Westmoreland category, Page 227

Patterned plantings, straw-bale beds, ponds and a pagoda will be on display July 8 in the Delmont Historical Preservation Society’s Delmont Area Garden Tour. Scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the tour will begin at The Olde Log House at Fairview and Overly streets in Delmont. There, guests will...

Independence Health System laid off 53 employees this week, bringing the total number of positions eliminated this year to 226. The changes come in the wake of significant financial losses and a financial credit rating downgrade for part of the health system. Formed by the merger of Butler Health System...

From 5K runs to firework shows, there’s a variety of ways to celebrate Independence Day with friends and family this year. Here’s a list of firework displays, parades and festivals: ALLEGHENY COUNTY North Boroughs Celebrate Community Day at Avalon Community Park on New Brighton Road Saturday from 6 p.m. to...

Greater Latrobe classmates Kaden Shannon and Jacob Leonard practiced a bit of chemistry this week that might have been mistaken for alchemy. A penny they boiled in a prepared solution appeared to turn silver, and when they placed the coin on a hot plate it seemed to turn gold. “It’s...

Butler Health System’s credit rating was downgraded this week. The system, which combined with Greensburg-based Excela Health at the beginning of the year to form Independence Health System, had its rating downgraded three notches from A to BBB on June 26. Excela and Butler Health are rated separately. Fitch previously...

Gina Cerilli Thrasher will resign from her elected position as the lone Democrat on Westmoreland County’s board of commissioners, her chief of staff Don O’Brien said Wednesday. Thrasher, 37, was confirmed Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Senate to fill a vacancy on the state’s Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. She will serve...

Student fees are going up this fall on University of Pittsburgh branch campuses at Johnstown and Greensburg. A trustees panel voted Wednesday to raise the student activity fee for full-time Pitt-Johnstown students from $180 a year to $400. The panel also approved increasing the athletic and recreation fee at Pitt-Greensburg...

The public meeting schedule for Jeannette council will change in August back to a previous format. Council will resume having work sessions the Tuesday before Thursday voting meetings. The group voted 4-1 to make the change with Councilwoman Michelle Langdon dissenting. Since September, council has been holding work sessions eight...

A proposed natural gas-fueled power plant a few miles north of West Newton would pump more pollution into a region that already has poor air quality, environmentalists and activists said at a community meeting this week. More than 100 people attended the meeting organized by the Environmental Health Project of...

Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra’s “Summer Sparklers” is always a bit of something old mixed with a bit of something new. Set for 7 p.m. Sunday in Greensburg’s St. Clair Park, the free concert annually celebrates the Fourth of July with a salute to the armed forces and a rousing finale of...

Submissions from nonprofit organizations for Briefly Speaking can be emailed to cpinto-smith@triblive.com. Include a complete address and daytime phone number. Submissions are due at least two weeks prior to the event. Each announcement is printed once; there is no fee. Church News • First Presbyterian Church of Irwin, 617 Main...

(Editor’s note: To mark Westmoreland County’s 250th birthday this year, we’ve come up with a list of 250 things — 10 things in 25 communities — that we consider to be important to the makeup of our area. This series will appear each week through December. If you have a...

Westmoreland Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher was confirmed on Tuesday to fill a vacancy on the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. Thrasher, 37, a Democrat from Hempfield is serving out her second four-year term and announced in February she would not seek reelection, instead focusing on a career as a lawyer....

Traffic will be restricted to a single lane on two sections of Route 981 in Mt. Pleasant Township beginning Friday. The restrictions are related to work on the Laurel Valley Transportation Improvement Project and are expected to be in place through late August, according to PennDOT. Traffic will be controlled...

Quick action by a Derry Township farmer Tuesday morning saved a Quonset hut where fire had started in the storage area that held bales of hay, a fire official said. The fire at the Eaglehouse family farm on McCullough Road ruined the round hay bales, but the farmer was able...

State Trooper Phil Dern testified Tuesday he believes it is clear that a man took his own life at a Hempfield apartment in 2021 because he repeatedly was told to do so by his former girlfriend, Mandie R. Reusch. Dern said the man posted messages he received from Reusch, 35,...

Property owners in the Hempfield Area School District will be paying more in real estate taxes after board members adopted a 2023-24 budget by a 6-2 vote. The budget includes about $106.9 million in expenditures, which amounts to a 2.3 mill property tax increase. The increase will help close a...

Westmoreland officials on Monday pledged to reopen the county’s juvenile detention center upon the conclusion of state investigations launched this month when two youths were injured at the Hempfield facility. “As soon as the investigations are done, we hope to be up and running. As soon as we can get...

Hempfield will buy the former SCI Greensburg state prison and plans to work with the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation to demolish the complex. Supervisors on Monday approved spending $3.5 million to buy the 96-acre property on Route 119 between Youngwood and Greensburg. The medium-security prison was originally built to...

Westmoreland County sheriff’s deputies charged a man last week after they said he lunged at a conference officer during a domestic relations hearing, according to court papers. William A. Friedline, 44, of Derry Township, was at the Greensburg courthouse June 20 around 3 p.m. for the hearing when deputies were...

Kids ranging from preschoolers to middle school students can have fun and learn skills playing a variety of sports in a series of new camps offered in July by the Greensburg YMCA. The evening camps, each with four-day sessions, include: • Tots Variety Sports (ages 2-4) — 5:30 to 6...

The girlfriend of a former Greensburg-area dentist convicted of murdering his wife on an African safari was sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison for being an accessory to the crime. Ana Rudolph, daughter of 57-year-old victim Bianca Rudolph, said that Lori Milliron had “plotted to eliminate” her mother. “Lori,...

The Westmoreland Cultural Trust has parted ways with CEO April Kopas, who has led the regional cultural and arts organization since June 2019. The Trust issued a statement this weekend that Kopas left the Greensburg-based organization on June 20, but offered no explanation for her abrupt departure. “On behalf of...

Residents in communities along the Youghiogheny River in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties are expected to air concerns Tuesday during a meeting in West Newton about the potential environmental impact of a proposed natural gas-fueled power plant to be built in Elizabeth Township. The meeting, planned for 7 p.m. at the...