Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 23
Westmoreland register of wills to leave office 4 months early
Westmoreland County’s Register of Wills Sherry Magretti Hamilton will leave office four months early. County officials on Thursday confirmed that Hamilton, the three-term Republican officerholder who last spring was stripped of her administrative duties, said she will resign her elected position effective Sept. 3. Hamilton previously agreed leave Dec. 31...
Gov. Josh Shapiro delivers rousing speech at Kamala Harris rally after VP snub
PHILADELPHIA — Anticipation grew over the past several weeks that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would join Vice President Kamala Harris onstage in Philadelphia for Tuesday’s announcement of the new Democratic ticket running this fall for the White House. As expected, Shapiro was onstage, but not in the role many envisioned...
Just $10.5M remains of Westmoreland’s $105.3M pandemic relief allocation
Westmoreland commissioners have allocated nearly 90% of the $105.3 million in American Rescue Plan funds awarded to the county in 2022 as part of the federal government’s covid relief effort, according to a report released this month. County leaders will have until the end of this year to designate how...
Westmoreland returns part of grant to pay for 911 upgrades; blames bookkeeping error
Westmoreland County has returned nearly 75% of a federal grant meant to pay for mobile backups of the county’s 911 dispatch system. Officials said bookkeeping errors impacted the $529,000 project to purchase the mobile 911 dispatch units. Those units could be relocated if public safety services were forced to evacuate...
Westmoreland vehicle tracking policy could put deputies in danger, sheriff says as he files lawsuit
Westmoreland Sheriff James Albert claims a new fleet policy that tracks the county’s 180 vehicles through GPS technology will put his deputies in danger. The sheriff this week filed a lawsuit challenging the county’s updated fleet policy and is seeking an injunction to keep it from being enforced. “I think...
Defense claims judge’s conflict should result in dismissal of assisted suicide case
Attorneys for a South Greensburg woman who prosecutors say bullied her boyfriend into committing suicide in 2021 say the criminal case against their client should be dismissed. Defense attorney Tim Lyon said the district judge who held the case for trial last year participated in the initial investigation while still...
Westmoreland County loan boosts long-planned Brush Creek remediation project
A long-planned remediation effort to remove orange-tinted polluted mine drainage discharged int0 Brush Creek may finally be a reality. The eight-mile creek runs through Irwin and Trafford and into Turtle Creek. Westmoreland County commissioners on Thursday approved a $75,000 interest-free loan to the Turtle Creek Watershed Association that officials said...
Westmoreland commissioners reject call for property reassessment
Westmoreland commissioners on Thursday conceded the county’s property assessments are decades out of date but they rejected calls to modernize the system that controls valuations used to determine tax bills. “I am still not in favor of a countywide reassessment. We can’t commit the money it will cost,” said Commissioner...
Next stop could be White House for ‘dynamic’ Shapiro
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told graduates at his college alma mater last year he might not have ventured into politics if he hadn’t failed a science test and been cut from the basketball team during his freshman year. “I planned to be the first doctor to get drafted by the...
Judge rejects effort to dismiss charges against East Huntingdon man injured in police shootout
A Westmoreland County judge has rejected defense calls for dismissal of charges against an East Huntingdon man wounded by Pennsylvania State Police in an exchange of gunfire last winter. Defense attorney Jill Devine during a court hearing Tuesday contended there was no evidence James R. Miller Jr. intended to kill...
New Kensington man pleads guilty to drive-by shooting of high school classmate
A New Kensington man was ordered Tuesday to serve up to 14 years in prison for the attempted homicide of two occupants of a vehicle during a drive-by shooting in New Kensington. Ernest Gary IV, 20, pleaded guilty to seven offenses including two counts of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, reckless...
Dominican trucker faces second deportation for New Stanton fentanyl sale
Westmoreland County prosecutors said a Dominican Republic national faces deportation for the second time after he serves an eight-year prison sentence for selling fentanyl to an undercover state trooper two years ago in New Stanton. Leonardo Antonio Ramirez was convicted in May by a Westmoreland County jury of three drug-related...
