Merger of Washington Health System and UPMC leads top stories of 2023
1. WHS, UPMC merge
Washington Health System and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center announced a merger in June.
The systems signed a non-binding letter of intent, subject to regulatory approval, to integrate WHS into UPMC.
The merger, if approved, will combine Washington Health System’s more than 2,000 employees, its two hospitals – the 278-bed Washington Hospital and its 49-bed WHS Greene in Waynesburg – and more than 40 off-site locations with UPMC’s system.
Following the merger, Washington Hospital, which was established in 1897, will be called UPMC Washington, and WHS Greene will become UPMC Greene.
After determining last year that it was not feasible to remain independent due to increased financial burdens, the WHS board of directors in December 2022 submitted a request for proposals to affiliate with a larger health care provider.
“The board spent a lot of time last year going through the process of saying we want to be independent, but because of health care economics, that wasn’t in the cards. So we looked at how are we going to keep high-quality health care, keep jobs, and if health care economics aren’t going to change, we’ve got to look elsewhere, and that led to the culmination of this decision in the last couple of weeks,” said Brook Ward, WHS president and CEO.
But the merger has met resistance from local unions and employees, who have concerns about the impact the merger will have on staffing and salaries, patient care, and hospital and facility closures.
Melissa Duran, chapter president of union SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania at Washington, noted that UPMC has closed hospitals after acquiring them, including facilities in Braddock, Sunbury and Lancaster.
Ward said he does not anticipate job cuts within the health system, noting, “UPMC’s goal is to grow the campus bigger, and if that happens, there will be more jobs.”
No deadline has been set for the merger.
In June, Paul Wood, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at UPMC said, “UPMC looks forward to pursuing this affiliation that would integrate WHS into the UPMC system and preserve and enhance high-quality health care services for communities served by WHS.”
He pledged the health systems would “keep our stakeholders and community updated as there are developments to share.”
2: Irey Vaughan, Belding retire as GOP candidates sweep Washington, Greene
After nearly three decades as a Washington County commissioner, Diana Irey Vaughan announced in February that she would not seek re-election to an eighth term this year. In her announcement, Irey Vaughan said she wanted a new generation of Republican leadership to step up to take the reins.
“It is a full-time job. It’s all consuming,” Irey Vaughan said of the role of a county commissioner. “You must give every bit of your heart to the job because it is such an honor and privilege to serve the people.”
Irey Vaughan later announced she would be taking over as executive director of the City Mission in Washington next year.
“It’s been a calling on my life and I can only hope someone else will feel that calling and wish to serve,” Irey Vaughan said. “I feel good about the decision and I’m excited to look forward to my next opportunity to serve.”
Her exit opened the door for a wide open Republican primary as six candidates vied for the GOP nominations, with incumbent Commissioner Nick Sherman and political newcomer Electra Janis winning. Janis, who wasn’t even born yet when Irey Vaughan first took office in January 1996, and Sherman went on to win in the general election to keep Republicans in control of the board with Democratic Commissioner Larry Maggi remaining in the minority.
There will also be new leadership in Greene County after Commission Chairman Mike Belding announced he would retire after one term in office. Incumbent Commissioner Besty Rohanna McClure and newcomer Jared Edgreen won to keep Republicans in control, and will be joined on the board by Democratic Commissioner Blair Zimmerman.
Meanwhile, Republicans easily swept every contested county row office race in both Washington and Greene counties, further cementing the region as a GOP stronghold.
3: Burgess elected first Black mayor of Washington
History was made this year with the city of Washington mayoral race.
When Jojo Burgess won the election in November, he became the city’s first Black mayor.
“That’s the one part that really hasn’t sunk in yet, the history behind what happened,” Burgess said the day after the election. “The residents of Washington have said they want this person leading us. I want to believe it’s because of the work ethic I’ve shown throughout my life. Being the first Black mayor, that’s huge. I can’t explain what it feels like to know you’re that person. It’s something I can’t be more grateful for. Sometimes, it’s the right time and the right place. This must be that.”
Burgess outdistanced independent Mark Kennison in a close race. In fact, the margin of victory was a scant 1.84% with Burgess receiving 1,076 votes to Kennison’s 1,037.
Kennison and 19 other voters eventually challenged the Nov. 7 election claiming there were irregularities with the voting process.
However, Kennison subsequently withdrew the challenge and the results were certified, officially making Burgess the mayor of the city of Washington.
