Westmoreland category, Page 465
Former home health aide pleads guilty to stealing from Murrysville client
A North Versailles woman pleaded guilty to a theft charge Tuesday in connection with items missing from a Murrysville home where she worked as a health aide. The amount of restitution Breianna Knox, 31, brings to her sentencing hearing in a few months could sway Werstmoreland County prosecutors to recommend...
The Westmoreland’s chief curator Barbara Jones plans retirement after 26 years
Following a tenure of more than 26 years, Barbara L. Jones will retire April 1, 2022, from her position as chief curator for The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg. The museum will commemorate her retirement and her body of work with special public programming for the spring of...
Students, parents protest state school mask mandateVideo
Students at several area school districts walked out of classes Tuesday in protest of the state’s mask mandate. In the Derry Area School District, students reported for school, then left the high school, carrying signs voicing their displeasure at being forced to wear masks. Police and school officials moved the...
Greater Latrobe, Derry Area students plan walkouts to protest mask mandate
Some students at Greater Latrobe and Derry Area high schools are planning walkouts Tuesday morning to protest the statewide mandate requiring students, staff and teachers in K-12 schools to wear masks. Greater Latrobe organizer Spencer Bowman, a 17-year-old senior, said he hopes the school board will vote to buck the...
Virtual Westmoreland historic tour highlights vanished buildings
Westmoreland County Historical Society is preparing for its second Historic House Tour that will have a virtual format. This time around, participants in the annual tour will explore structures that are “Gone But Not Forgotten.” The featured buildings include the Mountain View Inn, which was a longtime landmark along Route...
Demolition begins in downtown GreensburgVideo
With the push and pull of a 25-foot claw attached to heavy equipment stationed on South Pennsylvania Avenue in Greensburg, workers started the laborious task of bringing down a dilapidated former restaurant building Sunday morning. The three-story building that once housed the former Derby’s Delicatessen but has been vacant for...
Red Sand Project adds new sites to help draw awareness to human traffickingVideo
Members of the Westmoreland County Human Trafficking Task Force are always seeking unique ways to draw attention to the issue they are battling, according to Lynn Mance of Delmont. One of those ways is participating in the Red Sand Project, where volunteers like Mance fill the cracks in a public...
Westmoreland pension fund at all-time high with $675 million banked
Stock market advances and a cash infusion pushed Westmoreland County’s pension fund to a record level, with more than $675 million socked away to pay benefits for the county’s 1,400 retirees. Proceeds from a $126 million bond purchase this summer hit the pension fund in August, a move county officials said...
Western Pennsylvania well-represented in ‘Art of the State’ juried exhibition
Art is a deeply personal experience, from the feelings a person gets when viewing a painting to the emotions that started the artist’s brush moving in the first place. For Pamela Cooper of Greensburg, one of the artists whose work will be part of the State Museum of Pennsylvania’s 54th...
Trafford man dies in motorcycle crash
The Westmoreland County Coroner’s office has released the identity of a man killed early Saturday in a motorcycle crash on Mt. Pleasant Road in Hempfield Township. The coroner’s office said Tanner B. Van Woundenberg, 19, of Trafford was headed north on Mt. Pleasant Road on a 2008 Yamaha motorcycle when,...
The muddier the better: Runners and the adventurous slog up and down Seven Springs mountain just for funVideo
Miranda Veliky was caked in mud Saturday morning, and she didn’t care a bit. Veliky, 23, of New Stanton was one of about 1,000 athletes who jumped, swam, climbed and toppled through mud and water and along the wooded trails that traversed up, over and down the Laurel Mountains during...
Murrysville native ‘truly gained a family’ through Penn State THONVideo
Penn State’s THON initiative — raising money to support the families of children affected by childhood cancer, culminating in a 46-hour dance marathon at the school’s main campus — sounded like a lot of fun to Emily Vannatta of Murrysville. The 2015 Franklin Regional graduate, who now lives in Arkansas,...
Unity woman employs pageant title, awareness group to help fellow concussion sufferers
When vision care assistant Jayden Moffa helps patients at Willowbrook Eye Care Associates, she can empathize with them from personal experience. Vision therapy helped the Unity resident overcome two concussions she suffered beginning in 2014, while she was a student at Greater Latrobe Senior High. As she worked through the...
