Western PA Local News category, Page 1194
Police: Man crashed stolen vehicle by Pittsburgh’s West End Bridge
A man was arrested after crashing a stolen vehicle on the West End Bridge in Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon. Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said officers were alerted to a stolen vehicle traveling northbound along Route 51 shortly after 12:30 p.m. Officers attempted to make a traffic stop, but the...
WPXI reporter tapped as spokesperson for Westmoreland County DA
WPXI reporter Melanie Gillespie Jones will leave her post at the Pittsburgh television station to become the spokesperson for Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli. Jones, 34, of Somerset County is the station’s Westmoreland County Bureau chief and will begin work with the county Nov. 14. “Melanie will launch our...
Public input meetings will focus on proposed nature, art park in Hempfield
Westmoreland Land Trust will hold a series of three public meetings beginning Tuesday to discuss and take comments on a proposed nature and art park at the trust’s Schwarz Farm in Hempfield. Located at 504 Beech Hills Road, about 3 miles north of Greensburg, the 96-acre site was purchased from...
Hempfield Area mulling when to float new bond with financial markets in flux
Hempfield Area School Board members are working closely with banking officials as they prepare to start a multimillion-dollar high school renovation project next year. School directors met with PNC bankers this week to discuss the current state of the market and the possibility of issuing a second bond near the...
Westmoreland judge: Shetler must remain in jail pending trial
A New Florence man acquitted of killing a police officer in 2015 will remain in jail as he awaits trial on charges that he assaulted a law enforcement official as police attempted to take him into custody on an outstanding warrant. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Megan Bilik-DeFazio on Monday...
Kiski Area drama students to stage ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’
A play promising plenty of laughs and mishaps is on tap at Kiski Area High School. The school’s drama students will present “The Play That Goes Wrong” Thursday through Saturday in the high school auditorium. The cast has nine thespians and 32 crew members. Junior Garrett Seymour described his role...
Judge dismisses Wilkinsburg annexation petition
An Allegheny County judge on Friday dismissed a petition that sought to initiate annexation proceedings for Wilkinsburg to be incorporated into the City of Pittsburgh. The petition, filed on Sept. 29, was dismissed in a two-page order by Senior Common Pleas Judge Joe James. In the order, James wrote that...
Arnold woman charged in fatal overdose to await trial on house arrest after new drug arrest
An Arnold woman awaiting trial for allegedly providing drugs to a Lower Burrell woman who died of an overdose two years ago will remain free on bond after her recent arrest on unrelated drug offenses, a Westmoreland County judge ruled Monday. Sentrillia A. McDonald, 42, was ordered to serve house...
Greensburg-area campuses address suicide awareness, prevention with backpacks display
A suicide awareness display in the form of student backpacks will be at two Greensburg-area college campuses. The Active Minds Send Silence Packing traveling display will be on view from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, the backpacks will be on Sullivan Lawn on Seton Hill’s...
Allegheny County addresses minor mail-in ballot issues as Election Day approaches
The Allegheny County Elections Division is addressing what it called minor problems with mail-in ballots in response to concerns raised by the ACLU of Pennsylvania. In a letter sent to the county last week, the ACLU said some mail-in ballots were sent out without declaration envelopes. Those are the outer...
‘Learning about each other’: Carnegie library display helps celebrate Diwali, India’s Festival of Lights
The United Nations projects India to become the world’s most populous country by decade’s end. In the meantime, the 2020 U.S. Census shows more than 4.5 million Indian Americans, constituting 1.4% of the population and representing the nation’s highest-earning ethnic group. Yet India’s holiday of Diwali, which about a billion...
Pittsburgh’s Urban League receives $6M from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott
The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh received a record-breaking gift Monday from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Scott, who divorced billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2019, gave $6 million to the Urban League. The nonprofit’s mission is to help African Americans achieve economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights. Scott has donated billions...
