Westmoreland category, Page 4
Here are 5 things to do in Westmoreland County: Valentine’s Day options galore
Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday this year, which is good news for some — but bad news for the procrastinators among us. Did you forget to make a reservation or buy a gift? Don’t worry. You can take your valentine to one of these events instead. ‘Rhapsody in Blue’...
Gunman in St. Clair woman’s slaying testifies ‘a light switch flipped inside me’, saying others convinced him to kill
Robert Jack was standing in the driveway of a St. Clair home when he was asked to kill the woman who lived inside. The request from friend Matthew Bates caught Jack, 20, by surprise, he testified Thursday. Jack thought he was at the Furnace Lane home to hang out with...
Game commission releases ‘bonus’ pheasants across southwestern PennsylvaniaVideo
Five minutes after the Pennsylvania Game Commission released a couple hundred pheasants into the wild near Loyalhanna Creek on Thursday morning, the crack of the first gunshot echoed across the meadow. Each year, commission staff release “bonus” pheasants, left over from their annual breeding program. In anticipation of losing pheasants...
Westmoreland commissioner calls sheriff’s partnership with ICE invalid
An agreement signed last year by Sheriff James Albert that allows his deputies to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is invalid and cannot be enforced, a Westmoreland County commissioner said Thursday. “Did the sheriff have the authority to do this unilaterally? The (answer) is unequivocally no. He did...
Solar power project proposed for Palmer Regional, Rostraver airportsVideo
The Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity could become the first Pennsylvania airport of its size to install a solar power array and generate revenue. Solar power company representatives touted the proposal this week as a money-saver and revenue generator. Palmer Regional and Rostraver airports could be the sites of...
Eminent domain may be next for flood control project in Greensburg’s Northmont neighborhood
Greensburg may use eminent domain to acquire the remaining easements needed to complete a flood control project in the Northmont neighborhood. City council Monday introduced a bill that, if approved, would give Solicitor Zachary Kansler the authorization to file a declaration of taking at the Westmoreland County Courthouse. But Kansler...
Overlay districts could expand possible uses of former fire stations in Hempfield
Minor renovations at a building in Hempfield that once housed fire trucks have allowed Mutual Aid EMS to turn it into a new ambulance base. Ambulances have been responding since November from the former High Park fire station on Baughman Avenue, close to Route 30 in the western part of...
Greensburg native excited to be back in Pa. as principal of Quaker Valley’s Osborne Elementary School
Joshua Ringling said his first order of business as the new principal of Osborne Elementary School is building relationships with students, staff, administrators and Quaker Valley-area families. Welcomed with cards, posters, a paper hat and other odds and ends, the Greensburg native recently moved back to the area to start...
Westmoreland happenings: Pancake and sausage dinner, art reception, bingo night, more
Art A closing reception in memory of artist Tony Naponic and a display of some of his paintings will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at You Are Here Gallery, 406 Clay Ave., Jeannette. A native of Adamsburg, Naponic died in 2003. Details: yah406clay@gmail.com. Fundraisers • A bingo...
Delmont police chief will retire in April
Longtime Delmont Police Chief T.J. Klobucar said the day he worked his first Apple’n Arts Festival, he could tell that Delmont was the right place. “I knew this community was for me,” said Klobucar, 50, who announced his pending retirement from the police department at Tuesday’s borough council meeting. “It’s...
Ex-boyfriend testifies New Florence woman ‘despised’ her mother, discussed wanting to kill her
Melissa Fox-Beacom regularly brought up her hatred for her mother in conversations with her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, he testified Wednesday. She never referred to Alice Robson as mom. “ ‘My mother’ — she’d say it with an attitude,” Ace Vavrek remembered. “ ‘My mother.’ It’s like she despised her.” Even so,...
Verdict: Thomas Stanko guilty in murder of Cassandra GrossVideo
Kathe Gross let out a fist pump and a cheer in a Westmoreland County courtroom Wednesday as a jury convicted Thomas G. Stanko of first-degree murder in the 2018 disappearance of her daughter, Cassandra Gross. The verdict, delivered after four hours of deliberation, concludes a nearly eight-year legal saga for...
