Recent Stories

Articles by Jonathan Cortez

November 10, 2015

Katy’s Baked Goods Brings Cookies, Cakes, Fudge and More to Downtown

Although it was a summer in arriving, Katy’s Baked Goods is open for business at 429 Lawrence Ave. The establishment adds a bakery to the growing list of downtown businesses. Katy’s celebrated it’s grand opening with an Ellwood City Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, October 31. Katy Mook-McGrath, an Ellwood resident, has sold baked goods for years at the Farmer’s Market and at the urging of her customers, she decided to open a bakery. McGrath emphasizes small batch, home-style baking and makes nothing in mass quantity. She uses real ingredients, such as vanilla beans, real butter, and…

November 9, 2015

Inmetco Fire Under Control

The fire that raged at Inmetco through Sunday and could be seen for miles is now under control. The Ellwood City Fire Department reported that the fire is reduced to a few isolated fires that are being extinguished now. Approximately half of the building where the fire broke out collapsed and is in ruin. The fire broke out on around 9 a.m. on Sunday in Inmetco’s West Building, which stores many types of batteries, including lithium-ion batteries. Because lithium is a reactive metal that combusts when it comes into contact with water, firefighters could not use water to combat certain…

November 3, 2015

Off Year Election: Don’t Forget to Vote

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] The day of the May primary elections, I wrote a column on why voting in local elections is important. The same principals hold true for today’s general election. It’s an off-year election. There are no state or Federal positions for us Pennsylvanians to vote for. While it may make today’s election less exciting, it doesn’t make it less important locally. There are several contested local positions such as county commissioners, judges, and borough…

October 29, 2015

CVS Construction Scheduled for End of Year

Construction work for the new CVS Pharmacy should start by the end of the year, pending the finalization of bids and obtaining building permits. The CVS will be located on Spring Avenue and Fifth Street, where the closed St. Agatha Catholic Church is now. In addition to St. Agatha, nine other properties will be removed as the pharmacy will extend beyond Locust Way. In July, borough council passed ordinances that consolidated the nine additional properties that would be consumed by the CVS Pharmacy and vacated a portion of Locust Way. According to CVS sources, demolition should begin by December and…

October 22, 2015

Students Create First Inter-school Powder Puff Game

The first ever inter-school Powder Puff game for Lincoln High school will be against Mohawk this Saturday, October 24. Ellwood has enjoyed a long tradition of intramural powder puff games but now the Lincoln senior girls will be pitting their athletic prowess against the Mohawk senior class. The game is the brainchild of seniors Sydney Schurtz and Alley McKelvey, who informed Athletic Director Darin Morella. Morella in turn contacted several surrounding schools. However only Mohawk responded positively, with their Athletic Director, Jared Stratton, joining the effort. According to Morella, the event should be a two-year commitment. This year’s game will…

October 21, 2015

Former Police Chief Sues Borough

Former police chief Mark Romutis is suing the Borough of Ellwood City. Romutis filed a wrongful termination lawsuit on Monday, October 19 at the Lawrence County Courthouse. According to court documents, the lawsuit is four-pronged: breech of contract, breech of policy violation, breech of implied covenant, and interference with prospective economic advantage. Romutis is seeking $35,000 for each of the claims for a total of $140,000. The lawsuit rests on the grounds that the reason for the police chief’s abrupt removal violated the terms of his contract and has limited his employment prospects. Romutis served as police chief from January…

October 21, 2015

Police Cruiser Purchase Causes Dissension in Council

Council voted to purchase a new police cruiser at Monday’s council meeting on October 19. However, the vote was not unanimous. Council members Ralph Chiapetta and David DeCaria voted no. Chiappetta said that due to low patrol hours in the police department (about 2.4/man hour), he couldn’t justify purchasing a new cruiser. “The police department has been focusing on drug activity while other crimes, such as vandalism, are on the rise,” Chiappetta said. David DeCaria joined Chiappetta in the dissenting vote, adding that the decision “won’t affect the safety of officers or the public.” However, the other five members of…

October 15, 2015

Council Members Disagree on Revision to Civil Service Regulations

The Ellwood City Borough Council was poised to adopt revised civil service regulations at its voting meeting on Monday, Oct. 19. However, after council member Connie MacDonald raised several questions during the agenda setting meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13, council agreed to table the motion for further discussion. MacDonald felt the regulations should include a credit check in the civil service commission’s background check. He also felt the borough should require police officer’s to have a college education, either a bachelors or associates. “In this day and age, we should hire the most qualified people and encourage people to have…

October 15, 2015

Riverside Parents Inquire about Co-Op Wrestling with Ellwood City

Several parents attended the Riverside School Board agenda setting meeting on Monday, Oct. 12 to inquire about a potential Riverside wrestling program. Visitor Rani Schweiger asked the Board if there was interest in either establishing a Riverside wrestling team or forming a Co-Op with Ellwood City. Superintendent Dr. David Arney said that because of how imminent winter sports season is, it is more practical to look into having Riverside athletes wrestle as independents for the 2015-16 school year. Schweiger countered that wrestling as an independent is an entirely different experience for athletes than having the support of a team. “My…

October 14, 2015

Local Effects of PIAA Transition to 6A Classification Uncertain

The nature of high school sports in Pennsylvania will change in the 2016-17 school year. At a meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 6 the PIAA board voted 26-4 to increase the number of football classifications from four to six. Traditionally, high schools sports have been divided into two to four size rankings (A, AA, AAA, AAAA) based on the student population of freshmen through juniors. Male and female populations are counted separately. With this change, there will now be six classifications (A-AAAAAA) in the PIAA for not only football, but baseball, softball, and boys/girls basketball. According to other news sources, the…