Mosites breaks ground on Allegheny Shores, ‘the Sharpsburg Riviera’
A groundbreaking along the Sharpsburg riverfront Monday marked the beginning of a project to reshape the land and reconnect it to the community. The Mosites Co., best known for its redevelopment of the East Liberty commercial corridor, celebrated the launch of a project formerly dubbed R47 and now called Allegheny...
7 apartment tenants lose homes in Jeannette fire
Seven apartment tenants lost their homes Monday afternoon when a fire swept through two homes in Jeannette and damaged a third. The cause of the blaze is under investigation by a state police fire marshal and Jeannette police, a city fire official said. No one was reported injured in the...
Shady Side Academy in Fox Chapel presents fall play, ‘Puffs’
Shady Side Academy Senior School will present five performances of its fall play, “Puffs (One Act Edition for Young Wizards)” on Nov. 10-13, 2022. Show times are Thursday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 12, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday,...
Crews battle fire in Southwest Greensburg
Crews battled a house fire in Southwest Greensburg Monday afternoon, according to a Westmoreland 911 dispatcher. The Southwest Greensburg Fire Department and South Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to the 700 block of Green Street around 1:30 p.m. According to a Facebook post from the South Greensburg VFD, firefighters prevented...
New Stanton man, Seton Hill cybersecurity teacher, wins scholarship for IUP doctoral work
There has never been more need for cybersecurity , given growing concerns about cyberattacks on businesses and institutions and the threat of meddling on behalf of other countries. Brad Messner of New Stanton is teaching potential cybersecurity professionals at Greensburg’s Seton Hill University while continuing his own education in the...
‘Punching Out Parkinson’s’ gala will include dancing, amateur boxing
Rich Mushinsky has seen firsthand the positive effect that boxing workouts can produce in people affected by mental and physical disabilities. Mushinsky is the owner of Fit 4 Boxing Club, with gyms in Murrysville and Hampton’s Allison Park neighborhood. In addition to serving as a workout location, both gyms also...
Charges filed after June accidental drug overdose at apartments in North Huntingdon
A former North Huntingdon man was arrested last week after township police said he called 911 seeking medical attention for a neighbor but then refused to provide details about where the neighbor was, according to court papers. The neighbor, Adam R. Pascale, died of an accidental drug overdose. Police charged...
Alle-Kiski students get an early start on Halloween festivities
Halloween kicked off early for many youngsters throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley. Preschoolers were on parade Monday morning during a Halloween trick-or-treat outing in Allegheny Township. More than 75 students from the PreK Counts program at Appleseed Learning Center lined up to show off their costumes and receive treats from various...
Difficulty paying rent expected to be revealed again through community survey
In order for nonprofit groups such as the Westmoreland Community Action Agency to respond to the needs of county residents, they need a firm handle on what those needs are. “If someone says they live in New Kensington and they’re having to travel 20 minutes for child care, we know...
Super-sized spookiness: Halloween displays go big for fun, and for charity
Considering how many Halloween decorations Susie and Delbert Long of Latrobe have already put up, you could forgive Delbert for thinking he could sneak a werewolf past his wife — even if it is a dozen feet tall. “That’s Zeke,” he said with a laugh, waving his arms to get...
Beloved former Westmoreland Mall Santa to return for a pre-holiday visit
Santa Claus is coming to town. For four days this week, New Jersey resident Michael Collins — the man many have deemed to be the real Kris Kringle — will return to the Christmas Town store at Westmoreland Mall, where he is expected to meet with thousands of children to...
Armed person dies in Fawn after interaction with state police
A 50-year-old Fawn man died Monday morning after an interaction with state police, according to authorities. What police deemed an “officer involved shooting” was reported on Shamrock Lane, where troopers said they encountered an armed person, after responding to an incident there. Police said the armed person — later identified...
Greensburg Garden Center program offers ways to ‘Punch Up’ holidays
The idea for Greensburg Garden Center’s upcoming “Punch Up Your Holidays” program came from someone wanting to donate a punch bowl to the group. That got members thinking of different ways to put some new pizzazz into holiday drinks, decor and dress, co-president Carla Rusnica said. They’ll share some ideas...
