Tribune-Review file
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Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Greensburg hoped its online Guardian Angel Appeal fundraising campaign would raise about $50,000. Donors smashed that goal, then kept giving. The campaign raised $233,950.
“There’s no way I could express how amazed I am at the success of the campaign, not because of any doubts about the generosity of the people of the diocese, but about the reality of the situation, that we went out to ask for support in the middle of a pandemic,” Monsignor Raymond E. Riffle, managing director of Catholic Charities, said in a statement.
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Sunrise Elementary School in the Penn-Trafford School District is closed after two more people in the building tested positive for the coronavirus.
That brings the total active case count to three within 14 days, according Superintendent Matt Harris.
The school was notified Friday morning of the new cases, Harris said in a message to parents. He did not say if the positive cases were students or faculty members.
Under state health guidelines, that means the school should close for up to seven days. Also learning remotely Friday are students in the high school, Penn Middle School and Harrison Park Elementary. All other schools have in-person classes.
Tribune-Review
Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds Frank Schiefer takes his oath of office during the swearing in ceremony at the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg, on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019.
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Westmoreland County commissioners are expected to settle a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year by a former employee claiming she was fired by new Republican Recorder of Deeds Frank Schiefer after he took office in January.
The $27,500 settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing, officials said Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed by former office supervisor Alida Patterson, 34, of Latrobe, a employee in the Recorder of Deeds Office since 2015. She was fired by Schiefer, the incoming office holder, on his first day on the job.
The coronavirus has been good for Westmoreland County’s bottom line.
Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved a $339.7 million budget for 2021 that does not raise property taxes in part because federal covid relief money held back to pay for personnel and other expenses related to the ongoing pandemic.
Property taxes will remain at 21.49 mills, a figure set last year by the outgoing board of commissioners that represented a 2.4% increase and the first tax hike in 15 years.
“Our goal this year was obviously with unemployment being so high and people being sick with covid is making sure we did not have a tax increase in 2020,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes. “We’re just trying to alleviate the burden off of the taxpayer as much as possible, and that’s what we accomplished as a core group here.”
Shane Dunlap | Tribune-Review
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The number of patients hospitalized in Westmoreland County because of the coronavirus jumped 27% in the last few days from 131 patients on Saturday to 166 on Wednesday, according to state data.
That’s a 55% increase from Nov. 30, when the county reported its first triple-digit patient count.
Excela Health last week added 12 beds at one of its three hospitals and is “consistently redeploying staff” to help treat covid patients, said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carol Fox. About 40% of current patients at the health system’s hospitals were admitted because of the coronavirus.