Jeff Himler stories, Page 31
Derry Area hires alumna to fill vacant elementary principal role
A Derry Area graduate is set to return to the school district to take on leadership of its elementary school. The school board on Thursday hired Milissa McLain to fill the vacant position of elementary principal. A member of the Derry Area Class of 1998, she’ll head the administrative staff...
Muons will take center stage for Saint Vincent students studying eclipse
While people gather at Saint Vincent College Monday to watch the solar eclipse, a group of students from the college will be watching for muons. A group of about 15 students from the Unity campus will drive north Monday morning to Erie’s St. Mark’s Seminary, where they’ll witness the eclipse’s...
1 sent to hospital after excavator falls on cars in Unity
At least one motorist was taken to a local hospital to be checked out after an excavator slipped off a trailer and onto two cars Wednesday afternoon in Unity. No major injuries were reported in the crash that happened shortly after 4:30 p.m. at Route 981 and Monastery Drive. The...
Lincoln Highway program focuses on Hill District’s pioneering ambulance service
Those who visit Unity’s Lincoln Highway Experience museum Saturday can learn about a groundbreaking ambulance service that started in 1967 in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. North Huntingdon resident Andrew Blenko will offer the presentation “Freedom House Ambulance Service: A Lincoln Highway Pioneer” at 1 p.m. The cost is $5 per person,...
Work begins to stabilize subsidence-prone portion of Hempfield village
Workers were busy Wednesday drilling a hole in a yard near the top of the hill on Bovard’s Price Street. They were preparing to stabilize one of about 100 targeted homes in the Hempfield village by injecting cement-like grout to fill a section of the abandoned Keystone Coal and Coke...
Bridge rehab to trigger traffic restrictions on I-70 in Rostraver, South Huntingdon
Single-lane restrictions are planned this week in both directions on a stretch of Interstate 70 in Rostraver and South Huntingdon. Daily restrictions will be in place between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for at least two days — beginning on Wednesday, if weather permits. The lane closures will affect traffic...
Iwaniec Memorial Race at Saint Vincent College to help police target drunken driving
Organizers hope to raise $100,000 to help curb drunken driving through the 15th annual Trooper Iwaniec Memorial Race, set for April 20 at Saint Vincent College. The event, known as Takeoff 2024, will also feature children’s races, beginning at 9 a.m. on the college’s Unity campus. Participants in 5K or...
About $528 million in Southwestern Pa. roadwork detailed by PennDOT
About $528 million will be spent on more than 100 road projects across four Southwestern Pennsylvania counties this year, state transportation officials said Monday. The work includes everything from reconfiguring a highway interchange in Rostraver to improving traffic signal features at nearly 50 intersections. The projects represent a combined cost...
Youth-run West Newton trail eatery sets April opening, plans expanded summer hours
The Outpost River’s Edge Eatery, a youth-operated restaurant along the Youghiogheny River and the Great Allegheny Passage trail in West Newton, will open for its fourth season Saturday, April 6. Initial hours will be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, with plans for an expanded daily operating schedule...
Bridge, road work set to restrict traffic in Greensburg, Rostraver
Single-lane restrictions are scheduled to begin Monday for PennDOT road projects in Greensburg and Rostraver. Westbound traffic will be restricted to a single lane on Route 136, between Hamilton and Lincoln avenues, during work on the bridge over Route 30 in Greensburg. The work, expected to continue through early May,...
Former Pittsburgh company provided steel for Baltimore’s Key Bridge, other landmark structures
It took seconds for Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge to collapse into Baltimore’s Patapsco River Early Tuesday after it was struck by a cargo ship. But it took five years to construct the 1.6-mile-long bridge in the 1970s, and a major part of that process began in the Pittsburgh area....
Middle school league draws teams from 6 area districts to compete in bots combat
Freeport Area Middle School claimed the King of the Ring title last year and is hoping to repeat that feat May 17, when teams from six schools across the region pit their tech-based creations against each other at Indiana Area Junior High. It’s the second year the Freeport Area school...
