Jeff Himler stories

The Hempfield Area School Board is proposing a 2025-26 district budget of more than $114.5 million, including a potential 4.35-mill property tax increase. The tentative tax hike would cover about $2.6 million of a roughly $2.8 million budget deficit, with a $172,000 funding gap remaining. Superintendent Mark Holtzman said the...

Greater Latrobe School Board is proposing a $68.4 million district budget for the coming school year, but administrators have yet to recommend how to close a projected funding gap of close to $680,000. Also to be decided is how to replace more than a dozen retiring teachers. One of those...

Motorists can expect to encounter daytime single-lane restrictions beginning Monday on a section of Interstate 70 in Westmoreland County. The traffic restrictions are scheduled between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily through Wednesday and will affect both eastbound and westbound lanes at various points between Exits 42 (North Belle Vernon)...

Republican voters in Ligonier Township will have five candidates to consider Tuesday as they select their party’s nominees for two seats on the five-member board of supervisors. The need for expanded public sewage service in the township, the future of the former Ligonier Beach property and township officials’ partial oversight...

A motorcyclist was killed in a collision with a car Thursday afternoon in Derry Township. Jarad R. Boyle, 49, of Derry Borough was pronounced dead at the scene on Route 982 at Lincoln Avenue, according to Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson. The crash occurred at about 4 p.m. just outside...

Seven candidates, divided into two campaign camps, are running for four seats on the Ligonier Valley School Board. Campaigning jointly and appearing only in the Republican primary are three incumbent board members — Donald L. Gilbert Jr., Cindy Brown and Josi Bennett — along with Robert J. Fryman, who previously...

Latrobe officials will look to reassign administrative responsibilities temporarily as City Manager Terry Carcella departs this month to take on a similar post in Springdale Borough. Springdale Council voted Tuesday to hire Carcella, initially paying him a prorated salary of $85,000 through the end of the year. Carcella said his...

Janet Naughton had the spirit of a Broadway hoofer and the calling to share her talent with generations of younger aspiring dancers. Naughton, who died Thursday at 88, wasn’t tall enough to realize her dream of becoming a Radio City Rockette. But she was overjoyed when students at her Irwin...

Allegheny County police have charged two teens as adults, stemming from shots fired into an occupied car on May 4 in North Braddock. Nasir Williams, 15, of North Versailles, and Jmeire Estes, 17, of Trafford, are charged with gun violations, conspiracy and multiple counts of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering...

PennDOT is looking to improve traffic safety in Jeannette by providing motorists advance warning to stop at the intersection of Lewis Avenue and Park Street. Plans call for crews to install a flashing beacon to alert approaching drivers of an all-way stop at the intersection. Work is expected to take...

A Greensburg man was killed early Saturday when his car collided with a dump truck on Route 22 in Murrysville. Thomas Edward Peer, 71, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson. The rear-end type crash was reported shortly before 3:30 a.m. near the intersection...

A Giant Eagle supermarket in Pittsburgh, near the shuttered Parkway Center Mall, is set to close. The store is scheduled to close its doors on June 28 while the pharmacy at that location will end operations on May 21, according to company spokesman Dan Donovan. “This was not an easy...

Allegheny County police took a 19-year-old woman into custody after a 15-year-old girl was shot in the hand late Friday in East Pittsburgh. Police said the shooting was reported to county 911 dispatchers at about midnight in the 500 block of Franklin Street. The wounded girl’s condition wasn’t immediately available....

Molly Clayton of Latrobe and her mother, JoAnn Ridilla, a Unity resident, don’t get to downtown Greensburg very often. With clear skies, temperatures in the 70s and retail promotions, conditions were ideal for a trip there on Saturday — during an inaugural “Blooms & Sips: Mother’s Day Stroll” shopping event....

Latrobe is looking to take over ownership of a blighted residential property in the town’s North Side that the city initially condemned last year. Now vacant, according to the city, the mobile home at 219 E. Second Ave. has overgrown trees bordering its walls. City Council recently moved to confirm...

About 40% of Westmoreland County residents are living with a mental health diagnosis, while only about half of those who are affected by mental illness receive treatment — in part because of access issues. Those are among alarming statistics cited in a June 2024 report by county consultant Recovery Innovations....

The Ligonier Valley School District community was shocked this week by the unexpected death of school board member Joseph Vella. Vella, 54, who was midway through his first term on the board, died Tuesday at his Ligonier Township home. The cause of death has yet to be determined, according to...

Ligonier Country Market will open its regular season as planned May 17, with the approval of Ligonier Township. Township Supervisors Dan Resenic, John Beaufort and John Fraser this week approved a modification of the market’s conditional-use permit, allowing the market to begin its season this year and going forward on...

Organizers of the Latrobe Fourth of July Celebration are planning to focus on children at this year’s two-day event, set for July 3 and 4. There will be added attractions for attendees younger than 18, in keeping with the theme for the town’s festival and its popular parade — “Building...

A Washington, Pa., man died after he was shot in the city on Monday morning. Nasstylejah Wilkerson, 28, was pronounced dead in the emergency department of UPMC Washington Hospital following the shooting reported at about 11:45 a.m. near the intersection of West Walnut and North Franklin streets, according to Washington...

State police are investigating a report of inappropriate conduct involving an employee of a school district in southeastern Indiana County. No charges had been filed as of Monday and there was no threat to students or staff at United School District. The incident involved a district staff member and was...

A PennDOT flagger had a close call with an inattentive driver on Route 66 in Westmoreland County while another state road worker was struck and injured by a driver who ignored a detour in Fayette County. Those are two instances of road work zone infractions and collisions that PennDOT and...

A retired attorney and former administrative law judge has joined Ligonier Township’s board of supervisors to fill a vacancy through the end of the year. The remaining four supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to appoint John Fraser, 69, to a seat vacated by the recent abrupt resignation of D. Scott Matson....

The Ligonier Township planning commission on Thursday will consider an appeal by the Ligonier Country Market that could affect the seasonal venue’s opening date this year. The market is looking to modify a provision of a 2008 township conditional use permit that indicates it can’t open before Memorial Day, which...

A New York City-based solar farm developer has passed the first hurdle in its plan to develop an array along a rural road in Unity. The township zoning hearing board on Tuesday unanimously approved a special exception that will allow CVE North America to pursue installation of a solar farm...