Western PA Local News category, Page 2061
Principals announced at 2 newly merged Catholic schools
Principals have been chosen for two newly merged Catholic schools in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Robert Munz, an educator of 21 years and administrator in the diocese for the last decade, was selected to lead the new elementary formed by the merger of St. Philip in Crafton and St. Margaret...
Southmoreland school board member dons paper bag in protest of mask policyVideo
A retired school psychologist and veteran member of the Southmoreland School Board is gaining notoriety after she attended a meeting Thursday with a paper bag pulled over her head. A video recording of the meeting on YouTube shows Catherine Fike sitting at one the end of the meeting table with...
Community input sought for Homewood Park expansion, Willie Stargell Field upgrade
Homewood residents are invited to give input on the ongoing plans to upgrade and expand Homewood Park. The Department of Public Works will host residents from 1 p.m. till 4 p.m. on Saturday at the corner of Hamilton and North Lang Avenues to hear their insights on the project. In...
Westmoreland Transit rider numbers inch upward, authority to hire more drivers
Public transportation ridership numbers still are a long way from pre-pandemic levels, but they are showing a slight rebound that has Westmoreland County Transit Authority officials hopeful better times are ahead. “We’ve had a little bit of an increase,” Executive Director Alan Blahovec said at the authority’s monthly business meeting....
Owner of Mock & Co. Jewelry in Monroeville recognized for helping community through pandemicVideo
A Monroeville jewelry store owner was recognized for helping his employees and community during the covid-19 pandemic. Anthony Mock, owner of Mock & Co. Jewelry, won SaverLife’s Tax Time Story Contest. SaverLife is a national nonprofit dedicated to helping people save money. The contest asked members to nominate someone they...
Drugs, cash seized after police chase in North Huntingdon
A Clairton man was arrested Thursday after police said he ran from a traffic stop on Route 30 in North Huntingdon and threw a bag of drugs as he fled, according to court papers. Anthony Martin Jamison, 32, being held without bond in the Westmoreland County Prison. Township officers were...
Westmoreland County commissioners split over court raises
Raises for secretaries and law clerks working for Westmoreland County’s 11 Common Pleas Court judges were approved Thursday in a split vote of the county’s salary board. By a 3-2 vote, the board, which includes all three county commissioners and Controller Jeff Balzer, narrowly signed off on the plan to...
Pennsylvania casinos top $400M in March, shatter monthly revenue record
Monthly casino revenues in Pennsylvania for the first time topped $400 million in March, according to figures released by the state Gaming Control Board. Combined gambling revenues totaled more than $403 million, up significantly from the $154 million in revenues seen in March 2020, when non-life-sustaining businesses were forced to...
Greensburg Salem secondary students will head back to school after 2-day covid closure
Greensburg Salem middle and high school students are set to return to their classrooms Monday after the schools stepped back to full remote instruction on Thursday and Friday because of covid-19 cases. Because Westmoreland County returned to a substantial level of covid transmission, local schools must track the number of...
Irwin woman charged with biting trooper, trying to push drugs down station drain
An Irwin woman is behind bars after, state police say, she bit a trooper during a drunken-driving arrest and attempted to push drugs down a drain while being processed at the station, according to court papers. Crystal D. Weimer, 43, is charged with aggravated assault, driving under the influence, resisting...
2 Westmoreland farms protected by state conservation program
Two Westmoreland County farms were among the 26 protected by the state in recent purchases of permanent conservation easements in return for owners selling the “development value” of their property. The farms involved in raising crops and livestock were protected under the state’s Farmland Preservation Program from future residential, commercial...
Aspinwall, Blawnox and O’Hara partner on permanent glass recycling dumpster
Glass recycling will be lost in some municipal trash hauling contracts across the Lower Valley but O’Hara, Aspinwall and Blawnox are making sure an alternate service continues for residents. The three communities are banding together to offer a permanent glass recycling dumpster at the O’Hara municipal building. The 22-foot by...
Pennsylvania sees rising covid cases, deaths, hospitalizations
Pennsylvania on Friday reported 5,650 new cases of covid-19, raising the seven-day average to 4,916, the highest average since early February. There have been 1,098,502 cases recorded since the pandemic began, according to data from the state Department of Health. The state added 56 new covid-related deaths, the second most...
