Westmoreland category, Page 527
Fire destroys Mt. Pleasant Township house
A Mt. Pleasant Township house was destroyed by fire late Friday night. The fire at the house at 274 Freeman Falls Road started in the garage and spread from the breezeway into the house, Kecksburg fire Chief Adam Krozel said. The fire then spread into the roof area, the chief...
Somerset County man charged with DUI in 2019 Ligonier Township crash that killed bicyclist
Eighteen months after a bicyclist from Hempfield was struck and killed by a car atop Laurel Mountain summit on Route 30, Ligonier Valley police arrested the car’s driver on charges of homicide by vehicle and being under the influence of multiple prescription pills, according to court records. Adam W. Ulrich,...
Latrobe man convicted of sexual assault; jury says not guilty of rape
A Westmoreland County jury on Thursday convicted a Latrobe man of sexual assault but not rape. Prosecutors said Hunter Jones Hoyle, 22, assaulted a 20-year-old woman after she fell asleep in a friend’s room in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2020, following a party at a home on...
Westmoreland poll workers awarded big raises
Civic duty hasn’t quite been the lure Westmoreland elections officials had hoped to attract people to work the polls on Election Day, so county commissioners will offer more cash as an incentive. Commissioners, acting as the elections board, on Friday issued massive raises to reward those who worked at the...
Hempfield’s St. Emma Monastery continues food-fair tradition started during pandemicVideo
The Benedictine nuns of St. Emma Monastery in Hempfield may technically be cloistered, but by May 2020, they were just as anxious as everyone else to get back outside. With covid-19 case counts rising and falling, they needed a way to safely provide social distancing — so they settled on...
Covid cases rise slightly in Pennsylvania as hospitalizations drop
Pennsylvania recorded a slight rise in covid-19 cases while the number of people hospitalized with the illness continued its steady drop. The state on Friday added 1,823 cases, the most in the past six days, according to data from the state Department of Health. Those cases helped raise the seven-day...
Murrysville to evaluate permanent fixes for Logan’s Ferry, Heather Highlands bridges
Murrysville officials would like to build on a 2018 study of the Logan’s Ferry bridge intersection and begin evaluating permanent fixes for there and the Heather Highlands bridge. “We have a major problem with several bridges,” Jim Morrison, chief administrator, told council this week. “They’re required to be inspected annually....
Memorial Day events will include return of parade, rededication of Export veterans’ monumentVideo
After a 2020 Memorial Day that was pared back because of covid-19 concerns, the White Valley AMVETS and local American Legions will bring back their full slate of events this year, including the rededication of the Export veterans’ memorial, recently relocated closer to the Westmoreland Heritage trail. Work crews from...
5 things to do in Westmoreland County this weekend: May 21-23
Return of the ‘90s They say you’re not a true kid of the 1990s if you never heard someone say, “Get off the internet. I need to use the phone!” Hard to believe it’s more than 20 years since that era passed into history, but it’s coming back for a...
Protect PT appeals fracking well-pad approvals to Pa. Supreme Court
The citizen group Protect PT’s argument for why zoning hearing board decisions allowing additional gas well fracking in Penn Township should be overturned contained a number of elements, but focused on a central question. Should a legal body be permitted to simply declare that an expert witness’s testimony is not...
Oak Street in Irwin used for ‘Quadfather’ film shootVideo
Dominick Domasky of Greensburg is in the inspiration business. Whether it takes the form of books, motivational speaking or, on Thursday night, film-making in downtown Irwin, Domasky’s Motivation Champs company “shares inspiration, positivity and smiles 24/7, and helps other people do the same,” he said. One of Domasky’s clients is...
No injuries after wires come down on Norwin elementary bus
No one was injured Thursday evening when a tractor-trailer snagged a fiber-optic cable, breaking a utility pole and dropping wires on a Norwin school bus in North Huntingdon, emergency officials said. Irwin Fire Chief Justin Mochar said the truck was turning from Caruthers Lane onto Laurel Avenue around 4:40 p.m....