“We have a plan in moving Washington forward in a united front and willing to prosper,” Burgess said at the time.
Burgess is a long-time steel worker and veteran political and union activist. He is a graduate of Trinity High School and served in the military from 1988-95.
He advanced to the general election after winning Democratic nomination in the primary over incumbent Scott Putnam, who is in the final days of his second term as mayor.
Burgess will be sworn in as mayor at the city’s reorganization which is scheduled for noon on Jan. 2.
4: County Controller April Sloane charged with animal cruelty in dog’s death
A day after the Washington Area Humane Society received an anonymous tip about possible animal abuse, North Strabane police officers descended on the townhouse of Washington County Controller April Sloane on Dec. 6 to inquire about the condition of her pet dog.
Nearly immediately, Sloane admitted that her dog, Thor, had died, prompting police to secure a search warrant in an attempt to locate the animal’s remains and any evidence explaining how it died. During the search, officers found Thor’s emaciated carcass stuffed in a black trash bag and stowed in the corner of Sloane’s garage, along with “deplorable conditions” in the basement where a dog cage was found.
The animal had died 10 days earlier on Nov. 27 of “severe emaciation” that investigators said was from neglect, according to court documents.
A week after the search, Sloane was arrested at her county office and charged with two felony counts of animal cruelty. She was released on unsecured bond and continues to work in her official capacity overseeing county funds and auditing government offices. Several high-ranking county officials and both local Republican and Democratic committees have called for Sloane to resign, which she has refused to do.
Sloane is scheduled to appear for her preliminary hearing before a magistrate on Jan.16. The Republican was elected to office in 2021, and her term runs through the end of 2025.
5: Greene DA charges commissioner, solicitor before AG throws out case
An error in the casting of lots to pick the order for how candidates would appear on the primary election ballot in Greene County turned a political fight into a legal battle.
The process had to be conducted twice after the first scheduled event on March 15 was not properly advertised to the public, which then raised questions about how the second casting of the lots was handled. With only Commission Chairman Mike Belding on the elections board, he and county solicitor Robert “Gene” Grimm conducted the second casting of lots March 23. Several candidates refused to draw lots, prompting them to be erroneously dropped to the bottom of the ballot order rather than election officials drawing for them to determine their positions.
Instead of filing a civil legal challenge with the Greene County Court of Common Pleas in an attempt to have the ballot selection process overturned, District Attorney David Russo, who was a Republican candidate running for re-election and adversely affected by the process, filed charges against Belding and Grimm on April 4. He referred the case to the state Attorney General’s office, which reviewed the facts and then dismissed the case a month later.
Russo lost his re-election bid to Brianna Vanata in the Republican primary. He’s now under investigation by the Attorney General for his handling of the situation after President Judge Lou Dayich determined he “committed gross negligence in performance of his duties” in filing the charges.
6: Newspapers get docket unsealed in Rostraver homicide case
For more than three months, the only information the public knew about the Rostraver Township strip mall shooting was that a suspect named Keven Van Lam was jailed in connection with the killing.
In a highly-unusual step, the public docket that lists the charges against a defendant and other information about a suspect’s home address, bail and upcoming hearing dates, was inexplicably withheld from public view.
That changed Feb. 8 when the state Superior Court sided with three newspapers – including the Observer-Reporter and Herald-Standard – and required the public docket to be made available while keeping investigative details in the affidavit sealed. While it was widely believed Lam had been charged with criminal homicide, the release of the docket a day after the court’s ruling was the first confirmation of his alleged ties to the killing of local businessman Boyke Budiarachman on Nov. 5, 2022.
A preliminary hearing held Oct. 18 – nearly a year after the shooting- shed more light on the mysterious killing of Budiarachman as he walked to his parked car outside the Rostraver strip mall. Investigators accused Lam of hiring a hitman and paying him $65,000 to kill Budiarachman after the two apparently had a falling out over their business dealings. Lam, who was living in North Strabane at the time of the killing, is jailed without bond while he awaits trial.
The state Superior Court is expected to publish a more robust opinion soon on the sealing of public dockets at the request of the newspapers and their attorneys with the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C.
7: Greene County election officials bungle mail-in ballots
Two separate mistakes with mail-in and absentee ballots in Greene County nearly derailed the Nov. 7 election.
In the first batch of mail-in ballots sent out in early October, both magisterial district judge races were included on all ballots rather than being tailored to the races where the voter lived. The county recalled those original ballots and printed new ones to send out to voters.
