Deb Erdley stories, Page 16
Kiski Township police arrest man with 150 stamp bags of heroin
An Indiana County man was arrested on multiple drug charges early Sunday morning after Kiski Township Police found 150 stamp bags of heroin in his car during a traffic stop along State Route 56. Township Police said Charles King Sr., 49, of Clymer was charged with possession with intent to...
Turtle Creek man dead in Homewood shooting
A 32 year-old Turtle Creek man died Saturday evening in UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, following a shooting in the city’s Homewood neighborhood. Pittsburgh Police who responded to a report of a shooting at about 9:45p.m., arrived at at the intersection of Mohler Street and Ferris Court and found a man...
Coroner IDs Blairsville woman killed in Derry Township crash
A Blairsville woman died Saturday morning when she was ejected from her vehicle in a two-car crash in Derry Township. Brittany C. Lash, 23, was pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m., the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office said Sunday night. An autopsy found the cause of death to be blunt force injuries...
Traditional prayers for unity and blessing find a new home in a time of trauma
On a sunny July 4 morning when the parades and festivals that traditionally mark the holiday had been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, a small group of men and women gathered at the Evergreen Drive-in on the outskirts of Mt. Pleasant. Men such as Eric Harris, 62, of East...
Police identify driver in Mt. Pleasant Twp. crash that injured two pedestrians
State police have identified the driver of a car that struck two pedestrians in Mt. Pleasant Township early Friday morning as Elizabeth Sirianni, 30, of Mt. Pleasant. Police said Sirianni was driving west on Route 31 in Mt. Pleasant Township, near the intersection of Yoder Avenue and Maple Street shortly...
Robert Levin, new partners, revive family’s furniture business in the midst of pandemicVideo
If things had worked out differently, Robert Levin would be three years into a comfortable retirement. Hard times turned his plans on their head. On Friday, the 64-year-old Mt. Pleasant native celebrated five months of long hours and hard work as he joined his new partners, John and Matt Schultz,...
Levin to reopen some Western Pennsylvania stores Friday
Levin Furniture stores in Hempfield, Monroeville, Wexford, Curry Hollow and 13 other locations around Pittsburgh and Cleveland will reopen at 11 a.m. Friday with former owner Robert Levin at the helm. Levin sold his family’s chain of stores in 2017 to Art Van Furniture but later structured a $25.7 million...
Greensburg to launch grant program for local businesses hurt by coronavirus
Lisa Hegedus can’t wait to apply for a grant from the Greensburg Community Development Corporation’s new Covid-19 Relief Main Street Jump-Start Program. The new program, funded through a $150,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, is targeting small businesses in Greensburg that have suffered a financial hit from the...
Allegheny County leads state in mail-in balloting; more expected in November
Faced with the coronavirus pandemic and the prospect of long lines at sharply reduced polling places, Allegheny County voters led the state in embracing Pennsylvania’s new mail-in voting option. A new report by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania found nearly one in three Allegheny County voters requested a mail-in ballot...
3 WCCC grads honored with All-Academic Team scholarships
Three Westmoreland County Community College students earned scholarships to attend the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education university of their choice as members of the Pennsylvania 2019-20 All Academic Team. College officials said Zachary Hursh of Irwin, Tyler Recklein of Export and Steven Riley of Greensburg were selected as honorees...
Protests bring ‘moment of hope’ after decades of racial justice rallies in Pittsburgh, region
News archives in Southwestern Pennsylvania detail a history of encounters between black men and youths and white police officers. Jonny Gammage, Charles Dixon, Michael Ellerbe, Jordan Miles, Leon Ford and Antwon Rose II are among the names that stand out. Four died in confrontations with police. Two survived, their lives...
NAACP sues Pennsylvania over primary election access issues
Citing long lines at polls on primary day in Eastern Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Conference of the NAACP is suing the state, seeking to ensure additional protections for voter access are in place in time for the November presidential election. The suit, filed Thursday in Commonwealth Court, charges the state’s decision...
