Jacob Tierney stories, Page 5
Champions of Learning awards honor local educators
Jennifer Neill has been a teacher long enough that she’ll soon be seeing her former students’ children coming through her classroom at Laurel Highlands Middle School, and her students know what to expect from her. “I’m like your school mom,” she said. “You’re not always going to like what I’m...
Greensburg church prepares hundreds of meals for Christmas giveawayVideo
Holly Hallman and her family spend every Christmas at First Presbyterian Church in Greensburg, helping to prepare Christmas dinners for those in need. She’s helped organize the event for eight years, bringing along her husband, Craig, as well as her parents. This year, she brought a new addition — her...
Pittsburgh region enjoys snowiest Christmas ever
Southwestern Pennsylvania woke up Friday to the whitest Christmas it has ever seen. “This is very Bing Crosby-ish, I guess you could say,” said Shannon Hefferan, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Moon. Between midnight and 1 p.m., 3.9 inches of snow had fallen at the NWS office,...
Greensburg plans to help businesses, individuals with covid relief money
Greensburg plans to use nearly $194,000 in federal CARES Act money to aid small businesses, provide rent assistance and help feed those in need. Municipalities received coronavirus relief funds through the existing Community Development Block Grant program. Greensburg submitted its application about three months ago, and recently learned it had...
Greensburg Salvation Army receives gold coin worth $1,700
Greensburg Salvation Army Capt. Ashley Luzader was sorting through the usual pile of change that had been dropped into bell ringers’ red kettles Tuesday when she found something strange — an unusually heavy coin wrapped in white paper. “I was pulling out all the dollars, and I was thinking ‘this...
Derry group plans Christmas dinner giveaway
A group of Derry residents who helped make Thanksgiving happier for those in need are doing the same thing for Christmas. Derry Area School Board member Sean M. Kemmerer and Larry and Jessica Gray, owners of Taps N’ At restaurant, started a donation drive to buy more than 150 Christmas...
Westmoreland County coronavirus rate five times higher than ‘substantial’ threshold
Westmoreland County’s coronavirus incidence rate — a statistic that tracks the spread of the virus through the population — has more than tripled in the last month. It was 516.5 for the most recently measured 7-day period, which ended Thursday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health data. That’s down...
New USO office helps Pittsburgh area soldiers and families during pandemic
United Service Organizations, better known simply as USO, has been improving the lives of military members and their families since World War II, but the organization went decades without a presence in Western Pennsylvania “It was just an unserved area, nobody really had ownership of it,” said Christine Ree, USO...
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Greensburg smashes fundraising goal, netting $233,950
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Greensburg hoped its online Guardian Angel Appeal fundraising campaign would raise about $50,000. Donors smashed that goal, then kept giving. The campaign raised $233,950. “There’s no way I could express how amazed I am at the success of the campaign, not because of any...
Winter is here: 5 facts about the season
Monday is the official first day of winter, though a glance out the window will tell you the season is already here. Here are a few winter facts and stats so you can start the season informed: 9 hours, 16 minutes and 58 seconds That is how much daylight to...
Salvation Army’s Red Kettle fundraisers struggle in pandemic year
The Salvation Army’s famous red kettles are a lot lighter than usual this year, and there are fewer of them to be found around Westmoreland County. “As of right now, we’re not even at half our goal, and we have six kettle days left,” said Lt. Donna Hannan, assistant corps...
East Huntingdon 3D printing company gets high-tech upgrade through Army partnership
A small 3D printing company in East Huntingdon got some high-tech upgrades this year thanks to the U.S. Army. Tronix3D equipped its machines with cloud-connected sensors, allowing the company to collect and share precise data about its manufacturing processes. The company was one of the first to test the new...
Marijuana milestone: more than 100 dispensaries open in Pa.
