Jeff Himler stories, Page 12
Penguin Court offers native plant sale, plans master naturalist course
Home gardeners looking to add some local color to their flower beds might choose the purple blossoms of tall larkspur or the broad yellow petals of the wood poppy. They’re two of the more than a dozen new species featured in this year’s native plant sale at the Brandywine Conservancy’s...
As plastics waste grows globally, Latrobe worshippers put faith in recycling efforts
Plastic waste is a weighty concern for members of Latrobe’s Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. Since last May, the church has more than doubled its goal of recycling 1,000 pounds of shopping bags and similarly thin plastic items. More of the bags continue to accumulate weekly in a spare office room...
Supervisors eye 2nd vote in attempt to fill vacancy on Ligonier Township governing panel
The Ligonier Township Supervisors will have a second chance at their meeting Tuesday to fill a vacant seat on the township’s five-member governing panel. Eight people met the supervisors’ April 4 deadline to submit letters of interest for the appointment, but the supervisors were unable to reach an agreement on...
Latrobe fills new administrative slot, agrees to buy trash ‘toters’ for pending in-house collection
Latrobe is ramping up for its takeover of garbage hauling services in the city next year, with moves to fill a new administrative post and to strike a deal on used collection containers. City council this week promoted Melanie McGregor, an hourly sanitation department clerk, to the new salaried role...
Improvements on track for Latrobe’s Amtrak station
A long-awaited update of Latrobe’s Amtrak station is expected to get underway in the weeks ahead. City officials reported project representatives have been checking with the Pennsylvania One Call System to determine the location of underground utilities in preparation for beginning construction. “I’m thrilled it’s finally going to happen,” Jarod...
Shortage of area homes, rising prices, interest rates fuel frustration for would-be buyers
House hunters such as Bruce and Brenda Babich are up against a perfect storm of low inventory, rising home costs and unfriendly mortgage rates. That’s becoming the norm in the Pittsburgh housing market, which historically has been viewed as affordable. “They’re not staying on the market long,” said Bruce Babich,...
Westmoreland native returns from collegiate roles to lead Ligonier Valley Library staff
Lindsay Mattock began a new chapter of her life in mid-January when she took on the role of executive director of the Ligonier Valley Library and returned to her Westmoreland County roots. A native of Norvelt and a 2000 graduate of Mt. Pleasant Area High School, Mattock spent the past...
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s glassmaking tradition dates from late 18th century
The closure of the Pyrex cookware plant in Charleroi brings to an end 132 years of manufacturing at that facility, but the regional footprint of the glassmaking industry is far more widespread and earlier in origin. In 1797, James O’Hara and Isaac Craig opened their Pittsburgh Glassworks at the foot...
Police arrest Philadelphia man accused of bringing deadly opioid by train to Latrobe
A Philadelphia man accused of trafficking crack cocaine and a highly potent opioid is in the Westmoreland County jail following his arrest Wednesday night, shortly after he arrived in Latrobe via Amtrak. Latrobe police, Westmoreland County detectives and agents of the state Attorney General’s Office combined efforts to take Brendaon...
Independence Health cuts 151 workers, locations not specified
Independence Health System is laying off 151 employees as it looks to cut costs. Kelly Skoloda, chief marketing and communications officer for the financially challenged regional health care provider, confirmed the staff cuts Wednesday in a statement mirroring a message sent to employees by the system’s president and CEO, Ken...
Bridge projects to detour traffic in Ligonier, Cook, Fairfield, Hempfield, Rostraver townships
Motorists will have to detour temporarily around bridge closures in Ligonier and Cook townships as PennDOT begins work meant to preserve six small municipally owned spans in Westmoreland and nearby counties. The nearly $1.6 million project by Gulisek Construction was scheduled this week through late April to shut down a...
Driver injured as car crashes into Hempfield auto dealership
The business day ended earlier than expected Thursday afternoon when an SUV crashed into the office of Pinnacle Auto Sales in Hempfield. The driver and sole occupant of the SUV was taken by ambulance for treatment at a hospital, firefighters said. There were no other injuries in the crash reported...
