Westmoreland category, Page 494

Ron Suvak, principal at Franklin Regional Senior High School, said his goal for 2021 was simple: To ensure students’ second semester experience is better than the first, educationally, socially and emotionally. Suvak presented school board members with the results from a recent survey of high school students, focused on their...

Norwin plans to give its 1,850 elementary school students the option of returning to school four days a week beginning Feb. 15, which doubles the number of in-class instruction days under the hybrid instruction model Norwin has used since school began. Superintendent Jeff Taylor said students in the four elementary...

Strong sales for the October through December quarter combined with savings from its restructuring and modernization initiatives helped to boost the quarterly net income of Kennametal Inc. to $20.2 million and earnings to 23 cents per share, a turnaround from losses a year ago, the metalworking toolmaker said Monday. Pittsburgh-based...

Seven months of frustration trying to get the state to release thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits from last year ended for a Southwest Greensburg man this past weekend when he got a long-awaited check from the Labor Department. “I won’t have to worry so much,” Scott Flanigan, 58, said...

Derry churches and a Franklin Regional elementary school are among local organizations taking part in food drives timed in conjunction with the culminating contest of the NFL season. A Souper Bowl of Caring collection will take place noon to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Derry First United Methodist Church on...

A Westmoreland County judge denied suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez’s bid to dismiss sex and pornography charges, setting the stage for a trial scheduled to begin in March. Vazquez, 29, was charged in August 2019 after police in both Westmoreland County and Florida contended the Venezuela-born athlete had sexual...

The spread of covid cases in the North Huntingdon, Irwin and North Irwin areas dropped again over the past seven days, falling to just 47 new cases from Jan. 25 to Feb. 1, a 1.8% increase in total cases, according to data released Monday by the state Department of Health....

Penn Township police said a 23-year-old Pittsburgh man caught in the back seat of his car with a teen last month falsely claimed the girl was his relative and that she had suffered a medical emergency. After further investigation, Det. Brad Buchsbaum and Sgt. Joseph Lewis determined his story was...

Covid-19 pandemic precautions have prompted area Catholic parishes to modify procedures for Ash Wednesday. The Diocese of Greensburg announced celebrants at its churches in Westmoreland, Armstrong, Fayette and Indiana counties will eliminate direct contact with parishioners during the services, to help protect the health of those attending. Similar changes will...

Greensburg police arrested a 29-year-old man Sunday night after responding to a reported domestic dispute. Kyle L. Boyce was arraigned on charges of endangering the welfare of children, harassment, possession of drug paraphernalia, strangulation and unlawful restraint filed by police in connection with the 10:30 p.m. incident in an apartment...

A Braddock man is set for arraignment Wednesday in federal court after police reported finding drugs in his possession that authorities have linked to overdoses in the area, according to court records. Deshaun Curtis Jones, 29, was ordered detained pending trial on drug and weapons violations. North Huntingdon police on...

Westmoreland County recorded nearly 47% fewer new cases of covid-19 in January than in December. The latest report from the Pennsylvania Department of Health completes January’s data, showing a total of 5,370 new cases, a 46.7% decline from December’s total (10,072). The report stated there were 105 additional cases over...

Claudia Papenmeier grew up attending St. John’s United Church of Christ in Larimer, and she remained active in the church well into her 70s. Mrs. Papenmeier met her husband, Arthur, at the church, where he served as a pastor in the 1950s. It was a role that she herself took...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 85 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County, as hospitalizations and case counts decline in the area. The county’s total cases are at 24,661, which is an increase of nearly 700 cases from last week’s 23,962. The week before had an...

Editor’s note: This is an occasional series examining how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the lives of members of our community. Ashley Luzader knows the toll the covid-19 pandemic has taken on local families. She sees it every week as people line up to receive food at the Salvation Army’s...

Angela Reese said she hopes to carry on her late husband’s legacy by running for his former seat in the state House. Mike Reese, 42, a Republican, died of an apparent brain aneurysm Jan. 2. He was reelected in November to a seventh term representing the 59th Legislative District after...

For fire departments, fundraising took many different forms in 2020 as they adapted to a changing environment in the era of the coronavirus pandemic. There are the ones that found a following for raffles on the department’s Facebook page. Some events that typically bring in a ton of cash —...

Hempfield supervisors are moving forward with the purchase of another new fire engine. This week, supervisors unanimously voted to purchase a Sutphen Monarch Heavy-Duty Custom Engine Tanker. Supervisor Rob Ritson was not present. The tanker, which will become part of the Hempfield Township Fire Department’s fleet, cost almost $753,000. It...

An Irwin man charged with assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of simple assault in connection with a stabbing was arraigned Friday on an additional charge of attempted homicide. Joshua James Robison, 26, had his bond doubled from $75,000 to $150,000 by District Judge Wayne Gongaware during his...

A Westmoreland County judge on Friday said he wants additional testing before he decides the competency of a Delmont man in jail for more than a year on charges that he tried to kill his neighbor with a homemade rifle. Although defense attorney James Crosby said a mental health expert...

Retiring in the midst of a pandemic requires a different kind of farewell ceremony, which is what will happen Saturday for the minister at the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Greensburg. A socially-distant farewell is planned for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday for the Rev. Donna Havrisko, who is retiring...

After a two-month hiatus caused by the winter surge of new coronavirus cases, jury trials in Westmoreland County will resume in February. President Judge Rita Hathaway said, with new cases of the virus on the decline, it appears safe to reconvene trials, which were suspended in December and January. “When...

Franklin Regional administrators on Monday will present the results of a high school student survey aimed at addressing educational concerns that have arisen during the covid-19 pandemic. Superintendent Gennaro Piraino said some students want more in-person instruction — the school’s current hybrid model has two groups attending in-person class two...