Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 35
Officials eye 2025 to complete demolition of former state prison in Hempfield
The proposed demolition of the former state prison in Hempfield may not be completed until 2025, officials said this week. Westmoreland county will seek up to $4 million in state funding to pay for the initial engineering and the demolition of the former State Correctional Institution-Greensburg prison and 14 outbuildings...
Westmoreland commissioners vote to show support for Israel
Westmoreland Commissioners took an unusual step into foreign policy on Thursday as they formally expressed support for Israel following last month’s terrorist attack that left more than 1,300 dead. Commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution that backs Israel’s right to defend itself, condemns terrorism and called for humanitarian aid to innocent...
Judge says Rialto gunfight ‘terrorized the entire community’ as he gives shooters prison sentences
A gunfight after a confrontation outside a Greensburg bar could have been averted if either man would have just left the area, a judge said Thursday. “This conduct is the kind of thing that terrorized the entire community,” Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani said. He sentenced the men involved in...
Trial for 6 charged in New Kensington man’s fatal shooting set for December
Jury selection for six defendants charged with homicide in connection with the July 2022 shooting death in New Kensington will begin Dec. 4. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani said all of the men and teens accused in the alleged murder of 39-year-old Jason Raiford at Valley Royal Court...
Protesters call for Westmoreland DA to reopen probe into Derry police dog’s death
A handful of Derry residents protested Wednesday in front of the county courthouse in Greensburg, demanding Westmoreland District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli reopen an investigation into the death of the borough’s police dog. Protest organizer Yvonne Earhart claimed the district attorney’s probe into the August death of Smoke, a 4-year-old Malinois,...
Contractors needed for Westmoreland home repair program
Westmoreland County has the money and low-income homeowners lined up for a house repair program. But officials can’t find anyone to do the work. “We’ve put out 400 emails and sent out 325 direct mailings and have gotten zero response,” said Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Brian Lawrence of the county’s...
Updated suicide watch policy enacted at Westmoreland prison
A revised suicide watch policy is in place at the Westmoreland County Prison, a move officials said will offer better oversight of inmates suspected to be in danger of self-harm. The change adopted by the prison board Monday was based on recommendations from the jail’s medical provider. They asked that...
Westmoreland commissioners say no rush to hire new jail warden
Leaders say morale has improved at the Westmoreland County Prison in Hempfield in the weeks since Warden Bryan Kline resigned, and the county hasn’t set a timetable to find a permanent replacement. The jail’s deputy warden for security, Steve Pelesky, is the interim warden. “He’s done a good job in...
As election nears, Westmoreland commissioner candidates look to the future
Westmoreland County’s board of commissioners already has seen change. It came in August when Democrat Ted Kopas was appointed to the board to replace Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher, who resigned to take a job as a worker’s compensation judge. Kopas joined first-term Republicans Sean Kertes and Doug Chew as the...
Financial reports reveal shoestring campaigns for Westmoreland commissioner
The candidates for Westmoreland County commissioner have spent about one-eighth of what was paid out during the months leading up to Election Day four years ago, according to campaign finance reports filed this week. Financial reports of Republican incumbents Sean Kertes and Doug Chew and Democrats Ted Kopas and Lisa...
Feliciani, Bilik-DeFazio seek return to bench for new 10-year terms
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judges Christopher Feliciani and Meagan Bilik-DeFazio have done more than sentence criminals to prison. Since 2015, the judges have presided over Westmoreland County’s fledgling drug court program that has seen dozens of participants charged with crimes find a path toward recovery. “Being a judge is more...
Jeannette man to serve prison sentence for gun offenses
A Jeannette man was sentenced Thursday to a 5-to-10 year prison term for two gun-related incidents in 2021. John R. Horne, 32, pleaded guilty in August to his role in repeated weapons fire at a Jeannette home and allegations that he brought an old gun into a district judge’s office...
Court hearing for students charged in Hempfield school gun case delayed
Three Hempfield teens charged with possessing guns on school property aren’t due in court until December. The students, ages 15 and 16, were charged earlier this month with multiple criminal charges in connection with an Oct. 2 incident in which school officials and police claim three male students passed two...
