Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 34
Jury seated to hear case against 3 accused in New Kensington homicide
The trial of three men charged in connection with a fatal July 2022 shooting in New Kensington is expected to begin Tuesday. A 12-person jury and two alternates were seated Monday to hear evidence in the cases against Amir Kennedy, 16, DaMontae Brooks, 17, and Elijah Gary, 20, all of...
Rain fails to ease concerns over falling water level at Beaver Run Reservoir
Heavy rains over the past two weeks have had little impact on water levels at the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County’s Beaver Run Reservoir. Officials in mid-November issued a mandatory call for water conservation for nearly half of the agency’s water customers amid drought-like conditions near the reservoir in Bell...
Prosecutors gain cooperation from 4 charged in New Kensington killing
Four of seven defendants charged in connection with the killing of a New Kensington man last year are cooperating with Westmoreland County prosecutors. Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro said during a court hearing Friday that two young men and a juvenile who were scheduled to go on trial next week...
Madison Council to reconvene after voters fill vacancies that left borough at standstill
Madison Borough once again will have a functioning government. Two write-in candidates were elected last month and are expected to be seated at the start of the year to allow Madison’s council to meet and conduct business. Three resignations in July left the borough’s five-member council at a standstill and...
Hempfield man, 76, to serve prison sentence for child sexual assaults
A Hempfield man was sentenced Thursday to serve up to 10 years in prison for sexual assaults against two young girls. Dale Edward Kuhn, 76, pleaded guilty in September to counts of aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors and other offenses in connection with allegations made in October...
Clairton man receives prison sentence for sale of fentanyl
A Clairton man convicted in September for possession and sale of fentanyl told a Westmoreland County judge on Thursday he was ready to turn his life around. Anthony Jamison, 34, has been free after he paid $100,000 bail in October 2021, more than five months after his arrest on drug...
Greensburg man pleads guilty to series of home burglaries
A Greensburg man was ordered to serve up to four years in prison for a series of burglaries in the city in late 2019 and early 2020. James E. Dickant Jr., 34, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges in six separate cases in connection with thefts from local homes in Greensburg...
Officials say time capsule reflects current spirit of Westmoreland County
When the next generation of Westmoreland County employees opens a time capsule in front of the courthouse, they’ll see photos and documents of life in 2023. They’ll even see a covid-19 in-home test. As snow flurries danced in the air, a small group of Westmoreland employees gathered for a quick...
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...
