Westmoreland category, Page 503
Help wanted: Westmoreland County seeks applicants for vacant jobs
Westmoreland County has the “help wanted” sign out to fill jobs in several departments but, as has been the case in the private sector, there isn’t enough community interest to fill vacant positions. It has been so much of a challenge to fill the roster of guards at the county...
Pennsylvania inches near Gov. Wolf’s 70% vaccination target for lifting mask mandate
Gov. Tom Wolf’s goal of having 70% of adult Pennsylvanians fully vaccinated against covid-19 may well be within reach in a month’s time. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pennsylvania is just a half a percentage point shy of hitting 70% of adults with at...
Man ordered to jail on $250K bond after police standoff in Mt. Pleasant
State police said a Mt. Pleasant man told troopers he snorted cocaine and drank “five beers” prior to his arrest Monday on charges of shooting toward three municipal police officers responding to his house for a report of a home invasion, according to court records. Richard W. Teeters, 49, was...
Colonial reenactor brings new life to Bushy Run Battlefield museumVideo
A Pittsburgh man with a lifetime passion for history has taken a job at a pivotal battlefield in the region’s colonial history. “My hope is that people will come back to the Bushy Run. We want people to experience this, to come into this building (museum) who had never been...
Jeannette mom awaits justice for slain sonVideo
Taunja Williamson heard the gunshots. She knew immediately something was wrong with someone she loved. She rushed out her Jeannette door and went left toward the chaos. “There was a girl who said, ‘It’s City,’ ” Williamson recalled. Instantly, her world changed. City was the nickname of her son, Mariell...
Vote count shows 22 of grassroots group’s 26 candidates won fall ballot spots
A progressive grassroots organizing group that fielded 26 candidates in municipal and school board races in five counties, including Westmoreland, is celebrating putting 22 candidates on the fall ballot. It may seem small, coming at the end of a low-participation primary that featured thousands of ballot openings in municipalities and...
Derry Area youth league reclaiming field near New Alexandria for softball, baseball gamesVideo
On a recent Sunday, young ball players were trying out the batting cages at Latimer Field while their younger siblings placed small orange flags to mark gopher holes to be filled in the outfield. Restoration of the neglected youth baseball and softball complex got underway April 30 just outside New...
Derry Area parents organize Hollywood-themed prom for students following school prom’s cancellationVideo
Derry Area High School students walked across their very own red carpet Saturday night into a Hollywood-themed prom planned by parents after Derry’s prom was canceled. “We (were) happy to do it,” said Linette Copelli, one of about 20 parent organizers. “Those kids have stepped up and shown a strength...
Seton Hill holds graduation ceremonies for 2020, 2021 graduates
Seton Hill University held its spring commencement at the McKenna Center on Saturday. Graduation was livestreamed through the university’s website. Programs for the events and names of student who earned degrees were also posted online. They celebrated the success of the 2020 and 2021 class during the in-person commencement. Ceremonies...
Renowned preservationist remembered at Fort Ligonier ceremonyVideo
A historic restorationist who labored for decades creating historic reproductions at Fort Ligonier was remembered Saturday as a man who contributed to the good of his community. Charles A. Fagan III, a Fort Ligonier trustee emeritus, described his friend, the late Bradford E. “Brad” Mooney, 76, of Worthington, as a...
As covid cases decline, only 1 Pa. county reports more than 100 cases
New covid case numbers continue to decline in Pennsylvania, as well as in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. On Saturday, only one county in the state reported triple-digit cases. Cases The state reported 1,658 additional covid cases Saturday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, only one...
Greensburg family honors legacy of ‘Grand Lady’ historic homeVideo
When Nathan and Kathy Anderson went house hunting, they weren’t just looking for a place big enough to raise their five daughters — they also wanted a place with a story of its own to tell. They found it at 106 Oakland Ave. in Greensburg, a stately brick home built...
Washington Township man accused of leading police on 115 mph chase, drug possession
A Washington Township man was jailed after police say he led them on a several-mile chase that reached 115 miles per hour. James D. Higgins, 40, was arrested in the garage of his home after the 2:27 a.m. Wednesday chase along routes 66 and 366, according to court documents filed...