But that second batch also included erroneous instructions to vote for three commissioners candidates instead of just two, and it was too late to recall those. Elections officials sent out information asking people who were concerned that they had voted for too many candidates to come to the office and fill out a new mail-in ballot or vote provisionally at their precinct.
Out of the nearly 1,500 mail-in ballots cast in Greene County, more than one-third of them – 548 in total – had “overvotes” in the commissioners race. However, the amount of them was too low to affect the final results of the commissioners race.
The president judge in Greene County later required the elections office to count 199 “uncured” ballots from the first batch in which voters did not return their second ballot. No major races were affected by the errors with the mail-in ballots, but the situation shook the confidence of Democratic voters, who predominantly use that method to vote.
8: Details emerge in Good Samaritan murder case
The family of Vincent “Mystro” Kelley finally received answers nearly 10 years after Kelley was killed trying to stop a bank robber in South Strabane Township.
Toward the end of 2022, Keith David Wilk, 39, of Pittsburgh, was arrested for Kelley’s death after his ex-girlfriend turned him in to police.
Tina Vennebush testified at Wilk’s preliminary hearing in January that during a 2020 phone call he told her about robbing the Citizens Bank inside of Giant Eagle on June 16, 2013. Kelley, 46, of Washington, leapt into the backseat of Wilk’s car, and Wilk allegedly shot him five times.
Vennebush testified that Wilk told her, “He had to be a hero in the crowd.”
South Strabane police began investigating Wilk and found a DNA sample in a national database linking him to an umbrella that was left at the scene. Another DNA sample taken after Wilk was arrested also matched the sample from the umbrella.
Wilk is currently awaiting trial on felony charges of homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, prohibited possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license. He is being held in the Washington County jail without bond.
9: East Dunkard water problems hit boiling point with lengthy outage
Things appeared to be looking up this summer for customers in Greene County who rely on the much-maligned East Dunkard Water Authority after it was announced in June that Pennsylvania American Water Co. would be purchasing its assets for $5 million and taking over operations in 2024.
But then an issue at the authority’s water treatment plant in late October turned into an outright fiasco that left the 4,200 people in the network without water for four days.
The plant’s turbidity levels spiked Oct. 22, prompting a boil water advisory the following day. A conservation notice was eventually sent out to customers, but by Oct. 25, the system was depleted and all 1,800 homes and businesses were without water. It took three days for EDWA and the state Department of Environmental Protection to get the plant operating again and pump water back to customers.
In the aftermath of the incident, the DEP has asked for an emergency receivership be granted by the state Commonwealth Court to immediately hand over all operations to PAWC ahead of the sale.
Meanwhile, a dozen East Dunkard customers filed a lawsuit in Greene County Court of Common Pleas in October alleging that negligence by the water authority caused various health problems for them. More residents have signed onto the lawsuit following the water outage.
10: Locals charged in Jan. 6 attack plead guilty, sentenced to prison
The dark chapter of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol came to a close locally when the federal court cases for several southwestern Pennsylvania people were adjudicated. Out of the eight people with ties to Washington and Fayette counties and the South Hills of Pittsburgh, all were convicted and most were sentenced to serve time in prison.
Kenneth Grayson of Bridgeville completed his two-month prison term after being sentenced in December 2022 for trespassing inside the crypt area of the Capitol.
Jordan Mink of South Fayette, who used a baseball bat to smash windows at the Capitol, pleaded guilty to two federal charges in January and was sentenced in the summer to serve more than four years in a federal prison.
Dale “DJ” Shalvey was sentenced to serve 41 months in prison, while his wife, Tara Stottlemyer, was sentenced to serve eight months. The former Bentleyville couple was sentenced in May after pleading guilty in October 2022 to going onto the floor of the Senate and rummaging through official paperwork.
Philip “Flip” Vogel II and Debra J. Maimone pleaded guilty in June to stealing government-issued gas masks while inside the Capitol. Vogel, who is originally from Houston, Pa., was ordered to serve 30 days in prison followed by one year on supervised release. Maimone, who has ties to the Burgettstown area, was sentenced to spend two years on probation.
Shelley Stallings of Uniontown, who pleaded guilty in August 2022, was sentenced in April to serve two years in prison. Her estranged husband, Peter Schwartz, was convicted by a federal jury in December 2022 and sentenced in May to more than 14 years in prison, which at the time was the longest term for any J6 defendant.