Unity man to serve jail time for sexual assault against teen
A Unity man was ordered to serve up to 23 months in jail in connection with sexual assaults against a teenager that prosecutors contend occurred over a seven-year period. Clarence J. Wallace, 74, pleaded guilty to felony charges of indecent assault of a child and corruption of minors as part...
Union accuses Westmoreland County of bad faith bargaining in labor talks
Dozens of Westmoreland County unionized workers picketed Wednesday in front of the courthouse claiming negotiations on a new labor deal with the government’s largest bargaining unit have stalled. Officials with the Service Employees International Union Local 668 and Healthcare Pennsylvania accused county leaders of negotiating in bad faith. “They called...
Penn Township man will serve life in prison for killing father, aunt
Neal Hubish had only a few words to share with his mother and sister as he was led out of a Westmoreland County courtroom Tuesday afternoon after pleading guilty to killing his father and aunt. Westmoreland County prosecutors said that Hubish violently stabbed to death his 71-year-old father, Arthur Hubish,...
Westmoreland DA to impanel grand jury to investigate unsolved cases
A grand jury will investigate unsolved crimes in Westmoreland County for the first time in more than three decades, District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said Tuesday. “This is a substantial step and invaluable resource for our criminal justice system. We want to take a closer look, specifically, at unsolved cases involving...
Greensburg man gets 10-year prison sentence for city crime spree
A Greensburg man will serve up to 10 years in prison for a six-month crime spree throughout the city last year. Cory Jording, 25, pleaded guilty to charges in eight separate cases including the robbery of convenience stores and other retail businesses that ended with his arrest in January. According...
Lawyer for Unity man charged with girlfriend’s killing claims authorities can’t prove crime was committed
The lawyer for a Unity man charged with killing his former girlfriend more than four years ago said authorities may not have jurisdiction to prosecute the case in Westmoreland County. Thomas Stanko maintains he did not kill Cassandra Gross, said his attorney, Marc Daffner, during a pretrial hearing Monday. Gross,...
Hempfield woman pleads guilty for causing Route 30 crash last year in North Huntingdon
A Hempfield woman pleaded guilty Monday to charges that she was under the influence of drugs when she caused a vehicle crash last year in North Huntingdon that left a woman seriously injured. Melinda Gail Fesh, 56, was charged following the July 28, 2022, head-on crash on Route 30, near...
Albert, Hamacker vie for Westmoreland sheriff
Westmoreland County voters elected a Democrat in 2019 to serve as the new sheriff. Six months later, Sheriff James Albert announced he had switched his party registration to Republican, leaving Democrats with just one elected official in county government. Albert, 73, of New Alexandria will seek second term in office...
Expanded industrial park eyed for Westmoreland County growth
Jason Rigone could only marvel at the transformation that took place over the last 12 months as he peered down across the vacant countryside in East Huntingdon Thursday. He was surveying what is now more than 78 acres of flat ground ready to serve as Westmoreland County’s newest site for...
Insanity claim to be explored for Penn Township man accused of killing father, aunt
The lawyer for a Penn Township man charged in the murders of his father and aunt in 2021 told a Westmoreland County judge he will explore a potential insanity defense for his client. Defense attorney Brian Aston said an investigation is underway to determine if there is enough evidence for...
Details emerge of Rostraver murder-for-hire plot
A Westmoreland County detective testified Wednesday that a Philadelphia man paid $65,000 to have a business associate shot and killed last November in the parking lot of a Rostraver strip mall. Prosecutors contend Keven Van Lam, 57, ordered and financed the hit on a man who he paid about $800,000...
Westmoreland won’t have ballot drop boxes in November
Westmoreland County’s three-member elections board rejected a proposal to install a drop box for mail-in ballots in the courthouse lobby. Common Pleas Judges Tim Krieger and Justin Walsh declined to vote on the pitch from the elections bureau this week to place a single box near the main courthouse entrance...
