Local category, Page 3055
Delaware County man submits guilty plea for assault of 2 Westmoreland prison guards
A Delaware County man serving a life prison sentence since 1989 pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting two guards last year at Westmoreland County Prison. Prosecutors said Thomas Vile, 65, threw cups of urine and feces at guards last June as they attempted to extricate him from a cell. Vile was...
PennDOT works to fix faulty temporary traffic signal in Frazer
A faulty temporary traffic signal at the Butler-Logan Road bridge in Frazer caused excessive wait times for motorists over the weekend, PennDOT said Monday. Some drivers took to social media to report wait times of up to 10 minutes at the signal at Butler-Logan and Murray Hill roads. Signals have...
Stars of bear webcam, sow and cub, expected to leave their den soon
The time to watch a hibernating black bear sow and her single cub on a live webcam is running out as they are expected to leave any day now. The Pennsylvania Game Commission launched its first ever live bear webcam this year from a bear den under a porch at...
Dress for success: Westmoreland County sets business casual rule for workwear
Denim is out for Westmoreland County work attire. A new dress code approved by county commissioners, which takes effect April 15, sets business casual as the rule for attire for most of the nearly 1,800 workers at the courthouse and other government buildings. “We only have one opportunity to make...
Ex-fight dog holding ‘pawtagraph’ session in McCandless for new children’s book
Getting a book autographed by an author making the rounds of signing events is a pretty common occurrence. But it’s not every day that readers can get their books “pawtagraphed.” Tyrion Pittister of Sewickley, a pitt bull that was rescued from a dog fighting ring in Georgia in 2014, will...
Two PUC hearings scheduled locally on proposed 14 percent Peoples Gas hike
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has scheduled two public input hearings regionally on Peoples Natural Gas Company LLC’s request for a 14% distribution rate increase including one April 24 at the Boyce Campus of Allegheny County Community College in Monroeville. On Feb. 28, the PUC voted to study the Peoples...
Lower Burrell police make second crack-related arrest in 8 days
Lower Burrell police said a traffic stop last Thursday turned up nearly a half-ounce of crack cocaine and resulted in the city’s second crack-related arrest in eight days. “For us, this is unusual. Crack in this amount hasn’t been seen in Lower Burrell for 20 years,” said police Chief Tim...
Shop ‘n Save owner reaches Arizona on cross-country fundraising ride
Charley Family Shop ’n Save owner Ray Charley has made it to Arizona. Charley, 67, is on a 3,058-mile cross-country ride, from San Diego to St. Augustine, Fla., to raise money for Feherty’s Troops First Foundation. He began the ride April 1. “Today’s a short day,” Charley said Tuesday. “Only...
Plans underway for new gas well pad in Upper Burrell
Plans for a new, unconventional natural gas well pad are underway for the Hephaestus well pad project on Merwin Road near the intersection of Whitten Hollow Road in Upper Burrell. Civil & Environmental Consultants of Murrysville is currently working on the application to the state Department of Environmental Protection from...
Tarentum police charge man they say had knife at Praha Hotel
Tarentum police arrested a man Sunday who is accused of pulling a knife on another customer at the Praha Hotel who, police said, responded by drawing a gun. The incident happened shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday at the bar at Corbet Street and East Fourth Avenue. In a criminal complaint,...
McCandless hosting tree-planting event in North Park
McCandless residents are invited to participate in a tree-planting event called Woods for Water on Saturday, April 27. Participants will be planting trees from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. along Pine Creek in North Park. The group will gather at 303 Pearce Mill Road. Snacks will be provided but volunteers...
Good Friday drama ‘Way of the Cross’ returns to downtown Greensburg
The “Way of the Cross,” the Greensburg Ministerium’s annual portrayal of the Passion of Christ, will begin at 11:30 a.m. April 19 at the Westmoreland County Courthouse, organizers said. The Good Friday procession usually attracts an audience of Christian worshippers and onlookers and temporarily stops traffic in downtown Greensburg. Greensburg...
