Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 10
MAWC details uninterrupted service amid storm power outages
Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials said Wednesday the agency continued to serve its more than 123,000 customers even as late April’s violent storms shut off power to hundreds of thousands of residents. “Nobody noticed we kept the water flowing,” said authority business manager Brian Hohman as administrators briefed authority...
Sheriff, county argue over Westmoreland vehicle tracking policy
A policy adopted last summer by Westmoreland County commissioners to implement GPS tracking on all county vehicles is executive overreach and a safety risk to law enforcement personnel, lawyers argued in court on Wednesday. Implementation of the policy was put on hold last fall after Sheriff James Albert filed a...
Pecarchik wins over GOP incumbent in Westmoreland register of wills primary
Westmoreland County Republicans Tuesday nominated former acting Register of Wills Katie Pecarchik to serve an abbreviated two-year term to head the office, apparently ending the short tenure of her replacement. Pecarchik, 57, of Hempfield defeated incumbent Jon Wian, who was endorsed by the GOP committee, and Kimberly Horrell, a former...
Ackerman upsets Carson to win GOP primary for Westmoreland coroner
Former Westmoreland County Deputy Coroner John Ackerman was poised to upset first-term incumbent Coroner Tim Carson in Tuesday’s Republican primary. With 294 of 306 precincts reporting, Ackerman had 53% and a nearly 1,700 vote edge over Carson, who received more than 46%. All results are unofficial until certified by the...
New Florence cheers as voters OK alcohol sales
New Florence residents voted Tuesday to approve alcohol sales in the borough. According to unofficial results, 64% of residents voted in favor of a referendum to reverse laws from the 1930s that banned beer and liquor sales in the small borough of 640. New Florence council President Jason Beatty, one...
Westmoreland’s released jail inmates offered free rides home
Westmoreland County Prison inmates have a new way to get home when their incarceration ends. An expanded program operated by Sage’s Army, a private nonprofit focused on drug addiction and recovery, is offering free rides for inmates. Janie Olson, the agency’s director of operations, told members of Westmoreland County’s Prison...
Murrysville man to serve up to 15 years in prison for 2023 fatal crash
Ten minutes after Kelly Poholsky took a call from her husband as she drove home from work Oct. 7, 2023, she came upon what appeared to be the scene of a bad accident. Only later that night did she learn the covered body that lay on the ground as she...
Westmoreland transit puts changes on hold amid funding uncertainty
Long planned revisions of Westmoreland County’s public transportation service are on hold as officials await clarity on funding. Substantial alterations in the county transit authority’s fixed-route bus system were expected to be launched this year, including the start of a pilot project to convert a small portion of the service...
New Florence voters to decide if post-Prohibition alcohol ban is lifted
When Becky Richey and her husband opened C&T’s Pizza in New Florence a quarter-century ago, it never occurred to them that their customers couldn’t enjoy a cold brew with their meal. A referendum on Tuesday’s primary election ballot pitched by Richey could give her thirsty patrons another drink option by...
Disabled caseworker, Westmoreland County settle wrongful termination lawsuit
Westmoreland commissioners voted Thursday to pay $7,500 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a former children’s bureau caseworker who claimed he was improperly fired after one month on the job. Former Fayette County Controller Sean Lally contended he was discriminated against by supervisors in the county’s child welfare office...
Lyft driver on the lam, no shows for sentencing in North Huntingdon crash
An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for a Lyft driver who pleaded guilty last year for her role in a drunken multi-vehicle crash in North Huntingdon left six people injured. The lawyer for Slobodanka Bulatovic, 49, of North Versailles, told a Westmoreland County judge he learned about a half-hour before...
Westmoreland Democrats to hold town hall to address proposed Trump budget
Westmoreland County Democrats will convene a town hall meeting next week in Greensburg to address potential cuts in federal social service programs. The event, scheduled for 6 p.m. May 19 at Greensburg Hose Co. No. 1, will feature former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb and Martin O’Malley, who served as commissioner...
Construction delays cause turbulence for Palmer airport expansion project
Delays have left construction of a $22 million new terminal building at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport at least three months behind schedule, officials confirmed Tuesday. Delivery of the domestic steel needed to erect the 32,000-square-foot expansion of the main terminal building was slated to arrive earlier this spring but now...
