Other matters that made news in 2020 in Westmoreland County
The year 2020 was dominated by coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, the presidential election and demonstrations calling for racial justice and equality.
Other news also happened.
Here are a few stories of note from Westmoreland County.
Deadly turnpike, interstate crashes on same day
Five people died and another 60 were injured after a chain-reaction crash involving a tour bus and other vehicles early Jan 5. on a curvy, downhill section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Mt. Pleasant Township.
The bus, which belonged to Z&D Tours of Rockaway, N.J., had left New York City and was headed to Ohio.
Around 3:40 a.m. near mile marker 86 it lost control and hit a steep embankment, before rolling on its side and blocking the road, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The bus was struck by three tractor-trailers — two UPS trucks and a FedEx truck — and a passenger vehicle, state police said.
The bus driver and two passengers died, as did two people in one of the UPS trucks.
A final report could take until 2022 to be filed.
That same day, a paramedic responding to a crash on Interstate 70 near the Smithton exit was killed after being struck by a tractor-trailer.
Matt C. Smelser, 43, a supervisor with Rostraver-West Newton Emergency Medical Services, was hit as he got out of his ambulance in South Huntingdon around 5:30 a.m., state police said.
Smelser, of Carroll Township, worked at the ambulance service for 24 years. He is survived by his wife, Lynn, and children Logan and Adriana.
This month, the I-70 bridge that spans the Youghiogheny River between South Huntingdon and Rostraver was renamed the Matthew Smelser Memorial Bridge.
Levin’s comeback
It took most of the year, and some unexpected turns, but Robert Levin was able to reacquire the family furniture empire his grandfather started a century ago.
The Squirrel Hill resident, who sold the Levin Furniture empire in 2017 to Michigan-based Art Van Furniture, announced in March that he had reached a deal to buy back about three dozen Levin and Wolf furniture stores. Ensuing bankruptcy proceedings, a pandemic and a private equity firm’s acquisition of several former Levin’s properties — including the former flagship store in Mt. Pleasant — delayed what once appeared to destined, then dashed.
In May, the 63-year-old Mt. Pleasant native announced a $25.7 million deal through federal bankruptcy court to buy the Levin brand as well as the contents of 32 Levin and Wolf furniture stores in Pennsylvania and Ohio, partnering with the Schultz family of Erie.
On Dec. 8, Levin revealed that he was acquiring five locations from the fledgling Loves Furniture chain — including the Mt. Pleasant store his grandfather Sam Levin opened in 1920.
“I feel this is like a Christmas gift for all of us, customers and employees,” Levin said. “This is happening at the end of a weird year.”
Casino opening
Days before Thanksgiving, the public finally got to see the long-awaited transformation of the former Bon-Ton department store at Westmoreland Mall into a first-rate casino.
The $150 million casino opened Nov. 24 in Hempfield. The 100,000-square-foot facility has 750 slot machines, 30 table games and a sportsbook. Other amenities include Sports & Social Steel City, a 445-seat restaurant and bar with a bowling alley, golf simulator and other games, as well as Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen + Bar and the soon-to-come PBR Pittsburgh, the 10th location in the Professional Bull Riders country bar chain.
“This is just the beginning, but we think it’s an incredibly exciting beginning,” said Reed Cordish, principal with casino owner The Cordish Companies of Maryland.
A few dozen people lined up at enter when the doors opened at 6 a.m. the first day, and large crowds continued to visit until the property was forced to close at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 12 — under orders by Gov. Tom Wolf to slow the surge of covid cases. Pennsylvania casinos could reopen Jan. 4.
New bishop for Greensburg
Call it a Christmas gift or simply part of the Pope’s long-range plan. But after losing a beloved bishop to Cleveland earlier in the year, Catholics in the Diocese of Greensburg learned that one of their own had been tapped to shepard the flock.
On Dec. 18, an annoucement came from the Vatican that Pope Francis had selected Msgr. Larry J. Kulick to become the sixth bishop of the diocese — the same one where the Leechburg native grew up attending the former St. Martha’s parish. He has spent all 28 years as a priest serving in the diocese, which encompasses Armstrong, Fayette, Indiana and Westmoreland counties. Since 2012, Kulick has served as vicar general of the diocese and pastor at St. James Catholic Church in New Alexandria.
He will be installed as bishop at a special Mass on Feb. 11 at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg.
“I feel honored to be able to serve as bishop in the diocese where I was born, raised, educated, ordained and have served my entire life,” Kulick, 54, said.
He will follow Bishop Edward C. Malesic, who in September became bishop of the Cleveland Diocese.
During his farewell Mass on Aug. 30, Malesic said it was with a heavy heart that he was saying “goodbye to a diocese that I have called my home, and made my home, … for these last five years and to bid farewell to people I have come to know as my friends.”
Kulick was at Malesic’s right hand as the diocese reconciled accounts of clergy sexual abuse, a number of which had been unveiled in a 2018 statewide grand jury report. The diocese last year announced it paid $4.35 million to settle claims with 57 adults who had been sexually abused as children by clergy. Other survivors have lawsuits pending in court.
Kulick said a top priority under his leadership will be the continued healing for survivors and the safety of vulnerable people.
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