Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 34
Westmoreland commissioners paint bleak financial picture in proposed 2024 budget
Westmoreland commissioners have four weeks to make final tweaks to a 2024 budget that is not expected to raise taxes but could all but exhaust the county’s surplus of funds. Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a preliminary $464 million spending plan that calls for expenses to outpace revenues by nearly...
Westmoreland certifies election results
Westmoreland County’s election board on Monday issued a final certification of the 2023 election results. The three-member board of county common pleas court judges signed off on the results of about 195 races including the election of a new board of commissioners, row offices, district judges, school boards, township supervisors...
Chinese national pleads guilty in Greensburg meat cleaver attack, deportation expected
A Chinese national is expected to be deported after pleading guilty on Monday for attacking his Greensburg roommate with a meat cleaver in August. Liwu Tian, 57, pleaded guilty to one felony count of aggravated assault as part of a deal with Westmoreland County prosecutors. Because the case is concluded,...
Senior artists show off award-winning works
Jean Coursey Beaufort was looking for just a little bit of happiness in her life. Her husband, Tom, had died last year just 19 days after she moved from her Ligonier Township home and joined him in residence at Redstone Presbyterian SeniorCare in North Huntingdon. Beaufort, 78, taught art for...
2 injured in Liberty Bridge crash
Two people were injured in a head-on crash late Saturday night on the Liberty Bridge in Pittsburgh. City police said an inbound driver attempted to overtake and pass another vehicle. The passed vehicle swerved into outbound traffic and crashed into an oncoming vehicle, causing it to flip on its side....
Customers flock to downtown Irwin for Small Business Saturday
Diane Mullen walked up Main Street in downtown Irwin on Saturday afternoon with bags filled with purchases. Mullen and four friends from Latrobe spent the day sampling the small boutiques, shops and niche stores that make up Irwin’s thriving downtown on what has become the one of the busiest days...
MAWC halts fracking at reservoir as part of water conservation plan
The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County water conservation warning issued this week has halted fracking activity at the Beaver Run Reservoir. Authority officials on Friday said two energy companies that operate deep natural gas wells on the reservoir property will not be permitted to extract water for their operations amid...
Sewickley woman not guilty of assault in crash with bicyclist
A Sewickley woman was acquitted of the felony charges she was facing the stemmed from a crash that injured a bicyclist along a South Huntingdon roadway two years ago. Kimberly Kustra, 47, was found not guilty of two felony counts of aggravated assault by vehicle. Prosecutors claimed Kustra was under...
Apollo man convicted of first-degree murder in wife’s killing
Emily and Ean Steele said a Westmoreland County jury found justice for their mother. The jury, after more than four hours of deliberations, convicted their father of first-degree murder Thursday for the May 14, 2022, execution-style slaying of 41-year-old Kelly Steele inside a U-Haul storage facility in Lower Burrell. “It’s...
Apollo man convicted of first-degree murder in wife’s killing
Emily and Ean Steele said a Westmoreland County jury found justice for their mother. The jury, after more than four hours of deliberations, convicted their father of first-degree murder Thursday for the May 14, 2022, execution-style slaying of 41-year-old Kelly Steele inside a U-Haul storage facility in Lower Burrell. “It’s...
MAWC opts out of ‘forever chemical’ settlement
The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County will not participate in a proposed $11 billion settlement of class-action lawsuits against major chemical companies who are alleged to have contaminated local water supplies. The authority last year filed its own legal action against six companies that claimed they were responsible for toxic...
Apollo man claimed wife’s taunt led to fatal shooting
Alfred Keith Steele told Westmoreland County detectives he had enough of his wife’s badgering when he shot her one time in the back of the head as the estranged couple argued last year in a Lower Burrell storage locker. “We were arguing, yelling at each other between storage units,” Steele...
MAWC warns of mandatory water restrictions as dry autumn persists
Mandatory water conservation could begin as early as next week for customers in the northern half of the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County’s service area as water levels at the Beaver Run Reservoir continue to fall amid a dry autumn season. Authority manager Michael Kukura said more than 56,000 customers...
