Tanya Babbar stories

Although Billy Bragg, a folk-punk artist from Great Britain, has been coming to the U.S. for 40 years, he’s never been to Greensburg — before this week. When he arrives, Bragg said he plans to stroll through the downtown to get a feel for the character of the communtity. That...

Online bidding for pieces of an original Thunderbolt rollercoaster mural at Kennywood Park raised over $14,000 for charity last weekend. But the artist behind the original work believes it could have raised more — if he had been told about the auction. Raphael Pantalone, a mural artist and retired elementary...

It’s often steel, coal and glass that come to mind when Pennsylvanians think of the state’s core industries. But, to Aaron Hollis, many forget a historically key player: whiskey. West Overton Village, a museum and heritage site in East Huntingdon, has opened the James B. Beam Pennsylvania Whiskey Heritage Center,...

At Seton Hill College in 1974, the first Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival had around 20 booths. Fifty years later, the festival will pack 380 booths across 8 acres at Twin Lakes Park east of Greensburg. “We continue to grow and continue to get recognition locally and nationally,” executive director...

Although Anna McClain’s new job has come with a “giant learning curve,” she said she loves it. In February, McClain became the events manager for SummerSounds, a Greensburg nonprofit that has hosted an annual concert series in Greensburg for the past 23 years. The role is a new position for...

This week Jeanette Lahm gets to watch a construction crew lay the groundwork for a dream 20 years in the making. Work has begun on The Gathering Place, a building at the center of the campus at Laurelville Retreat Center in Mt. Pleasant Township that is expected to open in...

When 73-year-old Hempfield resident Debbie Ciak visits the Greensburg Post Office on a typical day, she said, the errand usually takes about 5 minutes. But the air-conditioning system was broken at the post office during her visit this week, and she said the label machines weren’t working properly in the...