Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 55
Mail-in ballots sent to Westmoreland voters
Westmoreland County has sent out the first batch of more than 14,000 mail-in ballots to voters, the election bureau director said Friday. “Our goal was to get them in the mail (Friday), and, starting today, people should start receiving them in their mailboxes,” Greg McCloskey said. As of Friday, Westmoreland...
Greensburg shooting suspect seeks separate trial
The lawyer for a Greensburg man charged in connection with a shootout earlier this year in downtown Greensburg wants a separate trial from another man with whom police said he exchanged gunfire. In court documents filed this week, attorney Brent McCune said the defenses of his client, Evan Curley, and...
Defense: Confession in East Huntingdon man’s fatal overdose improperly obtained by police
A Fayette County man charged with providing drugs to a former high school friend who died two years ago from an overdose claims his confession was a result of improper questioning by police. Steven Shively, 33, of Everson is awaiting trial on charges of drug delivery resulting in death and...
New Florence man charged in police assault seeks release from jail
A former New Florence man acquitted in the fatal shooting of a police officer in 2015 claims his speedy trial rights were violated as he awaits trial on charges that he assaulted police at his home last year. Ray A. Shetler Jr., 38, wants to be released on a nominal...
Westmoreland redevelopment agency to focus on blight prevention
Westmoreland redevelopment officials Monday announced a renewed focus on community blight prevention, hoping to nip future problems in the bud. “We want to be proactive in providing our communities with a plan. We don’t want to just be a demolition authority,” agency Executive Director Brian Lawrence said. The effort comes...
Westmoreland set to return portion of unspent rental assistance funds as program continues
Low-income Westmoreland County renters lost out on more than $10 million in federal funds from 2021 because the program was mired in red tape, an official said. Qualifications for the program — designed to help renters who suffered direct financial losses during the coronavirus pandemic — were onerous and difficult...
Homeless man pleads guilty to burglary of Greensburg church
A homeless man from Oregon was ordered to serve up to six years in prison for the burglary of a Greensburg church five days before Christmas in 2020. Timothy Lansdale, 57, pleaded guilty Monday to felony charges of burglary and for failing to register with the state police as a...
Leechburg man sentenced in attempted carjacking case
A Leechburg man has been ordered to serve up to 23 months in jail in connection with an attempted carjacking last spring in Allegheny Township. Jeffrey Scott Nedley, 40, pleaded guilty Friday to charges in three cases, including an April 22 incident near the Crossroads Motel on Route 356 in...
Pa. Supreme Court Chief Justice Max Baer, a Pittsburgh native, dies, called ‘a tireless champion for children’
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has been in the eye of the storm in recent years as it decided a series of hot-button issues that ranged from covid responses and reapportionment to election reform. At its center was Chief Justice Max Baer. Baer, 74, died Friday night at his home near Pittsburgh....
Industrial park expansion called vital for Westmoreland County’s future growth
Development of three pad-ready lots at the soon-to-be expanded Westmoreland Distribution Park North in East Huntingdon is just what is needed to attract more industry and jobs to the region, Westmoreland County officials said Friday. “We will invest in our communities and in our townships to make sure we have...
Westmoreland eyes construction of county gun range
Westmoreland County has targeted the end of the year to open its new shooting range. Ground was broken this week on a $30,000 project to construct an outdoor facility behind the Westmoreland County Prison in Hempfield. “Any county agency can use it,” county park police Chief Henry Fontana, said. Staff...
Republican commissioners remove ballot drop box from Westmoreland courthouse
Westmoreland County’s Republican commissioners Wednesday refused to vote on a plan to install one drop box for mail-in ballots at the courthouse. Commissioners Sean Kertes and Doug Chew said the box that had been in place for years in the courthouse’s lobby and last spring at the rear entrance of...
Jeannette police accused of excessive force in 2021 arrest
A New Alexandria man claims he was assaulted by Jeannette police officers last year when he arrived at the scene of a vehicle crash involving his mother. David Vucish, 50, appeared in court on Tuesday to challenge charges of resisting arrest and other offenses filed in connection with the May...
