(Photo provided with release)

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

Advocates for juvenile-justice and child-welfare providers in Pennsylvania want the General Assembly to approve one-time funding to boost staff recruitment and retention to fight a labor-shortage crisis.

The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services is requesting a $94.7 million infusion to support nearly 19,000 positions, both vacant and filled.

William Vogler, CEO of Pinebrook Family Answers, which offers adoption, foster care, kinship care and child-abuse prevention programs in the Lehigh Valley, said the staffing shortage hurts young people the most.

“If we don’t have the people that are willing or able to drive kids to visits to see their biological families, or to engage with a foster family, help get kids to appointments, they simply don’t get that service,” Vogler explained.

Among the state’s providers, 35% have a waiting list largely due to staff limitations, according to a council survey. Rep. Rosemary Brown, R-Monroe/Pike, and Rep. Carrie DelRosso, R-Allegheny, are asking for the funding to be part of the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget, which must be finalized by June 30.

Janna Brubaker, executive director of Families United Network, a child-welfare provider offering foster care, kinship care, adoption and residential services in most Pennsylvania counties, said part of the challenge is providers have to plan ahead with county agencies to set reimbursement rates.

“We cannot just change our rates based on the cost of doing business,” Brubaker argued. “We actually have to evaluate our rates almost 18 months in advance. It’s difficult to compete against Walmart or Amazon that are offering over $20 an hour. We can’t do that.”

Brubaker added Families United Network increased its wages during the pandemic, but still averages a 15% to 20% job vacancy rate. She thinks some increased funding could be used to provide bonuses, both for new and longtime staff.

(Photo provided with release)

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

Pennsylvania’s primary is four days away, and state election officials want to remind people of the different ways they can vote.

More than 8.7 million Pennsylvanians are registered to vote. Key races this year include governor, lieutenant governor, a U.S. Senate seat, U.S. representatives, state representatives, half of all state senate seats, and Democratic and Republican Party committee members.

Leigh Chapman, acting Secretary of the Commonwealth, said the state’s election website, vote.pa.gov can be an important resource for accurate election information.

“There you can find a tool to help voters locate their polling place, a candidate database, a list of voter rights, instructions for how voters can report a complaint if they experience a problem at their polling place and more,” Chapman outlined. “Voters can also call our toll-free voter hotline at 1-877-VOTES-PA.”

Pennsylvania is a closed-primary state, which means a voter must be registered as Democrat or Republican in order to vote on Tuesday. All registered voters can vote on local ballot questions and special elections. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in all counties.

A recent poll found one in six election officials nationwide have experienced threats because of their job and a majority feel threats have increased in recent years. Chapman pointed out the state is making it a priority to make election workers feel safe.

“Protecting election officials is definitely a top concern, from poll workers, to county election directors, to county commissioners,” Chapman explained. “We are partnering with our federal partners and our state partners to ensure that there is a plan to make sure that poll workers and those that are counting every vote are protected.”

In total, Pennsylvania voters requested more than 807,000 mail ballots and more than 103,000 absentee ballots. Chapman added it is critical voters follow all instructions on how to fill out and seal their mail-in ballot for it to be counted. It must be returned to your county Board of Elections by 8 p.m. on May 17.

(AP Photo/Marc Levy)
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor says he is ending his campaign and endorsing rival Lou Barletta. The development on Thursday comes as GOP leaders warn that leading candidate Doug Mastriano is too far right to win in a general election. Jake Corman announced his endorsement of Barletta just days before Pennsylvania’s May 17 primary and amid hand-wringing by establishment Republicans that a Mastriano victory would doom their chances of flipping the governor’s mansion in November. Corman’s name will remain on ballots statewide, and mail-in voting has been underway for weeks. It’s unclear what, if any, effect Corman’s move will have on the race, since polls showed him gaining little traction.

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Sensing a threat in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race, Donald Trump has issued a warning that surging Republican candidate Kathy Barnette would upend the GOP’s chances of holding the seat in November. He is urging voters to back his pick, TV’s Dr. Mehmet Oz. Trump said Thursday that only Oz can win the fall election against the Democratic nominee. The former president’s statement echoed growing panic among his allies and the party establishment over Barnette’s sudden and unforeseen rise ahead of the state’s May 17 primary. Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary had been primarily an expensive duel between Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick.

