The Greensburg YMCA will close its doors to members for at least six months, though it will continue to operate its other programs, officials announced Friday.
The gym and pool will close Sept. 30.
Child care programs, the Y’s adult training facility, after-school programs and youth sports will continue as normal.
Attendance and revenue plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic, according to interim CEO Suzanne Printz.
“We’re just not seeing the volume or revenue on the membership to be able to continue or sustain these programs,” Printz said.
The Greensburg YMCA laid off 63 employees over the course of the pandemic. It will lay off an additional 17 on Sept. 30, bringing the total number of layoffs to more than half its staff.
Each family will receive boxes containing fresh milk, quality dairy products, premade frozen meals, frozen meats, dry goods, and fresh produce.The boxes will be loaded directly into the vehicles by the volunteers. Boxes will be given away on a first come first serve basis.
For more information about Jubilee Ministries International N.O.W Project, visit either www.jubileeministriesint.com or www.drmarkkauffman.org. For more information about The Christian Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania visit www.cccwp.us.
A Westmoreland County school district is reporting a case of coronavirus.
A letter from the superintendent of the Hempfield Area School District says a high school student last in class on Sept. 1 tested positive for COVID-19.
The district says anyone in close contact — defined as within 6 feet for 15 or more minutes — was contacted last night.
“The exposure was minimal as students are seated six feet apart in classrooms,” the letter reads.
“The continued implementation of safety measures, such as wearing face coverings, maintaining social distancing, and hand washing, are critical in reducing the risk of spread.”
The district tells parents if their children are experiencing any coronavirus symptoms, they should be kept at home and parents should call their doctors. If a family member tests positive for COVID-19, families should tell the school nurse or principal.
Set for 5:30 p.m. Oct. 26, the 15th annual show will feature clients, customers and friends of the YWCA modeling clothing from the YWCA Thrift Shop in downtown Greensburg, along with a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Movement and information on the YWCA’s childcare, racial justice, technology, health and wellness and adult education programs.
“You will enjoy previewing all of the beautiful fall clothes you can buy at our thrift shop at unbelievably low prices while learning about all of the programs that we offer,” said Y interim director Gina McGrath. “The winners of the basket raffle, 50/50 tickets and mystery envelopes will also be announced.”
A 27-year gaming veteran is joining the ranks of those working to open a new casino at Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield.
Brent Colston was named vice president of gaming operations at Live! Casino Pittsburgh, which is set to open before Thanksgiving. In his position, Colston will manage and direct table games, slots tech, sportsbook operations and staff. He will develop standard operating procedures and ensure games are in compliance with regulations.
“It has been an incredible experience working with the talented Live! Casino team and introducing my family to this community,” Colston said. “We are working diligently to bring the most exciting table games, slots and sportsbook experience to our guests.”
Four Houston police officers have been fired for fatally shooting an apparently emotionally disturbed man who was on the ground, wounded and incapacitated, before a final volley of 21 shots, officials said.
Part of the East busway between the 26th St. Ramp to Neville St. Ramp has been temporarily closed in both directions after a landslide Thursday, according to Port Authority spokesperson Adam Brandolph.
Mr. Brandolph said in a statement that a landslide occurred around 7:45 pm due to a Pittsburgh Water Sewer Authority water main break on the hillside near 26th Street in the Strip District.
“Initially buses were able to get by on one lane but about 10pm closed both lanes to allow room for removal efforts,” Mr. Brandolph said.
Mr. Brandolph says Port Authority does not anticipate the closure will go beyond midnight before single-lane operations can resume.
Anti-abortion activists from across the region gathered Wednesday at Cornerstone Ministries in Murrysville as Vice President Mike Pence addressed the kick-off of the Susan B. Anthony List’s campaign to engage pro-life voters in Pennsylvania.
The visit to the large, nondenominational church marked Pence’s third appearance with the group. Long a favorite with evangelicals and pro-life voters for his anti-abortion stance, Pence previously addressed Susan B. Anthony List rallies in Florida and North Carolina.
PITTSBURGH, PA – The CoGo’s name, a staple in the Pittsburgh area since the mid-1980s, is about to be gone forever from the 38 convenience stores. Canonsburg-based Coen Markets, which bought the chain in 2018, will convert all of them to Coen locations.
Coen announced it also is bringing its Ruff Creek Market stores under the Coen name.
Additionally, Coen Markets will convert its stores’ gas pumps to Amoco gasoline by the end of the year. Coen operates nearly 60 stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
CoGo’s was funded as Stop-N-Go in 1962 and rebranded as CoGo’s about 20 years later.
The plane took off from the airport and witnesses said it appeared to be trying to return when it crashed in a nearby field, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Some good news for restaurants and their customers in Pennsylvania.
Governor Tom Wolf is allowing all restaurants to open to 50 percent capacity indoors. But that will help some restaurants more than others.
Local restaurants have been free to serve food and drink outdoors while following coronavirus safety regulations, but they have been limited indoors to just 25 percent of capacity. But that will change on Sept. 21.
“Step in the right direction, for sure,” Jeff Broadhurst, CEO and president of the Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Tuesday. “Great to hear that this morning. And I can tell you as an industry, we’re ready for it, and we’re prepared to serve people safely.”
