Rich Cholodofsky stories, Page 52
Westmoreland targets 2024 for shelter construction
Construction of a new shelter expected to increase the county’s ability to care for and assist the homeless could begin in 2024, Westmoreland County officials said Wednesday. Officials outlined the plan to seek proposals for private providers to acquire land and build what could be a 12-unit shelter that would...
Feliciani elected president judge in Westmoreland County
Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani on Wednesday was elected as Westmoreland County’s 30th president judge. The county’s 11 judges unanimously elected Feliciani to serve as the lead administrator in charge of the civil, criminal and family court divisions. “It’s humbling,” Feliciani said. “I am honored to have the support of...
Children’s Bureau audits identify state payments owed to Westmoreland County
A growing numbers of juveniles who received care from the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau led to bookkeeping errors that resulted in an influx of more than $650,000 in state reimbursements dating back to 2017, officials said. Rob Hamilton, the new director of the county’s human services division, said the audit...
Competency evaluation ordered for Penn Township man accused of killing father, aunt
A Penn Township man accused of stabbing his father and aunt to death will undergo another competency evaluation to determine if he is able to stand trial next month for their slayings. Neal Hubish, 42, is accused of killing his father, Arthur Hubish, 71, and aunt Maria Puskarich, 76, inside...
MAWC seeks grant for Yukon sewer construction
The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County is seeking nearly $5.8 million in federal grants to build a new sewer system to service a tiny community in South Huntingdon. Officials said the project to build a $9 million extension of sewer lines in Yukon is in the planning stages. Once completed,...
Westmoreland’s political focus shifts to county races in 2023
With the books closed on the 2022 election, Westmoreland County political leaders are ready to focus on local races heading into 2023 with control of most key courthouse offices at stake. Republicans will attempt to continue the party’s stranglehold on local politics as the calendar flips with races for county...
Westmoreland among counties with most drug delivery resulting in death prosecutions
More drug dealers implicated in fatal overdoses are being prosecuted in Westmoreland County than in any other county is Southwestern Pennsylvania. Statistics released in December by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts revealed that 6.2% of all drug delivery resulting in death cases brought by state prosecutors since 2017 were...
MAWC: No rate hike planned as inflation continues to impact authority spending
Rising energy costs and anticipated price increases for chemicals has left the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County with a $4.5 million budget gap seven months into the 2022-23 fiscal year. The increased expenses will require the water and sewer authority to dip into the agency’s financial reserves to balance its...
Hempfield man: Mental health issues prompted crime spree that ended with assault on police
A Hempfield man will serve up to 18 months in jail for assaulting two police officers in the culmination of a crime spree that included stealing a flag, disrupting a funeral and vandalizing a congressman’s legislative office. Roger C. Strautmann, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday to multiple offenses in four criminal...
Greensburg, police union spar in court over retirement savings plan switch
A Westmoreland County judge is deliberating whether to grant a preliminary injunction to delay Greensburg from implementing a new tax-deferred retirement savings plan for city workers. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 56 contends the city violated union’s existing five-year labor contract with the city when it unilaterally moved to...
Westmoreland retirees raises to cost $6.7 million in 2023
More than 1,400 retired Westmoreland County government employees are getting raises. Westmoreland’s retirement board on Tuesday approved an 8.1% cost-of-living increases for those who receive a county pension. “We try to be current with the cost of living, and that’s what it is,” said Westmoreland County Controller Jeffrey Balzer, who...
Former Southwest Greensburg cop convicted for illegal traffic stop
A former part-time Southwest Greensburg police officer was convicted Tuesday of official oppression for a traffic stop while off duty and in an other jurisdiction. Prosecutors contended James Shaw, 56, of Mt. Pleasant Township initiated a traffic stop in East Huntingdon in October 2020 then followed the same vehicle for...
Westmoreland elected officials to receive record raises
Westmoreland County elected officials are getting huge raises in 2023. Commissioners, along with row officers and judges, will receive 7.8% higher wages next year under an existing pay structure put in place more than two decades ago to ensure the county’s election officials receive annual cost of living increases. Raises...