Murrysville abandoned gas well to be plugged; state officials assessing thousands more
When Pamela Schrank’s family moved into their Murrysville home last May, she was told an old gas well at the edge of some woods on their property had been capped. That wasn’t the case, according to state environmental officials — a fact Schrank found out last fall when she was...
Live Casino site for Greater Latrobe chamber’s inaugural expo and conference
Greater Latrobe-Laurel Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce will hold its inaugural Connect Conference and Expo April 11 at Live Casino Pittsburgh, in Hempfield’s Westmoreland Mall. The event is set for 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the casino’s top level and will include booth displays by area businesses and organizations,...
Gift baskets to be featured during Latrobe’s April Shop Hop
Visitors who check out deals and services Wednesday at 10 downtown Latrobe merchants will have a chance to win gifts as part of April’s Shop Hop event. Guests who visit participating merchants between 4 and 7 p.m. will be entered in a Spring Fling basket raffle, with a chance to...
Neighbors oppose special exceptions for 2 Unity homes housing college students
About a half dozen neighbors told the Unity zoning hearing board Tuesday that they don’t want the panel to clear the way for a township couple to continue operating two rental homes for Saint Vincent College students in the township’s Lawson Heights residential neighborhood. The panel’s decision is at least...
As garbage collection costs rise, Latrobe seeks options for next waste hauling contract
Latrobe passed along to residents a 2% hike in garbage collection fees charged this year by the city’s hauler, Republic Services, and the city is anticipating another 2% hike in 2025, under a contract extension with the service provider. Looking further down the road, officials are considering more flexible options...
2 mobile homes in Hempfield left ‘uninhabitable’ by fire, heat damage
Fire officials are investigating the cause of a Monday afternoon blaze that damaged two mobile homes in Hempfield. No one was injured in the fire reported just after 1 p.m. in the 100 block of Lambert Lane, according to Hempfield Fire Chief Anthony Kovacic. Kovacic said radiant heat from the...
Saint Vincent College hosts panel discussion on women in business
A four-member panel will discuss issues concerning women in business in a free presentation Tuesday at Saint Vincent College. Held in conjunction with International Women’s History Month, the event will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert S. Carey Student Center lounge on the college’s campus in Unity. The event...
Indiana community avoids major trouble during IUPatty’s as university curtails frat parties
The 2024 IUPatty’s weekend made it to Sunday morning without any major tumult or serious injuries being reported. While the annual event is not sanctioned by Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the university told its fraternities and sororities this year to pull the plug on any parties they were hosting by...
Norvelt roundabout construction to trigger detour in Mt. Pleasant Township
A section of a complex triangular intersection in the Mt. Pleasant Township village of Norvelt will close Monday as part of PennDOT’s construction of a new roundabout. The short section of Mount Pleasant Road that curves to the right for southbound traffic heading onto Route 981 will close. Instead, southbound...
Pysanky crafters’ colorful eggs help preserve Eastern European tradition
They’re not your ordinary dyed Easter eggs. About a dozen crafters, many of them novices, came to Greensburg on Saturday to try their hands at turning white eggshells into intricately designed, multi-colored orbs of art by practicing the Eastern European tradition of pysanky. “For me, it’s a way of connecting...
IUP says social media report of stabbing false as IUPatty’s begins
Officials at Indiana University of Pennsylvania issued an email to students and employees early Saturday indicating that reports on social media of violence involving students were false. Officials said they sent the email to counteract a comment that “some student got stabbed” that was part of a spike in traffic...
Owner appeals city condemnation of bug-infested Latrobe apartment building
The owner of a downtown Latrobe apartment building has appealed the city’s March 8 condemnation of the six-story apartment building officials say is infested with bugs. Meanwhile, city officials said most of the tenants at 333 Main St. had made arrangements to live elsewhere by Friday, March 22, the deadline...
Youngstown-Whitney firefighters set to debut new pumper engine with improved features
Youngstown-Whitney Volunteer Fire Department is looking for a buyer for its 1993 pumper engine. That’s because the firefighters this month took delivery of an updated replacement for that primary vehicle they roll out of the Main Street station in Youngstown when they respond to a fire. Department officials hope to...
