Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 89
Westmoreland commissioners extend courthouse restrictions
Most services at the Westmoreland County Courthouse will continue to operate by appointment as coronavirus cases continue to surge. County commissioners announced Monday that modified operations, originally set to expire earlier today, will remain in place indefinitely. “The cases aren’t slowing down,” said Commissioner Gina Cerilli. She returned to the...
Ziccarelli asks state Senate to overturn Brewster victory
New Kensington lawyer Nicole Ziccarelli will ask the Republican-controlled state Senate to reject state certification and overturn the re-election of incumbent Democrat Jim Brewster in the 45th District. The district includes parts of Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, and that fact is central to the disputed election results. According to official,...
State Rep. Mike Reese of Mt. Pleasant Township dead at 42
State Rep. Mike Reese, elected in November to his seventh term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, died Saturday at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg following an apparent brain aneurysm. Reese, 42, of Mt. Pleasant Township, was a 12-year House veteran representing Westmoreland and Somerset county residents in the...
Westmoreland officials weigh bill for mail-in ballots
Westmoreland County officials said this week no decisions have been reached about how it will handle bills recently received from an Ohio direct mailing company that claimed mechanical issues caused two delays in sending ballots out to voters this fall. The county received two invoices earlier this month totaling more...
Five Star Trail leased for another 25 years
Westmoreland County’s Five Star Trail will be around for at least another quarter century. County commissioners, acting as members of the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp., last week approved the renewal of the 25-year lease with the Regional Trails Commission and the private freight railroad that operates along the tracks...
Westmoreland County issues final covid-relief grants
More than $615,000 in covid relief grants were handed out Tuesday to local volunteer fire departments and emergency medical service units as Westmoreland County exhausted its share of federal stimulus money to help struggling businesses, nonprofits and municipalities amid the ongoing pandemic. Commissioners awarded 24 volunteer fire departments and 10...
Westmoreland commissioners rescind covid grant to Salem gym, allow North Huntingdon to keep money
Westmoreland County commissioners on Tuesday rescinded a nearly $5,000 grant awarded last week to a Salem gym after it refused to accept a provision that requires recipients to pledge to adhere to state covid guidelines. Officials said representatives of Matshark Fitness, which operates as Wallace Training Systems, declined to sign...
No raises in new year for Westmoreland elected officials
Westmoreland County’s elected officials will not get raises in 2021. Annual cost-of-living raises earned by county commissioners and row officers since 1995 have been determined by changes to the consumer price index calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. For 2021, that index...
Westmoreland Transit bus ads expanded to help bolster revenue
Westmoreland County Transit Authority buses could serve as mobile help wanted ads to bolster flagging revenues as ridership stagnates amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Authority board members approved a revision to the agency’s contract with a private advertising agency that will allow help wanted signs to appear on buses as...
Latrobe man gets 10-year prison sentence for sale of fatal drugs
A Latrobe man will serve up to 10 years in prison for selling the drugs that killed his friend in a Derry social club in 2018. Kyle Clem, 30, received a mitigated sentence on Friday that authorities said was reduced because of his cooperation with a grand jury investigation into...
Murder charges anticipated in Unity woman’s disappearance
A Westmoreland County prosecutor said Friday that murder charges will be filed against a Unity man who has been long suspected in the disappearance of Cassandra Gross. After a court hearing in which the lawyer for Thomas Stanko asked a judge to dismiss pending criminal cases filed after Gross’ disappearance...
Covid-relief grants available to Westmoreland emergency medical services
Twenty-one nonprofit emergency medical service departments are in line to receive $15,000 covid-relief grants as part of a new round of awards unveiled Thursday by Westmoreland County commissioners. Officials said nearly $400,000 remaining from grants earmarked for nonprofit agencies will be used to fund the program. “We are under a...
