Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 62
Westmoreland to study county’s broadband needs
Westmoreland commissioners are expected to pay a consulting firm more than $659,000 this year to study how to improve high-speed internet access. Michael Baker International will conduct the study to assess the needs and create a blueprint of how to implement a plan to upgrade the infrastructure needed to improve...
Internet access funds could boost connections for low-income families
Mandy Zalich knows just how important internet service has become in Westmoreland County. For many low-income residents, the rising costs of the service has left them more than just disconnected. This week’s announcement from the Biden administration of a plan to provide $30 monthly subsidies for high-speed internet access is...
Westmoreland gets grant to buy mobile 911 dispatch units
Five mobile consoles will be purchased this year to serve as a temporary backup system for Westmoreland County 911 emergency dispatch operations, officials said. A $529,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will pay for the mobile units that will be like the hardware used by dispatchers at the...
Man’s goatee leads to arrest during Greensburg traffic stop
A Greensburg police officer said he immediately knew the man sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle pulled over during a February traffic stop wasn’t who he claimed to be. Police said the man initially insisted he was an 11-year-old named Billy Irwin and gave multiple dates of birth....
Bail rejected for Greensburg man charged in shooting outside Rialto Cafe
Bail was denied Wednesday for a Greensburg man accused of the attempted homicide of a bystander struck with an errant bullet fired during a gunfight earlier this year outside of a city bar. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani rejected a defense motion that sought to allow 23-year-old...
Westmoreland sheriff, commissioners battle over Trump rally staffing
Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert confirmed Tuesday he assigned eight deputies to work at last week’s political rally featuring former President Trump despite objections from county leaders. Albert said that in the hours leading up to Friday’s rally at the county fairgrounds in Mt. Pleasant Township, he determined liability concerns...
Terrelle Pryor pleads guilty to criminal mischief in Murrysville domestic incident
Former NFL quarterback and Jeannette High School football star Terrelle Pryor pleaded guilty Monday to criminal mischief in connection with a fall 2021 domestic incident in Murrysville. He was accused of hitting and shoving a woman before tossing a deck chair and throwing pumpkins at her car outside a home...
Dunbar faces primary challenge for state House seat in Westmoreland
For the first time in more than a decade, state Rep. George Dunbar is facing a primary challenge to retain his 56th District seat — this time from a political newcomer who contends the incumbent’s Republican credentials are insufficient. “I believe he is more of an establishment Republican,” said challenger...
Former Avonmore secretary pleads guilty to theft of borough funds
Avonmore Borough’s former secretary pleaded guilty Friday to the theft of more than $54,000 in taxpayer funds. Rebecca E. Steele, 46, worked for more than a decade as the secretary for the tiny Kiski Valley town when an audit in 2019 revealed large amounts of money had disappeared from borough...
Redevelopment sought for formerly blighted Scottdale property
A developer for a formerly blighted property in downtown Scottdale is wanted, Westmoreland redevelopment officials said. Two parcels at the intersection of Market Street and South Broadway that served as the home of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Scottdale for two decades are ready for a new owner to...
Judge sentences woman to jail after positive drug test in Greensburg fatal overdose case
Britnee Clark stood in front a Westmoreland County judge Thursday and proudly said she turned her life around since she was charged nearly three years ago with selling fentanyl-laced heroin to a Greensburg woman who died from an overdose. Clark, 41, of Avalon, Allegheny County, proclaimed that she completed drug...
Man calls himself a ‘disgusting monster’ before being sent to prison for child rape
An Arona man who described himself as a “disgusting monster” was ordered Thursday to serve up to 40 years in prison for raping a child. Michael Andrew Wiser, 35, told a Westmoreland County judge that as a former child victim of sexual assault he should have known better and was...
Unity woman released to house arrest as assault trial awaits
A Unity woman will be released from jail Thursday morning to await trials on charges that she assaulted a hospital nurse and, in a separate case, allegations she intentionally rammed a Latrobe high school student’s vehicle in 2019. Susan Barkley, 43, has been in jail without bond since her arrest...
