Westmoreland category, Page 29

Former Diocese of Greensburg Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt, who died Sunday morning at age 86, will be celebrated during several services next week. Brandt, named bishop by Pope John Paul II in 2004, led the diocese for 11 years. The diocese has not officially released the cause of death, but...

Penn-Trafford tax bills will raise $84 annually on average following the school board’s decision Monday to implement a 3-mill tax hike. The board approved a $70 million budget with about $69.9 million in revenue Monday night. District tax rates will be 93.75 mills for Westmoreland County residents and 14.39 mills...

State police are seeking help to identify a woman who they said stole $5,400 in a fraud scheme at three banks in the Greensburg area. Troopers released a photograph of the woman on Tuesday. They said she visited three First National Bank branches in Hempfield, Greensburg and South Greensburg within...

Pennsylvania’s plans for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States in 2026 include placing replicas of the iconic Liberty Bell — decorated by local artists — in all 67 counties, including two in Westmoreland. A replica bell also will be placed at Point State Park in Pittsburgh....

Bishop Emeritus Lawrence E. Brandt, who led the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg for 11 years, was not afraid of making difficult decisions at a time of declining church membership, according to those who knew him. “He will be remembered by me as a man of courage and grace, always...

Hempfield Area still needs to figure out how to close a $172,000 gap in its 2025-26 budget ahead of the school board’s next voting meeting June 23, where a final budget will be adopted. The board held the final public hearing on its $114.5 million budget June 2. On May...

Westmoreland County prosecutors on Monday dismissed four felony and one misdemeanor counts related to allegations of child pornography against a Mt. Pleasant woman. Jennie Lynn Dulaney, 23, pleaded guilty to an amended summary count of disorderly conduct and was ordered to pay a $25 fine. Her testimony last month led...

Westmoreland County’s primary election results are in the books. The county elections board gave final certification to the hundreds of races on the Republican and Democrat ballots last month, setting the stage for November’s general election. Election Bureau Director Scott Ross said nearly 54,000 ballots were cast for the May...

A Mt. Pleasant Township man is facing a 4-year prison sentence for the torture of a dog owned by his now former girlfriend. Zachary Robert Hixson, 30, pleaded guilty Monday to two felony counts including aggravated cruelty to animals, neglect of an animal and animal cruelty in connection with allegations...

A woman who crashed her vehicle over a hillside along Paintertown Road in Penn Township Monday morning is in stable condition, according to Ed Grant, Penn Township Ambulance operations director. The vehicle went over a steep embankment, rear end first, shortly after 10:45 a.m., traveling about 30 feet down from...

Friday’s downpour generated so much stormwater that it destroyed a culvert built by Murrysville public works crews along Lyons Run. “Forty-eight tons of R-7’s and asphalt are now somewhere else,” Murrysville Public Works Director Bill Paiano said in a memo to town officials in his initial assessment of the damage...

After getting a little help with his footing, Jay Perino used his legs to push his body up the rock wall, reaching for the closest handhold. For someone with limited mobility on the left side of his body as a result of a stroke, it was no easy feat. Must...

Bishop Emeritus Lawrence Eugene Brandt, bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg from 2004 to 2015, died Sunday morning. He was 86. Church officials credit Brandt, the Greensburg Diocese’s fourth bishop, for leading the diocese through a series of changes, including improving finances and addressing the declining number of Catholics. “It...

Art • Greensburg Art Center and Greensburg Hempfield Area Library will sponsor an exhibit, “The Figure Drawing Artists of Greensburg,” through July 29 at the library, 237 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Greensburg. Church News • Community United Presbyterian Church, 1640 Keystone Park Road, New Alexandria, has begun to observe a summer...

Hundreds of bubble gum blowers are needed in Greensburg in an effort to break a world record. The Greensburg Business & Professional Association is hoping to get at least 1,200 people to converge Saturday on downtown in an attempt to top the record for the most people blowing a chewing...

A section of Route 217 in Derry Township will be closed to traffic beginning Monday while work is underway to rehabilitate a bridge that carries the road over McGee Run. The closure, between Ankney Road and Hillside Road/Old Route 217, is expected to continue through July 3, depending on weather....

Jess Kunkle is on a twofold mission: to pursue her lifelong career aspiration and help revitalize the business scene in Greensburg, the town she has called home for nearly a decade. “I wanted to help put a business back into downtown Greensburg,” Kunkle said, “because downtown Greensburg has been kind...

The emergency response to flooding in the Murrysville area Friday night threw everything and the kitchen sink to swift-water rescue teams. The 95 evacuations in the roughly 300-yard space between Ginny’s Neighborhood Pizza Joint and Penn Vista Apartment complex included: a weeks-old baby, half a dozen Franklin Regional High School...

Mister Rogers Family Days featured a series of events held each day last week in downtown Latrobe. On June 2 an open house at the Fred Rogers Institute in Unity and Greater Latrobe High School featured Fred Rogers themed exhibits Daily activities included a farmer’s market, night market, children’s book...

Lorne Peachey of Scottdale has ridden across the United States and on almost every rail-to-trail path imaginable on his way to 200,000 miles on a bicycle. Peachey, 86, celebrated his achievement with about 150 family, friends and bicycling acquaintances Saturday afternoon at the West Overton Village events barn near Scottdale....

Kim Zannikos has seen flooding before at her Murrysville town house, but nothing like what she saw Friday. It was so bad that her SUV, parked at the far end of the property, away from Old William Penn Highway, and with Turtle Creek on the other side, was not spared....

The Seven Wonders, a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, opened the SummerSounds concert series in Greensburg’s St. Clair Park. The concert series amassed a combined attendance of 28,500 people and drew more than $1 million in economic impact to Greensburg last season, co-founder Gene James said. SummerSounds has focused on best...

Tim Wagner’s family was getting ready to watch him graduate from Franklin Regional Senior High School on Friday night when stormwater began rushing into their Murrysville basement. “We’ve never seen it like this before,” Bonnie Rockette-Wagner said. Thunderstorms roared through the region late Friday afternoon, and flash flooding hammered northern...

Robert Greenleaf’s slogan with his Franklin Regional basketball team was “Dedicated to Excellence.” And the longtime educator and basketball aficionado lived the motto in all aspects of his life, friends and family said. “He was well-known and well-loved,” said Bob Bozzuto, who worked with Greenleaf in both the Franklin Regional...

In years past, ties between Westmoreland County election candidates were broken by drawing marbles from an old Dr Pepper soda bottle covered in tape. On Friday, election officials upgraded their system somewhat and drew marbles from a reusable water bottle to determine the winners of three ties in the May...