Megan Tomasic stories, Page 68

Several Hempfield area roads will soon have a new face thanks to a $1.8 million project, said township Manager Jason Winters. Expected to start mid-summer, the project will address roads around the Berger Plan, Lexington Acres and near Luxor, Midway and Tanglewood and the Union Cemetery. Crews will replace stormwater...

Local businesses have joined a growing effort to raise money for Cait Tracy, who was injured in a car crash Sunday night that killed two other passengers. What started as a fundraiser at the Hempfield location of Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard has spread to almost 40 restaurants and...

Employees at the Hempfield location of Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard are raising money for a woman who survived a Sunday car crash that claimed the lives of two people. According to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page, Cait Tracy is fighting for her life after the crash...

John Leroy Chain knew he was carrying on a tradition when he joined the Scottdale Volunteer Fire Department. But what he didn’t know, was that it was a tradition that would carry on to his son and grandson. “His grandfather and people before him were firefighters, so it’s been generations,”...

A former Hempfield student was one of 10 students to receive an award from the University of Akron, where she expects to graduate this year with a degree in electrical engineering. Kelly O’Neill, a Hempfield Area High School graduate, received the Trajectory Award, which gives students $10,000 to help with...

Community members are mourning the loss of two employees of Rialto, a popular Greensburg bar and restaurant, after a fatal crash in Hempfield on Sunday night. Kirstin R. Kerrigan, 22, of Arona and Marc F. Delissio, 33, of Penn Township died after their car went off the road, struck multiple...

Hempfield Area students are learning the benefits and responsibilities of tending to a garden, thanks to a new project at West Hempfield Middle School. Two raised vegetable beds growing radishes, beets and spinach are cared for by students in the school’s garden club, science teacher Tim Hines said. By planting...

Victoria Piekut received a phone call from her father, Jeffrey, in August 2016 with unexpected news — she was a business owner. The 22-year-old Norwin High School graduate had toyed with the idea, knowing both her parents had retail backgrounds, but never thought it would come to fruition. Working a...

Down a gravel road close to what constitutes downtown Slovan in rural Washington County, roughly 3,500 solar panels stand in a field of green grass, their blue-hued faces tilted toward the sun. The development, one of the largest solar farms in Western Pennsylvania, spans 4.5 acres and can power about...

Several Westmoreland and Allegheny County senior centers are receiving grant money that will help modernize buildings and expand programs. As part of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, almost $2 million in grants was given to almost 50 senior centers across the state. In Westmoreland County, the New Kensington Center for...

Some Hempfield students are taking a step back from the curriculum for a day as they prepare to present projects they have been working on as part of the Remake Learning Days Across America. The day, which focuses on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, allows students to pick...

A changing retail market and change to Pennsylvania law helped pave the way for a Hempfield building that until recently was filled with plush dolls, binkies and countless nursery must-haves to seeing its shelves stocked with bottle rockets, Roman candles and other popular pyrotechnics. The former Toys R Us on...

Officials responded to a working structure fire at Gutchess Hardwood in Unity Township Thursday night, according to a Westmoreland 911 operator. Firefighters responded to the Devereux Drive company shortly after 8:30 p.m. for a sawdust silo on fire. No injuries were reported. Further information was not immediately available....

The smell of Sylvia Fontanella’s beef risotto recipe often wafted through her Greensburg home, a signature meal of hers. Cooking and baking for her family was a favorite past time of hers, her great-niece Lisa Fox said, along with trying to spend as much time with the children in the...

About 20 gallons of oil spilled into a tributary of the Youghiogheny River in South Huntingdon Township Monday evening, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. A heating-oil tank officials thought to be empty was in the basement of a home being demolished along Fitz Henry Road, said Mike...

Several nursing facility staff members will be honored at the annual Bravo! Awards hosted by Grane Healthcare. Staff from the Greensburg Care Center, the LaurelWood Care Center, the Highland Park Care Center, the Cambria Care Center and the Harmon House Care Center will be recognized May 16 at an awards...

Project 18 students at Hempfield Area High School are gearing up for a political forum that will host candidates for the upcoming township supervisor and school board elections — a forum students have been preparing for all school year. The class, which teaches high school seniors about state and local...

More than 20 boxes filled with newly purchased clothes sat in the basement of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Greensburg, a handmade cross carefully placed underneath the clear plastic lid. Five Excela Health emergency room nurses sat to the side, waiting to take the clothes to the system’s three...

Five Hempfield Township residents were appointed to the newly formed Public Safety Citizens Task Force as supervisors work to make changes to public safety. Greg Saunders, Bovard fire chief; Bill Bretz, a Hempfield Planning Commission member; Linda Ralph, who has experience with municipal contracts; Daniel Mertz, a paramedic; and Roger...

State police found almost 30 animals living in poor conditions at a Hempfield Township home, officials said. Seven cats, three dogs, 17 fish and a bearded dragon lizard were taken by Westmoreland County Humane Society officers after police said they observed the uncared for animals and piles of fecal matter...

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is hosting a gathering tonight to remember the victims of the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California. One person died and three were injured Saturday after a 19-year-old gunman identified as John T. Earnest entered the synagogue around 11:20 a.m and opened fire on...

Joan McGuire loved to be around people, especially her son, David Sichula. “My mother and I had a very close relationship,” Sichula said. “She was my best friend, and I was her best friend.” The duo spent a lot of time together, with Sichula taking her to visit London and...

Don Adams pulled his motorcycle up to Joey’s The Edge in Export on Sunday morning, his 13-year-old dog Charlie in the sidecar, bundled up in a vest. Adams, 76, was meeting up with his friends to have coffee and donuts before the annual Blessing of the Bikes at Murrysville Alliance...

One person is in critical condition and police are searching for a suspect after a shooting in Homestead Saturday night, officials said. Allegheny County Police responded to the area of East 14th Street and East 15th Street around 8 p.m. after receiving multiple calls reporting gunshots. Officers were unable to...