Westmoreland category, Page 31

Democratic and Republican voters in Westmoreland County nominated the same row office candidates to represent their parties in the fall general election. Republican challengers Katie Pecarchik and John Ackerman, as they did in the GOP primary, defeated current officeholders in the Democratic primaries for register of wills and coroner with...

Raymond Gross tried to warn his neighbor about the dangers she faced by hoarding in her Jeannette home. “I told her about it several times,” he said. His neighbor, Elizabeth A. Liptak, died Wednesday afternoon when a fire that sparked on the kitchen stove quickly spread to the piles of...

The Franklin Regional school board is expected to approve a final 2025-26 budget with a 4-mill property tax hike. The board unanimously OK’d a proposed final budget at its May voting meeting. The $71.25 million budget has a $671,000 deficit, covered with $147,000 from the district’s technology fund balance, along...

After North Huntingdon won a three-year legal battle that went to the state Superior Court before it could demolish the vacant and deteriorating Rivertowne Pub & Grille along Route 30, township officials now are dealing with apparent squatters on the property. A township code enforcement officer was directed by the...

Latrobe police Chief Richard Bosco will be overseeing administrative tasks as well as law enforcement since being appointed interim city manager at Tuesday’s council meeting. It’s similar to multiple duties he handled while employed at Lincoln Borough from 2013 through 2022. In that Allegheny County community he was director of...

Kathe Gross has waited more than seven years to see justice for her daughter. Following a court hearing Tuesday, Gross learned she will have to continue to wait as a trial for the Unity man charged with her daughter’s murder was delayed yet again. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Michael...

A Greensburg-area woman took a chance on spending $20 for a Pennsylvania Lottery scratch-off ticket and is a $1 million richer for it. “She just bought one ticket” on May 14 and that was the winner, said Kim Rodman, manager of Rick’s Tobacco Outlet at 857 S. Main St. in...

A political newcomer came away with the most votes in the primary election for Murrysville council last week. Darren Miller, 42, earned 22.4% of more than 7,000 votes cast in last week’s election, leading the field of five candidates running for a spot on the Republican side of the ballot....

A Blairsville woman was arrested Tuesday in connection with a 2024 fatal crash in Derry Township. State police charged Ashley L. Kelley, 33, with homicide by vehicle, reckless endangerment, driving under the influence and related offenses. She tested positive for marijuana after the crash, according to troopers. State police said...

A retired Greensburg police officer was sentenced Tuesday to 36 months’ probation in a drug conspiracy case that involved the city’s former police chief. Regina McAtee, 52, of New Kensington pleaded guilty in May 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. “Ms. McAtee, I think...

Days after two Republican row officers were ousted by former longtime Democrats who only recently switched to the GOP, party officials in Westmoreland County are looking for reasons why. The apparent primary victory of Katie Pecarchik over Register of Wills Jon Wian and John Ackerman’s defeat of incumbent Coroner Tim...

A Colorado firm’s plans to construct a solar system farm in Hempfield were approved by supervisors last week. Bear Peak Hempfield intends to build a 3,000 kilowatt facility on an 86-acre property off Penn Valley Road, said Matthew Pernelli, township planning manager. “It will be distributing the power to West...

A Hempfield family was displaced and lost their pets when a fire broke out in their mobile home Monday morning on Robin Drive. The man and woman who rented the dwelling weren’t at home when flames were reported shortly after 8 a.m., but multiple cats perished inside, according to Don...

A Plum woman who teaches students about American history learned about her own ties to one of the most significant chapters in that history Monday when she joined fellow descendants of Civil War veterans at the Irwin gravesite of her great-great-great-great-grandfather. Local members of the Sons of Union Veterans presented...

Two Westmoreland County airmen who survived the loss of their B-29 bombers during separate World War II missions over Japan were among POWs who perished 80 years ago when the military prison where they were being held was destroyed during an American firebombing raid on Tokyo. The stories and sacrifices...

Cindy Anderson can only imagine what it was like for her mother to watch three of her sons leave at the same time to serve in the military during World War II. “The three oldest all went off to war at the same time,” said Anderson, of Greensburg, “which is...

A 59-year-old man accused of shooting his 80-year-old mother surrendered after an hours-long standoff with authorities Saturday in Unity. State police charged David Andrew Rebar Jr. with aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person, according to court records. The woman, who was shot in an arm, was being...

Bus Trip • Westmoreland Garden Council will sponsor a one-day bus trip June 18 to the Stan Hywet Hall in Akron, Ohio. The trip will include a guided tour of the Corbin Conservatory, the 65-room Tudor revival manor house and various gardens. Lunch will be at Cracker Barrel on the...

A portion of Route 130 will be closed to traffic beginning Tuesday as crews conduct landslide repairs in Penn Township, just west of Jeannette. The closure will be in effect between 14th Street and Burrell Hill Road and is expected to continue through late August. A detour will be in...

Ligonier Borough neighbors are asking a Westmoreland County judge to enforce a zoning board ruling and rescind permits that allowed owners of a boutique hotel to build and host events in an adjoining designer pavilion. A land use appeal filed this week challenged a legal claim made by owners of...

Norwin High School seniors graduated Friday, one of the first in the area this year. There were 411 students in the Norwin Class of 2025. Other upcoming graduation ceremonies include: Friday, May 29 — Greater Latrobe, Belle Vernon Area; May 30 — Derry Area, Hempfield Area, Jeannette City, Mt. Pleasant...

A Greensburg woman told a Westmoreland County judge she believed her best option to protect herself and her then-6-year-old daughter from an imagined serial killer with whom she believed she had been romantically involved was to end their lives in her own way. Skye C. Naggy, 32, on Friday insisted...

A Westmoreland County judge on Friday rejected claims from a Brackenridge father facing a potential death penalty that prosecutors are biased and have insufficient evidence to prove he killed his 9-year-old son three years ago in New Kensington. Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio in a 19-page ruling found there was...

Improved safety measures are coming for two sections of Business Route 66 in Hempfield, as well as a park in the north end of the township. Supervisors on Wednesday awarded a contract to Penn Line Service, Inc. for $125,000. Hempfield received $140,000 in funding from PennDOT’s Automated Red Light Enforcement...

Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials said Wednesday the agency continued to serve its more than 123,000 customers even as late April’s violent storms shut off power to hundreds of thousands of residents. “Nobody noticed we kept the water flowing,” said authority business manager Brian Hohman as administrators briefed authority...