Westmoreland category, Page 601
North Huntingdon names new emergency management coordinator
A retired North Huntingdon police officer is the municipality’s new emergency management agency coordinator. Township commissioners unanimously appointed Robert Dippolito on Oct. 21 to the post, succeeding Gene Komondor, who resigned in September after serving 13 years in the role. Dippolito, who retired in May 2019 after serving 29 years...
Yough moves to virtual learning for all students
Students in Yough School District will move to all-virtual classes Wednesday, scuttling plans announced last week to close one of the school buildings for five days after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus. All students will have Tuesday off and will start virtual learning on Wednesday as a...
Trick-or-treat during a pandemic: ‘We don’t have the power to stop Halloween’
It didn’t take long for the first trickle of school-related coronavirus cases this fall to turn into a steady drip that has seen multiple school buildings close. State health officials said earlier this week that the fall surge they had anticipated had arrived. Many communities, however, are going ahead with...
Manor man has spent decades working on ‘collection of collections’
Some people have collections. Larry Bard of Manor might better described as someone with a collection of collections. From milk bottles and coffee tins to Bugs Bunny and ‘ALF’ memorabilia, Bard and his wife, Verdine, have filled their home — and a separate building, and basically just about any available...
Westmoreland County probes cause for duplicate ballots
Westmoreland County elections officials said Saturday an investigation is underway to determine why some voters received duplicate ballots in the mail for the Nov. 3 election. Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said officials started receiving reports this week that some voters received more than one ballot. They do not believe...
Crowds line up in Westmoreland County to recycle hazardous materialsVideo
Pat O’Neill didn’t even know how long he had old paint cans and other hazardous materials stored in his garage, but he was glad to finally dispose of those items Saturday morning. “I just wanted to get rid of this stuff properly, get it out of my garage,” O’Neill said...
Westmoreland County reports 72 new coronavirus cases, 1 death
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 72 new cases of coronavirus in Westmoreland County. Saturday’s addition puts the seven-day average at 80 cases; the county reported 64 cases on Friday. One additional death was reported, increasing the death toll to 81. This has been the deadliest reporting week...
Westmoreland Museum of American Art to celebrate season with Winter Lights night
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art will once again kick off the holiday season with its second annual Winter Lights Illumination Night. The museum will be decked out with a light display, which will run nightly from Nov. 13 to Feb. 13. Tickets to the Illumination Night event cost $12...
Former Derry Twp. man sentenced up to 15 years in prison for child sex offenses
An Indiana County man was sentenced in Westmoreland County Court to 7½ to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting an underage girl over two years. Jason E. Matty, 48, of Blacklick and formerly of Derry Township was sentenced Thursday by Judge Christopher Feliciani after pleading guilty to involuntary deviate...
Westmoreland officials: Lax health precautions likely contributor to coronavirus surge
Westmoreland County officials cannot attribute an ongoing surge in coronavirus cases to any specific activity, but some suggest a major factor could be people being lax in following recommended health guidelines to mitigate the pandemic. On Friday, the county recorded 64 new cases of the disease — after adding 133...
Rematch pits Davanzo against Prah in race for state House 58th District
Voters in the state House 58th District have seen this race before — seven months ago, to be exact, when Republican Eric Davanzo and Democrat Robert Prah Jr. vied to serve out the remaining time of a vacant term. Davanzo, 44, of South Huntingdon won by less than 1,000 votes...
Greensburg seeks public opinion for Spring Avenue Park redesign
Greensburg had to cancel its plans for a renovation kickoff party in Spring Avenue Park, but city officials hope residents will still share their opinions about the park’s future online. The original plan was to host a gathering in the park Saturday afternoon with games, activities and surveys to get...
State police seize 2 kilos of fentanyl on turnpike near New Stanton, charge 2 N.Y. men
Two New York men are in federal custody after state troopers this week allegedly found more than two kilos of fentanyl stashed in a secret compartment of an SUV on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Westmoreland County. Federal magistrate Patricia Dodge on Wednesday found that there was probable cause for Juan...
