Westmoreland category, Page 884
Man accused of leading police on nearly 10-mile chase in Sewickley Township
A Madison man is accused of leading police on a 9½-mile chase Saturday with an open bottle of vodka in his car, according to arrest papers. Brian Allen Smith, 47, allegedly caused at least $1,000 worth of damage to a state police cruiser during the incident. He was being held...
State police investigating pattern of thefts from construction sites
State police are investigating an ongoing pattern of thefts from construction sites in the New Stanton and Mt. Pleasant area. Troopers said they responded Thursday to a report of tools having been stolen from a construction site on Mt. Pleasant Connel Road in East Huntingdon, where someone broke into a...
Westmoreland’s Register of Wills to seek another term in office
Westmoreland County Register of Wills Sherry Magretti Hamilton has announced she will seek a second term in office. Hamilton, 42, a Republican from Hempfield, was first elected in 2015 to run the courthouse office that oversees estate records, orphans court and marriage licenses. She served one year as the office’s...
Latrobe OKs 26 percent hike in garbage fees, hears union drivers’ concerns
Latrobe residents will see their quarterly garbage collection bills increase by $15, or an average of 26 percent, this year under a new five-year contract between the city and its refuse hauler, Republic Services. With Mayor Rosie Wolford absent, city council Monday voted 6-0 in favor of the agreement, which...
Anderson’s planned retirement to make it tough for GOP to regain power among Westmoreland commissioners
Westmoreland County Republicans expect the path to reclaim a majority on the board of commissioners will be more difficult this year with the impending retirement of popular incumbent Charles Anderson. Anderson announced last week he would not seek another term in office, leaving the local GOP with a huge hole...
Rostraver crash sends 3 to area hospitals
Three motorists were taken at area hospitals for treatment following a two-vehicle collision Sunday on Route 51 in Rostraver Township. The crash happened around 12:45 p.m. in the southbound lanes of the highway, near Willowbrook Plaza. Two patients were taken by ambulance to a local hospital. A third was taken...
Notre Dame Club to visit Greensburg synagogue for special Shabbat service
In the days after the Tree of Life Congregation shooting, Monsignor Roger Statnick thought about ways he and his fellow Catholics could show support for the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and Greensburg. Then he met Rabbi Stacy Petersohn of Congregation Emanu-El Israel in Greensburg. The introduction turned into an opportunity...
Hempfield Cub Scouts host Pinewood Derby races involving nearly 70 handmade cars
Cub Scout Pack 418 of Hempfield hosted their annual Pinewood Derby race on Saturday in the Maxwell Elementary School cafeteria. Along with neighboring Cub Scout Pack 211 of Delmont there were nearly 70 handmade wooden cars created by the scouts, who ranged in age from kindergarten through fifth grade. This...
North Huntingdon sky diving gold medalist champions sport for family, othersVideo
Some might say Randy Persi is fearless for making parachuting his passion and hobby. Others might consider him a little crazy for tempting fate almost 2,000 times by diving out of planes. But, all of them can call the North Huntingdon man a champion, as the 51-year-old father of two...
Hempfield woman announces bid for Register of Wills
A Hempfield woman said Friday she wants to run the courthouse office where she has worked for the last 15 years. Katie Pecarchik, 50, announced she will be a candidate for Register of Wills, the office that oversees estates, wills, adoptions records and marriage licenses. She serves as a deputy...
Westmoreland Happenings: Week of Jan. 14
Classes/programs • A still life painting workshop with Doreen Currie is planned 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 26 in Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley, One Boucher Lane and Route 711 South. Cost: $30, attendees are required to bring their own materials. Reservations required by Jan. 23 at 724-238-6015...
Injuries reported in head-on crash in Murrysville
Firefighters pulled two people from their vehicles Friday after a head-on crash in Murrysville, according to a Westmoreland 911 dispatcher. The crash occurred just before 2 p.m. at the intersection of School Road and Foxwood Court. School Road was closed for about an hour. One person was flown to UPMC...