Greater Latrobe, Greensburg Salem to comply with Pennsylvania’s K-12 mask mandate
Students, staff and visitors entering Greater Latrobe and Greensburg Salem school buildings will be required to wear face coverings beginning Tuesday. In a letter posted on the Greater Latrobe website, Superintendent Georgia Teppert said that district will make a change from its recent mask-optional health and safety plan and will...
Loaded handgun found in purse at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport checkpoint
A Cambria County woman was stopped by Transportation Security Administration officers on Friday when they discovered a loaded gun in her purse at the security checkpoint at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity. It was the fifth handgun caught at the airport so far in 2021, up from three found...
Pennsylvania Arts & Crafts Labor Day Festival returns to Mt. Pleasant TownshipVideo
Traveling the region selling beef jerky is turning into a fine retirement for Greg and Gayle Tompkins. The husband and wife take Ohio-based Tommy’s Jerky to fairs and food festivals, including the 28th annual Pennsylvania Arts & Crafts Labor Day Festival, taking place through Monday at the Westmoreland Fairgrounds in...
West Newton woman jailed on $25K bond after police say she violated PFA, threatened officer
A West Newton woman was jailed this week after an hours-long standoff with the state police Special Emergency Response Team at a home in the borough. Tiffany M. Leighty, 53, was ordered held in the county prison on $25,000 bond Wednesday for violation of a domestic abuse order, according to...
Penn Township woman accused of stabbing denied bond reduction
A Penn Township woman accused of stabbing a person during a dispute in a Trafford tavern in March will remain in the Westmoreland County Prison unless she can post $100,000 bond. Westmoreland County Judge Scott Mears denied a request from Brenda R. Stitt, 45, to lower her bond despite her...
Latrobe to celebrate downtown upgrades, promote local art and businesses
Latrobe will welcome visitors Wednesday to help celebrate completion of downtown infrastructure improvements. The public also will find retail bargains and art displays throughout the business district as part of an Art Walk event and monthly Shop Hop Night promotion. Activities begin at 3 p.m., when city officials, merchants and...
Diocese of Greensburg marks 9/11 anniversary with Mass, online video series
The Diocese of Greensburg plans to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks with a remembrance Mass and an online video series. Bishop Larry J. Kulick will host the Mass at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg. The public is invited to attend. The...
Woman sues Westmoreland County, claiming injuries from Giant Slide in Mammoth Park
A woman is suing Westmoreland County and its bureau of parks and recreation, claiming they’re liable for injuries she suffered more than a year ago while riding a slide in the Giant Slide Complex at Mammoth Park. Melissa A. Cooley of Allegheny County is seeking in excess of $30,000 in...
$4M deal: Hempfield purchases 43 acres from Excela, agrees to transfer grant
Excela Health will receive $4 million in a deal with Hempfield supervisors, who agreed to pay the health care provider $1 million for a 43-acre parcel of land in the township and transfer funds from a $3 million state grant. County records show Excela originally bought the land for $3.75...
Medic One invests more than $300,000 in new cardiac equipment
Murrysville Medic One staff operates eight ambulances, four wheelchair vans, four squads, two all-terrain vehicles, seven trailers, an emergency support unit and two boats to support its dive team. In addition, it’s not unusual to see Medic One members and their emergency support unit operating well outside their typical service...
Latrobe dad, daughter develop song texting app for iPhone usersVideo
If you’re tired of texting words, photos and GIFs, a Latrobe father and daughter are hoping you’ll try a new app they developed that sends song clips. Lyritext launched Sept. 1 in the Apple App Store, offering brief clips from a catalog of more than 100,000 songs in numerous genres,...
Pa. Board of Game Commissioners meeting in Westmoreland County next week
The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners is coming to Westmoreland County next week. The agency announced the board will meet Sept. 10 and 11 at the agency’s Southwest Region Office off Route 711 in Fairfield Township. The meeting on Friday, Sept. 10 begins at 2 p.m. The purpose of this...