Westmoreland County coronavirus transmission remains ‘substantial’ for 2nd week
Westmoreland County ended the week with a “substantial” level of coronavirus cases, which means local school officials will have to decide whether to follow state recommendations to switch to virtual learning for all students. Data released Friday by the state Department of Health lists about 124 cases of the virus...
North Huntingdon residents seek demolition of smelly ‘cat house’
Residents living near the odor-emanating North Huntingdon house where some 70 cats had to be rescued want the township to tear it down now, not years from now. “The place stinks,” is how James “Rick” Keenan described the neighboring house at 820 Leger Road, where Matthew Jacobs previously lived with...
West Mifflin man pleads guilty to killing woman found in Sewickley Township
A West Mifflin man will serve at least 13 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to killing a woman in 2018 and leaving her body in a wooded area of Westmoreland County. Dale Terence Cooper, 37, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder before Judge Beth A. Lazzara in the death...
Mt. Pleasant man accused by state agents of selling heroin, meth from Norvelt home
Agents with the state attorney general’s office allege that a Mt. Pleasant man used a home in the bedroom community of Norvelt as a base for a drug sales operation for several months. David Meade Keefer, 33, was arrested Thursday at the well-kept, two-story frame home at 1136 West Laurel...
Text messages lead to sex charges against Scottdale man
A series of text messages discovered by a parent on a teenage girl’s cell phone led to sexual assault charges against a Scottdale man. Albert C. Fletcher III, 35, was charged by borough police with corruption of minors, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years old,...
Westmoreland County reports 64 new covid-19 cases, 2 new deaths
Westmoreland County on Friday reported 64 new cases of covid-19, bringing the total known cases to 3,900. The county’s 7-day average has dropped to 84 cases from an all-time high of 96 just five days ago. With 393 new tests reported, the county’s daily positivity rate is 16.28%. That’s after...
Postal Service ramps up for election season, delivering 1.5M pieces of political mail daily in Western Pa.
Call it junk mail if you will, but Jeffrey Hauser takes those political ads piling up daily in your mail seriously. Less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 election, the Latrobe postmaster demonstrated just how seriously the Postal Service takes the flow of countless campaign mailers and mail-in ballots....
Cochran returns to challenge Warner for 52nd state House District seat
Former state legislator Harry Young Cochran, a Democrat, is looking to return to Harrisburg by challenging incumbent Ryan Warner, a Republican seeking his fourth term in the 52nd state House district. The race will be decided on Nov. 3 in part by Westmoreland County voters in Scottdale and the Bessemer...
Greensburg houses of worship unite for coronavirus prayer initiative
Greensburg’s houses of worship have different doctrines, but they all have one thing in common, according to the Rev. Kevin Haley of First United Methodist Church. “We all have these different theologies, different backgrounds, but we all pray,” Haley said. Seven of the city’s religious institutions have teamed up for...
Joyce challenged by retired FBI agent for 13th Congressional District
Voters in the massive 13th Congressional District — stretching from Westmoreland County to Gettysburg — will chose between a freshman incumbent who embraces the agenda of President Trump and a Democratic challenger who wants to serve as an opposition to power. The race is between state Rep. John Joyce, a...
Seton Hill to display never-before-seen photos of Holocaust massacre
When Harry Knights went to war in Europe, he picked up a camera. His photographs captured the aftermath of a German massacre of concentration camp prisoners near the end of World War II. “He was a witness, and he recorded what happened around him,” said James Knights, Harry Knights’ son....
6th Westmoreland Manor resident dies from covid-19
Westmoreland County officials on Thursday reported the coronavirus-related death of a Westmoreland Manor resident, the sixth resident to die from the disease. The announcement came on a day when new cases throughout the county totaled 133, Westmoreland’s second highest daily increase since the pandemic began. The number of coronavirus cases...