Turtle Creek man to serve 40-year prison sentence for sex trafficking of teen
A Turtle Creek man will serve at least 20 years in prison for the sex trafficking of a New Kensington teenager. Davon Allen Fuqua, 36, pleaded guilty in September to four felony offenses including the trafficking of minors, statutory sexual assault of a juvenile, promotion of prostitution of a minor...
Youngwood drug dealer sentenced to 8-year prison term
A Youngwood man acquitted last month of rape charges was ordered Friday to serve up to eight years in prison for a related simple assault of an 18-year-old woman and and for the possession of illegal drug offenses. Brandon Giron, 23, told a Westmoreland County judge he was ready to...
Bond set for Jeannette man charged in Rialto stabbing
A Westmoreland County judge ruled a Jeannette man charged with attempted homicide during a stabbing in front of the Rialto Bar and Bistro last month in downtown Greensburg can be released from jail as he awaits trial. Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani set a $250,000 straight cash bond for Anthony...
Vote totals from recounted precincts certified in Westmoreland County
The Westmoreland County Election Board this week issued a final certification of results from five voting precincts subjected to a court-ordered recount. Voters from precincts in Salem, Hempfield, Loyalhanna, Lower Burrell and Ligonier Borough petitioned the courts to recount votes cast as part of the Nov. 8 general election for...
Westmoreland commissioners agree to settle 2 federal lawsuits
Westmoreland commissioners on Thursday approved payments totaling $45,000 to settle two federal lawsuits. One case involved a whistleblower lawsuit brought in 2017 by a deputy sheriff who claimed the department’s drug-sniffing dog was removed from his care as retaliation for speaking with state investigators probing suspected election law violations by...
Corporate exec pleads guilty to forging fake divorce papers to keep up affair
A North Huntingdon corporate executive pleaded guilty Thursday to forging a judge’s name on a fake court record as part of a plot police said was designed to convince his lover to continue an extramarital affair. Dennis George Durmis Jr., 50, was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and perform...
Westmoreland budget balanced with American Rescue Plan funds
More than $8 million in federal covid-relief funds will be used to pay annual subsidies that, in prior years, were paid for from the county’s general operating budget, Westmoreland commissioners said Thursday. The earmarking of American Rescue Plan funds to the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, Westmoreland County Community College and...
Appeals court overturns sexual assault convictions against former Mt. Pleasant cop
An appeals court has overturned two sexual assault convictions against a former part-time Mt. Pleasant police officer, saying the cases were prosecuted in the wrong county. A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled allegations levied by two women who claimed they were sexually assaulted by John Brown, 49,...
Ohio truck driver pleads guilty to causing fatal crash on Interstate 70
Sheila Walton dabbed tears from her eyes as she told a Westmoreland County judge that the Ohio truck driver who initiated a fatal rear-end collision two years ago on Interstate 70 in South Huntingdon changed her family forever. Walton’s 27-year-old son, Dillon Walton of New Stanton, was killed as he...
Greensburg man’s rape sentence reduced
A Greensburg man convicted earlier this year for his role in the rape of a 5-year-old boy had his 168-year prison sentenced reduced on this week. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani overturned one of 22 convictions against Charles Jason Hunter, 36. Defense attorneys claimed prosecutors mislabeled one...
Judge rules Jeannette police arrest supported by evidence
A Westmoreland County judge this week ruled that Jeannette police had the legal authority to detain and charge a New Alexandria man after a car crash last year near a school. David Vucish, 50, claims police used excessive force during the May 11, 2021, incident and sought to have criminal...
Westmoreland will cut ties with renowned pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht
Westmoreland County is cutting ties with renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht. The county commissioners Thursday are expected to approve a one-year contract with Wecht’s former assistant to do autopsies for Coroner Tim Carson and rent the autopsy suite at Westmoreland’s forensics center in Hempfield. Wecht, 92, has worked as...
