Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 97

More than 34 million criminal cases have been removed from public records under the Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law, state court officials say. The law, the first of its kind in the United States, was implemented last June and provides for the automatic expungement of public records pertaining to low-level crimes...

Westmoreland County Transit Authority fares will remain steady for the next year even as ridership continues to decline amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Authority board members Thursday approved a new $13.4 million budget that will increase spending for its fixed-route bus service and paratransit shared ride “Go Westmoreland” program, which...

Human service agencies in Westmoreland County will receive an additional $4.1 million in federal grants to assist homeless and hungry residents struggling because of the coronavirus. County commissioners are expected to approve an amended grant program next week that allocates supplemental community development funding made available through the federal CARES...

An Indiana County man will serve up to 12 years in prison for the sale of drugs to a Derry woman who died from an overdose a day after Christmas in 2016. Dylan Blair, 24, of Saltsburg was convicted by a Westmoreland County jury in February of drug delivery resulting...

Certification of Westmoreland County’s election results from the June 2 primary will be delayed one week, officials said Wednesday. Additional time is needed to ensure every ballot cast this month has been accounted for and properly counted, a process that will require more time than initially was planned, Elections Bureau...

Hempfield Area School Board member Michael Alfery will serve one year on probation for a drunken driving arrest last fall. Alfery, 51, was charged in October with two counts of DUI after a traffic stop, according to court records. Police said Alfery sped away from a Sheetz parking lot in...

A Forest County man will serve time in jail for sending pornographic pictures of himself to a 15-year-old Derry Township girl last year. Shawn M. Negley Jr., 19, pleaded guilty to two felony offenses in connection with pictures police said he sent to the juvenile via social media. According to...

Jury trials in Westmoreland County will resume in August with a little help from a neighbor. The Palace Theatre in Greensburg will serve as an alternate site to host jury selection for cases assigned to some of the smaller courtrooms where social distancing cannot be accommodated, Westmoreland County Common Pleas...

Westmoreland County will allocate $30 million to help local governments, small businesses and nonprofit organizations that suffered financial losses during the coronavirus pandemic. That broad spending plan constitutes a baseline of how county officials said they intend to dole out the $31.5 million grant awarded this month as part of...

Many Westmoreland County residents aren’t taking advantage of this year’s extended discount period for property taxes, and it’s causing headaches for local tax collectors. Earlier this spring, the county commissioners extended the deadline for the 2% property tax discount — which usually ends in April 30 — through Aug. 31...

Hunters may have a new area to harvest deer in 2021. Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County board members this week approved an update to the agency’s policy that protects its water sources, including a provision that could open up a 3,000-acre site around the Beaver Run Reservoir in Bell for...

The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Wednesday quashed the appeal of former Westmoreland County Sheriff Jonathan Held, who sought the dismissal of corruption charges against him following a mistrial in 2018. A three-judge panel said it did not have jurisdiction to rule on Held’s appeal, in which the former two-term Republican...

A Youngwood man will serve a short probation term after he was charged with desecration of the U.S. flag. Matthew J. Utzman, 21, appeared in court Tuesday to answer charges associated with an incident Sept. 2 in which police said he took a small flag from a veterans monument in...

Hand-counting of more than 1,200 provisional primary ballots cast should be completed Wednesday, according to the Westmoreland Elections Bureau. “We expect about 75% will be counted and accepted,” director Beth Lechman said. Provisional ballots were used at the polls in the June 2 primary by voters who were not eligible...

A Greensburg man will serve seven years on probation for possession of child pornography police said he solicited from young girls last year. Joshua Bittner, 21, pleaded guilty to eight felony counts in connection with an investigation in which two girls, ages 10 and 11, told police that a 12-year-old...

Claudia Narcisi told a Westmoreland County judge on Monday she wasn’t sure what troubled her the most, the loss of irreplaceable family heirlooms or that she initially blamed another person before she learned a year later that the woman she hired to paint rooms in her Hempfield home had absconded...

Most Westmoreland County government offices reopen to the public today. Many restrictions enacted in late March to help control the coronavirus pandemic will be lifted to allow more government functions to operate as normal while still adhering to safety guidelines such as social distancing among staff and courthouse visitors. “Our...

A Greensburg man will serve up to three years in prison for assaulting three guards and threatening another at the Westmoreland County Prison in 2018. Esteban Sosa, 38, pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts each of aggravated assault and simple assault as well as one charge of making terroristic threats...

Gilfert Mihalich served as a Westmoreland County judge for more than three decades, but one case earned him a national cable audience through a 1992 appearance with CNN host Larry King. During that interview, Mihalich discussed the controversial 60-year prison sentence he imposed against a father convicted of repeatedly raping...

As the counting of absentee primary ballots continued Wednesday, Westmoreland County officials said a plan to improve the speed of reporting election results is a top priority before the November general election. More than 40,000 mail-in ballots were received this spring for an election with no contested races during a...

A Jeannette woman will serve up to nine years in prison for a failed attempt to fill a forged prescription last year at a New Kensington pharmacy. Erica Eisaman, 39, pleaded guilty in February to a felony charge of forging a prescription for 90 hydrocodone pills, prosecutors said. She also...

Saying he was a danger to the community, a Westmoreland County judge on Monday ordered an Irwin drug dealer to serve at least six months in jail for possession of nearly 30 pounds of marijuana. Zachary Morton, 33, was sentenced to serve up 23 months behind bars and an additional...