Westmoreland category, Page 248
Fireworks, parades, festivals — your guide to Fourth festivities
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...
Coins, minnows, holograms give Pitt-Greensburg camp students science, math insights
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...
Credit rating agency says Butler Health System is backsliding further financially
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...
Thrasher to resign as Westmoreland commissioner
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 prices to rise at Pitt’s Greensburg, Johnstown branch campuses
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...
Jeannette council workshops to be held same week as voting meetings
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...
Opposition continues on proposed Yough river power plant
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 tuning up for annual ‘Summer Sparklers’ concert
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...
Westmoreland happenings: free veterans dinner, poker run, golf outing, more
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...
Westmoreland 250: 10 unique things in Jeannette
(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 Thrasher appointed to state appeals board
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....
Route 981 lane restrictions ahead in Mt. Pleasant Township
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...
Derry Township hay storage hut saved from fire
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...
South Greensburg woman to stand trial on aiding suicide charge in ex-boyfriend’s death
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,...
Hempfield board adopts budget with 2.3 mill tax hike
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 pledge to reopen juvenile detention center
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 to purchase former state prison site, demolish buildings
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...
Derry Township man charged after incident at courthouse
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...
Greensburg Y youth sports camps emphasize fitness, fun
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...
Girlfriend of Greensburg-area dentist convicted of killing his wife on safari sentenced to 17 years
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,...
Westmoreland Cultural Trust parts ways with CEO April Kopas
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...
Hot day for hot rods at the Veterans Anything With Wheels car showVideo
Trisha Cavanaugh didn’t build a 1972 Chevy Vega with a 6-liter, all-aluminum LS engine and a power-glide transmission to haul it around in a trailer. “I built it to be a car I could drive on the street, and I take it to Keystone Raceway,” said Cavanaugh, a White Oak...
Concerns over proposed gas-powered plant in Elizabeth Township to be aired
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...
Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival nears half-century mark
The slate that Deb and Fred Rost use as a canvas for their artwork comes from Vermont — but they don’t have to go nearly that far to sell it. The Latrobe residents have been bringing products from their Stenciled Slates business to the Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival for...
North Huntingdon gives preliminary OK for lithium-ion battery farm
Bear Peak Power received preliminary approval from North Huntingdon commissioners this week to build a lithium-ion battery farm. The Denver renewable energy company plans to build a battery energy storage system off Route 993 on a four-acre parcel between the Western Westmoreland Municipal Authority’s sewage plant and Ridinger Park Road....
