Westmoreland category, Page 586
Seward police chief accused of offering women leniency in exchange for sex
State police this week filed criminal charges against Seward’s police chief, who has now resigned, accusing him of offering two women leniency in criminal matters in exchange for sex. Robert I. Baldwin Jr., 49, who served as police chief for just over a year, formerly was a part-time officer with...
Greensburg budget would keep taxes flat despite ‘revenue killer’ pandemic
Greensburg City Councilman Randy Finfrock likes to pepper his annual budget presentation with jokes to keep it interesting for his fellow council members and residents. “That’s not happening this time,” Finfrock said Monday. “This is a difficult budget, it’s a difficult year.” Council is considering a budget that would keep...
Latrobe to hold line on taxes in 2021 while assessing new stormwater fee
Latrobe residents face a new stormwater management fee, but no property tax increase, under the proposed 2021 city budget. Council is expected at its Dec. 14 meeting to finalize the $6.5 million spending plan, which reflects an increase of about $500,000 from the 2020 budget. City Manager Michael Gray said...
Hempfield considers feasibility study to look at high school renovation, rebuild
Members of the Hempfield Area School Board are considering moving forward with a feasibility study that would look into renovating or rebuilding the high school. Superintendent Tammy Wolicki and district Business Manager Wayne Wismar, who presented the idea to board members this week, said the study would determine what kind...
Blue Angels visit to Unity airport delayed until Thursday
Central Westmoreland County residents looking skyward just after noon Thursday could get a sneak peek of what’s in store at the 2021 county airshow May 29-30 at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. An advance team from the U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron, based in Pensacola, Fla., is expected to...
Westmoreland Intermediate Unit sends 1,000 backpacks of supplies to students in Western Pa.
One thousand homeless students across Western Pennsylvania will be delivered some kindness next week courtesy of Westmoreland County. Stuffed in each of 1,000 backpacks are toiletries, school supplies, a blanket and a note card asking the student to pay it forward. The Westmoreland Intermediate Unit collected about $25,000 worth of...
Hempfield officials reworking middle school surveys prior to full return
Hempfield Area School District officials are modifying surveys sent to middle school parents after several people expressed interest in keeping with the hybrid model. Responses to the surveys, sent out at the end of October, will be used to determine how many students will make a full return to the...
Westmoreland County adds 5 new covid-19 deaths, 119 new cases
Westmoreland County has 119 new covid-19 cases Tuesday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Five new coronavirus-related deaths were reported, as well. Total cases now stand at 5,293 and total deaths are 123. Westmoreland County coronavirus by dayInfogram In the county, there are currently 56 covid-19 patients hospitalized, with...
Norwin considers postponing return to in-person classes as covid-19 quarantining rises
Norwin’s superintendent on Monday recommended the district postpone the return to full-time in-school instruction planned to resume Nov. 18 because coronavirus cases have risen in the school district and community, forcing the 14-day quarantining of “hundreds of student and staff” in the past few weeks. Superintendent Jeff Taylor said at...
Norwin area covid cases up almost 10%
The spread of new coronavirus cases in the North Huntingdon-Irwin area fell to slightly less than 10% from Nov. 2 to 9, after spiking as high as 20% in the last week of October, according to data reported Monday by the state Department of Health. There were 615 confirmed covid-19...
Murrysville girl cast in Westmoreland native’s latest filmVideo
Esha Chundru technically was cast as the main character in the upcoming film, “Definition Please.” Luckily for the 8-year-old Murrysville girl, she was cast for a flashback to the character’s elementary-school days — and the toughest thing she had to memorize was how to spell “opsimath,” since her first scene...
Hempfield school to host drive-thru event in honor of Veterans Day
Amanda Forrester wasn’t going to let Veterans Day pass without Wendover Middle School’s annual celebration. But as covid-19 cases continue to surge across the state, she knew the event would not be the traditional cookie reception, luncheon and assembly. Instead, veterans will be honored by a drive-thru event consisting of...
