Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 6:46 AM
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials say an estimated 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in one year. That’s a total the nation has never seen. Experts say it’s tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and a more dangerous drug supply. Overdose deaths have been rising for more than two decades. But they accelerated dramatically in the past two years — jumping nearly 30% in the last year alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new figures Wednesday. The numbers for the period from May 2020 to April 2021 aren’t yet final.

(File Photo)
Story by Frank Sparks, News/Program director
Thursday, November 18, 2021
(Harmony, Pa.) One person is dead after a crash around 5 PM yesterday on Interstate 79 in Butler County northbound around mile marker 96. The crash had all lanes of Interstate 79 closed for hours from the Harmony Exit to the Portersville Exit.
There’s no word on how many vehicles were involved or if there are other injuries.
No other details on the crash can be released at this time.

Update:
One person was killed and two were hurt in a wrong-way crash on I-79 in Butler County.
A pickup truck was driving south when it crossed the median into the northbound lanes and crashed into another truck head-on.
As a result of that crash, those trucks then hit a third vehicle around the Portersville exit.
The driver of the first truck was flown to the hospital and his passenger was taken to the hospital via ambulance. The driver of the truck heading northbound, 58-year-old Harry Hibbard died at the scene.
Those inside the third vehicle only suffered mild injuries.

(File Photo)

Story by Frank Sparks, News/Program Director

Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 6:04 AM

(Raccoon Twp., Pa.) Pa State Police in Beaver reported yesterday that they were called to the scene of a one vehicle accident at 5:54 AM on November 9, 2021 on Franfort Road in Raccoon Township.

Upon arriving on the scene and investigating Troopers learned a 2011 Chevrolet Caprice that was driven by an unknown person hit an embankment when the driver lost control of the vehicle. the vehicle then traveled up the embankment, hit a traffic sign, and struck a tree before returning to the roadway and becoming disabled. The unknown driver fled the scene prior to State Police arriving. The air bag of the vehicle was deployed and the vehicle was towed from the scene as Police continue to investigate the accident.

Thursday, November 18,2021 at 5:47 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The state House of Representatives is aiming to increase penalties for motorists who have multiple DUI convictions. Lawmakers want to end what critics have called Pennsylvania’s “revolving door” for the most serious drunk drivers. The bill passed Wednesday 168-32. It next goes to the Senate for consideration. Under the bill, penalties would rise for those who receive multiple driving-under-the-influence convictions with higher blood-alcohol content levels. The bill was inspired by the death of Deana Eckman, a 45-year-old Delaware County woman killed in 2019 by a five-time drunk driver. He had been freed from state prison a few months earlier.

Police: Driver hit by train was trying to cross tracks
ROYALTON, Vt. (AP) — Police in Vermont say a driver who died after being hit by an Amtrak train had crossed the tracks, backed into a driveway to turn around, and was attempting to cross back when he was hit. The crash happened at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in the town of Royalton as the sports utility vehicle was crossing the tracks at an intersection not marked with gates. The driver, the only occupant of the vehicle, was identified as 23-year-old Thomas Fennell, a Vermont Law School student from Pittsburgh. Anyone with further knowledge of the crash is asked to call Royalton Police.

State officials, lawmakers and judges get big 2022 pay raise
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Inflation will drive a big salary increase for Pennsylvania state lawmakers, judges and top executive branch officials in 2022. For many of the positions, it is the biggest increase in three decades. Salaries will rise 5.6%, a figure tied by state law to the year-over-year change in the consumer price index for the mid-Atlantic region. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says it’s the largest year-over-year increase since 1991. The increase applies to more than 1,000 positions, including governor, Cabinet members, three statewide elected officers, all 253 lawmakers and state and county judges. It takes effect Dec. 1 for lawmakers and Jan. 1 for judicial and executive branch officials.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

With 2021 closing and 2022 on the horizon, one of the biggest moves forward for the County Commissioners is to put a new budget in place. At the November 17 work session, Solicitor Garen Fedeles announced the resolution introducing the proposed budget for the upcoming year, with financial advisor Corey Troutman breaking down the numbers.

“The total general fund will be $82,032,165”, Troutman stated at the work session. “No increase in the tax rates; it’s gonna remain at $25 million for general purpose and $1 million for debt service.”

The commissioners will vote on the resolution tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Fedeles provided an update on the Ambridge-Aliquippa bridge: “I spoke with Tammy Frank this morning…there are 11 spans that need to have work done on them and six of those 11 have been completed. At this point it seems they’re still on time…nothing at this point has happened to delay the anticipated opening of December 3.”

The majority of the meeting however, was dedicated to a conversation held mostly between Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp and RiverWise executive director Dan Rossi-Keen, addressing face-to-face recent allegations.

The 22-minute and 10-second dialogue was at times icy and tense, but never loud or abrasive, as Camp and Rossi-Keen debated over the Blacks Run Bridge project. Rossi-Keen felt that the County Commissioners are unsupportive of the project in its entirety, while Camp felt that RiverWise painting that picture was a falsehood, and that the Commissioners support a trail being built–just not under the current financial and geographic parameters currently in place.

The public meeting will be set for Thursday, November 18 at 10:00 AM.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 7:55 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A state judge says an order that requires masks inside K-12 schools and child care facilities to contain the coronavirus should expire Dec. 4, although that’s unlikely to be the final legal development. Tuesday’s ruling by Commonwealth Court Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon comes a week after her court threw out the statewide mask mandate. Her order lifts the automatic suspension of the court’s earlier decision that was granted when Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration appealed to the state Supreme Court. Cannon’s ruling, in theory, gives time for the state Supreme Court to take up the case, or for Wolf’s administration to enact the mask mandate through an emergency regulation.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 7:53 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A bill to allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit has been passed by a divided Pennsylvania House, but faces a veto threat from the governor. The parties were split in the vote Tuesday, as occurred in the state Senate last week, with Republican mostly supporting it and Democrats mostly opposed. Supporters said getting concealed carry permits under current law can be subject to the whims of county sheriffs and that concealed carry permit holders can forget when their licenses expire and therefore unknowingly violate the law. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said he will veto the legislation.