Loan program that benefits women, minority entrepreneurs may become permanent
A micro loan program designed to help woman- and minority- owned small businesses in Pittsburgh may become a permanent offering for local entrepreneurs. The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh board is expected to vote Thursday to make the Micro-Enterprise Loan Program permanent. The loan program was started in 2018 by...
Excela leadership shakeup comes amid financial losses, worker outsourcing
Excela Health’s abrupt announcement Friday that two top executives were resigning immediately followed months of growing financial pressures on the Westmoreland County health system that said it is seeking “fresh perspectives.” Recent developments suggest the health system that encompasses Latrobe, Westmoreland and Frick hospitals and is the county’s largest private...
North Hills School Board, teachers union OK 5-year contract
The North Hills School Board and the union representing the district’s teachers have approved a five-year contract. The agreement calls for about half of the district’s 365 teachers to receive average pay increase of 3.48 percent each year. The 185 teachers at the top of the district’s salary scale will...
Joint state House, Senate session planned to honor of Tree of Life victims
The state Legislature plans to hold a rare joint session this week in remembrance of the synagogue shooting that claimed 11 lives in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood in late October. The House and Senate chambers will convene on Wednesday as an act of solidarity in support of the people and...
Allegheny Valley Hospital raises flag to raise organ-donation awareness
Officials from Allegheny Valley Hospital celebrated Donate Life Month on Monday with a flag-raising ceremony. National Donate Life Month is celebrated every April to encourage people to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to honor those whose organ donations have saved or extended other people’s lives. Across the...
McKeesport woman takes plea deal to avoid death penalty for killing her son
A McKeesport woman took a plea deal Monday to avoid the death penalty for suffocating her 17-month-old son out of anger when she believed her boyfriend was cheating on her. Christian Clark, 24, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing her son, Andre Price III, by...
Project seeks pastors from small-town churches for internship
The Project on Rural Ministry is looking for a few good pastors. The project, administered by Grove City College and funded by the Lilly Endowment, will recruit 30 pastors from evangelical Christian churches to participate in a five-year program designed to strengthen ministry in rural areas. Participating pastors must come...
Free document shredding, electronic recycling this week at 15 Guardian Storage locations
Guardian Storage is hosting a series of free document shredding and electronic recycling events this week at 15 of its locations in the Pittsburgh area. Participants can drop off up to five boxes of paper for shredding. All metal clips must be removed. In addition to shredding unwanted documents, electronic...
Pitt study says doctors overprescribe meds to kids through telemedicine
As telemedicine visits increase, so do the chances of overprescribing of antibiotics to children, according to a new study. Children with acute respiratory infections were prescribed antibiotics more often during direct-to-consumer telemedicine visits than during in-person appointments or urgent care visits, according to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh research reported...
Bargain hunter’s paradise at St. John’s Lutheran in Ross helps support charity
Three groups from St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Perrysville helped support local charities and ongoing community service projects with a fundraising event on April 6. The Men of St. John’s conducted a flea market with more than 25 vendors. Women at the church held a Christian Closet in which...
Little good news at the pump as gas prices continue to rise, analyst says
Gasoline prices are continuing to rise in Pittsburgh and across the nation. “The national average gas price has now risen for two months straight, tacking on a total of 50 cents per gallon in the last 90 days, which will cost Americans nearly $200 million more at the pump today...
Pine-Richland lax continues dominant start to season
On Saturday, April 6, the top-ranked Pine-Richland boys lacrosse team rolled to a hardfought 5-3 victory over Hill Academy. This was a non-conference game against Hill Academy, an elite program from Kleinburg, Ontario....
Weekly farmer, vendor marketplace returns this week to Block Northway in Ross
The popular weekly farmer’s market and I Made it Market at The Block Northway in Ross will kick off its second season on Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. in the upper level of the shopping center’s south atrium. The farmer market, which will be open on Friday’s through October,...