School districts mull options as Westmoreland coronavirus rates inch down
State data show Westmoreland County’s coronavirus transmission risk dropped a bit, which means school districts once again may face difficult decisions about how to educate students in the weeks and months to come. The county’s latest reported seven-day coronavirus incidence rate was 99.8. That means about 0.998% of county residents...
Westmoreland courtroom closed due to pandemic case
Westmoreland County Court Administrator Amy DeMatt said a coronavirus outbreak hit the county criminal courts. As a result, cases scheduled Monday before one judge were canceled, though other courtrooms continued to operate as scheduled. Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani and his staff were not at the courthouse on Monday....
State troopers seeking identity of suspected burglar at Dairy Queen in Hempfield
State police in Greensburg are trying to identify a man who recently broke into the exterior coolers at Shrader’s Dairy Queen along College Avenue in Hempfield and made off with multiple food items. Police released a still photograph taken of the accused thief carrying multiple items away from the establishment...
Latrobe counselor accused of paying teen girl to see nude photos
Police arrested a Latrobe therapist on accusations he paid a girl he was counseling in order to see nude photographs of her, according to court papers. Gregory Patrick Miscik, 59, of Salem, was charged Friday with trafficking, sexual abuse of children, child pornography, corruption of minors, indecent assault and harassment....
Jeannette art centers join forces for holiday shopping event
Two Jeannette art outlets are combining forces to help shoppers find handmade, local, one-of-a-kind items for holiday gift-giving. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, visitors to downtown Jeannette will find chalk footprints leading from You Are Here art gallery at 406 Clay Ave. to The Glass City at 301...
Westmoreland debates how to count mail-in ballots that arrived minutes late on Election Day
Westmoreland County election officials said Monday that 375 mail-in ballots delivered to the courthouse nine minutes late on Election Day will not initially be added to the vote totals. County commissioners, acting as the elections board, approved the start of the process to review and count all 816 ballots that...
Cause of Jeannette fire difficult to pinpoint due to building’s condition
A fire that destroyed a downtown Jeannette building originated on the first floor, but investigators were still working Monday to determine how it started. Firefighters and state police fire marshals visited the Clay Avenue building Monday morning. Fire Chief Bill Frye said a partial collapse near where the blaze originated...
Westmoreland County adds no new covid deaths for 1st time in nearly a month
Westmoreland County’s 24-day streak of at least one covid-related death has been broken. The county added no new deaths Sunday or Monday, something that has not happened since Oct. 14. In that time span, the county has recorded 54 deaths. The county’s death total stands at 118. Westmoreland saw 199...
Former Navy officer starts veterans support group at East Huntingdon counseling center
Keith Medley knew where he was going when he retired from the Navy in 2010. The native of Orange County, N.Y., moved to Scottdale to be close to his mother. But, like many veterans, the chief petty officer and aircraft electrician with more than 23 years of experience found adjusting...
Suspect captured after North Huntingdon standoffVideo
A police standoff Monday in North Huntingdon, which impacted Norwin schools and brought tactical equipment to a residential neighborhood, ended when authorities found the suspect at a nearby home. Randolph Eugene Dillinger, 54, was being sought by state parole agents in connection with a 2008 case out of Allegheny County,...
Westmoreland County still went heavily for Trump — just not as much as 2016
Westmoreland County Democrats celebrated victory in defeat Saturday as former Vice President Joe Biden surged to a projected victory for Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes. “It’s pretty exciting that Pennsylvania played such a huge role in electing our next president,” said Gina Cerilli, the county’s sole Democratic commissioner. “The American people...
Westmoreland County posts 76 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 76 new cases of coronavirus in Westmoreland County. Of the new covid-19 cases, 50 are confirmed and 26 are probable. Saturday’s addition puts the seven-day average at 72 cases; the county reported 82 cases on Friday. The high of the week was...
Norwin closes high school on Monday because of covid cases
Norwin High School will be closed Monday because of an increase in covid-19 cases, including a possible close contact by players on a sports team to a person with the virus, the school district said Friday. Three new student covid-19 cases were reported Friday, as well as one in a...
