Latest news with #Johnstown-area
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Yahoo
CamTran chief eyeing end of year for Inclined Plane to reopen
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The process of reinstalling the recently reviewed, polished and measured sheave wheels of the Johnstown Inclined Plane has gotten underway. The new grooved wheels had to be individually cast in order to fit into the system that was designed in the 1890s. Multiple issues with the sheave wheels have slowed the renovation of the Inclined Plane. In February, the Cambria County Transit Authority, which owns the historic hillside railway system, approved $1.68 million in change orders to repair the six sheave wheels and two safety sheave wheels. CamTran did not need to use any of its funds to cover the extra expenses. Getting the wheels in place is part of an overall plan to get the long-idled Inclined Plane, a Johnstown-area landmark that connects downtown Johnstown to Westmont Borough, operational again. 'Our target (to have the rehabilitation work done) is sometime in August,' CamTran Executive Director Rose Lucey-Noll said during an interview after the board's regular meeting Friday. 'Like the end of the summer, we would have the project completed, and then we start our commissioning process and then also our training, so it won't be until the end of the year that we would see the Incline reopen.' 'Happy to be able to help the community' Also during the meeting, Lucey-Noll provided an update about CamTran taking over the county-wide Medical Assistance Transportation Program Tuesday. The service provides free rides to Medicaid recipients for medical purposes such as doctor visits and prescription pickups. 'We're very happy to be able to help the community out,' she said. 'Again, the opportunity to provide more efficient transportation in the community for services is very important in what we do and what we want to do to help people.'
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Yahoo
Johnstown-area man waives hearing in rape case
VINCO, Pa. – A Johnstown-area man is set to stand trial, accused of sexually assaulting a juvenile during a nine-year period, East Taylor Township police allege. East Taylor Township police charged Benjamin Sidney Boring, 23, of the 100 block of St. Petkas Lane, with multiple counts of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child. Boring waived his right to a preliminary hearing Monday before District Judge Mary Ann Zanghi, of Vinco. According to a complaint affidavit, a witness came forward and alleged that Boring had been assaulting the 15-year-old girl since she was 6 years old. Police said the alleged assaults took place between June 2015 and July 2024. Charges were filed after a forensic interview with the girl was conducted at Circle of Support Child Advocacy Center Center in Richland Township in August 2024. Boring denied the allegations. Boring was sent to Cambria County Prison in Ebensburg after failing to post 10% of $75,000 bond.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Hundreds gather in Va. to mourn victims of D.C. air disaster with Johnstown ties
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Nearly 1,500 people gathered Friday in Leesburg, Virginia, to honor the lives of a family with Johnstown-area ties who died last Wednesday in a midair collision near Washington, D.C. Donna (Smojice) Livingston, 48, originally of Westmont; her husband, Peter, 48; and their daughters Everly, 14, and Alydia, 11, were passengers on American Eagle Flight 5342 when it collided with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft. The Livingstons were returning to their home in Virginia from Wichita, Kansas, where the girls had attended a national development camp for promising young ice skaters held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. When the girls were very young, Peter, a hockey enthusiast, made an ice rink in the backyard to teach them how to skate, the family's obituary said. 'It was the first of what became an annually constructed backyard rink, and the birth of Everly and Alydia's primary passion: figure skating,' the obituary said. 'The girls skated at the Ashburn Ice House and were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club, competing all over the country. ... It was the girls' dream to skate in the Olympics one day. Then there are goals shared by us all – to leave this earth surrounded by those we love, having lived a life full of passion. Both goals are achieved by few. The Livingstons fulfilled the hardest one.' A celebration of life was held for the Livingston family Friday morning at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg. Friends from the Johnstown area including Bob Heffelfinger attended. 'Close to 1,500 people attended,' Heffelfinger said in a text message Friday night. The procession was led by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department. 'There was an outpouring from the sheriff's department,' Heffelfinger said. 'They closed every street and intersection.' Donna Livingston is survived by her mother Mary Smojice, brother Mark Smojice, and niece and nephew Maddy and Brody Smojice, and was preceded in death by her father, William Smojice, the family's obituary read. The family's bodies were recovered from the river and cremated. A spring interment at Grandview Cemetery in the Johnstown area is intended, Heffelfinger said. Donna graduated from Westmont Hilltop High School in 1995 and completed her college education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1999. 'Highly driven and ambitious, she went on to work in marketing for Discovery Communications and AOL before landing at Comcast where she excelled over the last 16 years,' the obituary read. 'Donna's infectious energy extended beyond her career as a beloved friend and dedicated skating mom and wife.' Peter worked as a Realtor with Keller Williams, where he was recognized by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors as a top producer for multiple years. Peter and Donna met in 2006 and were married in 2009. "Peter was best known for his love and dedication to his wife and daughters, joyfully leading the charge behind the scenes to support their endeavors,' the obituary said. 'It wasn't that Peter couldn't say no to his girls, he was just delighted to say 'yes'.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Yahoo
Windber police charge suspect in 'grandparent scam'
WINDBER, Pa. – A Johnstown-area man was jailed Saturday after Windber police accused him of scamming a woman out of $8,400 using what is known as the 'grandparent scam.' Windber Borough police charged Deangelo Marcus Dawkins, 40, of the 400 block of Sell Street in Upper Yoder Township, with felony counts of theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, criminal use of a communication facility and receiving stolen property. According to a complaint affidavit, the victim, an 89-year-old Windber woman, received a telephone call Jan. 28 from a person she thought was her grandson. The caller ID allegedly identified the caller as her grandson. The supposed 'grandson' said he had been involved in a two-vehicle crash in Johnstown and that he had injured his lip and broken his nose. The 'grandson' claimed that he had been jailed because the other driver was a pregnant woman who had suffered a miscarriage, the affidavit said. The 'grandson' said that if the woman paid $8,400 in cash for his bail, police would keep it off his record. He allegedly would not allow her to hang up to call her grandson's parents. A second man who identified himself as a lawyer told the woman to expect someone to pick up the cash, the affidavit said. The woman said she gave the money to a man who arrived outside her home driving a gold Kia SUV, then she called police. Security video from a local business showed a gold Kia with a front plate that read 'Team Kia.' The Team Kia dealership helped police identify the vehicle as being registered to Dawkins, police said. Dawkins was arraigned by on-call District Judge Scott Walker, of Somerset, and sent to Somerset County Jail after failing to post $25,000 bond.