Most Pennsylvanians don’t have far to travel to buy medical marijuana. The state’s 100th dispensary opened last week in Chester, quickly followed by the 101st in York and 102nd in Hazelton, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Patients have spent more than $1.1 billion at dispensaries across the state...
St. Emma Monastery celebrates Christmas with outdoor light display in Hempfield
The sisters of St. Emma Monastery will not let the trials of 2020 take away their Christmas spirit. “Christ is stronger than covid,” said Mother Mary Anne Noll, prioress of the Benedictine women’s monastery in Hempfield. “Covid does not overcome Christmas, it only makes us more creative in the ways...
Greensburg keeps property taxes flat in uncertain budget year
Greensburg will need to be financially flexible in 2021 due to the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing economic recovery, according to Randy Finfrock, councilman in charge of accounts and finance. Council unanimously approved an $11.8 million budget Monday at a virtual meeting held via the Zoom videoconferencing platform....
Westmoreland Mall’s Cash-In Culture closing, moving online
Tim Hartman gets a bit wistful when he talks about the ’80s. “It was a new dawn of pop culture,” said Hartman, co-owner of Cash-In Culture, a store that celebrates his passion for the past. With his love of the era comes a love of malls. A self-described “retail hound,”...
Shooting stars and eclipses — when to watch the sky in 2021
Clouds may block Pittsburgh-area sky watchers from seeing the Geminid meteor shower this weekend, but there’s always next year. In 2021, we’ll have plenty of meteor showers, plus a couple of partial lunar eclipses and one partial solar eclipse. Here’s a schedule of reasons to watch the sky next year,...
Sunday’s Geminid meteor shower likely to be most impressive in years but obscured by clouds
Sunday night is the best chance all year to see shooting stars — or it would be, if the weather behaved. “I don’t see any hope,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Brown. “I just think we’re going to have very high clouds.” The Geminid meteor shower is an annual...
Man injured in crash on Pittsburgh’s West End Circle
One man was injured after a rollover crash on Pittsburgh’s West End Circle near the West End Bridge early Friday morning, according to the city Department of Public Safety. The crash happened shortly before 2 a.m. The driver was headed inbound on West Carson Street and tried to take the...
Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson to be honored with Forever Stamp
Stamp collectors soon can grab a piece of Pittsburgh history with a new Forever Stamp honoring legendary playwright August Wilson. The U.S. Postal Service will dedicate the stamp Jan. 28, the first day of its release, with a virtual ceremony on its Twitter and Facebook pages. The stamp will be...
Man shot in leg in Pittsburgh’s North Side
One man was shot in the leg in Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood early Wednesday morning, according to the city Department of Public Safety. First responders were called to the corner of Pennsylvania and Allegheny avenues around 3:35 a.m. for a report of a man with a gunshot wound. Upon finding...
Santa Claus to ride through Greensburg on a fire truck this weekend
Coronavirus kept Santa and Mrs. Claus from making their traditional appearance in the Greensburg Holiday Parade this year, but they’ll make up for it this weekend by touring the city in a fire truck. “With everything going on, we really wanted to bring some Christmas cheer to residents in the...
Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Reese tests positive for coronavirus
State Rep. Mike Reese, who represents parts of Westmoreland and Somerset counties, is the latest Pennsylvania lawmaker to announce a positive coronavirus test. “I recently learned I have tested positive for covid-19,” Reese said in a statement. “I have been quarantining for the last week awaiting my test results, and...
Uber turns over self-driving car project to company with Pittsburgh ties
Uber is getting out of the self-driving car business, turning over its operation to a San Francisco startup with Pittsburgh ties. Aurora, which has offices in San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Dallas, announced the acquisition of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group Monday. Uber will invest $400 million in Aurora and get a...
Pandemic challenges Greensburg food pantry
The number of families helped by the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry in Greensburg had been dropping steadily for several years. Organizers saw it a good news, a sign that fewer people were facing food insecurity. Then coronavirus came, thousands of people lost their jobs, and the food pantry...