Westmoreland housing officials defend living conditions at Jeannette Manor
Westmoreland County Housing Authority officials are disputing residents’ allegations of poor living conditions at Jeannette Manor. A handful of residents, accompanied by county Commissioners Doug Chew and Gina Cerilli Thrasher, attended the housing agency’s monthly business meeting this week to air ongoing complaints about a reported bedbug infestation, the presence...
East Huntingdon woman pleads guilty to 3rd-degree murder in boyfriend’s shooting death
An East Huntingdon woman is awaiting sentencing after she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of third-degree murder for the 2020 shooting death of her boyfriend. Police said Meghan J. West, 31, fired at least three shots into a closed door in an argument in the late evening of Sept....
Large turnout expected for Trump-Oz rally at Westmoreland Fairgrounds
Westmoreland Fair officials were told to expect as many as 20,000 people to descend upon the 170-acre facility in Mt. Pleasant Township on Friday for a rally featuring former President Donald Trump. It will be Trump’s first return to Westmoreland County since campaigning here in the lead up to the...
Cash bail system reform being explored in Pennsylvania
Muhammad Ali Nasir was 16 when Pittsburgh police charged him with adult crimes, leading initially to him being held in jail after a magistrate set bail bonds that totaled $100,000. Last week, the Homewood man told members of the Pennsylvania state House Democratic Policy Committee he ultimately was found not...
Probation ordered for Mt. Pleasant man who said teen bullying led to revenge porn
A Mt. Pleasant man told a judge Friday he posted nude pictures of a former girlfriend to the internet because she and her friends bullied him years earlier while in high school. Frank Sebek II, 25, was ordered to serve three years on probation as part of a plea deal...
Lawyer for Greensburg shooting suspect claims self defense
The lawyer for a man awaiting trial for attempted murder told a judge his client acted in self defense when he fired one shot during a melee outside Rialto Cafe in Greensburg. Defense attorney T. Brent McCune said 23-year-old Evan Curley of Greensburg was acting to protect himself as bullets...
Unity man convicted of child rape, sexual assaults
A Unity man was convicted Tuesday of the rape of one child and sexual assault of another. Following a four-day trial, a Westmoreland County jury found Steven M. Cope Jr. guilty of 10 counts including rape of a child and multiple charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault...
Westmoreland deputy sheriff suspended after out-of-state arrest
A veteran Westmoreland County deputy sheriff was suspended with pay on Monday after he was charged with crimes following an incident last week in another state. Police in Louisville, Ky., charged Samuel D. Pilato, 59, of Hempfield with public intoxication and disorderly conduct in connection with a incident outside of...
Westmoreland commissioners say costs, not politics, behind regional drop box cuts
Republican commissioners in Westmoreland County said it is money, not politics, that’s behind a decision to eliminate regional drop boxes for mail-in ballots in next month’s primary election. Commissioners Doug Chew and Sean Kertes voted Monday to install one drop box at the lower park Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to the...
Vandergrift woman’s murder trial ends with plea deal to lesser charge
A Vandergrift woman pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree murder, putting an end to her homicide trial during which prosecutors claimed she intentionally fired three shots, killing her cousin in 2018. Ashley Marie Croft, 38, will serve a 15- to 30-year prison sentence under terms of the plea deal. Croft did...
Westmoreland transit garage construction costs $3 million under budget
Westmoreland County Transit Authority board members this week awarded more than $7.4 million in contracts to build a new bus storage facility in Hempfield. Officials said the price tag for the project came in more than $3 million below estimates. “We were planning for a higher number,” said Authority Executive...
Westmoreland County poised to scale back mail-in ballot drop boxes
Westmoreland County commissioners are expected to scale back the use of regional drop boxes for mail-in ballots in next month’s primary election. A special meeting of the county’s Election Board is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday when commissioners will vote on a proposal to place just one drop box at...
