A koala sits in a tree at a koala park in Sydney, Australia, Friday, May 5, 2023. Australian scientists have begun vaccinating wild koalas against chlamydia in a pioneering field trial in New South Wales. The aim is to test a method for protecting the beloved marsupials against a widespread disease that causes blindness, infertility and death. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Australian scientists have begun vaccinating wild koalas against chlamydia in a pioneering field trial in New South Wales. The aim is to test a method for protecting the beloved marsupials against a widespread disease that causes blindness, infertility and death. The safety and effectiveness of the single-shot vaccine has previously been tested by vaccinating koalas individually brought into wildlife rescue centers for other afflictions. Now the scientists want to understand the impact of vaccinating a population of wild koalas. A 2020 government assessment found that koalas could become extinct in the wild by 2050 due to threats from disease, habitat loss and road collisions.

Campaign signs for Heather Boyd and Katie Ford are seen, Thursday, May 4, 2023, in Aldan, Pa. The two are running in a special election in the Philadelphia suburbs that will determine whether Democrats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives will maintain control of the chamber or if Republicans will reclaim the majority control they held for 12 years until this January. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats are clinging to a one-seat Pennsylvania House majority but that could change when voters fill a suburban Philadelphia vacancy next week. At stake in the Delaware County special election is whether freshman Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro will have at least one chamber to aid his agenda going into the final month of budget negotiations. The result could also affect a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights. Democrat Heather Boyd and Republican Katie Ford are seeking a seat that became open when Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel resigned in March, a week after a lobbyist accused him by name of sexual harassment.

FILE – Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin speaks in front of University of Cincinnati Medical Center staff during the NFL Honors award show ahead of the Super Bowl 57 football game, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, in Phoenix. Damar Hamlin will put the $9.1 million given to a GoFundMe campaign by well-wishers after his on-field collapse into his own nonprofit, the Chasing M’s Foundation.
The decision, first shared with The Associated Press Monday, May 8, 2023, is a first step in the 25-year-old’s plan for the unprecedented outpouring of support that he received after his heart stopped following a tackle during a Monday night football game in January. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin will use the $10 million given to online fundraising campaigns by well-wishers after his on-field collapse to fund his own nonprofit, the Chasing M’s Foundation. The decision begins the 25-year-old’s plan for the unprecedented outpouring of support that he received after his heart stopped following a tackle during a Monday night football game in January. Hamlin first started Chasing M’s Foundation in May 2020 when he was still a student playing with the University of Pittsburgh. His spokesperson said they applied last month for retroactive tax-exempt status for the nonprofit.

Gas prices are two cents lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.778 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.
The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in Beaver County is $3.82.

The price for oil has dropped nearly $20 per barrel recently to the upper $60s, which has resulted in gas prices trending lower. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has fallen eight cents since last week to hit $3.53. Today’s national average is six cents less than a month ago and 78 cents lower than a year ago.

Story by Beaver County Radio news Staff. Published May 9, 2023 8:00 A.M.

(New Brighton, PA) The Beaver County Chamber of Commerce will hold a Grand renovation reveal at the Beaver County YMCA on third avenue in New Brighton. The ribbon cutting will take place at 1 pm on Wednesday.

Story by Beaver County Radio news Staff. Published May 9, 2023 7:58 A.M.

(Darlington Township, PA) Pennsylvania State police are searching for a person who left a dead dog on the side of the road in Darlington. Troopers responded to the 800 block of Cannelton Road to investigate a large black trash bag that was emmitting an odor. A deceased dog was found inside the bag.
Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver ask anybody with information to contact them at 724-773-7400.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Though the final budget won’t be cemented until late June, preparations for it were cemented at the New Brighton’s school board meeting on Monday evening. The board placed a resolution on the agenda for approval to adopt a proposed final budget at the May 22 voting meeting–though what the details of that are remain somewhat ambiguous.

“It’s still a giant question mark,” stated Superintendent Dr. Joseph Guarino. “We don’t really know any more today than we did back at the beginning of March when the Governor released it. There has been absolutely nothing out of Harrisburg, so we don’t know if the numbers released are accurate, if they might go up or they might go down, we really don’t know much of anything at this point. [It’s] not uncommon for this time of year.”

Guarino added that while there are discussions about what the budget could contain–including a potential millage increase for the next year–but reminded the public that the proposed budget is simply that…proposed. “It is just a proposed one,” Guarino stated, “so what we approve at the end of May can be changed as much as we want between the end of May and the end of June.”

Also added to the list of resolutions at Monday night’s meeting were approvals for board member Bernadette Mattica to be appointed as the board’s treasurer, and three submissions of applications for Title I, Title II and Title IV for the 2023-24 school year. Several contract renewals are also set to be voted on at the May 22 meeting, including a $3,500 one-year renewal with Medic Rescue and the “All Sports & Voluntary Student Accident Insurance” for the 2023-24 school year at a total of $7,900.

The May 22 voting meeting is scheduled for 7:30 PM at the “Little Theatre” in the high school.

FILE – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks on the U.S.-China economic relationship at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Thursday, April 20, 2023, in Washington. Yellen said Sunday that there are “no good options” for the United States to avoid an economic “calamity” if Congress fails to raise the nation’s borrowing limit of $31.381 trillion in the coming weeks. She did not rule out President Joe Biden bypassing lawmakers and acting on his own to try to avert a first-ever federal default. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A union of government employees has sued Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and President Joe Biden to try to stop them from complying with the law that limits the government’s total debt, which the lawsuit contends is unconstitutional. The lawsuit comes just weeks before the government could default on the federal debt if Congress fails to raise the borrowing limit. Financial markets have become increasingly nervous about the potential for default, with economists warning that a failure to raise the debt limit could trigger a global financial crisis. On Tuesday, Biden will meet with the top Republicans and Democrats in Congress to seek a potential breakthrough. The two sides remain far apart..

FILE – A briefcase of a census taker is seen as she knocks on the door of a residence, Aug. 11, 2020, in Winter Park, Fla. A significant number of non-citizens appear to have been missed in the 2020 census, according to results from a U.S. Census Bureau simulation, during a head count of all U.S. residents in which the Trump administration tried but failed to prevent people in the country illegally from being tallied. (AP Photo/John Raoux, file)

A number of noncitizens appear to have been missed in the 2020 census. That’s according to results from a U.S. Census Bureau simulation that utilized records from government agencies instead of the survey-like responses used in the official once-a-decade tally of every U.S. resident. The simulation results were released Friday. The simulation found that almost a fifth of noncitizens in the administrative records had addresses that couldn’t be matched in the 2020 census. During the 2020 census, the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to prevent people in the country illegally from being tallied. The census helps determine political power and the distribution of federal funding.