Westmoreland category, Page 291

The Hempfield Area School Board next month will further discuss the possibility of tweaking a policy related to reevaluating course materials after high school students were allowed access to two books deemed inappropriate by a small group of parents. The board’s policy committee on Friday decided to not move forward...

The power line technology program at the Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center in New Stanton received a shot in the arm Friday that will continue a late graduate’s legacy of helping others. More than 50 family members, friends, school officials and former West Penn Power co-workers of the late...

A jury on Friday awarded $19 million in damages to a Vandergrift man left paralyzed from an accident in a friend’s swimming pool, in what is believed to be the largest verdict ever issued in Westmoreland County. Jurors found that Washington Township homeowners Robert and Laura O’Black were negligent and...

A Read Across America exercise for a kindergarten class at Norwin’s Stewartsville Elementary School took on a special meaning Friday when high school students from Charlotte, N.C., read a Dr. Seuss book to them. “I think it was great. It was very nice,” said Emma Sartori, a student in Nicole...

The driver of a pickup and a tow truck operator were cited for misdemeanor and traffic charges after state police said the men engaged in a miles-long road rage incident along Route 22 through Salem. Troopers said they used witness accounts and a video volunteered by the pickup driver to...

Greensburg Salem School District will stay with its current transportation provider for another seven years. The school board this week approved a new contract with DMJ Transportation, setting annual cost increases through the 2028-29 school year. The per-vehicle rate charged by Mt. Pleasant area-based DMJ will increase by 1.5% in...

An Oklahoma man pulled over for drifting between eastbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Mt. Pleasant Township was later arrested by state troopers on drug trafficking charges. Investigators said they found 59 vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana in his minivan. Zhi Yu Lin, 43, of Muskogee, Okla., was ordered held...

Sarah Schadler said she has a “really hard time” throwing old books into the dumpster. The McCullough Elementary School library aide in the Penn-Trafford School District instead saves unused, outdated books — some with copyrights as early as 1954 — for future library projects. Her latest project featured a Cinderella-style...

Musical interlude The free monthly Music at Midday concert will begin at noon Friday in the Verostko Center for the Arts, on the second floor of the Latimer Family Library at Saint Vincent College in Unity. Award-winning trombonist and composer Sean Durkin will perform standards by Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio...

A Westmoreland County jury will begin deliberations Friday to determine if a Washington Township couple is responsible for injuries that left their son’s best friend paralyzed after he broke his neck in 2013 in their backyard swimming pool. Lawyers for Michael Fraser, 29, of Vandergrift contend Robert and Laura O’Black...

Tradition trumped inclusiveness this week as the Greensburg Salem School Board selected holiday names for use on the district’s 2022-23 school calendar. The board voted 8-1 to use time-honored names for three holidays when students get to stay home: Christmas Break, Easter Break and Columbus Day. The vote came after...

Vietnam War veterans will be able to receive a commemorative pin to honor their service during a ceremony at 2 p.m. March 31 in the J. Howard Snyder Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 781, Billott Avenue, North Huntingdon. The ceremony is being held in conjunction with National Vietnam War Veterans...

A Delmont woman was charged amid allegations that she threatened to hang the Westmoreland County judge who is overseeing her ongoing custody dispute. Detectives said Jennifer Gesuale, 42, posted a YouTube video on March 7 in which she is alleged to have called for the murder of Westmoreland County Common...

Substitute teachers in the Hempfield Area School District will see a boost in their daily pay, an effort by district leaders to remain competitive during the pandemic. Board members this week voted to bump pay rates to $200 per day for substitute teachers who are teaching for a contracted teacher...

Well before starting a 32-year career with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Jim Miller said he enjoyed fishing as a teenager along Mill Creek in the village of Waterford in Ligonier Township. “It was well known even then as a cold-water fishery back then and had natural trout. It...

Irwin’s police department has new replacements for two part-time officers who left the force last month. Borough council on Wednesday hired Kyle Morton of Yukon as a full-time officer at a rate of $25.62 an hour, plus benefits. Cole Bertok of Jeannette was hired as a part-time officer at a...

The late Karen McPhail rarely forgot a name or a face in her Greensburg community. “It was unbelievable how she knew everybody,” said Sgt. Donald Sarsfield of the Greensburg Police Department. McPhail worked for the department for 16 years as a crossing guard, spending much of that time helping Greensburg...

The county job fair at Westmoreland Mall was a big success, officials said. More than 40 applications were received for 50-plus vacant jobs in county government, according to Sam Miller, associate director of the human resources department. “It seems to have been a successful event,” Miller said. The goal of...

Don’t get too sappy about it: The 2022 maple sugaring season is nearing its end in Western Pennsylvania. Dan Roseum, owner of Roseum Maple Syrup in Murrysville, expects the season to last one or two more weeks at most. The Pennsylvania season, which typically begins in early February and ends...

Two motorists were taken by ambulance for treatment at a hospital following a three-vehicle crash Wednesday night on Route 30 in North Huntingdon, according to Circleville Fire Chief Craig Couchenour. The wreck was reported at 7:40 p.m. near the Flynn Tire auto repair store, a Westmoreland County Public Safety supervisor...

A woman who said the former Seward police chief forced her to have sex with him to avoid criminal charges is suing him in federal court. The lawsuit filed Wednesday against Robert I. Baldwin Jr. and the Seward Police Department includes claims of civil assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress...

When Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf hailed President Joe Biden’s plan to ban Russian energy imports to the U.S. in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion in the Ukraine, he also announced support for a so-called federal gas tax holiday through 2022 as prices at the pump skyrocket. Wolf said he...

As a frenzy of book challenges rocks the nation at an unprecedented rate, local school districts are facing heightened scrutiny over which texts are made available in their libraries. This week, a Hempfield Area School District committee will review a policy that determines how school materials are reevaluated after two...

A suspected shoplifter’s return trip Tuesday to a Dollar General store in Jeannette ended in the man’s arrest on multiple felony drug delivery and possession charges when police said they discovered him with crack cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and prescription opioid medication. Police said they seized nearly a brick of heroin,...

Jeannette Council is considering bumping its part-time property maintenance officer up to full-time status. The group discussed the move during an executive session this week and might vote on the matter at a session Thursday. Council in September hired Vincent Pascarella of New Stanton, resurrecting the job that fell in...