Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 32

The lawyer for a Unity man charged with killing his former girlfriend more than four years ago said authorities may not have jurisdiction to prosecute the case in Westmoreland County. Thomas Stanko maintains he did not kill Cassandra Gross, said his attorney, Marc Daffner, during a pretrial hearing Monday. Gross,...

A Hempfield woman pleaded guilty Monday to charges that she was under the influence of drugs when she caused a vehicle crash last year in North Huntingdon that left a woman seriously injured. Melinda Gail Fesh, 56, was charged following the July 28, 2022, head-on crash on Route 30, near...

Westmoreland County voters elected a Democrat in 2019 to serve as the new sheriff. Six months later, Sheriff James Albert announced he had switched his party registration to Republican, leaving Democrats with just one elected official in county government. Albert, 73, of New Alexandria will seek second term in office...

Jason Rigone could only marvel at the transformation that took place over the last 12 months as he peered down across the vacant countryside in East Huntingdon Thursday. He was surveying what is now more than 78 acres of flat ground ready to serve as Westmoreland County’s newest site for...

The lawyer for a Penn Township man charged in the murders of his father and aunt in 2021 told a Westmoreland County judge he will explore a potential insanity defense for his client. Defense attorney Brian Aston said an investigation is underway to determine if there is enough evidence for...

A Westmoreland County detective testified Wednesday that a Philadelphia man paid $65,000 to have a business associate shot and killed last November in the parking lot of a Rostraver strip mall. Prosecutors contend Keven Van Lam, 57, ordered and financed the hit on a man who he paid about $800,000...

Westmoreland County’s three-member elections board rejected a proposal to install a drop box for mail-in ballots in the courthouse lobby. Common Pleas Judges Tim Krieger and Justin Walsh declined to vote on the pitch from the elections bureau this week to place a single box near the main courthouse entrance...

Desiha Davis said her brother’s murder more than two years ago is still being felt by his five children. “This is really hard and I pray to be stronger than I am right now. This was our heart. And now I have to make sure these kids are empowered and...

A Mexican immigrant who Westmoreland County prosecutors say was the victim of a meat cleaver attack was ordered to remain jailed as a material witness after authorities said they have evidence he was offered $20,000 to withhold his testimony and flee the area. Jamie Hernandez Ruiz, 19, has been in...

Westmoreland County judges selected a former Cambria County school principal to serve a six-week stint as a member of the Norwin School Board. Matthew Thomas, 49, of North Huntingdon was named Monday as the replacement for school board member Joanna Jordan, who died in August. The deeply divided school board...

Fort Ligonier Days is all about the history. Sure there’s plenty of food, drink, crafts and live music for the thousands of visitors who flocked to Ligonier this weekend for the three-day festival that has marked the start of the fall season for more than six decades. But, it’s the...

A man was stabbed multiple times Saturday night in Pitcairn, according to police. Authorities said Allegheny County 911 was notified that an adult male was found wounded on the 400 block of Second Street at 11:20 p.m. The male was taken to a hospital and was listed in critical condition....

Pittsburgh police said a man was shot in the chest early Sunday morning in the entertainment district on the city’s South Side. Officers assigned to the area at the intersection of East Carson Street and South 17th Street shortly after 2:30 a.m. found the unidentified male victim with a gunshot...

Sandi Wilkins Wallace knows first-hand how big a deal it is to march down Main Street during the Fort Ligonier Days parade. Wallace, 64, moved to Florida as an adult, but as a kid who grew up in Ligonier she marched the mile-long parade route as a member of the...

Editor’s note: ‘What’s That?’ is a recurring feature in the Tribune-Review’s Westmoreland Plus edition. If there’s something you’d like to see explored here, send an email to gtrcity@triblive.com or call 724-838-5146. Lynne and Larry Moisey didn’t know they were getting roommates when they purchased an abandoned but once stately two-story...

A Bradenville woman missing since Friday evening may have been seen Saturday morning. Pennsylvania state police troopers say Georgetta Marshall, 63, was possibly seen walking along Mission Road toward Route 30 in Unity Township early Saturday morning. Troopers were contacted Sunday morning by a carrier for the Tribune-Review who reported...

Early voting has started in Westmoreland County ahead of the Nov. 7 general election. Elections Bureau Director Greg McCloskey said more than 25,000 mail-in ballots have been sent out to voters with another 1,000 being processed and expected to be distributed within days. “We’re on pace with everything,” McCloskey said....

Westmoreland County Commissioners are expected to award grants to three municipalities this week with money from the national opioid abuse settlements. North Huntingdon is slated to receive nearly $105,000, while Rostraver and Lower Burrell each will receive $62,832 to operate drug prevention and education programs through municipal police departments. The...

Three Hempfield Area High School students charged last week with possessing guns on school property are scheduled to appear in court this month. They are being prosecuted in the juvenile court system and are scheduled to appear for adjudication hearings Oct. 26 before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Michele Bononi....

A Derry Township man accused of installing a trip wire to cause the fatal fall of his wife three years ago was found not guilty Friday of attempted murder. Westmoreland County prosecutors claimed William “B.J.” Dankesreiter, 63, spent months plotting his now former wife’s death to end a bad marriage...

A New Florence man acquitted in the 2015 killing of a police officer was found guilty of assaulting a deputy sheriff during a violent confrontation with law enforcement officials who attempted to serve an arrest warrant nearly two years ago. Following two days of testimony and more than three hours...

A Derry Township husband spent weeks researching potential methods to kill his wife, a state police detective testified on Thursday. State Police Tpr. John Beynon told a Westmoreland County jury William “BJ” Dankesreiter Jr., 63, conducted multiple internet searches about chloroform, other forms of anesthesia, and uses for fishing wire...

A New Florence man told jurors he was he severely beaten and blinded in his left eye with a targeted shot from a Taser as retribution for his role in the the 2015 death of a police officer. Ray A. Shetler Jr., 39, testified that a group of masked police...

It’s a call that can save someone’s life, but the local centers where 911 dispatchers work to answer those pleas for help are seeing more and more empty work spaces. Officials say staffing issues continue to plague emergency dispatch centers as municipalities struggle to fill shifts and force employees to...

(Editor’s note: To mark Westmoreland County’s 250th birthday this year, we’ve come up with a list of 250 things — 10 things in 25 communities — that we consider to be important to the makeup of our area. This series will appear each week through December. If you have a...