Patrick Varine stories, Page 122

A Delmont councilman is continuing the work of the borough’s former fire chief, securing grant funding to supply all Westmoreland County firefighters with face-shield filters to protect against coronavirus. Delmont Fire Chief Rich Balik, who died in late May, was working with the R.K. Mellon Foundation to secure a $10,000...

Pennsylvania’s Department of Health is pursuing a $301 million federal grant to strengthen its ability to respond to the covid-19 pandemic, and will earmark $100 million for local health departments if the grant is awarded. “This funding is essential to our future response to the covid-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania,” Secretary...

Murrysville and Republic Services will sponsor a pop-up glass recycling event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The collection will be in the parking lot at Veterans Field, 4200 Sardis Road. All colors of glass bottles, jars and jugs will be accepted. Caps, lids and labels are acceptable. All...

The public will get a closer look at how Delmont and Salem Township plan to address longstanding sewage and stormwater issues in early July. The Delmont Volunteer Fire Department will host a July 2 meeting that is to include officials from both towns, and the public is invited to see...

The house in Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood where an ATF agent was shot Thursday morning belongs to one of a dozen people charged with drug trafficking in a federal indictment unsealed Thursday. A dozen defendants from Allegheny, Westmoreland and Lawrence counties have been charged with drug trafficking following a lengthy wiretap...

PNC Financial Services officials on Thursday announced a $1 billion commitment to programs and efforts that would “end systemic racism and support economic empowerment of African Americans and low- and moderate-income communities.” The commitment includes $50 million in charitable support for local and national work promoting social justice, expanding financial...

With Westmoreland County in the green phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s covid-19 reopening plan, youth athletic associations in Delmont and Murrysville have been given the go-ahead to start their seasons. “We’re ready to go,” said Erin Salas, who serves as softball vice president for both the Delmont Area and Franklin...

PennDOT has announced the closure of Hankey Church Road and upcoming closure of Old Greensburg Road for bridge replacement work on Route 366 in northern Murrysville. Work crews will be replacing the small bridge that carries Greensburg Road (Route 366) over Pucketa Creek between the roads that will be closed....

Murrysville officials have reopened the “destination playground” at Murrysville Community Park, and are hoping that it will remain a viable destination this summer through proper health and safety precautions. Council members began working through the logistics of reopening recreation sites at their June 3 meeting, just two days before Westmoreland...

On some maps showing how the covid-19 pandemic has affected the U.S., dots are used to represent a case or a certain number of cases in a particular area. But as the country’s covid-19 death toll passes 116,000, the creators of the Mourning America website want people to know that...

The Franklin Regional school board will hold a special meeting in July to lay out plans for how education will work in the 2020-21 school year. That meeting date has not been set yet, but members of the district’s back-to-school task force updated the board Monday night on their work....

Preliminary data is showing that Pennsylvania is on track for its third year of declining incidents of Lyme disease, but an estimated 8,500 cases in 2019 still puts the state among the top five nationwide. As tick season ramps up to its peak in July, state health officials urge residents...

Franklin Regional school directors voted 6-3 Monday to adopt a 2020-21 budget with a 2.54-mill tax increase. Despite expenditure reductions related to special education funding, fewer commissions on tax collections and no change in insurance premiums, which were expected to rise, the $61.6 million budget stands with the tax hike....

Franklin Regional School District will have several new administrators in the 2020-21 school year, including a new assistant superintendent. The school board hired Robin Pynos on Monday. Pynos, a Duquesne University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania alum, comes to Franklin Regional from the Greater Latrobe School District, where she served...

Franklin Regional Superintendent Gennaro Piraino decided in early June that he’d had enough of school board members arguing and talking over one another in public meetings. “Maybe I’m overstepping my bounds, but I’m a member of this team of 10,” Piraino said. “Right now, what is happening week after week...

New Castle police found the body of missing 19-year-old Amari Wise in a wooded area off of Pennsylvania Avenue, Tribune-Review news partner WPXI reported Monday evening. Both of the men wanted in Wise’s death, a father and his son, are now in custody, New Castle Police said. Todd Henry, 47,...

Before Gov. Tom Wolf even made the official announcement about Allegheny County “going green” during the coronavirus pandemic, officials at Rosedale Tech in Kennedy Township were working to ensure they’d be ready to open the doors and resume on-campus classes. The first day back in class for Rosedale students was...

Franklin Regional graduates may have had a chance to do a drive-thru “graduation,” but if the real thing is going to happen, it won’t be until July. School district officials announced over the weekend that plans for a traditional graduation ceremony will be postponed until July 24. “Though we strongly...

There are plenty of hotly-debated aspects of the covid-19 pandemic, but one that seems to have been embraced by most people is the notion that being outside is a healthy, relatively low-risk behavior. No one is happier about that than Susan Miller of Plum, who recently resumed her monthly outdoor...

Aryanna Hunter of Murrysville wasn’t able to attend Pittsburgh protests against police brutality over the past week. An Army veteran, Hunter works as head of the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Veteran Services, and wanted to rally support in her hometown as well. She’ll get to do it this weekend...

A Philadelphia woman who police said was headed to Wilkinsburg was instead in federal court Friday, charged with possession of about 80,000 stamp bags of heroin. U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said Fiordaliza Rodriguez Reyes, 32, of Philadelphia was stopped on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Thursday by troopers from the...

When the flowers bloom at Jo Ann Hemminger’s home in Unity Township, it’s quite a show. “We say every year we’re going to cut them down, and then I just think ‘oh, no, not this year,’” said Hemminger, pointing to the massive stand of rhododendrons that covers one side of...

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues, which produced sports legends from Hank Aaron to Jackie Robinson, a centennial set of baseball cards has been released featuring 184 members of the league. Created through a partnership between Dreams Fulfilled, which operates the NegroLeagueHistory.com website, and the National...