Westmoreland category, Page 474

Murrysville officials are fighting a battle of perception — or in many cases, they say, misperception — regarding consideration of raising their share of the earned-income tax, a 1% levy split between the municipality and the Franklin Regional School District. The first misperception is that the school district and municipality...

Ellen Keefe is preparing to retire as executive director of Westmoreland Cleanways and Recycling after 23 years of service with the nonprofit. Now that the organization has settled into its new recycling center near Pleasant Unity, in Unity Township, Keefe said, “It’s the right time for me to do it,...

From British rule to the coronavirus, Westmoreland County government stores millions of paper records spanning more than two centuries of local history. Rows of boxes stacked to the ceiling hold government and court records dating to the time of King George III. They occupy thousands of square feet of warehouse...

The Westmoreland Transit Authority got a free bus to add to its fleet — the only question is what kind of paint job it should have. The 30-foot diesel bus originally belonged to the Crawford Area Transportation Authority, where it was going unused. Crawford Area donated the bus to Westmoreland...

Editor’s note: This story was amended March 20, 2021 to reflect the correct municipality where the one remaining residential polling place is located. Twelve polling places are being moved to new locations in Westmoreland County for the May primary, including one that has been in a Wyano home since the...

Until Walter Vinoski was 11, he couldn’t have told you what a bassoon even was. Now the 17-year-old Yough senior is the Friday Evening Music Club’s 2021 Mildred Gardner Scholarship Competition winner, earning $1,000 through this year’s virtual competition. He is a member of the Westmoreland Youth Symphony Orchestra and...

Westmoreland Cleanways and Recycling is teaming with the Westmoreland Conservation District’s West Nile virus program to offer a discount on tire recycling. The program is meant to help clear away scrap tires before they collect water and become a potential warm-weather breeding ground for mosquitoes that can transmit the virus....

A Greensburg attorney who admitted in 2019 to stealing nearly $50,000 from a fraternal organization has been disbarred by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The state’s highest court this week issued a two-sentence order barring Donald Blake Moreman, 60, who lives in Bullskin, Fayette County, from practicing law in the state....

More covid cases were reported Friday in Allegheny County than at any point in the past 10 days, according to the most recent health department data. An additional 346 cases were announced Friday, bumping the county’s seven-day average up to 262. That’s the highest level for that metric since March...

Two Southwest Greensburg residents escaped injury early Friday after a smoke detector alerted them to a fire in a bedroom and they fled their house, according to firefighters. Multiple area departments responded to the fire on the 400 block of Oakland Avenue at 3:35 a.m., according to Southwest Greensburg fire...

The cast of Stage Right’s “The Pirates of Penzance” includes an actor who has traded the bright lights of the big city — at least temporarily — for the safety of his home town. “I came back to Greensburg last March to do a show at Stage Right that, obviously,...

An online petition to rename a state highway after the late state Rep. Mike Reese has rocketed towards it goal of 2,500 signatures in short order. Mt. Pleasant resident Nick Molitor created the petition on Change.org, where more than 2,200 people have already shown their support. He never met Reese,...

A Murrysville man was charged by police with stalking this week after a female jogger reported he twice approached her in recent months and solicited her for sex. Mark A. Loesch, 49, was charged via mailed summons with two counts each of stalking and criminal attempt to solicit prostitution by...

Westmoreland County commissioners on Thursday selected a Blair County company to handle printing and sending its mail-in ballots for the spring primary. Elections director JoAnn Sebastiani said she checked with officials in six regional counties that used NPC, Inc. during the general election and got a good response about the...

More than 5,000 appointments for the covid-19 vaccine will be available next week through two area Mainline Pharmacy Group locations. Bushy Run Pharmacy, in Penn Township, and Blairsville Pharmacy, in Indiana County, have appointments available for those who qualify in phase 1A of the state’s vaccination plan. This phase includes...

The Luxor Volunteer Fire Department station in Hempfield will close this weekend as officials merge with nearby Bovard Fire Department. Hempfield Fire Chief Tony Kovacic confirmed during Wednesday’s supervisors meeting that the station “will stop responding” to calls starting Saturday. Those calls will be covered by the Bovard and Hannastown...

Two years in the making, Norwin is getting a new scoreboard for its high school baseball field. Like so many things over the past 12 months, plans to install a new scoreboard at the high school field were postponed because of covid, said Ronald Awenowicz, president of the Norwin Baseball...

Several hundred gizzard shad fish were found dead in Saint Vincent Lake this week, officials with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission confirmed. An officer from the Southwest Regional Law Enforcement office was notified Monday of the fish kill, according to Mike Parker, spokesman for the commission. Parker said the...

In Pennsylvania, the number of people vaccinated from the coronavirus has continued to climb, while covid cases and deaths have remained relatively stable. In Allegheny County on Thursday there was a slight uptick in new cases and hospitalizations. Westmoreland County saw a decrease in cases and one new death. And...

Delmont Public Library officials want anyone and everyone to be able to enjoy their Outdoor Learning Center, slated to open June 5. And, while it is already set to include solar bird baths, bird houses and the reestablishment of the library’s outdoor butterfly garden, a fundraising campaign is underway to...

North Huntingdon officials have approved site plans for a new Kenny Ross Mazda dealership along Route 30 that will be built adjacent to Kenny Ross Subaru. Township commissioners also approved plans to consolidate two parcels on the site, which previously was a nursing home, across an alley from the existing...

The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County is offering its warehouse in New Stanton as a site for covid-19 vaccinations. The site is close to a Pennsylvania Turnpike exit and has plenty of parking. The only problem is that the large providers — UPMC, Allegheny Health Network, Giant Eagle and others...