Westmoreland category, Page 156
Greater Latrobe School District eyes potential $859K revenue shortfall for 2024-25
Greater Latrobe School District officials have proposed a 2024-2025 budget with $66.6 million in spending and a projected revenue shortfall of about $859,000. The school board is expected to vote on the tentative spending plan on Tuesday but administrators are biding their time on making any recommendation about a related...
From the Newsroom podcast: A look at Westmoreland’s register of wills battle
In Westmoreland County, commissioner Ted Kopas has called for the resignation or removal by impeachment of the Register of Wills Sherry Magretti Hamilton. Earlier this month, two judges found Hamilton in direct criminal contempt on three counts: disobedience or neglect by an officer of the court; official misconduct as an...
Westmoreland municipal authority approves $3M for tank painting, vehicle replacements
Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County board members authorized nearly $3 million in spending Wednesday to repaint and repair water tanks and replace 17 trucks and work vans in its fleet of 220 vehicles. Officials said a nearly 3-million-gallon tank in Mt. Pleasant Township and a 500,000-gallon tank in Hempfield will...
Greensburg to outfit its police with body cameras
Greensburg council this week approved buying body cameras for its police force. It also will be developing a policy for how they will be used. When the city receives the cameras, the police department will work with Motorola to install them and expand the computer server that holds police vehicle...
Hempfield Area School Board approves district’s next superintendent
Incoming Hempfield Area School District Superintendent Mark Holtzman is keenly aware of the stalled high school renovation project. “The large construction project that’s been kind of looming over the last couple of years really needs to take shape,” he said. “I think kind of orchestrating and getting those things tied...
Delmont-area McDonald’s sued over sex claims involving manager taking advantage of teen employee
A lawsuit filed this week alleges the owners of the Delmont-area McDonald’s failed to adequately investigate the criminal background of a manager who was charged by police with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old employee. According to a two-count lawsuit filed in Westmoreland County Court, the fast-food restaurant owners are accused of...
2 drivers flown to hospital after crash on Route 380
Route 380 in Murrysville was closed for several hours in both directions Tuesday afternoon following a crash from which two drivers were flown by helicopter to the hospital. According to Murrysville police chief Thomas Seefeld, one vehicle was pulling out of the auction barn near Route 380, and the other...
Derry community mourns death of borough council president
Derry Borough this week is coping with the loss of one of its veteran public servants, with the unexpected death of council President Al Checca. Checca, 57, who survived three kidney transplants, died late Sunday, May 12, 2024, in Pittsburgh’s UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. He’d been recovering there for nearly a...
Housing authority may expand parking with purchase of vacant Jeannette school property
A tentative agreement is in the works for the Westmoreland County Housing Authority to buy long-vacant property from Jeannette City School District for $28,000. Authority director Mike Washowich said he hopes the property can help expand parking for nearby Jeannette Manor residents and caregivers. But officials plan to examine the...
Security film to be installed on windows at Jeannette high school building
Security film will be added to windows and glass in several areas at Jeannette Junior/Senior High School after state police did a vulnerability and risk assessment at the building, according to school district Superintendent Matt Jones. The film will be added to glass in the front vestibule and areas near...
Delmont stormwater fees will start in 2025, newly formed authority president says
A new Delmont stormwater authority will function as a utility and assess a stormwater fee on property owners, a borough official said this week. The fee will be based on the amount of impervious surface on a given property, councilman and authority board President Stan Cheyne, with the goal of...
Westmoreland City Post Office reopens
The Westmoreland City Post Office reopened Wednesday morning, nine days after an SUV crashed into the building. Postal customers were asked to use the office in Manor during the temporary closure. The SUV crashed into the Walnut Street building May 6. No one was hurt. A postal service spokesman did...
Westmoreland happenings: Pizza fundraiser, shoe collection, plant sale, more
Class • YWCA Westmoreland will offer a class, “Apple Basics,” from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. June 3, 4, 10 and 11 at the YWCA Mansion, 424 N. Main St., Greensburg. Cost: $20. Reservations required: 724-834-9390 or ywcawestmoreland.org. Fundraisers • Lincoln Heights Civic Association will have bingo from 1 to 3...
