Patrick Varine stories, Page 15
83-year-old Greensburg woman identified by police as wrong-way driver in Route 30 crash
State police have identified an 83-year-old Greensburg woman as being the wrong-way driver who caused a multi-vehicle crash Wednesday on Route 30 in Hempfield. Nancy Duva entered the eastbound lanes of the divided highway going west in Subaru Crosstrek around 5:15 p.m., causing the crash just past the Cedar Street...
Westmoreland Envirothon puts emphasis on forest stewardship, bird research
Westmoreland Conservation District staff definitely picked the right day this week to study the environment with high school senior Tim Miller and his fellow Derry Area students. While spring in Southwestern Pennsylvania can be a weather Jekyll and Hyde, Thursday, April 24, couldn’t have been nicer, with sunny skies and...
Murrysville area: Used book sale, summer concerts in Export, and more
Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Used book sale The Murrysville Community Library and local branch of the American Association of University Women will host their annual used book sale May 1-3. The sale will be from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 1 and 2, and 9:30...
Franklin Regional Thespian Club prepares for ‘Little Women’ production
Franklin Regional Thespian Club adviser Richard Sunny didn’t need to give most of his cast much background on “Little Women,” the club’s spring production. “Most of them have been asking me to do this since they were freshmen,” he said with a laugh. Louisa May Alcott’s classic story of the...
Monroeville mayor’s seat, 4 council seats open in upcoming election
Monroeville council will see some changes after this year’s elections, with second-term mayor Nick Gresock finishing his time with the municipality and multiple council seats in play. Four seats are open on council, however only one of those seats will have multiple candidates vying for it in the May 20...
Monroeville area: Gateway seeking sponsorships, cheer camp, car show, more
School district seeks sponsorships Gateway School District officials are seeking sponsors for numerous facilities throughout the district. Individuals or businesses interested in sponsorships can email Jeremy Tepper at jtepper@gatewayk12.org. Divine Mercy Academy cheer camp Registration is open for Divine Mercy Academy’s Saber Summer Cheer Camp, which will be held from...
3rd person pleads guilty in Monroeville rental-car scam
A third person has pleaded guilty to involvement in a credit-card fraud scheme which cost a regional car-rental company more than $500,000. Tai Jauna L. Jones, 29, of Pittsburgh pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, after prosecutors said she provided credit...
Hempfield Area faces $5.1M budget deficit for 2025-26 school year
Rising charter school payments and growing retirement costs have Hempfield Area school officials exploring how to offset a 2025-26 budget deficit that stands at more than $5 million. District business manager Paul Schott said expenditures for next year are up by nearly $7.3 million over 2024-25. “Without the impact of...
Hempfield adjusts school start times to consolidate bus runs, address driver shortage
Board members of Hempfield Area School District voted unanimously — although reluctantly in some cases — to shift the start and end times for school next year. “I think this is the better option. But I still feel bad,” school board member Diane Ciabattoni said. The start and end of...
Team that resurrected dire wolf has Pitt, Penn State connectionsVideo
Some of the scientific groundwork that paved the way for a rebirth of the long-extinct dire wolf took place in Pennsylvania. With much fanfare, Texas company Colossal Biosciences announced April 7 that its scientists had returned the dire wolf, a species extinct for more than 10,000 years, “to its rightful...
Power tools: Robotics research at Carnegie Mellon aims to revolutionize everyday tasksVideo
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, the world’s foremost tech conference, farming machinery giant Kubota introduced Flash, a vehicle-mounted camera that creates ultra-detailed images to help farmers care for their crops. It was an idea born in a Carnegie Mellon University robotics lab and another example of the revolutionary technology...
Murrysville camera company livestreams nearby fox denVideo
“Sly as a fox” is not just a saying somebody made up. Foxes are cunning and wary. Just ask Bill Powers of Murrysville, who’s been trying to successfully train a wildlife camera on a wild fox den since 2016. “They’re so sensitive that, if they sense a human has been...