Westmoreland County braces for revenue drop as FCC caps inmate calling fees
Westmoreland officials are bracing for what could be a substantial cut in revenue generated through phone and video calls made by county prison inmates. A new rule issued earlier this month by the Federal Communications Commission limits the amount private companies can charge inmates for calling services. Those new rules...
New Kensington man pleads guilty to sexual assault of teen
A New Kensington man pleaded guilty Monday to the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl. Nasai Minon Parker-Hill, 19, will be sentenced later this year to three to seven years in prison under terms of a plea deal reached with prosecutors in which the most serious allegations — rape and...
Teen’s mom pleads with judge to protect community from sex offender
The mother of an Arnold girl pleaded with a Westmoreland County judge to protect the public from a man she said she fears would sexually assault another child. “It is your place to make sure he takes those (sex offender) classes so he never does this again. If he doesn’t,...
Experts call for caution as rush to assess new polls in presidential race intensifies
It’s a new ballgame for pollsters. The models, statistics, results and interpretation of public opinion gathered throughout 2024 and over the past three years was tossed out the window last weekend when President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race. With the race now shifted to feature Vice President Kamala...
Jeannette company sued after rescinding job offer based on medical marijuana use
An Indiana County man is suing a Jeannette plastic lumber manufacturer, claiming company officials violated state employment laws when they rescinded a job based on the results of his drug test. Michael Howard claims in a two-count lawsuit filed this week in Westmoreland County that he was improperly rejected for...
Jeannette shutters K9 program as ‘cost prohibitive’
Jeannette officials on Thursday announced the city has shuttered its police department’s K9 unit. “Critically, any new and unknown costs associated with the program made maintaining the program cost prohibitive in light of the city’s already stretched funding and budgetary constraints,” according to a statement released by city leaders. The...
Latrobe man alleges packing firm wrongly fired him after he reported safety issues
A Latrobe man claimed in a federal lawsuit filed this week he was improperly fired from a packaging manufacturer as retaliation after reporting suspected safety issues. Patrick Mitchell, in a six-count complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, said he became ill while working at Opco Inc., a Latrobe-based...
Vandergrift woman pleads guilty to sex assault of teen
A Vandergrift woman was sentenced serve up to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a teen girl. Ashley Elizabeth Valore, 36, pleaded guilty to felony counts of statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault for repeated encounters with a 15-year-old girl. According to court records, the teen told police...
Hyde Park man to serve probation for child pornography possession
A Hyde Park man was spared a prison sentence Tuesday, arguing that his personal domestic challenges led to depression that caused him to spiral into criminal behavior. Joshua Glen Townsend, 34, was ordered to serve one year on house arrest as part of a three-year probation sentence. He pleaded guilty...
Sewickley Township woman to serve 6-15 years in prison for fatal Arona Road crash
Jason Yarosik said his aunt was the glue that held his family together. Dawn Coyne, 57, of Madison spent years caring for her ailing husband who died from cancer in 2017, loved all three of her now adult children and served as a manager of the Goodwill store in North...
Greensburg man pleads guilty to assault on police officer
A Greensburg man was ordered Monday to serve up to 42 months in state prison for the drunken aggravated assault of a police officer last year in Latrobe. Bruce Hudak, 41, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and drunk driving offenses in connection an incident last Aug. 17. According to court...
Westmoreland transit ends ConnectCard fare system
The Westmoreland County Transit Authority on Friday halted the use of the cashless ConnectCard fare system that had been in place on its fixed-route bus system since 2018. Initially touted as customer service advancement that allowed bus riders to pay fares without having exact cash, the system never flourished, suffered...
South Greensburg man’s scuffle with security at Hempfield Area High School could have been avoided, judge says
A South Greensburg man was sentenced to serve one year of probation for an altercation with security officers who attempted to prevent him from entering Hempfield Area High School without a mask during covid-era restrictions in 2021. Richard Michael Bettis, 58, was convicted during of misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest,...