Beaver Area School District head recommended as Hempfield Area’s new superintendent
Former McKeesport Area and current Beaver Area Superintendent Mark Holtzman is set to become Hempfield’s top school official. Holtzman will be recommended for appointment as superintendent of Hempfield Area School District at a special board meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to a letter sent to parents Tuesday from the...
Salary surcharge pitched to cover Westmoreland register of wills conservator pay
The nearly $90,000 annual salary paid to Westmoreland Register of Wills Sherry Magretti Hamilton could be used to finance costs for a court-appointed conservator for the office, county officials said Tuesday. Controller Jeffrey Balzer said a policy approved in 2020 by commissioners allows the county to hold elected row officers...
Work to begin on preparing site for Palmer airport terminal expansion
A former airplane hangar at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe is scheduled to be razed at the end of the month, paving the way for the long-awaited terminal expansion project to begin, the authority’s engineer said. The demolition will take about a month, setting up the work on a...
Greensburg man admits to going on nude walks at Twin Lakes Park, police say
A man who described himself as a nudist showed up at the Westmoreland County Park Police station on Hempfield’s Donohoe Road last month wearing only socks, sneakers and a ball cap, according to court papers. Turns out, police said they had been looking for a man who reportedly had been...
Utility rebate will help Latrobe update HVAC units, lighting
Latrobe Council has approved a proposal from Tudi Mechanical Systems to upgrade heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment at city hall and lighting at the municipal parking garage and solid waste transfer station. City manager Terry Carcella said the McKees Rocks contractor will install nine new air handlers at city...
Jeannette schools taxes likely to remain steady
There will not be a millage increase for the 2024-25 school year for Jeannette City School District property taxpayers, but one could be on the horizon. Superintendent Matt Jones asked school directors to start thinking about raising property taxes for the 2025-26 school year. The value of properties in Jeannette...
Penn-Trafford eyes property tax increase, but some board members opposed
Property taxes will jump about 2% in Penn-Trafford School District unless school board members revise a preliminary 2024-2025 budget approved last week. The proposed $68.9 million spending plan is supported by a 91.75 mill tax levy in Westmoreland County, a 2-mill increase over the current tax rate of 89.75 mills....
Westmoreland students explore health care career paths at Independence fair
Tenth grade Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center student Zoey Wilders carefully stuffed gauze into a simulated wound to staunch the bleeding. A few feet away, nurse and emergency room educator Kelly Bedner cheered her on. “You’re saving that life,” Bedner said, ushering more students to try their hand at...
Court names Greensburg attorney to oversee Westmoreland register of wills office
Greensburg attorney James Antoniono will oversee the Westmoreland County Register of Wills Office, effective May 28, according to a court order issued Monday. The county’s elected register of wills, Sherry Magretti Hamilton, “has forfeited her role as the sole and chief administrator of the office by being derelict in her...
West Newton Bridge rehab among projects eyed with $300M in funding
The West Newton Bridge is among a list of projects that could be brought to life with $300 million in road, transit and bridge improvement funds that Westmoreland County is slated to receive as part of regional infrastructure work. The metal truss bridge, built in 1909, carries about 6,500 vehicles...
Export Historical Society moves ahead with plans to stabilize old mine entrance
What began as a teenage Eagle Scout’s effort to clean up an overgrown hillside has become a full-scale mining operation for the Export Historical Society. That’s an exaggeration, but not by much. In 2018, Troy Florian’s Eagle project was clearing brush, vegetation and dirt atop an old Westmoreland Coal Co....
PennDOT cites safety issues with Route 30 median barrier plan in North Huntingdon
North Huntingdon resident Tony Janczewski isn’t happy that the median barrier proposed for a stretch of Route 30 in the township could add two miles to his daily trip to work. According to Route 30 improvement plans displayed last week at the Hartford Heights fire station, Janczewski would have to...
