Lance: To the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County. More than three hours elapsed before the waterworks began alerting about 4,000 Westmoreland and Allegheny county customers of a water main break in North Huntingdon. And this, after the authority in October dropped the ball on a boil-water advisory. The utility's manager says it didn't want to put out incorrect information. So ratepayers who had no clue what happened to their water service had to wait hours for the authority to inform them of a line break.
On the “Watch List”:
• Ownership of the Jeannette Glass property. For three decades the shuttered 13-acre site has deteriorated into a city eyesore. Taxes have gone unpaid. And it took a court order to clean up hazardous waste. But if a Westmoreland judge nixes the site's sale for back taxes, the property's onetime New York owner will make everything right, according to the lawyer for Zion Bullitt Avenue Ltd. Sure, and perhaps those responsible for this festering mess will also put up the Brooklyn Bridge for collateral, eh?
• Emergency communications. The death of Youngwood firefighter Edwin “Lance” Wentzel, 57, struck and killed by a train while searching for a missing woman in North Versailles, is compounded by an apparent mix-up in communications between the railroad and rescuers. Norfolk Southern says it was not notified that crews had resumed the search on railroad property at the time of the accident. Regardless of who's at fault, if any, this apparent disconnect warrants a review and an explanation.
