Penn-Trafford Star category, Page 17
Westmoreland returns part of grant to pay for 911 upgrades; blames bookkeeping error
Westmoreland County has returned nearly 75% of a federal grant meant to pay for mobile backups of the county’s 911 dispatch system. Officials said bookkeeping errors impacted the $529,000 project to purchase the mobile 911 dispatch units. Those units could be relocated if public safety services were forced to evacuate...
East suburban real estate transactions, week of July 28, 2024
ALLEGHENY COUNTY Forest Hills Daniel Martin sold property at 473 Atlantic Ave. to Barbara Gamrat for $255,000. John JD Demars sold property at 319 Castlegate Road to Stephen Guevara for $305,000. Cynthia Baca sold property at 3758 Greensburg Pike to Bryson and Christine O’Donnell for $163,000. Gary Craig sold property...
East suburban real estate transactions, week of July 21, 2024
ALLEGHENY COUNTY Chalfant Thomas Paul Nebel sold property at 268 Brighton St. to MTO Enterprises LLC for $53,000. Churchill Danielle Weaver sold property at 880 Graham Blvd. to Jose and Lillian Colon for $257,500. Antanina Perricone sold property at 2525 Greensburg Pike Unit 207 to Bart Joseph and Mary Bess...
Trafford Junior Legion baseball wins Westmoreland County title
Trafford Junior Legion team captured the Westmoreland Junior League title July 16 by defeating 14th Ward (Woodland Hills), 6-1. Trafford combined a strong pitching performance by Dom Delio and the clutch hitting of Evan Gigliotti to pull out the win. Delio took a perfect game into the seventh inning before...
Penn-Trafford wins WCCA 7-on-7 football tournament
The championship plaque and the balance of power at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Larry Sellitto Memorial 7-on-7 football passing tournament are back in the hands of Penn-Trafford. The Warriors, a perennial contender in the event, reached the final for the 10th time in 13 years and claimed their sixth...
Outages, downed trees follow fast-moving storms
More than 850 West Penn Power customers were without electricity as of 8:45 p.m. Monday, after strong isolated storms moved through the area damaging utility poles and downing trees. A sizable area of Penn Township between Harrison City-Export Road and the Pennsylvania Turnpike was affected by the outage, according to...
Trafford Junior American Legion baseball looking to stay hot, make state playoff run
The Trafford Post 331 Junior American Legion team would love to repeat what the 2021 Penn-Trafford squad did, winning a state title. That team featured eight starters from this year’s WPIAL Class 5A champion Penn-Trafford high school team. Trafford reached the finals of the Westmoreland County Junior League by defeating...
East suburban real estate transactions, week of July 14, 2024
ALLEGHENY COUNTY Churchill Estate of Raymond Jurewicz sold property at 213 Thornberry Drive to Zachary Farley and Sida Wang for $384,000. Edgewood Michael Kostiew sold property at 437 Maple Ave. to James Caird and Katie McHolme for $729,431. Beverly Harding sold property at 410 W Swissvale Ave. to VMO Swissvale...
Penn-Trafford track athlete’s fundraiser generates more than $8K for elementary school playground
Matthew Sarnowski left his final track and field season at Penn-Trafford High School with a new school discus record, a WPIAL championship title and a third place standing in the state. But the Penn State-bound thrower also left the district with more than $8,000 to fund a new playground for...
Monroeville author goes ‘noir’ with 1st mystery novel
Don Ammon of Monroeville grew up writing short plays performed by other children in his neighborhood. By the time he graduated from Penn-Trafford High School, he’d read all 86 of Agatha Christie’s mystery novels and was ready to move to Devonshire, England, to do exactly what Christie was doing. That...
East suburban real estate transactions, week of July 7, 2024
ALLEGHENY COUNTY Churchill Estate of Robert Perkoski sold property at 1541 Williamsburg Pl to 2669 LLC for $103,000. Edgewood Steven Crandell sold property at 300 Beech St. to Kirk Brown and Wendy Rondeau for $440,000. Jeffrey Weiss sold property at 180 Gordon St. to Ryan Bernier and Sandra Bernier Yu...
Penn-Trafford coaches pleased with offseason improvement at skill positions
Penn-Trafford football coach John Ruane gave his squad a break from summer workouts over the Fourth of July holiday. It was a deserved rest for a team that has worked hard to improve on its disappointing 2023 record of 5-6 overall, which included a WPIAL Class 5A playoff loss to...