Lancaster man pleads guilty for shooting truck at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport
A Lancaster County man was sentenced this week to serve up to five years in prison for a 2024 shooting at a truck as it left Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe. Tyler J. Mieczkowski, 24, pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony counts of aggravated assault and fleeing from police in...
Greensburg proposing fines up to $600 for throwing snow onto streets
The Jan. 25 storm that dumped about 10 inches of snow on Greensburg helped officials learn they were missing something: an ordinance that addresses snow being thrown onto plowed streets. Streets superintendent Tom Bell said he reported a couple of situations to police where residents had thrown snow into clear...
‘Game jam’ puts Westmoreland County gifted students’ creativity to the testVideo
Cameron Yourema’s method to create a board game was literally mayhem. “We were trying to follow the mayhem rule as much as we could,” said Yourema, a Valley High School sophomore, of the “Game Jam” board game design competition held Tuesday. “We tried to make a more chaotic game. “What...
Live updates: Jury returning to courtroom in Stanko trial
The jury in the Thomas G. Stanko homicide trial is returning to the courtroom now after about four hours of deliberations. Westmoreland County Judge Michael Stewart delivered final instructions to the jurors this morning before they moved to private deliberations just after noon. The panel is considering charges of first-degree...
South Greensburg fire chief accused of $170K theft; in custody in South Carolina
The South Greensburg fire chief is accused of taking $170,000 from the department, according to Pennsylvania State Police. A felony theft charge was filed this week against Matthew Thomas White, 49, of Hempfield. He is in custody in South Carolina, according to Trooper Steve Limani. Police were notified a few...
Hempfield man sentenced in murder-for-hire plot against sister
A Hempfield man was sentenced Tuesday to serve at least eight years in prison for an attempt to have his sister killed in what prosecutors said was a scheme to secure their mother’s estate for himself. Peter John Cute, 65, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to solicitation to commit murder....
New Palmer Regional airport exec hopes to increase airline traffic with new terminal
A longtime employee at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport will be the new executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, which manages the airport in Unity and the Rostraver Airport. Maurice “Moe” Haas, 60, the airport authority manager, was unanimously promoted to executive director by the authority board on Tuesday,...
‘Alice never disappeared’: Home health nurses recount discovery of St. Clair woman’s death
It was unusual that Alice Robson wasn’t there when two home health nurses arrived at the St. Clair Township woman’s home to take care of her disabled grandson. It was even more unusual that J.D. Beacom was left alone, but that’s what Jennifer Fox said she encountered when arriving at...
Crews work to stabilize sinkhole in Greensburg
Crews from the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County worked Monday to stabilize a sinkhole that opened between two properties along Keystone Street in Greensburg. Greensburg public works officials said a water line collapse resulted in a sinkhole in a rear yard area along the 600 block of Keystone Street about...
Snow, bitter cold pose problems for home heating oil deliveries; cost per gallon jumps higher
A confluence of soaring demand and treacherous delivery conditions is straining the home heating oil market in Westmoreland County during this month’s bitter cold. “The demand for fuel (heating oil) is extremely high for several reasons. They (furnaces) have been running nonstop,” said Kristen Zawoyski, general manager of Export Fuel...
Stanko testifies, says another person responsible for Gross’ disappearance
Thomas G. Stanko took the witness stand Tuesday and disavowed any role in the disappearance or murder of his former girlfriend, Cassandra Gross. During more than three hours of testimony in Westmoreland County court, he attempted to place blame for her fate on another man and repeatedly offered to take...
Police say woman took resident cat from laundry area of KOA Campground in Sewickley Township
State police are trying to identify a woman who took a resident cat from the KOA Campground in Sewickley Township. The woman used community laundry machines in the lodge area of the Waltz Mill Road campground on Saturday. Troopers said she took the cat around 1:30 p.m. as she left...
Wrong-way driver crashes into 3 tractor-trailers on I-70 in HempfieldVideo
An SUV traveling the wrong way on Interstate 70 in Hempfield pinballed between three tractor-trailers early Tuesday morning, sending two drivers to the hospital, according to state Trooper Rocco Gagliardi. The high-speed, violent crash was reported at 12:44 a.m. around a curve in the highway between the New Stanton and...
