Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 73

Westmoreland County commissioners, in quarantine this week after exposure to an office staffer who tested positive for coronavirus, said Thursday they will not require masks be worn at the courthouse. Face coverings have been optional for workers and visitors to the courthouse in downtown Greensburg since Gov. Tom Wolf lifted...

A Hempfield man was ordered to serve up to 18 months in prison for an incident earlier this year in which police said he tried to escape from the county’s lockup. Jule Aaron Mascherma, 33, pleaded guilty to a charge of institutional vandalism after Westmoreland County prosecutors agreed to dismiss...

Westmoreland officials said Wednesday there are no plans for the county’s juvenile detention center to accept troubled youth from the soon-to-shutter Shuman Center in Pittsburgh. Allegheny County officials announced this week the 120-bed Shuman facility would close Sept. 18, after state regulators rescinded the detention center’s operating license following disclosure...

Former Westmoreland County Election Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said she worked sometimes 16 hours a day and struggled through health issues as she was belittled and set up for failure by her bosses before being ultimately fired without cause. Sebastiani, 63, appeared with her lawyers at virtual news conference Tuesday...

JoAnn Sebastiani, former director of the Westmoreland County Election Bureau, claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Monday against all three county commissioners that she was “scapegoated,” belittled and discriminated against before she was fired without adequate cause. Sebastiani, 63, had been on the job for 10 months when she was...

Raises handed out to about 250 employees in Westmoreland County’s court-related offices appear to be double what was estimated when a new four-year labor contract was ratified in April, according to an analysis from Controller Jeffrey Balzer. Balzer said the deal with the Westmoreland County Court Related Employees Association, approved...

A new photo identification card program for veterans was unveiled this month, part of a renewed effort to entice former military members to officially register their discharge documents with Westmoreland County. Matt Zamosky, director of the county’s Veteran Affairs Office, on Monday urged the county’s nearly 30,000 former military members...

A Greensburg man who once served a six-year prison sentence for the sexual assault of a young runaway and is currently in jail awaiting trial on charges that he raped a co-worker wants the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office to pay him more than $250,000 for the malicious prosecution of...

Additional service cuts on the Go Westmoreland shared-ride system could be considered in response to an ongoing driver shortage, transit officials said. Westmoreland County Transit Authority Executive Director Alan Blahovec said recent efforts to beef up and maintain the authority’s roster of drivers who operate small passenger buses as part...

Westmoreland Manor potentially could forfeit tens of millions of dollars this fall under the new federal policy that requires nursing home employees to be vaccinated for coronavirus. County officials said they are assessing the impact of the vaccination mandate announced Aug. 18 that also carried a threat from President Biden...

A Westmoreland County judge on Thursday rejected a proposed plea bargain deal in which prosecutors would have dismissed a murder charge against an Export man who testified to his role in the 2017 killing of a Vandergrift woman near Keystone State Park. The proposed deal called for Devin Akamichi, 28,...

The lawyer for a Derry man awaiting trial on drunken driving charges contends Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck gave preferential treatment to a local celebrity and unfairly rejected a bid for his “blue collar” client to enter a jail diversionary program. Defense attorney Robert Domenick, in court documents filed...

Westmoreland County child welfare officials on Tuesday put out a call for foster parents saying there was a dire need to find homes for older teens. Children’s Bureau Director Shara Saveikis said they county needs dozens of homes to transition teens ages 14 through 17 from group homes into family...

A former resident at a Latrobe-area juvenile group home pleaded guilty Monday to a charge that he slashed a fellow inmate six times with a scissors during a violent confrontation. Omar Hernandez-Vallejo, 18, told a Westmoreland County judge he was defending himself during the Feb. 20 confrontation. “I feel that...

A former Westmoreland County deputy sheriff wants a judge to dismiss criminal charges alleging that he solicited sex from female inmates during routine prisoner transfers, claiming there is not enough evidence to support the claims. In court documents filed Monday, the lawyer for Daniel Gradischek, 34, of Unity argued that...

Westmoreland County will pay a private company $112,000 over the next 18 months to help oversee the next three elections as officials continue efforts to hire a new director and two middle managers in the aftermath of the problem-plagued May primary. Officials said personnel turnover, which included the June firing...

Former Greater Latrobe Area Junior High School wrestling coach Cary Lydic was acquitted Friday of charges alleging that he endangered students and failed to report potential child abuse in connection with suspected hazing incidents last year. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger issued the verdict without explanation after...

The owner of a Jeannette-based weapons marketing internet site contends he and his company were improperly removed from two social media platforms and suggested his conservative, pro-gun politics were the cause, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Westmoreland County. Armslist LLC and owner Jonathan Gibbon of Jeannette said...

All do-not-drink restrictions in McKeesport’s Lower 10th Ward were lifted Thursday, nearly a month after a portion of the city’s water system was contaminated by firefighting foam used to extinguish a blaze in mid July. Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials said the last five customers impacted by the contamination...

A Blairsville man was found not guilty of making threats to kill his wife after she told a Westmoreland County jury she lied to police. Police claimed James Leroy Trout Jr., 45, pointed a gun at a Latrobe home on Oct. 15, 2019 where his wife fled to after the...

The tax office at the Westmoreland County Courthouse will remain closed to the public until Monday, Aug. 16 after employees testified positive for the coronavirus. County officials said test results reported Wednesday afternoon confirmed that three employees in the first-floor courthouse annex office had contracted the virus. The office was...

A former junior high school wrestling coach testified he didn’t originally believe any crimes were committed or students were hurt when he saw one of his team leaders brandish a stick before practice last year. But Cary James Lydic admitted Wednesday that video of the incident suggested wrongdoing. Responding to...

Ritual hazing among members of the Greater Latrobe Area Junior High School wrestling team was ongoing as the boys’ coach stood feet away, a district administrator told a Westmoreland County judge on Tuesday. That testimony came during the first day in the nonjury trial of former wrestling head coach Cary...