Westmoreland category, Page 788
Greensburg dissolves Historic and Architectural Review Board
Greensburg Council on Monday unanimously voted to dissolve the city’s Historic and Architectural Review Board, an advisory body that supervised construction and renovation projects in the city. The city has been laying the groundwork for HARB’s dissolution since May. Monday’s vote passed without discussion or fanfare. HARB will remain active...
Greensburg hires planning director
Greensburg has a new planning director after a five-month search. Jeffrey Raykes will take over the city’s planning department July 29. “We’re extremely excited to have him,” said Greensburg Mayor Robert Bell. “He comes with impeccable credentials.” Raykes will leave his position as deputy director of the Indiana County Office...
Latrobe looks to add penalties to fire pit ordinance
Latrobe’s ordinance permitting residents to operate approved outdoor fire pits is going to undergo some tweaking. City council on Monday authorized the solicitor to amend the 2 1/2-year-old law as officials noted it’s lacking language setting forth penalties for violations and a process that would allow the city to revoke...
West Overton’s distillery making whiskey; won’t be ready until July 2020Video
West Overton is distilling rye whiskey this week, just like it did when Henry Clay Frick’s grandfather, Abraham Overholt, was making it in a log building at his East Huntingdon farm in 1803. The production of Old Overholt was stopped in 1919 when the 18th Constitutional amendment — Prohibition —...
North Huntingdon seeking garbage collection bids
North Huntingdon is seeking bids from haulers to collect garbage and recyclable materials from residences, but not from the many commercial accounts in the municipality. The township commissioners recently authorized advertising for bids for a contract for residential service, beginning Jan. 1, 2020, and continuing through December 2023. The township...
Greensburg author Scott Brown recounts heartfelt tales of region’s opioid epidemic
If the stories in Scott Brown’s new book, “Hope and Heartbreak: Beyond the Numbers of the Opioid Epidemic,” sound familiar, it might be because they are. Brown, a Greensburg native and former sports reporter for the Tribune-Review, ESPN and Philadelphia Inquirer, mined a decade of reports on the epidemic to...
Motorist sues North Huntingdon, PennDOT, claiming road conditions caused accident
The survivor of a fatal North Huntingdon traffic accident last year is suing the township and PennDOT. Robert E. Leonard Jr. of Trafford claims in a lawsuit filed last week in Westmoreland County that injuries he sustained in the April 20, 2018, crash on Route 993 could have been avoided...
State police: Fentanyl bust on turnpike likely largest in Western Pa. history
A drug bust on the Pennsylvania Turnpike likely is the largest seizure of straight fentanyl ever in Western Pennsylvania, state police said. Troopers said they discovered 3 pounds, 6 ounces of fentanyl hidden inside an SUV driven by Juan Junior Guzman, 41, of New York City, after they pulled over...
Westmoreland delays election machine purchase
Westmoreland County officials said Monday the planned purchase of new voting equipment this summer will likely be delayed after state lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf failed to agree on funding for election system upgrades throughout Pennsylvania. “We were on track to make a decision this summer, but we’re on hold...
Man ordered to stand trial in connection with 4 bulls shot at Loyalhanna Twp. farm
A teenage boy testified Monday he and a former Avonmore man shot bulls on a Loyalhanna Township farm in March because the man didn’t have any food in his apartment. The teen said Shaun D. Ross, 60, told him he had no food. “I had a crossbow; he had a...
Officials: Rabid cat found in South Huntingdon business
A rabid cat wandered into a business in South Huntingdon last week, exposing at least one person to the disease, officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture said. On July 5, the cat entered the business on Country Lane, acting normal. A feral cat colony is near the company, which...
W.Pa. soccer leaders support U.S. women’s team in pay disparity fight
The winners of the Women’s World Cup not only are inspiring Western Pennsylvania soccer players with their footwork, but they’re also showing players on boys and girls teams that it’s important to stand up for yourself. The United States Women’s National Team’s win in France on Sunday was met with...
Organizers: Westmoreland Arts and Heritage festival sees lower attendance
Attendance was down during the 45th annual Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival this last weekend, according to its Executive Director Diane Shrader. The festival, which brings food and craft vendors to Twin Lakes Park east of Greensburg, typically draws around 125,000 people over four days. This year, however, heavy rains...
