Jeff Himler stories, Page 94
GO Laurel Highlands seeks images for annual photo contest
Visitors to the Laurel Highlands expressed an increased interest in exploring the region’s outdoors this past year, amid the social distancing that was a priority during the height of the covid-19 pandemic. Wherever their interests have led them, visitors and residents alike who captured images of their surroundings will have...
Ligonier’s Bethlen Communities reopens wellness center, makes changes at 100 yearsVideo
A new chapter has begun in the 100-year history of Ligonier’s Bethlen Communities. Founded by the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, the nonprofit’s mission long ago shifted from caring for the orphans of miners killed in a 1907 explosion in Rostraver to serving the needs of more than 180 older...
Latrobe party supply shop set to expand with move to former church outreach center
Paper Heart Affairs, a Latrobe party supply shop, is preparing for expansion, with a move around the corner to a former church outreach center. Emily Pasqualino is planning a moving sale at the store’s current location, 337 Main St., from Wednesday through Saturday, June 12, during the town’s Mister Rogers...
Saltsburg Canal Days festival returns with parade, fireworks, cookie contest
The annual Saltsburg Canal Days festival is back this weekend after going on hiatus in 2020, during the covid-19 pandemic. The event, which features a parade, entertainment, vendor booths and fireworks, will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and continue at noon Sunday. The largest annual happening in Saltsburg, it celebrates...
Passenger numbers soar at Arnold Palmer airport; air show proceeds likely to disappoint
Arnold Palmer Regional Airport closed May 2021 with the highest passenger numbers during that calendar month that it has seen in six years. But the Unity airport also ended the month with an air show that was hampered by poor weather and ticket sales that turned out to be less...
Latrobe’s Mister Rogers Family Days expands to weeklong format
Latrobe again will celebrate the legacy of native son Fred Rogers with activities and entertainment in the town where the iconic television host grew up. Inspired by the classic “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” series and today’s animated “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” show, weeklong activities from Monday through June 12 will include a...
Latrobe will celebrate Fourth of July with fireworks, inaugural car cruise
Latrobe won’t have a Fourth of July parade this year but is planning a number of holiday activities for July 3, including fireworks and a car cruise. The inaugural Fourth of July Celebration car cruise is set for 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Memorial Stadium parking lot. The...
Unity’s return to Latrobe-area rec board official; planners look for program growthVideo
Latrobe-GLSD Parks and Recreation is getting a new name, along with an additional municipal member — Unity Township. Officials from the township, the City of Latrobe and Greater Latrobe School District this week signed a 10-year agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, solidifying their new recreational partnership. The agreement restores Unity...
Lower-flying Blue Angels jets end Westmoreland airshow on high noteVideo
Two days of poor weather prevented organizers from including a planned Navy Leap Frogs parachute jump and a multi-aircraft, cross-county flyover at the 2021 Shop ’n Save Westmoreland County Airshow. But conditions improved enough Sunday to permit a low- altitude show by several other acts that had been scratched Saturday, including...
Special events planned as Latrobe Farmers Market season begins
Latrobe Farmers Market opens for a new season Tuesday, with some new vendors on board and plans ahead for special activities. The market will be open — rain or shine — from noon until 4 p.m., through Oct. 12 near the wooden playground at Legion Keener Park. It’s open to...
Pittsburgh police probe Allentown shooting early Sunday
Pittsburgh police are investigating a shooting in the city’s Allentown neighborhood that wounded a male victim. Police said the victim, who was shot in the leg, was in stable condition when he arrived at a hospital by private means just before 3:45 a.m. Officers later discovered the crime scene outside...
3 males shot early Sunday on East Carson Street in Pittsburgh
Three male victims were reported in stable condition after being shot early Sunday in Pittsburgh’s South Side. City police found one of the victims, who had been shot multiple times in a leg, when they responded just after 2:30 a.m. to the 1700 block of East Carson Street. Officers applied...
Weather curtails Saturday’s Westmoreland airshow; disappointed fans can returnVideo
Mother Nature wasn’t on the side of the Angels, or their fans, Saturday. A low cloud ceiling kept the headlining Navy Blue Angels jet demonstration team from taking to the skies, along with several other aircraft that were slated to appear during the first day of this weekend’s Shop ’n...
Mail, passenger routes, flight instruction helped spur growth at Unity airportVideo
One thing was sure to lure young Bob Downs away from the dinner table. It was when he heard a Stinson mail plane passing above his childhood home on Latrobe’s Irving Avenue, en route to the Latrobe Airport. “I would jump up from the table, dash to the door and...
Navy Leap Frogs plan fall with grace at Westmoreland airshow
Beaver County native Andrew Young and his team members do their best work under a canopy. It just happens to be a collective canopy they form with parachutes while jumping from a height of up to 8,000 feet above the ground. If weather conditions permit, Young, 35, and fellow members...
Blue Angels’ super-sized jets arrive early for drive-in airshow at Arnold Palmer RegionalVideo
Members of the Blue Angels Navy jet demonstration team are “chomping at the bit” to perform high-flying maneuvers for spectators after the covid-19 pandemic scaled back last year’s air show season to less elaborate flyovers. This weekend, they will celebrate their 75th anniversary of thrilling crowds by bringing a full...
Greater Latrobe plan to shift French, German instruction online draws protest
Greater Latrobe School Board this week approved a proposed $57.7 million budget for the 2021-22 school year with a recommended 1-mill tax hike. But it was a plan for 2022-23 — the beginning of a gradual phase-out of in-person French and German language instruction at district secondary schools — that...
Photos, ‘resource wall’ highlight region’s attractions at Arnold Palmer airport near Latrobe
No matter when travelers arrive at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity, the terminal’s new decor always will be in season. On Tuesday, airport officials and staff of GO Laurel Highlands, the destination marketing organization for Westmoreland, Fayette and Somerset counties, unveiled more than 40 large-scale photographic prints installed inside...
Latrobe officials suspect arson in trash fires
Latrobe fire officials are concerned about a recent string of suspicious blazes. City police are investigating as an arson a fire in the early morning of April 19 that destroyed a shed used by the Latrobe Little League organization at Legion Keener Park and about $4,000 worth of league equipment...
Latrobe eyes study to boost fire department funding, cut costs
Latrobe may hire a consultant to recommend ways the city fire department can increase revenue while cutting costs. Council at its June 14 meeting is expected to consider a study proposal for the department from Fast Attack, a consulting firm headed by Mt. Lebanon Fire Chief Nicholas Sohyda. The firm...
Unity’s return to regional rec board will reduce costs for Latrobe, other members
Latrobe will recognize a cost savings after welcoming neighboring Unity back as a partner in a regional recreation organization. City council this week approved an intergovernmental cooperation agreement that reinstates Unity as a member of the Latrobe-GLSD Parks and Recreation organization after an absence of six years. Township supervisors signed...
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...
Teen songwriter from Kennedy collaborates on tune with fellow ‘America’s Got Talent’ alum
Ashley Marina Yankello, a 13-year-old singer-songwriter from Kennedy , is releasing an original song Friday, written and recorded in a collaboration with a fellow “America’s Got Talent” alum. The pop/rock song, “Time to Shine,” features vocals by the local teen, who has dropped her surname for her musical career, and...
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....
Fayette man’s rapid control of robotic arm at Pitt lab detailed in ‘Science’
Having the sensation of touch makes quite a difference for Nathan Copeland. The 35-year-old man from Dunbar, Fayette County, lost the sensation and most of the motion in his limbs at 18 when he broke his neck in a car crash. Since 2014, he’s been participating in a study at...
