Julia Maruca stories, Page 12

Hempfield Area School District’s new owner’s rep, McKinley Architecture and Engineering, will assess the district’s stalled high school renovation project over the course of the next two months and return with their findings. The school board approved the new owner’s representative contract with a not-to-exceed fee of $30,000 for the...

Hempfield Area School District librarians are requesting a portion of the district’s policy on book acquisition be changed in order to potentially save the district money on reading materials. Approved in August, the policy requires school librarians to post lists of books they intend to purchase 30 days before they...

Hempfield Area School District may soon have more leeway on how frequently students can be searched for contraband, amid rising parent and student concerns following security incidents at the district. A new section to the district’s search policy, defining rules for the use of metal and weapons detectors, was approved...

Hempfield’s $2 million fire station project will take a few weeks past its intended deadline to finish construction, but is on track be completed by early December. Renovations at the nearly 50-year-old North Hempfield Volunteer Fire Department Station 501 started in May, and initially were projected to finish at the...

There are nine candidates for five seats on the Hempfield Area School Board in the Nov. 7 general election. A field of 15 sought the positions during the primary race in the spring. The district is rehashing a major renovation project, and there’s been lengthy discussion on topics including library...

The Laurel Highlands are among few places lucky to be home to several architectural works designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Tens of thousands of visitors every year tour Fallingwater, the home he designed for Liliane and Edgar Kaufmann in Mill Run, Fayette County. In Westmoreland County, people can explore Polymath...

A teenage boy is in critical condition after being hit by a vehicle while skateboarding Wednesday evening, according to the Allegheny County Police Department. First responders found the 15-year-old injured at the intersection of Winlock Avenue and Joel Street in Ingram around 5:45 p.m. He was taken to an area...

First responders and fire crews worked Tuesday night to remove a disabled truck in Allegheny Township from the roadway on South Leechburg Hill Road. No one was injured, and firefighters were on the scene directing traffic while the tractor-trailer was removed, according to Westmoreland County 911 dispatchers. The truck was...

One person was injured and taken to the hospital after an apartment fire next door to Drewery’s Daycare in Stowe Township, according to Tribune-Review news partner WTAE. WTAE reported a firefighter was also treated at the scene for smoke inhalation but was able to return to work, according to Stowe...

Pittsburgh police are looking for the driver of a vehicle that struck a boy in Carrick on Tuesday morning and left the scene. First responders found the boy on Brownsville Road and E. Agnew Avenue just after 7:15 a.m., and he was taken to the hospital in stable condition. Police...

Hempfield Area School District’s new security committee met for the first time this week and mulled ways the district can improve safety. It was formed in response to recent security incidents at Hempfield and is made up of administrators, school board members Mike Alfery, Scott Learn, Diane Ciabattoni and Jeanne...

Hempfield Area School District is getting ready for its upcoming homecoming game Friday by focusing on the district’s past and present. This year’s homecoming parade has a theme of “Community.” Floats representing each of the schools in the district will participate in the parade. Before the game, representatives from each...

Hempfield Area School District hired McKinley Architecture and Engineering this week to work as an owner’s representative in the preconstruction phase of the district’s high school renovation project, which has been on pause since bids came back millions of dollars over budget. The firm, which has locations in Pittsburgh and...

(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...

Several Hempfield Area residents and student leaders shared their concerns at Monday’s school board meeting about the district’s response to an incident last week involving guns at the high school. Resident Lindsay Stevens expressed frustration that much of the discussion about school security has been behind the scenes in executive...

The Mt. Pleasant Business District Authority is gearing up to host a day of awareness and support for a local breast cancer research organization. The cheekily-named “Breast Saturday Ever” event will return this year for its second iteration as a day to “stroll, shop, and support” in honor of breast...

Museumgoers, beware — at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art’s upcoming October Art on Tap event, an eclectic cast of spooky characters will wander the galleries. They’re not ghosts or ghouls, but Halloween-themed roles that will be played by actors from Greensburg theater company Stage Right. Through a “Mystic Museum...

More than three years after the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to remove it, a large statue of 15th-century Italian explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus still stands, partially shrouded in tattered plastic sheeting in a plaza at Schenley Park. The fate of the hotly debated statue remains unknown pending the conclusion...

The stream at the corner of Mt. Pleasant Township area cattle farmer John D. Kitz’s property is surrounded by lush greenery. Native wildflowers and leafy trees stick up from the stream bank, and a long, sturdy fence borders the clear water. The plants, trees, fences and flowers make the stream...

To get the latest updated covid vaccine, you no longer need that paper vaccine card you may have been carrying in your wallet for the past few years. The CDC announced Wednesday that, because the federal government itself is not distributing covid vaccines, the organization no longer will be giving...

Members of Hempfield Area School District’s buildings and grounds and finance committees will discuss the financial situation of the stalled high school renovation project tonight. The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the administration building, 4347 Route 136. It will feature presentations from the district’s business manager, bond counsel...

Hempfield Area High School students on Tuesday were met by a robust police presence and handheld metal detectors — a response to guns being found at school a day earlier, and three 15-year-old students have been charged in connection with the incident. Lines stretched across the gym and around the...

Amidst rising mental health concerns for Pennsylvania youths, Independence Health System is bringing back an annual children’s mental health education event for therapists and other care providers for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The Children’s Mental Health Symposium, scheduled at Latrobe Hospital on Oct. 5, will...

Ramps at the Highland Park Bridge interchange in Aspinwall and Sharpsburg have opened to traffic, according to PennDOT. The southbound Route 28 ramp to Highland Park Bridge; the Highland Park Bridge ramp to Freeport Road (Aspinwall Exit); and the Freeport Road ramps to northbound and southbound Route 28 have all...

Uninsured individuals can get an updated covid vaccine at no cost through a new federal program. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Bridge Access Program, a new public-private partnership, works to maintain access by providing free covid vaccines to adults who are underinsured or uninsured. Covid vaccines were free...