Westmoreland department heads earn raises for pandemic-related work
A handful of Westmoreland County government department heads were handed substantial raises Thursday, a move commissioners said was related to their work during ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The biggest pay hike was given to Solicitor Melissa Guiddy, who has seen her salary increase by about 70% since she was hired in...
Westmoreland commissioners approve budget with no tax hike
The coronavirus has been good for Westmoreland County’s bottom line. Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved a $339.7 million budget for 2021 that does not raise property taxes in part because federal covid relief money held back to pay for personnel and other expenses related to the ongoing pandemic. Property taxes...
Greensburg man pleads guilty to September attack of girlfriend
A Greensburg man will be paroled from the county jail next month after he pleaded guilty to the strangulation and assault of his live-in girlfriend. Kevin M. Reese, 29, was charged in September in connection with the attack at his Eastmont Estates apartment in which police said he injured his...
Westmoreland County to settle lawsuit against Recorder of Deeds
Westmoreland County commissioners are expected to settle a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year by a former employee claiming she was fired by new Republican Recorder of Deeds Frank Schiefer after he took office in January. The $27,500 settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing, officials said Wednesday. The lawsuit was...
Hearing loss no reason to exclude Delmont man’s confession to sexual assault charges
A Delmont man’s confession regarding the alleged sexual assault of guest in his home was legally obtained by police, a judge ruled. Robert Pantalone, 55, is awaiting trial on six sex-related counts that claim he forced himself on a woman as she slept on an air mattress in the basement...
Westmoreland County preps for vaccine distribution, which could begin Friday
Westmoreland County officials said Tuesday that plans have been formulated to vaccinate nursing home patients and staff and first responders once they are notified that doses are available to distribute locally. Distribution of about 97,500 vaccine doses in Pennsylvania started this week, and the first could arrive in the county...
Westmoreland courthouse to operate by appointment only through December
Westmoreland County officials said Friday that most business at the courthouse in Greensburg will be conducted by appointment only through the end of December. Commissioners said all county offices will continue to operate during the three-week period of new restrictions announced earlier this week by Gov. Tom Wolf amid the...
Westmoreland Clerk of Courts unveils smartphone app
The Westmoreland County Clerk of Courts office is going modern. The office, which oversees all criminal court filings, on Friday unveiled it’s own app. In September, county commissioners approved a $15,000 contract with OVC LLC, a private firm that specializes in the creation of mobile apps for law enforcement, public...
Former Leechburg police Chief Diebold granted re-parole
Former Leechburg police Chief Michael Diebold could soon be released from jail after a Westmoreland County judge agreed this week to grant his re-parole. Diebold, 43, has been in jail since Dec. 9, 2019, after he was accused of violating terms of his parole from a 9-to-23-month jail sentence for...
Greensburg woman to serve 7 to 14 years for fatal drug sale
A Greensburg woman was sentenced to up to 14 years in prison for the sale fentanyl-laced heroin that killed a woman in her Greensburg home in February. Jamie Lynn Dickant, 35, pleaded guilty to counts of drug delivery resulting in death and three other drug-related charges in connection with the...
Westmoreland doles out another $2 million in covid-relief grants to small businesses
Westmoreland County commissioners on Thursday awarded another 130 small businesses nearly $2 million to cover losses and expenses related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The money represents the second, and what commissioners said was the final, round of funding to small businesses from $31.5 million in federal relief funds the...
Westmoreland jail to install additional video conferencing as virus spread continues
Additional video conferencing rooms will be built at Westmoreland County Prison to allow for more court hearings to be held remotely as coronavirus infections continue to spread among inmates. Commissioners on Thursday hired Laurel Design and Construction Inc. of Hempfield to install new areas at the jail to allow more...
Westmoreland municipal authority on track to purchase East Huntingdon sewer system
The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County reached a tentative agreement to purchase the small sewer system that currently serves about 800 East Huntingdon residents. Authority officials said Wednesday the deal, which is pending approval from both township officials and municipal authority board members, would transfer East Huntingdon’s sewage treatment plant...
