Western PA Local News category, Page 2096
Counting of lost ballots underway in Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County elections officials Wednesday morning started counting more than two dozen provisional ballots cast in November but just recently discovered by staff during routine inspections of voting equipment. Elections bureau staffers, serving as appointed members of a reconstituted provisional board, reviewed and qualified 20 ballots cast in North Huntingdon...
Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots grow after no big winnersVideo
Billions of dollars are up for grabs this week as jackpots for Mega Millions and the Powerball lotteries continued to grow after players did not win the top prize for months. In all, nearly $1.4 billion is available: A $750 million jackpot is expected in Friday’s Mega Millions drawing, and...
Allegheny County promotes Erin Dalton to replace Cherna as Human Services director
Allegheny County officials are promoting from within to replace Human Services Director Marc Cherna, who will retire in March. Erin Dalton is executive deputy director of the department, and on Tuesday, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald named her as Cherna’s replacement. “With her leadership, the department will not miss a beat....
Franklin Regional student, volunteer groups battle food insecurity
Franklin Regional junior Garrett Deller decided late last year to take his volunteer service with the Westmoreland County Food Bank to the next level, joining with fellow National Honor Society students to host a biweekly food drive at the Westmoreland Farms clubhouse. Deller said his goal was to arrange for...
Coronavirus vaccine the answer to nuns’ prayers in Hempfield
There have been lots of prayers for relief from the coronavirus pandemic coming from the nuns at Caritas Christi in Hempfield. “I’ve been praying every night and every morning,” said Sister Mary Agnes Kirsch, 85. A bit of hope came to the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton...
Fiscal constraints force Pa. to scale back program to help nursing homes battling covid
A shortage of federal funding has caused Pennsylvania to scale back a critical program for assisting long-term care facilities battling covid-19, officials said Wednesday. State officials introduced a new program called Regional Congregate Care Assistance Teams, or RCATs, to support long-term care facilities. It replaces the state’s Regional Response Health...
Former Greensburg man arraigned, jailed in Southwest Greensburg hit-and-run
A man accused in a Southwest Greensburg hit-and-run was arraigned on the charges Wednesday and is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison. Bond for Justin Lamont Hudspath, 38, of Greensburg was set at $35,000, according to online court records. Hudspath was arrested a week ago at a home north...
Unity man charged with locking child in closet now accused of child rape
A Unity man awaiting trial on charges of locking his 9-year-old son inside a closet and nailing it shut was arrested this week by state police, who accused him of raping a girl. Shawn L. Waulk, 33, who was free on $25,000 unsecured bond on the 2020 complaint, was ordered...
Coronavirus numbers show Monroeville still among highest case rates in eastern suburbs
As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Allegheny County and across the country, the Monroeville area’s numbers continue to remain among the highest in the eastern suburbs. As of Jan. 13, there have been 1,826 total cases of the novel coronavirus in Monroeville since March, according to the latest information...
Plum area coronavirus numbers continue upward trend
As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Allegheny County and across the country, the Plum area’s numbers remain among the highest in the eastern suburbs. As of Jan. 13, there have been 1,498 total cases of the novel coronavirus in Plum since March, according to the latest information provided by...
Penn Hills area coronavirus numbers continue to be among highest in eastern suburbs
As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Allegheny County and across the country, the Penn Hills area’s numbers remain among the highest in the eastern suburbs. As of Jan. 13, there have been 2,019 total cases of the novel coronavirus in Penn Hills since March, according to the latest information...
Covid-19 numbers vary across Shaler Journal communities
As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Allegheny County and across the country, the communities within the Shaler Journal area have varying numbers of both positive cases and deaths. As of Jan. 13, there have been 1,431 total cases of the novel coronavirus in Shaler since March, according to the...
Latest covid-19 numbers for Hampton, McCandless as of Jan. 13
As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Allegheny County and across the country, the communities within the Hampton Journal area have varying numbers of both positive cases and deaths. As of Jan. 13, there have been 897 cases of the novel coronavirus in Hampton since March, according to the latest...
The Herald area’s latest coronavirus numbers for Jan. 13
As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Allegheny County and across the country, the communities within The Herald coverage area seeing varying numbers of positive cases and deaths. As of Jan. 13, there have been 244 total cases of the novel coronavirus in Fox Chapel since March, according to the...
Bianca Smith, with Sewickley roots, makes history as 1st Black woman to coach pro-level baseball
The first Black woman to coach on a professional baseball team has roots in Sewickley, and her favorite baseball team growing up was the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bianca Smith, 29, was hired Jan. 4 by the Boston Red Sox. Her role is stationed in Fort Myers, Fla., to work as a...
107 new covid cases counted in Penn-Trafford, Jeannette area as of Jan. 13
The Penn-Trafford-Jeannette area had 107 confirmed new covid cases in the last five days, raising the total count for the area by almost 5%, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Since the pandemic began in March, the six ZIP codes covering most of the three communities have...
Westmoreland County surpasses 500 covid deaths
Westmoreland County topped 500 deaths related to the coronavirus Wednesday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The state added 11 new deaths to the county’s total, bringing it to 502. Westmoreland became the 12th county in the state to reach 500 deaths. The county’s death rate per 100,000 residents...
State Sen. Jim Brewster sworn in after 2 months of legal wrangling over results
State Sen. Jim Brewster, D-McKeesport, was sworn in Wednesday morning to his third term serving the 45th Senate District. Brewster, 72, took the oath from Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David Spurgeon in a brief ceremony in Harrisburg with no fanfare or objection — unlike the chaos that ensued last...
Allegheny County adds 74 covid deaths, 670 new cases
Allegheny County added 74 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday but attributed the large number to a data backlog at the state level. Those deaths bring the county’s total to 1,178. The deaths ranged from Dec. 4 to Jan. 8, with 73 of them from December. The state data includes information imported...
PWSA enters plea for pumping sludge into Allegheny River
Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority isn’t allowed to raise its rates to cover $500,000 it will invest into a compliance program as punishment for seven years of illegal sludge dumping into the Allegheny River from its Aspinwall plant, according to an agreement with federal prosecutors. U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady...
Latest coronavirus numbers for Carnegie and surrounding communities
As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Allegheny County and across the country, the communities within the Signal Item coverage area have varying numbers of both positive cases and deaths. As of Jan. 12, there have been 357 total cases of the novel coronavirus in the Borough of Carnegie since...
Greater Latrobe to consider 3.11-mill cap on potential 2021-22 tax hike
Greater Latrobe School Board on Tuesday will consider capping any potential 2021-22 property tax increase at 3.11 mills. If the district agrees to stay within that maximum number, it can forgo approving an early preliminary budget for the coming fiscal year, in accordance with Pennsylvania’s Act 1 of 2006, also...
Greater Latrobe continues remote learning through Jan. 22
All Greater Latrobe students will continue to receive full-time remote instruction at least through Jan. 22, as district officials review covid-19 infection levels in Westmoreland County. Whether the district changes that instructional model to include any in-person learning for students will depend on the school board’s decision at its meeting...
Oakmont glass recycling returns with 3 events after collecting 7+ tons last year
Oakmont’s glass recycling program collected about 7.59 tons of glass last year, borough officials announced. There were glass recycling events in August, October and December with dumpsters placed at Creekside and Riverside parks for two weeks at a time to collect the glass. “We could not have collected this volume...
Alcohol is the spirit of Prohibition Pastries
When Eliza Jane Bowman volunteered at a bottling event at East End Brewing Co. in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood several years ago, she noticed cases of barleywine sitting in the warehouse. Owner Scott Smith said it had gone flat and wasn’t worth anything. She saw a value to it. “I told...