Pitcairn man accused of robbing Monroeville Burger King faces weapons charges
A Pitcairn man accused of robbing the Monroeville Burger King where he’d been fired a few months earlier now faces federal weapons charges. Yamin A. Harris, 30, of Pitcairn was arrested Dec. 29, 2024, after police said he returned to the Burger King on Broadway Boulevard — where he worked...
Murrysville area: National Day of Prayer, craft workshops and more
Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. National Day of Prayer event The National Day of Prayer will be observed locally with a May 1 program at the Delmont Volunteer Fire Department hall, 2360 Route 66 in Delmont. It will be at 7 p.m. This year’s theme is “Pour...
Murrysville teen, lymphoma survivor raises more than $40,000 for cancer research
It’s probably an understatement to say that Luca Bertucci had some strong motivation to raise money for cancer research funding. After in-patient chemotherapy during his sophomore year of school following a cancer diagnosis, Bertucci rang his cancer-free bell last fall and is in remission. Bertucci had been stricken with Burkitt’s...
Monroeville students raise money for autism
When Jesse Torisky was a student at Evergreen Elementary, there were no smart boards or smart phones. There was a lot more chalk, and a lot more paper. But Torisky, who today is president of Autism Pittsburgh, got a chance to return to his former school on April 4, and...
Monroeville area: Car show, Symphony East, school board candidate forum, more
Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com or bkikel@triblive.com. Car show to benefit pet adoptions The Head Turners Pittsburgh car group will host a May 4 car show from 12-4 p.m. at the Community College of Allegheny County’s Boyce Campus. The cost for car registration is $10. Proceeds will...
Monroeville approves voluntary rehab facility over citizen objections
Monroeville council members approved a voluntary drug treatment facility for the former Independence Court building on Center Road. Pyramid Healthcare was seeking conditional use for the inpatient treatment center. Pyramid was founded in 1999 in Altoona, and today has more than 80 facilities in eight states, including three in Allegheny...
Route 30 eastbound reopened after Unity truck crash
Route 30 has been reopened after a crash late Wednesday that shut down the eastbound side of the highway in Unity. First responders were called to a stretch near Johnson Road shortly before 8 p.m. for an overturned truck, according to a Westmoreland County 911 supervisor. The truck sheared a...
Ohio man pleads guilty to trafficking sex workers in Monroeville
An Ohio man pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to bringing an underage girl and two adults to Monroeville to work as prostitutes, according to court documents. Donte L. Cole, 40, of Euclid, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to sex trafficking of a child and coercion of...
Salem will host township-wide clean-up day
Salem residents are invited to take part in a township-wide clean-up day on May 17. Township residents can bring one pick-up truck load or two car loads of items to dispose of at the township building, 244 Congruity Road. The clean-up is for township residents only, and proof of residency...
8 more teams leave Western Pa. Youth Football League
More teams have split from the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League in the wake of an investigation into funds reportedly missing from the league’s shared bank account. Youth teams from Baldwin- Whitehall, Belle Vernon, Connellsville, Hempfield, Montour, Norwin, Trinity and West Allegheny have left to form the Western Pennsylvania Football League,...
Export set to pay off flood-control project that helped dry out the borough
Export Mayor Joe Zaccagnini can remember watching his father’s 1957 Ford station wagon being picked up and carried off by Turtle Creek’s floodwaters in the early 1970s. “My dad’s mother was being laid out at the funeral home, and he was leaving to take his aunt and uncle home,” Zaccagnini...
Missing Monroeville man’s body recovered from Tennessee lake
The body of a Monroeville man who went missing while kayaking in Tennessee has been recovered, authorities said. News station WTVF reported that the body of Don Slusser, 73, of Monroeville, was discovered in Percy Priest Lake, just east of Nashville. Slusser and his wife were camping at the Seven...
Murrysville area: Craft workshops, FR health fair, church tag sale and more
Email news briefs and event information to pvarine@triblive.com. Panther student earns $200,000 scholarship Franklin Regional student Nathan Snyder, in the center, was recently awarded the U.S. Navy NROTC Scholarship, valued at $200,000. It provides full tuition at participating universities and colleges, supporting students who aspire to become commissioned naval officers....