PennDOT begins I-70 interchange revamp in Rostraver, eyes completion of another
Motorists on the Interstate 70 corridor in Rostraver can expect to drive on a radically revamped Route 51 interchange by the time the PennDOT construction season comes to an end. To the west on the interstate, a phased four-year reconstruction of the Arnold City interchange, also in Rostraver, is just...
Westmoreland cultural groups, nonprofits will seek crucial helpers at volunteer fair
It can take as many as 150 volunteers to help run the midsummer Westmoreland County Arts and Heritage Festival, and Executive Director Diane Shrader is looking to sign up some of those unpaid workers at a Friday event in Greensburg. The festival is one of more than two dozen organizations...
Bridge beams to be placed as work progresses on revamp of I-70/Route 51 interchange
Reconfiguration of the Interstate 70 interchange with Route 51 is scheduled to reach a new milestone in the days ahead as work advances on construction of the second of a pair of bridges that will carry Route 51 over the interstate. Dominec Caruso, assistant construction engineer for PennDOT District 12,...
Trooper Iwaniec Race targets drunken driving for 16th year, virtually and in Unity
Organizers of the annual Trooper Kenton Iwaniec Memorial Race at Saint Vincent College hope to raise $100,000 through this year’s April 12 event. That’s enough to purchase 200 breathalyzers — to help law enforcement agencies crack down on those who get behind the wheel while drunk in Pennsylvania. The family...
Luxury personal care home set to open in Unity may be most expensive in Westmoreland County
A personal care home opening in Unity may have the most luxurious — and expensive — suites in Westmoreland County. April 1 will mark the debut of The Fountains at Latrobe, after about 10 months of construction and interior preparations. The Fountains’ flat monthly fee for a standard suite begins...
Derry’s former Porcelain Park could be revamped as new commercial space
Brian Lawrence can see a light at the end of the tunnel when he looks over the 19 acres of empty land in Derry once known as Porcelain Park. Decades ago, 200 people came there to work for the borough’s main employer, a plant that produced ceramic insulators. If the...
A bird in the hand, and potentially in 22 nest boxes, leads Ligonier teen to Eagle Scout title
Oliver Sparks’ Eagle Scout project is for the birds — literally. The Ligonier Valley High School senior recently attained the top Scouting rank by updating and augmenting boxes that support nesting by various bird species at the Powdermill Nature Reserve’s Avian Research Center in Ligonier Township. “There were bird boxes...
Ligonier Township accepts Matson’s resignation as supervisor, seeks candidates for appointment
Ligonier Township is seeking applicants for appointment to a vacant supervisor seat following the resignation of D. Scott Matson. Matson, who was nearing the end of his second term on the township board, abruptly announced his decision to step down and left the meeting room near the beginning of the...
Ligonier Country Market appears poised to flout township rules if it opens as scheduled
If the Ligonier Country Market opens as planned May 17, it will be in violation of township regulations. After tabling the matter for two weeks, township supervisors on Tuesday approved a special event permit for the seasonal market. But they said the market also is subject to a 2008 conditional...
17-year-old killed in Fayette County motorcycle crash
A Fayette County teen was killed in a motorcycle crash Sunday afternoon in Springfield Township. County Coroner Dr. Bob Baker said his office pronounced 17-year-old Nicholas Herman of Springfield Township dead after responding to the crash at about 4:15 p.m. Additional details of the wreck weren’t immediately available from authorities....
New microphones will record Latrobe police interviews, monitor holding cell conversations
When Latrobe police interview someone at their station or they’re held in the city’s lockup, they will be recorded using new microphones that are among the improvements planned this year, police Chief Richard Bosco said. Officers already wear body cameras at all times, including when they’re conducting interviews at the...
Former Faces of Battle panelist says sharing war stories at Saint Vincent ‘opened me up’
Mike Ruminski was drafted into the Army in June 1967 and volunteered to serve on long-range patrols when his unit was shipped to Vietnam. “Usually, we were on patrol for three or four days at the most, and then we’d come back to base and be off for a week...
Saint Vincent speakers share AI progress in aviation, medicine, warn of chatbot pitfalls
A Pittsburgh firm is harnessing artificial intelligence to make it easier for military aircraft to land on ships at sea. Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, another company is working on a skin patch that automatically doses diabetic patients with insulin. Presenters at a weekend AI conference at Saint Vincent College in Unity...