Musher makes the most of snow in Forbes State Forest
Musher Cameron Maak, 58, of Jennerstown, guides her dogs along a trail near the warming hut in Forbes State Forest on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. Mushing is a sport that uses dogs as a means of transportation, and Maak focuses on sled dog racing with a team made up of...
Derry sisters charged with neglecting emaciated horses, dogs, cats
A Derry Township woman who had animal cruelty charges against her dropped in 2016 is now accused of the same after humane agents seized emaciated and sick horses, dogs and cats from her property in November. Faun Dillon was arraigned this week on more than 200 charges, including aggravated cruelty...
Cops: Mt. Pleasant woman was on drugs when she struck Walmart worker
State police allege a woman was under the influence of multiple unprescribed drugs, including methadone and methamphetamine, last month when she drove into a row of shopping carts and seriously injured a Walmart employee in East Huntingdon. Ronalee M. Bailey, 40, of Mt. Pleasant was arraigned this week before District...
North Huntingdon police looking for man who became irate at motelVideo
North Huntingdon police are looking for a man who became irate after being refused a motel room Saturday because he didn’t have cash to pay for it. Investigators said the man left Hiland Terrace Motel on Route 30 around 6:30 a.m. and a clerk locked the door behind him. When...
Cops: Man breaks into ex-girlfriend’s home, takes possessions, including cat
A 20-year-old Herminie man was stalking his ex-girlfriend, broke into her Hempfield home and took several of her possessions — including her cat, state police allege. Shane Matthew Morrison Jr. is charged with burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and harassment. His bond was set at $50,000, unsecured. According to information...
Jeannette to add more surveillance cameras current ones already pay off for police
Jeannette police plan to add more surveillance cameras to Clay Avenue after the ones recently installed assisted in a stolen vehicle investigation last month. City council approved buying six more cameras that will be affixed to utility poles at intersections along the street, said police Chief Shannon Binda. “Our intersections...
Cops: Man leaves marijuana in Uber, arrested when he tries to get it back
Instead of recovering around two pounds of marijuana he left behind in an Uber, an Allegheny County man found himself under arrest in North Huntingdon when an undercover state trooper posed as the driver of the ride-sharing service. State police on Wednesday arrested Malik Rasaan Mollett, 21, of Wilkinsburg, after...
Westmoreland seeks grant for drug court
Westmoreland County will seek a $30,000 state grant to help pay for the drug court program. Commissioners announced Thursday they will apply for the funds from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. “It will help out and reimburse our general fund for the program,” Commissioner Gina Cerilli said. The grant...
State to recognize centennial of Torrance State Hospital in Derry Township
Sandra Ewing Robertson is a third-generation resident of Torrance, a village in Derry Township, and was raised in the shadow of Torrance State Hospital — which this year marks 100 years of caring for and treating patients with mental illness. “I think it’s a good thing the state is recognizing...
Latrobe man sentenced for hospital assault
A Latrobe man will serve up to three years in prison for assaulting security guards in the behavioral health unit of Excela Heath Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg. Christopher Daykon, 33, pleaded guilty Friday to charges of aggravated assault in connection with two incidents in September 2017. Police said Daykon, a...
Penn Township grant will help absorb costs of stormwater improvements
A new state grant will help Penn Township in its ongoing struggle to overcome the effects of stormwater on the storm sewers of the Harrison Park neighborhood. The Growing Greener grant of $70,000, awarded by the state Department of Environmental Protection, will go toward the design, permitting, surveying and management...
Jury finds Latrobe man guilty of second-degree murder in 2016 fatal robbery
It took a Westmoreland County jury just one hour Thursday afternoon to convict a Latrobe man of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his friend. The jury of eight men and four women found Zachary McGrath guilty in the Jan. 20, 2016, shooting death of Daniel McNerny in front...
Hempfield man, formerly state director of UFO group, enters Westmoreland commissioner race
A Hempfield man accused in a national magazine article of making racially insensitive statements on social media announced Thursday he will seek a position on the Westmoreland County board of commissioners. John Ventre, 61, a Republican, said his candidacy will focus on improving the county’s finances and criticized the current...