Fire destroys Mt. Pleasant Township house
A Mt. Pleasant Township house was destroyed by fire late Friday night. The fire at the house at 274 Freeman Falls Road started in the garage and spread from the breezeway into the house, Kecksburg fire Chief Adam Krozel said. The fire then spread into the roof area, the chief...
Somerset County man charged with DUI in 2019 Ligonier Township crash that killed bicyclist
Eighteen months after a bicyclist from Hempfield was struck and killed by a car atop Laurel Mountain summit on Route 30, Ligonier Valley police arrested the car’s driver on charges of homicide by vehicle and being under the influence of multiple prescription pills, according to court records. Adam W. Ulrich,...
Latrobe man convicted of sexual assault; jury says not guilty of rape
A Westmoreland County jury on Thursday convicted a Latrobe man of sexual assault but not rape. Prosecutors said Hunter Jones Hoyle, 22, assaulted a 20-year-old woman after she fell asleep in a friend’s room in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2020, following a party at a home on...
Westmoreland poll workers awarded big raises
Civic duty hasn’t quite been the lure Westmoreland elections officials had hoped to attract people to work the polls on Election Day, so county commissioners will offer more cash as an incentive. Commissioners, acting as the elections board, on Friday issued massive raises to reward those who worked at the...
Hempfield’s St. Emma Monastery continues food-fair tradition started during pandemicVideo
The Benedictine nuns of St. Emma Monastery in Hempfield may technically be cloistered, but by May 2020, they were just as anxious as everyone else to get back outside. With covid-19 case counts rising and falling, they needed a way to safely provide social distancing — so they settled on...
Covid cases rise slightly in Pennsylvania as hospitalizations drop
Pennsylvania recorded a slight rise in covid-19 cases while the number of people hospitalized with the illness continued its steady drop. The state on Friday added 1,823 cases, the most in the past six days, according to data from the state Department of Health. Those cases helped raise the seven-day...
Murrysville to evaluate permanent fixes for Logan’s Ferry, Heather Highlands bridges
Murrysville officials would like to build on a 2018 study of the Logan’s Ferry bridge intersection and begin evaluating permanent fixes for there and the Heather Highlands bridge. “We have a major problem with several bridges,” Jim Morrison, chief administrator, told council this week. “They’re required to be inspected annually....
Memorial Day events will include return of parade, rededication of Export veterans’ monumentVideo
After a 2020 Memorial Day that was pared back because of covid-19 concerns, the White Valley AMVETS and local American Legions will bring back their full slate of events this year, including the rededication of the Export veterans’ memorial, recently relocated closer to the Westmoreland Heritage trail. Work crews from...
5 things to do in Westmoreland County this weekend: May 21-23
Return of the ‘90s They say you’re not a true kid of the 1990s if you never heard someone say, “Get off the internet. I need to use the phone!” Hard to believe it’s more than 20 years since that era passed into history, but it’s coming back for a...
Protect PT appeals fracking well-pad approvals to Pa. Supreme Court
The citizen group Protect PT’s argument for why zoning hearing board decisions allowing additional gas well fracking in Penn Township should be overturned contained a number of elements, but focused on a central question. Should a legal body be permitted to simply declare that an expert witness’s testimony is not...
Oak Street in Irwin used for ‘Quadfather’ film shootVideo
Dominick Domasky of Greensburg is in the inspiration business. Whether it takes the form of books, motivational speaking or, on Thursday night, film-making in downtown Irwin, Domasky’s Motivation Champs company “shares inspiration, positivity and smiles 24/7, and helps other people do the same,” he said. One of Domasky’s clients is...
No injuries after wires come down on Norwin elementary bus
No one was injured Thursday evening when a tractor-trailer snagged a fiber-optic cable, breaking a utility pole and dropping wires on a Norwin school bus in North Huntingdon, emergency officials said. Irwin Fire Chief Justin Mochar said the truck was turning from Caruthers Lane onto Laurel Avenue around 4:40 p.m....