Momentum builds for making Juneteenth a federal holiday
There is a growing movement afoot to declare June 19, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday. The date marks the day in 1865 when Union Gen. Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, informing former slaves of their freedom provided by the order President Abraham Lincoln issued on Jan....
Mother of Antwon Rose II sees hope in police reform movement
The last two years have been a slow, painful slog for Michelle Kenney. The 51-year-old Rankin woman lost her son two years ago Friday after he was shot and killed by an East Pittsburgh police officer. Antwon Rose II, 17, a black youth who had begun his senior year as...
Seton Hill launches new online certificates
Seton Hill University will launch new undergraduate online certificate programs this fall in Addictions and Substance Abuse and Business Leadership, as well as a graduate certificate in Adaptive Online Instruction that focuses on online teaching skills. Officials at the Greensburg university said all three programs can be completed in eight...
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter sues newspaper over protest coverage ban
A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter is suing the newspaper, claiming racial discrimination and retaliation after management barred her from covering local protests stemming from the death of George Floyd. The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday is the latest in a series of events that began June 1, the date on which the...
Western Pa. high schools honored for voter registration efforts
Eight local schools are among 42 statewide honored with the Governor’s Civic Engagement Award for their efforts to register students to vote during the 2019-20 school year. Brentwood, City Charter School, Deer Lakes, Elizabeth Forward, Franklin Regional, Kiski Area, Leechburg Area and Mt. Pleasant Area were among nearly 160 Pennsylvania...
Students urge Trump to maintain training options for international graduates
Graduate students from Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, Penn State and more than five dozen other top universities say efforts to eliminate a training program for international graduate students could have an unintended impact on the U.S. economy. The program, known as the Optional Practical Training program, permits international...
More U.S. colleges dropping admission exams, report finds
The image of high school juniors and seniors sweating their SAT results may be increasingly dated. A new report from FairTest, a national organization that advocates for the elimination of college entrance exams, found that more than half of U.S. four-year colleges will be “test optional” by fall 2021. The...
Police reform measures to get hearing in Pennsylvania Senate
A bill that called for sweeping reforms in police hiring and training following the 2018 police shooting of 17 year-old Antwon Rose II in East Pittsburgh is among police reform measures that will go before a joint hearing of the state Senate Law and Justice and Judiciary committees Tuesday. Senate...
Range Resources to pay $50,000 in fines and $100,000 in contributions for Washington County well violations
Range Resources, a major driller in the region’s Marcellus Shale industry, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of negligent oversight of Washington County well sites and will pay $50,000 in fines and $100,000 in contributions to the Washington County watershed funds, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Friday. The...
Greensburg Central Catholic to air virtual commencement
Photos of the Greensburg Central Catholic Class of 2020 will be featured during a virtual commencement on the school’s Facebook page and YouTube channel Wednesday at 7 p.m. Greensburg Diocese Bishop Edward C. Malesic, Principal Ben Althof and Dr. Maureen Marsteller, superintendent of Catholic schools, will address the 63 graduates....
Pittsburgh lunar robotics company snags $200M NASA contractVideo
The phrase “from Pittsburgh to the moon” might not sound so odd in the near future. Astrobotic Technology, a Pittsburgh-based lunar robotics company, claimed yet another piece of the pie in NASA’s race to explore the moon. Company officials said Astrobotic recently won a $199.5 million NASA contract to deliver...
3 students named to military academy appointments
A pair of recent Greensburg Salem High School graduates and a Penn-Trafford High School graduate are headed to U.S. service academies. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, announced their appointments Thursday. He said Penn-Trafford graduate Zachary Rocco and Greensburg Salem graduate Kiera Flanigan accepted appointments to the U.S. Military Academy...
House Speaker Turzai to resign from Legislature effective Monday
Pennsylvania State House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, on Wednesday announced he will resign from the General Assembly effective Monday. Turzai, an abortion opponent, strong proponent of state support for charter and religious schools and the state’s energy industry, did not say what the future holds for him beyond the...
