Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 62
Police investigate woman’s shooting in Homewood
Pittsburgh police are investigating the shooting of a woman Saturday morning in the city’s Homewood neighborhood. Police said they found a female with a gunshot wound to the back at 2:40 a.m. after hearing reports of gunfire on Frankstown and Brushtown avenues. The victim was conscious and alert when she...
Inflation blamed for Westmoreland municipal authority cost overruns
Inflation led to an 11% increase in Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County expenses in March, and utility leaders said Wednesday they are bracing for more cost overruns in the months ahead. “I don’t think prices will get cheaper, and we will continue to look at overages,” authority business manager Brian...
Voter turnout strong for Westmoreland primary as political leaders look to fall campaign
More than 41% of Republicans and nearly 40% of registered Democrats in Westmoreland County voted in Tuesday’s gubernatorial and U.S. Senate primaries, numbers that have local political leaders predicting an energetic fall campaign. The county’s results closely mirror statewide totals as Democrats backed Lt. Gov. John Fetterman for Senate while...
Cooper unseats incumbent Silvis; Dunbar wins in landslide
Former Westmoreland County Republican Committee Chairwoman Jill Cooper unseated first-term incumbent Rep. Jason Silvis in the GOP primary for the redrawn 55th state House district. Two years ago, Silvis, 47, defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Petrarca in 2020 to win the legislative seat that was previously based in Derry. A redistricting...
Hempfield man pleads guilty in woman’s shooting
A Hempfield man was paroled Monday after he pleaded guilty to charges related to an incident last year in which a woman sustained a gunshot wound to her ring finger. Police said Timothy John Luchon, 40, had a physical altercation with a woman at a home near New Stanton on...
Ex-inmate’s lawsuit claims Westmoreland County violated settlement terms, wants $150K
A New Mexico man who received a $150,000 payment to settle a federal lawsuit against Westmoreland County claims public officials violated terms of a confidentiality agreement and wants an additional payment from taxpayers. Westmoreland commissioners, at a public meeting in February, approved the settlement with James Mapp, 34, to end...
Primary voter turnout expectations low across Pittsburgh region
Voters at Harold Zion Lutheran Church in Hempfield will receive one of four different ballots on Tuesday as Westmoreland election officials navigate the first Election Day that features a splitting of Hempfield’s Middletown precinct into two Congressional districts. Hempfield Middletown, with its 668 registered voters, was split in half as...
East Huntingdon industrial park is an official sellout
The sixth industrial park in Westmoreland County will be filled to capacity with the impending sale of a 6-acre lot in East Huntingdon to a plastics manufacturer, officials announced Thursday. The Westmoreland commissioners, acting as the county’s Industrial Development Corp., approved a $319,000 deal with Roechling Industrial Mt. Pleasant LP...
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...