Eberly family disheartened over PSU Fayette campus potential closing
Robert Eberly Jr. is keenly aware that part of his family’s legacy hangs in the balance as a decision looms about the future of the Penn State campus named for his father. Renamed Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus in 2004, the site in the largely rural county is among...
Daughter’s threat against mother allowed as evidence in upcoming murder trial
Evidence that a New Florence woman threatened to kill her mother years before she and two teen-aged boys, according to Westmoreland prosecutors, conspired to commit murder is admissible at trial, a judge ruled Monday. Prosecutors contend that investigators overheard Melissa Sue Fox-Beacom say to her mother, “I am going to...
Incumbent, former deputy seek Republican nomination for Westmoreland coroner
Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson and his Republican challenger worked together in the office for about two months in early 2022. Now, three years later, former Deputy Coroner John Ackerman wants Carson’s job. Carson said the changes and upgrades he instituted during his first term in office warrant his reelection...
Irwin man pleads guilty to sexual assault of teen
An Irwin man was ordered to serve up to nine years in prison for the the sexual assault of a teenage girl during a July 4 party in 2020. Chad S. Flow, 51, formerly of Hempfield, pleaded guilty Friday to felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault...
Past, present leaders vie for Westmoreland Register of Wills post
In an unprecedented move last summer, a Westmoreland County judge ordered Westmoreland County’s three-term Register of Wills to resign. In February, Gov. Josh Shapiro and the state Senate chose a new temporary administrator for the courthouse office where wills, estates, adoptions, guardianships and marriage licenses are filed and processed. Now,...
Now boarding: Flights to Myrtle Beach, Fort Lauderdale resume at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport
Shawn and Mary McMullen didn’t expect hoopla Wednesday morning when they arrived at the ticket counter of Arnold Palmer Regional Airport to purchase airfare for an upcoming trip to Disney World. “It is so convenient. This is the easiest place for use to fly out of,” Shawn McMullen said. The...
Jury convicts Connellsville man for video recording of topless teen
A Connellsville man was convicted Wednesday in Westmoreland County court of recording and possessing a sexually explicit video of a teenage girl. After nearly three hours of deliberations, a jury found Jonathan Dulaney, 30, guilty of three felony offenses, including two counts of sexual abuse of children. Prosecutors said he...
Appeals court reinstates Republican mayoral candidate to primary ballot
A state appeals court just two weeks before the May 20 primary has reinstated a Jeannette mayoral candidate to the Republican ballot. The ruling has left Westmoreland County election officials scrambling to reprogram voting machines and send more than 100 new mail-in ballots to Jeannette’s Republican voters. In a ruling...
Ballot drop-off parking OK’d at Westmoreland courthouse
Westmoreland County officials approved final preparations for the May 20 primary election. County commissioners, acting as the elections board, on Monday earmarked two short-term parking spaces along Pennsylvania Avenue in Greensburg for voters who wish to drop off mail-in ballots at the elections bureau. The parking spots are near the...
Trial begins for Connellsville man charged with child porn
Testimony in the trial of a Connellsville man accused of soliciting and distributing images of child pornography will begin Tuesday. Westmoreland County prosecutors charged Jonathan A. Dulaney, 30, with five counts, alleging that in December 2021 and January 2022 he and his then-wife surreptitiously recorded images of a teenage girl...
Twin Lakes pavilion destroyed in March windstorm will be rebuilt
Westmoreland commissioners approved an emergency contract Monday to rebuild a picnic pavilion that was destroyed by a windstorm at Twin Lakes Park. Wind gusts in March uprooted a large tree, causing it to crash into the large wooden structure, according to Public Works Director Dante DeCario. Pavilion No. 3 is...
Greensburg teen pleads guilty to armed robbery
A Greensburg teen pleaded guilty to the armed robbery of a man last year in Hempfield. Cayden Essway, 17, has been in jail since his arrest after being charged as an adult with counts related to what police said was a violent armed robbery on Mt. Pleasant Road on April...