The bill includes $300 a week for expanded unemployment insurance benefits through the end of the year and $257 billion for a second round of the small-business focused Paycheck Protection Program. The bill also includes $105 billion for schools and $16 billion for expansion of coronavirus testing.
Westmoreland County will hire as many as 1,800 poll workers for election day.
Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said recruiting has been underway for the last several weeks to have each of the county’s 307 voting precincts fully staffed on Nov. 3.
“We’re going to take as many poll workers as we can get. We’ll over schedule if we have to,” Sebastiani said.
Poll workers are responsible for overseeing all activities at each of the precincts, checking in registered voters, making sure the touch-screen computers and digital scanners are operational and are required to transport completed ballots back to the courthouse on election night.
The county is hiring judges of elections, inspectors and clerks. Judges earn $130 for the day and inspectors and clerks will be paid $95. Applications for the positions can be found on the county’s website or by calling the elections bureau at 724-830-3564.
Sebastiani said poll workers must be registered voters.
“Some might have to work out of their areas, if needed,” Sebastiani said.
Areas of need include Lower Burrell, New Kensington and Monessen as well as Rostraver and Washington townships.
The job will require training and workers will be paid to attend a 90-minute class at the courthouse prior to the election.
Officials struggled to find enough workers to man the polls for the June primary as the coronavirus pandemic surged, causing some who committed to work in the voting precincts to back out days before the election.
Sebastiani said the county wants to be sure it has enough staff on hand to handle what is expected to be a heavy turnout at the polls, even with as many as 100,000 ballots that could be submitted by mail. Presidential elections typically produce the most voters.
Turnout in Westmoreland County for the 2016 presidential election was more than 75% as more than 184,600 ballots were cast that year.
As of Aug. 31, there were 243,267 registered voters in Westmoreland County.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293, rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .
The incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. on the northbound Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks near the 3-mile marker of Route 28, according to emergency dispatchers.
The site is near the entrance to the Millvale Riverfront Park.
The victim is Francis Whalen Connelly, 31, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner.
Connelly was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bret Gibson is a Tribune-Review digital content producer. You can contact Bret at 724-850-1268, bgibson@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Carolyn Maloney, the Democratic chairwoman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, said the committee will start an investigation into DeJoy on the suspicion he may have lied to it under oath.
A raucous contingent of Black Lives Matter protesters harassed white diners over the weekend in Pittsburgh, hurling insults before one demonstrator stole a drink off one pair’s table.
Cellphone footage posted on Twitter shows the protesters converge on a restaurant’s outdoor dining area Saturday in the Steel City.
“F–k the white people that built the system,” one demonstrator could be heard yelling at the patrons, some of whom grabbed their belongings and walked away.
The group approached an older man and woman who stayed put, with a female protester clad in a shirt reading “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter” reaching onto their table, grabbing a drink, downing it and walking away as the patrons look on in disbelief.
Each year, some choose to ‘disappear’ and abandon their lives, jobs, homes and families. In Japan, there are companies that can help those looking to escape into thin air.
All over the world, from the US to Germany to the UK, some people decide to disappear from their own lives without a trace – leaving their homes, jobs and families in the middle of the night to start a second life, often without ever looking back.
In Japan, these people are sometimes referred to as “jouhatsu”. That’s the Japanese word for “evaporation”, but it also refers to people who vanish on purpose into thin air, and continue to conceal their whereabouts – potentially for years, even decades.
“I got fed up with human relationships. I took a small suitcase and disappeared,” says 42-year-old Sugimoto, who’s just going by his family name for this story. “I just kind of escaped.” He says that back in his small hometown, everybody knew him because of his family and their prominent local business, which Sugimoto was expected to carry on. But having that role foisted upon him caused him such distress that he abruptly left town forever and told no one where he was going.
From inescapable debt to loveless marriages, the motivations that push jouhatsu to “evaporate” can vary. Regardless of their reasons, they turn to companies that help them through the process. These operations are called “night moving” services, a nod to the secretive nature of becoming a jouhatsu. They help people who want to disappear discreetly remove themselves from their lives, and can provide lodging for them in secret whereabouts.
“Normally, the reason for moving is something positive, like entering university, getting a new job or a marriage. But there’s also sad moving – for example, like dropping out of university, losing a job or escaping from a stalker,” says Sho Hatori, who founded a night-moving company in the 90s when Japan’s economic bubble burst. At first, he thought financial ruin would be the only thing driving people to flee their troubled lives, but he soon found there were “social reasons”, too. “What we did was support people to start a second life,” he says.
Sociologist Hiroki Nakamori has been researching jouhatsu for more than a decade. He says the term ‘jouhatsu’ first started being used to describe people who decided to go missing back in the 60s. Divorce rates were (and still are) very low in Japan, so some people decided it was easier to just up and leave their spouses instead of going through elaborate, formal divorce proceedings.
“In Japan, it’s just easier to evaporate,” says Nakamori. Privacy is fiercely protected: missing people can freely withdraw money from ATMs without being flagged, and their family members can’t access security videos that might have captured their loved one on the run. “Police will not intervene unless there’s another reason – like a crime or an accident. All the family can do is pay a lot for a private detective. Or just wait. That’s all.”
For the loved ones who get left behind, the abandonment – and resultant search for their jouhatsu – can be unbearable.
