Greene County Messenger

Liam Lohr’s two-run double in the top of the ninth inning helped lead the Carmichaels Copperheads to a 4-2 victory over Hopwood in Fayette County Baseball League action at Hutchinson Field on Friday. Lohr may have had the game-winning hit, but Carmichaels starting pitcher Matt Bamford had 15 strikeouts over eight innings. He was relieved in the ninth for Ben Shields, who would earn the pitch victory, after throwing 136 pitches (87 strikes).

Charges were filed Monday in Greene County against two men accused of raping a child in incidents spanning several years. James Riley, 27, and William Riley, 23, are accused of molesting a girl in Morgan Township starting when she was 7, when all three were juveniles, she told police. She reported the alleged incidents in 2022. She said William Riley had assaulted her and forced her into sexual acts over a four-year period starting in 2013, she told state police.

A trial date has been set for a former Greene County district attorney and his former chief detective who are alleged to have used their positions to go after political foes. David Russo, 49, of Holbrook, and Zachary Sams, 41, of McDonald, are now scheduled to stand trial beginning Oct. 13. Both appeared in Greene County Court of Common Pleas for a hearing Monday.

Cash and suspected illegal drugs were seized at two locations in Greene County Friday morning after Greene County Drug Task Force detectives simultaneously executed search warrants at both spots, Greene County District Attorney Brianna Vanata announced Friday. The searches, conducted in Jefferson and Nemacolin, arose fro mseparate investigations, the district attorney’s office said.

A Greene County man was killed by falling rock in a mine accident Tuesday night. Zachary Wolfe, 34, of Rices Landing, died in the 10 p.m. accident at the Bailey Mine in Aleppo Township, the Greene County Coroner’s Office said in a statement Wednesday. An investigation by Pennsylvania State Police determined Wolfe was fatally injured after being crushed by rock. Wolfe was pronounced dead at 11:39 p.m., the coroner’s office said.

Traffic fatalities decreased in Pennsylvania in 2025 while holding steady or decreasing in the region, according to state statistics. The statewide total dropped to 1,047, 80 people fewer than in 2024 and the lowest number since record keeping began in 1928, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said in a release.

The Greene County Board is looking ahead to days of anglers and hikers at the Wisecarver Reservoir & Recreation Area. Thursday, the board approved a bid for work on the second phase of work at the reservoir, as well as a grant request for the third phase. Work will begin early this summer on Phase 2, which will include a boat launch that will allow the Fish & Boat Commission to stock the lake and for emergency crews to get boats on the water, said board Chairman Jared Edgreen.

Winning pitcher Carson Vanata was 2 for 2 with a triple, two stolen bases and two runs as Mapletown held off host Monessen, 6-5, to earn its first win of the season in non-section baseball action Monday. Cameryn Shaffer’s tie-breaking, run-scoring single in Mapletown’s two-run sixth inning put the visitors ahead to stay. Coltin Halbert also had an RBI single for the Maples (1-6, 1-9). Vanata struck out nine in 5 2/3 innings.

Feb 17, 2026 By 4 min read 1 / 2 A map provided by NextEra shows the proposed and alternate routes for the 107.5-mile MidAtlantic Resiliency Link transmission line. Portions of both routes would go through Greene and Fayette counties. 2 / 2 Garrett Neese Heather Defrank of Vanderbilt looks at a map showing proposed routes of a 500-kilovolt transmission line being pursued by NextEra Energy during an open house in Fairchance last year.

The former caregiver for an intellectually disabled Greene County man is accused of siphoning more than $3,000 from his bank account over a four-month period this winter. Meghan Cox, 34, of Clarksville, allegedly stole the money from Charles Durbin’s Chime banking account and transferred it to herself via Cash App. Durbin, who recently suffered a stroke, found unauthorized transfers to Cox after he was admitted to the hospital in January, according to court paperwork.