Change in course: Pirates move pierogies race from PNC Park to Clemente BridgeVideo
Alana and Jimmy Maxey came from Austin, Texas, to PNC Park Thursday to catch a Pirates afternoon game. They had heard about the racing pierogies as well. “Friends and family told me about the pierogies race, so I was excited to see that,” said Alana Maxey, a huge Pittsburgh sports...
Early-morning fire damages modular classroom at Indiana elementary school
An early morning fire on Friday caused the roof of a modular classroom at an Indiana Borough elementary school to collapse and left the school filled with smoke, officials said. Indiana Borough Police, who were the first to respond to Eisenhower Elementary School around 1:50 a.m., observed a working fire...
Duquesne Light seeks to raise rates by 7.7%
Duquesne Light Co. wants to raise the electric bills for residential customers by 7.7%, an increase that would cost users another $7.73 a month on average, or about $92 a year, the Pittsburgh-based company said. The request was filed Friday with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. If approved, which is...
Free bike lights: Nonprofit hosts ‘Operation Illumination’ in Pittsburgh
Bike Pittsburgh will host its second bike light giveaway of the year on Monday. Operation Illumination, the group’s initiative to offer free bike lights for cyclists, will continue on the sidewalk in front of the Winchester Thurston building at 5099 Ellsworth Ave. in Shadyside. Bike Pittsburgh volunteers will distribute bike...
Body of missing Beechview man found in Ohio River
The body of a Beechview man missing since late January was found Thursday night in the Ohio River, authorities said. Thomas Hughes, 25, was found in the river near Monaca, according to Pittsburgh police. The Beaver County Medical Examiner’s Office will perform an autopsy and determine a cause and manner...
Troopers identify man shot and killed during standoff in Fayette County
State police released the identity of a 67-year-old Fayette County man fatally shot by troopers following a standoff Tuesday at his Saltlick home. Police say Keith Robert Tafoya exited his Pine Slope Road home and pointed a shotgun at members of the state police Special Emergency Response Team. Tafoya kept...
Little Plum Creek stocked with trout, set for youth fishing event Saturday
Little Plum Creek in Plum has been stocked with trout just in time for the borough’s annual fishing derby. The event is scheduled for Saturday at Plum Creek Park along New Texas Road. Registration is at 7:30 a.m. and fishing begins at 8 a.m. There is no end time. It...
North Huntingdon: Details needed on township’s $3M share of pandemic relief money
North Huntingdon should get about $3 million from the latest $1.9 trillion covid relief bill that Congress approved last month, though specifics on how the township can spend the money have yet to be outlined. “There’s a lot of bullet points” saying what the American Rescue Plan money can be...
Jeannette-based cemetery company sold to Pittsburgh investment firm
A Pittsburgh private equity firm purchased a Jeannette-based company that is one of the largest privately owned gravesite operators in the nation, with 26 memorial parks, including four in Westmoreland County and another in Washington County. Stonewood Capital Management said this week an unnamed affiliate purchased CMS East Inc. on...
‘History, character and charm’: Hempfield home inspired by work at Penguin Court mansionVideo
The new owners of the Italian Provencal-style house at 729 Harvey Ave. in Hempfield will find plenty of reminders of the home’s past. Above the living room fireplace are carved the initials of the original occupants, building contractor Anson T. Zambano and his wife, the former Emma Seeno. Zambano built...
Police: 1 person dead, another injured after crash in Duquesne
One person died and a child was injured after a single-vehicle crash in Duquesne early Friday morning, according to Allegheny County police. Crews responded to Route 837 near North Second Street around 3:30 a.m. where they found a man ejected from a vehicle and a child still inside the car,...
Hempfield Area temporarily closes middle school because of covid-19 cases
A Hempfield Area middle school is closed today due to positive covid-19 cases, according to district officials. Students at West Hempfield Middle School are attending classes remotely after the district was informed that two students contracted the virus and were at school while infectious, according to a letter from Superintendent...