Greensburg College Club presents annual scholarships
The Greensburg College Club continued its century-plus tradition of granting scholarships to local high school students on Thursday evening, presenting nearly $20,000 in scholarships. “We had a wonderful group of applicants this year,” said Maxine Oleyar, part of the club’s scholarship committee. “The amount of things these kids do are...
More charges for Penn Township double murder suspect’s alleged shooting spree
Police say Victor F. Steban went on a shooting spree across central Westmoreland County hours before he killed two people at a Penn Township home. Steban, 53, was arraigned on new charges filed Thursday by state police, including multiple counts of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and shooting into occupied structures...
Westmoreland judge approves settlement of Richard Mellon Scaife trust
A $200 million settlement in a long-fought battle over a 1935 trust left to late philanthropist and newspaper publisher Richard Mellon Scaife was approved in Westmoreland County court Thursday. The approval during a brief hearing before Judge Harry Smail closes the book on a legal entanglement dating back to 2014...
North Huntingdon police freed of mail-delivering duties
The days of North Huntingdon police serving as mail carriers for the seven commissioners are over — a decision prompted by Tuesday’s arrest of an armed murder suspect walking down busy Route 30. Commissioners this week unanimously voted to stop the 30-year practice of having officers deliver township-related mail that...
Norwin allows more people at graduation ceremonies
Norwin School District’s 425 seniors who will graduate on May 28 got some good news this week when the district announced they will be able to have six guests at the commencement ceremonies at Knights Stadium, two more than the initial allotment. The increase of admission tickets for each student...
Next phase of Titan fracking well pad headed to Murrysville planning commission
The next phase of the first fracking well pad in Murrysville will be in front of the municipality’s planning commission next month. Murrysville Chief Administrator Jim Morrison briefed council members Wednesday on a proposed conditional use and development application for the road and utility work associated with the Titan well...
Hempfield woman accused of DUI, homicide by vehicle in fatal motorcycle crash on Route 66
A 33-year-old Hempfield woman is accused of being drunk when she crashed into a motorcycle last year, killing the driver. Tuesdae M. Checque was arraigned this week on multiple criminal charges, including homicide by vehicle while DUI, careless driving, driving at an unsafe speed, driving on the wrong side of...
Jury finds Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Vazquez guilty of sexual assault of a teen girl
A Westmoreland County jury late Thursday found former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez guilty of sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. The jury found Vazquez guilty on 15 counts, including the most serious charges of statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact or communication with a minor, indecent assault and corruption of...
More than 50% of Pennsylvania adults fully vaccinated for covid
Pennsylvania passed a milestone with more than 50% of adults considered fully vaccinated against covid-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 5,088,210 million adults — those 18 and older — who are considered fully vaccinated. That’s 50.1% of the adult population. Pennsylvania’s mask mandate can...
Greensburg Salem OKs proposed no-tax-hike budget without restoring librarians
Greensburg Salem School Board approved a tentative 2021-22 budget that avoids a tax increase while calling for $47 million in spending — but without restoring librarian positions that some residents and at least one board member want included. The budget passed by a 7-1 vote on Wednesday, with Lynna Thomas...
Hempfield challenger upsets former supervisor on GOP ticket
A former Hempfield Township supervisor apparently lost his bid to return to the board of supervisors when he lost the Republican nomination in Tuesday’s primary, according to unofficial results. Bill Bretz captured 55.2% of the vote in the primary, topping Jerry Fagert, who received 44.3% of the votes for the...
3 Hempfield Area incumbents, 2 challengers win nominations to school board
Three incumbent Hempfield Area school board members and two challengers won the nominations on the Democratic and Republican ballots for four seats on the board, based on unofficial primary results. Directors Diane Ciabattoni, Scott Learn and Paul Ward won nominations on both the Democratic and Republican tickets, giving them a...
Technical issue, ballot reviews cause reporting delay of Westmoreland election results
It took more than 22 hours after Westmoreland County polls closed Tuesday night before complete unofficial results from the hundreds of primary races were posted to the county’s website. Updated results to reflect totals from all 307 precincts and the nearly 13,000 mail-in ballots that arrived at the courthouse by...
