Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 92

Westmoreland libraries will provide around the clock free Wi-Fi as part of a program that county officials said will help to ensure residents have expanded access to the internet. A $145,000 grant will be made to the Westmoreland County Federated Library System to install equipment that will broadcast hotspots for...

Westmoreland officials said Tuesday that in-person visits with residents at the county-owned nursing home in Hempfield have restarted. Visitation of residents at Westmoreland Manor initially was suspended in March at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and briefly restarted on a modified basis in late July before being again put...

A woman already serving up to four years in prison for threatening to kill a Westmoreland County judge two years ago pleaded guilty Tuesday to again issuing a similar threat to the same judge last year. Rebecca Elizabeth Gardner, 31, is expected to be sentenced this year under terms of...

A Westmoreland County prosecutor told jurors Monday that repeated and sometimes daily sexual assaults against a young girl was about control. Assistant District Attorney Kelly Hammers in an opening statement in the rape trial of a Scottdale man accused of molestation and sexual assaults said the abused started in May...

Carmen Capozzi knows all too well the horrors associated with drug addiction. For three days in 2015, he sat quietly in a Westmoreland County courtroom and watched the trial of a Wilkinsburg man charged with selling his 20-year-old son a fatal dose of heroin three years earlier. Capozzi’s silence ended...

Hundreds of tax delinquent properties could be auctioned off Monday as part of Westmoreland County’s annual sale, but this year’s event will look different in the age of the coronavirus pandemic. The tax sale will be conducted at Science Innovation Center Theater in Science Hall on the Youngwood campus of...

A Butler woman charged with second-degree murder in connection with an Armstrong County man’s killing last year in Arnold was denied bail Thursday by a Westmoreland County judge. Bailey Ann Hines, 25, has been in jail since her arrest following the June 28, 2019, fatal shooting of Gregory Ray Wynkoop,...

A former Pennsylvania State Police trooper’s appeal of his conviction for assaulting and threatening his wife was denied Thursday. A three-judge panel of the state’s Superior Court upheld the guilty verdicts issued by an Allegheny County judge against Scott Richard Mang, 34, on charges of simple assault and making terroristic...

A former Greensburg man will serve at least 20 months in jail for firing a rifle into the homes of two neighbors last year. Joshua Dowell Miller, 27, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony charge of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure and a misdemeanor reckless endangerment count in...

A Westmoreland County judge on Tuesday rejected a bond request from a Monessen woman awaiting trial for the attempted murder of a neighbor. Tiffany Grogan-Howard, 38, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in connection with a Nov. 25 incident in which police contend she stabbed her...

A Jeannette man will serve up to 23 months in jail for an attempt last year to smuggle drugs into the Westmoreland County Prison. Adam Brandonio, 46, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy, drug counts and other offenses in connection with an incident police described as a sting operation at a...

Westmoreland County lost five of its top administrators this year through resignations and retirements, creating what one official called a “brain drain” in local government. The latest to leave was Amanda Bernard, who resigned as the county’s human resources director in late August to take a similar job with a...

Westmoreland County will hire as many as 1,800 poll workers for election day. Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said recruiting has been underway for the last several weeks to have each of the county’s 307 voting precincts fully staffed on Nov. 3. “We’re going to take as many poll workers...

For the first time, audits from the Westmoreland County Controller’s Office are available online. Controller Jeffrey Balzer said financial reports compiled by his staff will be made public, a departure from past practices that required formal requests under the state’s open records laws to review the department findings. “I have...

Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli on Thursday issued a scathing rebuke of President Donald Trump ahead of his visit to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity. “To put it simply, Donald Trump is simply not up for this job. Pennsylvanians have suffered at the hands of a weak and incompetent...

Westmoreland County will spend an additional $350,000 to beef up its ability to hold an election and count votes this fall. Commissioners on Wednesday approved a contract with a private mailing company in Cleveland to send ballots to voters, and finalized a deal with the Nebraska-based firm to test touch-screen...

A West Newton man pleaded guilty Wednesday to causing injuries to a 14-month-old child while the boy’s mother was at work last year. Police said Salvatore Salvio, 26, last Sept. 12 inflicted injuries that caused substantial facial bruises and 13 puncture wounds to the child’s feet. “He’s doing great now,”...

An unopened envelope containing seven provisional ballots cast at a Unity polling precinct in June was discovered among stored voting equipment more than a month after final results were certified, Westmoreland County officials revealed Wednesday. Those votes will be opened and counted next week. They could change the outcome of...

Felipe Vazquez, the suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher accused of sex crimes involving an underage girl, on Tuesday denied he confessed to police and said he feared he could be shot if he didn’t cooperate with their investigation. The 29-year-old testified for more than two hours during a pretrial hearing before...

Members of Westmoreland County’s Prison Board plan to explore an expanded program that allows for additional court hearings by video. Common Pleas President Judge Rita Hathaway and court administrators lobbied the board to buy new equipment that will double the number of hearings conducted remotely to ensure safety of defendants...

About a dozen members of Voice of Westmoreland rallied Monday in front of the courthouse to lobby Westmoreland County President Judge Rita Hathaway to issue an order barring evictions and foreclosures amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “This is incredibly important so people don’t lose their homes,” said Celina Culver, organizer...

Mayor Bill Peduto said Saturday that Juneteenth will be an official holiday in Pittsburgh. Peduto said that starting June 19, 2021, the city will honor the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. Peduto made the announcement at the Black Voting Rights Forum at St. Benedict the...