Informational meeting for 2020 Census to be held this weekend in Derry
Almost 3,000 jobs are available in the area ahead of the 2020 Census, and a forum is being held for community members to ask questions about possible employment and the importance of the once-a-decade survey. Led by Maryann Schneider, Westmoreland County recruiting assistant for the U.S. Census Bureau, the event...
Penn-Trafford grad will join Shinedown onstage at KeyBank PavilionVideo
When hard rock band Shinedown takes the stage Wednesday at KeyBank Pavilion, Penn-Trafford High School alumni from the late ’90s and early 2000s will see a familiar face onstage. Josh Sturm of Murrysville, a 2000 Penn-Trafford graduate, will join the band onstage after a brief stint filling in for bassist...
Police: Derry Township man tried to hit man with his car
A Derry Township man was arraigned Monday after police said he tried to hit another man with his car. Robert John Kuszajewski, 27, is charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, reckless endangerment and related offenses. Police were called to South Summit Street in Derry Township at 10 p.m. Wednesday when...
Hempfield ax-throwing facility expanding to Unity
A Hempfield business is expanding its Viking-themed footprint into Unity, and residents could soon be channeling their inner “savage” by throwing axes. Valhalla Indoor Axe Throwing, which will have 10 ax-throwing lanes as well as 20-yard indoor archery ranges, will have a soft opening July 10, with an official grand...
New Planet Fitness set for grand opening in East Huntingdon
The new Planet Fitness off Route 119 in East Huntingdon will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony noon Wednesday The 10,000-square-foot fitness center in Crossroads Plaza features cardio and strength equipment, locker rooms with include showers and massage chairs, tanning beds and other amenitie The center is celebrating its grand opening by...
Newhaven Court’s Pat Jackson offers piano tunes played by earVideo
“Pat, ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ ” “ ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ oh boy.” With that, Pat Jackson began to play. Jackson, 89, a resident at Newhaven Court at Lindwood, Hempfield, will take requests, but she mostly plays from the inexhaustible set list she has carried around in her head for...
Route 30 reopens in Ligonier Township after flooding
A flooded stretch of Route 30 in Ligonier Township has reopened, a county emergency dispatcher said. The road had been closed in both directions between Ruthies Diner, at 1850 Route 30, to Laughlintown in Ligonier Township. The road was closed around 5:30 p.m. It reopened about an hour later....
Vendors, attendees brave weather on last day of Westmoreland arts festival
Several cars lined the parking lots at Twin Lakes Park in Hempfield on Sunday morning, waiting to peruse the last day of the annual Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival despite continued threats of rain that shut down the festival early on Saturday. Inside, vendors checked their products for water or...
2nd day of heavy rain causes more flash flooding across region
More showers and thunderstorms moved through the area Sunday, and flash flooding occurred in parts of the region. Part of Route 30 in Westmoreland County was closed for about an hour Sunday, between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., because of flooding, a county emergency dispatcher said. The road was closed in...
Westmoreland municipalities count on windfall from natural gas impact fee
For communities across Westmoreland County, Act 13 is the gift that keeps on giving. “I don’t know where we’d be without it,” Sewickley Township Supervisor Brian Merdian said. Of the 65 municipalities in Westmoreland County, Sewickley enjoyed the biggest increase in natural gas impact fee windfall this year — from...
Dozens of classic tractor-trailers gather in New Stanton for annual show
Tim Hoover has 15 antique tractor-trailers at his Saltsburg home, but he brought only two to this year’s Steel Valleys Antique Truck Historical Society’s classic truck show. “The truck shows, there’s no competition here,” said Hoover, 61. “Everybody’s equal. It doesn’t matter what you bring, how you bring it. It...
Flooding follows storms, heavy rain in Westmoreland, Allegheny counties
Flooding followed heavy rain across parts of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties after storms moved through the region Saturday afternoon. The National Weather Service warned of the storm around 4 p.m. It contained heavy rain, frequent lightning and wind gusts up to 60 mph. Rainfall amounts of up to an inch...