After tornadoes, Trafford, Irwin, North Irwin looking to band together for future emergencies
The tornado that whipped through parts of Trafford and Penn Township on June 26 prompted Trafford, Irwin and North Irwin to consider uniting to provide assistance in the case of another natural disaster, local officials said. “It will get everything on the radar, in terms of resource sharing,” said Jaime...
Cleanup of Bushy Run Battlefield tornado damage could take months, officials say
Standing at the head of one of Bushy Run Battlefield’s wooded trails on Monday, it’s hard to tell that a footpath through the trees ever existed. Downed trees, branches, leaves and debris completely block the way, leaving clearings where there once was forest and thickets where paths were once passable....
Penn-Trafford’s Rapp twins exceled in larger roles for Geneva softballVideo
Because they are twins, Maddy and McKenzie Rapp, not surprisingly, do a lot together. Even as softball players, they formed their own battery at Penn-Trafford, with McKenzie pitching and Maddy catching. So it should be equally unsurprising that the sisters took on larger roles for the Geneva softball team this...
‘It takes a village’: Parents of Penn Township boy injured in lawn mower accident reflect on trauma, recovery 2 years later
Two years ago, 6-year-old Liam Lavelle took a ride with his dad on the lawn mower — something he had done many times before. The mower’s blades were not engaged, and the bagging system was turned off as Liam’s dad, Zach Lavelle, drove the vehicle to the edge of his...
East suburban real estate transactions, week of June 30, 2024
ALLEGHENY COUNTY Chalfant Nedsem Investments LLC sold property at 224 Lynnwood Ave. to EdibertoSepulveda Caraballo for $55,000. Edgewood Estate of Pamela Walker sold property at 107 Lacrosse St. to Lori Ann Heiles and Tara Yaney for $154,000. Justin Meenan sold property at 29 McKelvey Ave. to Mariam Sanogo for $310,000....
Equestrian therapy students display skills at Westmoreland Fairgrounds show
Saddling up has given Matthew Mitchell a new approach for tackling some of his personal challenges. The newly minted Southmoreland High School graduate claimed a prize on Saturday for the way he handled therapy horse Sid during the second annual horse show organized by Penn Township nonprofit, Making Strides. Mitchell,...
Severe weather forecast, flood watch issued after 5 tornadoes hit Western Pa.
Workers have been clearing uprooted trees and broken branches from Winifred Sherman’s yard since a tornado whipped past her Penn Township home Wednesday. But with the potential for flash flooding, a tornado, hail and strong winds in this weekend’s forecast, local tree services and power companies may need to hit...
‘He was a joy’: Penn Township family mourns loss of pony after tornado
Darla Cynkar couldn’t believe it when her husband, Jim, told her a tornado had just whisked by their Penn Township home Wednesday night, toppling trees and scattering branches across their yard. She was even more shocked and heartbroken to hear that a fallen tree struck and trapped their 16-year-old pony,...
Weather service confirms 3 tornadoes touched down in recent Western Pa. storm
Three tornadoes touched down in Western Pennsylvania late Wednesday, damaging homes and downing power lines, the National Weather Service said Thursday. An EF2 tornado with wind gusts up to 115 mph was spotted near Route 22 in the Beaver Run Road area and cut a path through parts of Salem...
Bushy Run Battlefield now part of the national Old-Growth Forest NetworkVideo
Each year, Bushy Run Battlefield is the site of historical reenactments. But some of its trees may have been around nearly long enough to have seen the real thing. The battlefield — specifically the forested section of its property — was inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network at a May...
Penn-Trafford soccer goalie Rease Solomon commits to Robert Morris
Rease Solomon will be stopping shots in the Horizon League. The rising senior soccer goalkeeper at Penn-Trafford announced a verbal commitment to Robert Morris. Solomon, a Pittsburgh Riverhounds Academy player, was an all-section performer last season. She allowed 16 goals, made 113 saves and posted six shutouts for the Warriors...
East suburban real estate transactions, week of June 23, 2024
ALLEGHENY COUNTY Edgewood Edwin Leach sold property at 321 Dewey St. to Tyler Klein and Jane Alise Myhers for $440,000. Estate of Francis Garcia sold property at 8007 Westmoreland Ave. to Jacob and Meghan Linsenbigler for $134,000. Forest Hills Forest Hills Borough sold property at 444 Ave. D to Oliver...
Bushy Run Legion team rounding into shape after late start
Things are getting back to normal for the Bushy Run American Legion baseball team, and the group is starting to play the way coach Scott Peyman expected. In their past four games, wins against Somerset, Mt. Pleasant twice and Blairsville, Bushy Run (7-2) has outscored its opponents, 53-2. Bushy Run...