Westmoreland airport contemplates future as airline merger looms
Local leaders insist they don’t know what the future holds for Arnold Palmer Regional Airport amid fears the Unity facility’s lone carrier could pull up stakes pending the outcome of a proposed airline merger. “We don’t have a plan,” said Westmoreland County Airport Authority board member Richard Ridilla. “No one...
Pathologist testifies Apollo woman was killed by shot to back of head at storage unit
Kelly Steele was shot execution style with one round fired from a semi-automatic pistol pressed against the back of her head, according to testimony Tuesday in the second day of her husband’s murder trial. Forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers testified Steele, 41, was killed as a bullet traveled through her...
Judge sentences former East Huntingdon man for ‘unfathomable’ crime against child
A former East Huntingdon man was ordered to serve up to seven years in prison on Monday for a crime that a Westmoreland County judge called “unfathomable.” Scott Rys, 49, pleaded guilty to felony counts of indecent assault, corruption of a minor and child endangerment in connection with allegations that...
Drug death charge dismissed against Southwest Greensburg woman
A Westmoreland County judge on Monday dismissed criminal charges against a Southwest Greensburg woman who prosecutors said was responsible for the fatal overdose of her live-in boyfriend in 2021. Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger found there was insufficient evidence to establish that Jennifer Lynn Gartland delivered the fentanyl-laced drugs that...
Murder trial begins for Apollo man charged with wife’s killing
Prosecutors told a Westmoreland County jury Monday there was no mystery as to who killed an Apollo woman last year at a Lower Burrell storage facility. Assistant District Attorney Katie Ranker said Alfred Keith Steele shot his estranged wife in the head with a 9 mm pistol as she leaned...
Unity man pleads guilty to assaulting woman who wouldn’t listen to him compose music
A Unity man was ordered to serve up to 23 months in jail in connection with two separate assaults against a woman. Mark D. Marcinik, 32, pleaded guilty Thursday two counts of simple assault and criminal mischief for incidents that police said occurred at two homes in Unity in December...
Unity man pleads guilty to theft of $380,000 from mother
Christopher Treasure told a Westmoreland County judge on Thursday he stole $380,000 from his 75-year-old mother to dull the pain of personal loss. Those losses — the deaths of his father and son — caused him to spiral, Treasure said before pleading guilty to one felony theft charge. Prosecutors said...
Westmoreland political leaders take contrasting view of election results
Westmoreland County Democratic leaders had high hopes but few expectations with regards the handful of county races on Tuesday’s ballot. While Republicans maintained control of county government, the more than 31,000 votes received by an underfunded and untested candidate who was on the campaign trail for just two months signaled...
Republicans keep majority in Westmoreland County
Republicans will retain control of the Westmoreland County board of commissioners. Incumbents Sean Kertes and Doug Chew were reelected Tuesday to second terms in office and will continue to serve as the board majority along with Democrat Ted Kopas. Democrat Lisa Gephart finished fourth. With all 307 precincts reporting, Kertes...
Westmoreland settles lawsuit that alleged excessive force at juvenile detention center
Westmoreland County commissioners have agreed to settle a lawsuit that claimed excessive force was used against a teen at the county’s juvenile detention center in Hempfield. In the federal lawsuit, the teen said four corrections officers at the Regional Youth Services Center put him into a choke hold and slammed...
Spending of covid relief to be focus of new commissioners’ board
Westmoreland commissioners voted last week to allocate $270,000 from the county’s pool of American Rescue Plan funds, and, as a result, about half of the $105 million pool of covid-relief cash received from the federal government in 2021 has been spent. Commissioners will have nearly $53 million to allocate by...
Pa. court filing fee discount ends
Discounted court filing fees that originated during the summer’s budget stalemate in Harrisburg have ended. State lawmakers this week reauthorized a $40.25 surcharge assessed on most court-related documents filed in courthouses throughout Pennsylvania. Since Aug. 1, the cost to file documents such as divorces, deeds and mortgages were discounted by...