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
By ALAN SAUNDERS Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Connor Overton got his first major league win and combined with two relievers on a four-hitter for the Cincinnati Reds’ first shutout of the season, a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Overton allowed three hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings with one strikeout. The 28-year-old right-hander got nine outs on ground balls. Luis Cessa got five straight outs, and Art Warren finished. Cincinnati has the worst record in the major leagues at 8-24; the Reds are 3-1 against Pirates and 5-23 against other teams.

(File Photo)

Story by Sandy Giordano, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, Pa. )  THE ALIQUIPPA SCHOOL DISTRICT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR  RECOGNIZED THE 2021-22 BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM  AT WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S ALIQUIPPA SCHOOL BOARD WORK SESSION. COACH NICK LACKOVICH TALKED ABOUT THE TEAM’S SEASON. THEIR RECORD LAST SEASON 19-9-0.

The featured image above shows two women holding their signs for the rally outside the Beaver County Courthouse 
Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published May 12, 2022 10:22 P.M.

(Beaver, PA)  County residents gathered at the courthouse Thursday Evening for a rally to protect reproductive rights in Pennsylvania.  The rally was hosted by the Beaver County Democratic Committee, Beaver County Young Democrats, and Voices for Change Beaver.  An organizer of the event, Erin Gabriel, told Beaver County Radio that the main purpose of the rally was “A calling to gather”.  The rally featured multiple guest speakers including Democratic Candidate for Congress Chris Deluzio.  Deluzio said “We need federal protection”, and “They’ve got to hear us loud and clear”.  Bruce Carper, State House Candidate for District 14 said “This is just the beginning, this is one right, what is going to happen next?”.  Speakers also read letters sent from Conor Lamb and John Fetterman with Lamb saying that the current events are “appalling” and he “will protect Roe”, while Fetterman said “lives will be in danger, we can’t afford to wait” in regards to self-induced abortions.  Other guest speakers shared stories of their own while attendees held signs and listened on the courthouse steps.
View photos from the rally below:

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
(Photos by Matt Drzik)

“Why not try and bring a hotel back to Rochester?”

Those words from Kenneth Majors sparked a project that lasted for half a decade, and culminated in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Thursday afternoon at the Rochester Hotel on West Washington Avenue. The ceremony was co-hosted by the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce inside the renovated Diamond Lounge area.

Majors, along with Brian York, bought the property on April 1, 2017 after seeing it abandoned for several years, and “took two years to gut it and three to get where we are now,” he told Beaver County Radio. “Thanks to COVID, it took a three-year project and turned it into a five-year project.”

The pandemic was not the only obstacle for the new facility, as York explained: “Politically, it’s been an uphill battle. Rochester has been supporting us; we need more support from the local area to use this facility and grow up the area around Rochester.”

The hotel, which occupies the same residence as the former Penn Beaver hotel, has fully opened with 54 rooms of hotel space, a newly renovated bar and lounge known as the Diamond Lounge (where the ceremony took place), and the Penn Beaver restaurant–a nod to the hotel that preceded it.

Also in attendance at the ribbon-cutting were Rochester mayor Keith Jackson, Rochester councilman Rico Elmore, Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning, and outgoing Beaver County Chamber of Commerce president Helen Kissick.

“This is, to me, the biggest development that’s gone on in Rochester in 40 years,” York said. “This is very, very good for Beaver County.”

(Neshannock Twp., Pa.) We have an update for you on a story we first told you about Wednesday after Pa. State police arrested Shane McDevitt after a high speed chase and crash on Route 28 near the Springdale, Cheswick exit. McDevitt was wanted in connection with the homicide of 65-year-old Cecelia Liposky, of New Castle whose body was found in a home on the 2800 block of Mercer Road in Neshannock Township Lawrence County. Police are now saying that McDevitt is Liposky’s son.
McDevitt is being charged with Criminal Homicide and possessing a Instruments of Crime. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 18, 2022. Bail for McDevitt was denied.