Delmont man pleads guilty to sexual assaults of teens
A Delmont man was ordered to serve nearly one year in jail for the 2021 sexual assault two teenaged girls. William J. Seibert, 22, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three felony counts of statutory sexual assault. Police said two girls, ages 14 and 15, claimed they had sex with Seibert in...
Wrongful death lawsuit filed in fatal Derry Township crash
The mother of Derry woman killed in crash earlier this year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in which she accused the driver of another vehicle of being under the influence of a controlled substance. Jennifer Krinock, 36, died as a result of injuries in the March 20 crash on...
Jury acquits Penn Borough man of attempted murder in roommate’s shooting
A Westmoreland County jury acquitted a Penn Borough man of attempted murder and aggravated assault for the 2021 shooting of his girlfriend’s adult son. Jurors deliberated more than seven hours over two days before they returned the not guilty verdict to two of the four criminal charges against Michael Keslar....
Donora man guilty of attempted murder and assaults in North Belle Vernon bar fight
A Donora man was convicted Thursday of the attempted murder of one man and injuring two others during a bar fight three years ago in North Belle Vernon. After more than four hours of deliberations, a Westmoreland County jury found Eric Cook, 46, guilty of 10 criminal counts in connection...
Prosecutor says deadly force not justified in Penn Borough shooting
A Penn Borough man told a Westmoreland County jury Wednesday he was shot in the chest by his landlord last summer. Nathan Booher, 26, testified he was unarmed on Aug. 28, 2021 when he entered the house he had lived in the previous three years with his mother’s boyfriend and...
Donora man contends bar fight that left three injured started by jealous boyfriend
A Donora man told a Westmoreland County jury Wednesday he pulled out a knife to protect himself during an all-out brawl three years ago at a North Belle Vernon bar that left three people seriously wounded. Eric Cook, 46, testified during the third day of his attempted murder trial that...
Witnesses say bar fight started with quip and ended in near death
James Lookabaugh said a fight prompted by an offhanded response to a man he had just met at a North Belle Vernon bar three years ago nearly turned tragic. Lookabaugh, 47, of Texas, testified to a Westmoreland County jury on Tuesday he owned an oil and gas business and was...
Trial for sex trafficking of teen ends in guilty plea for Turtle Creek man
A Turtle Creek man pleaded guilty Tuesday to the sex trafficking of a 14-year-old runaway from New Kensington. Davon Allen Fuqua, 36, cut short his trial midway through testimony from his accuser, who told a Westmoreland County jury she was transported with a prostitute to have sex with two older...
Prosecutors contend North Belle Vernon bar stabbings started with a joke
Westmoreland County prosecutors contend three patrons in a North Belle Vernon bar were stabbed three years ago because of a quip about their attacker’s criminal record. Assistant district attorney Steven Reddy said the March 7, 2019 assaults at Just A Tavern nearly turned deadly for a woman and two male...
Rape charge against North Huntingdon man dismissed as part of plea deal
A North Huntingdon man will serve two years on probation for the simple assault of a woman who initially claimed she was raped while unconscious. Dominic Anthony Zuccarelli, 27, pleaded guilty Monday to one amended misdemeanor charge after prosecutors dismissed felony counts of rape of an unconscious victim and sexual...
Westmoreland coroner hires new deputy
Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson announced the hiring of a new deputy. Russell Morgan, 43, of Rostraver, was promoted to a full-time position after serving since March as a part-time investigator in the coroner’s office. “His experience is something we wanted to utilize,” Carson said on Monday. Morgan replaces former...
Fare hike planned for Go Westmoreland shared-ride system
Fares to ride Go Westmoreland vehicles will increase next year under a revised fee structure expected to be approved this fall by the county’s transit authority. Authority board members said last week they intend to approve the agency’s first fare hike in more than four years to ride the door-to-door...
