beyond the original scope of the project,” Graziani said...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com or bkikel@triblive.com. Fall book sale The Monroeville Public Library will host a fall book sale Sept. 19 and 20. It will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days at the library, 4000 Gateway Campus Boulevard in Monroeville. Purchase a...

Pennsylvania hunting license sales peaked in the early 1980s. Since then, there have been ebbs and flows, but overall the state has seen a slow, fairly steady decline in the number of licenses issued, according to data from the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Two members of the Youngwood Sportsmen’s Association are...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Symphony East season kicks off Symphony East will kick off its 64th season on Sept. 15 with a 1 p.m. performance by the Johnstown Symphony Brass Quintet, which includes two trumpets, a French horn, trombone and tuba. The program will cross a...

Kayla Palmer knows the pain of losing a loved one to suicide, and knows the good work done by groups like Ray of Hope, Westmoreland County’s suicide awareness and prevention task force. “I thought it would be great to allow people to donate to a group of Ray of Hope...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com or bkikel@triblive.com. East End Kids auditions The East End Kids teen song and dance ensemble will hold auditions for new members from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Sept. 7 at DeStella Dance Studio in Export. Auditions are open to youth entering grades 6-12....

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council and Friends of the Riverfront nonprofits have moved into the design and engineering phase for the Turtle Creek Connector, a trail that will make its way through several towns in the upper Monongahela River corridor. “We’re not funded for construction at the moment, but we’re looking...

If the application for Drake’s Car Wash looked familiar to Murrysville council, that’s because they’ve seen nearly all of it before. Council approved a plan a few years ago for Tommy’s Car Wash on the same spot, the former Choice Auto property on Route 22 near School Road. Tommy’s is...

More than $5 million has been spent since 2019 to improve the sewage system that serves tens of thousands of customers in western Westmoreland and a small slice of Allegheny counties. The improvements are mandated by the state Department of Environmental Protection through a 2019 consent order. Now, the Franklin...

The Murrysville Historical Preservation Society has a strong desire to live up to its name. “It’s great to show people these types of hands-on activities, historical domestic crafts that were necessary for everyday living back in the 1800s,” said Sandy Knepper of Murrysville, as she gently carded wool using a...

StoryZ Theatre will launch its new season with a staged reading of “The Happiest Man On Earth” by Mark St. Germain, inspired by the best-selling memoir of Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku. Jaku recounts his journey as a young Jewish boy in Nazi Germany, his survival at the Auschwitz death camp...

Email news briefs and email listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Art submissions sought The Murrysville Woman’s Club is seeking entries for its annual art show, set for Oct. 10-11 at Redstone Highlands in Murrysville. Experienced, amateur and student artists are invited to enter. Pieces can be paint, fiber, mixed media, sculpture and...

Sandra Finley drove to the Greensburg Garden & Civic Center recently to play bridge, and when she arrived, she noticed that the plaque recognizing the building’s founders was missing. “I didn’t know what happened,” Finley said. She was initially concerned that the Westmoreland Cultural Trust was no longer interested in...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com or bkikel@triblive.com. Paper-cutting artist featured at ESAL The East Suburban Artists League will welcome Ted Bolha as its featured speaker on Sept. 4. Bolha has been creating intricate, hand-cut art pieces for more than two decades, and in recent years has focused...

Monroeville officials approved the municipality’s first capital improvements plan, laying out potential big-ticket projects over the next five years. Municipal manager Alex Graziani laid out roughly $38.8 million in capital projects through 2030 at council’s Aug. 12 meeting. “All of the projects on the list are fully funded,” he said....

Murrysville will spend about $3.8 million on capital projects in 2026, a number that will jump substantially in 2027 and 2028, when the municipality undertakes two major bridge replacements. Murrysville Council held a public hearing Tuesday for its 2026-30 Capital Improvements Plan, which is its guiding financial document for budgeting...