(File Photo of the PennDOT logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) A ceremony was held yesterday in Harrisburg to honor two PennDOT District 11 employees for their outstanding performance with the highest recognition from PennDOT, the Star of Excellence Award. PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll recognized Nicole Perry and Brian Rampulla in Harrisburg yesterday at the National Civil War Museum at an awards luncheon that day. PennDOT District 11 employees represent Beaver, Allegheny and Lawrence Counties. According to a release from PennDOT District 11, here is some more information about both the 2025 PennDOT Star of Excellence employees and the Star of Excellnce Award from PennDOT:

Nicole Perry, Consultant Agreement Supervisor

• Nicole oversees all construction inspection and management agreements within District 11.  Known for her reliability and communication skills, Nicole has been able to use her expertise in her current role as well as previous positions to support and assist other staff members. She has held various roles in both the District’s Construction and Design Services Units. Her experience in the Construction Unit includes time as the District’s Finals Unit Manager, providing her with in-depth expertise in the Department’s Engineering Construction Management System (ECMS). Recently, the District 11 Construction Unit has welcomed a group of new Assistant Construction Engineers (ACEs). Nicole has been an invaluable mentor, guiding these ACEs in budgeting and planning their construction inspection teams for the first time. Additionally, Nicole serves as Inspector-in-Charge for several high-profile construction projects including the Pittsburgh Safe Routes to School and the Pittsburgh Pedestrian Wayfinding projects. Nicole is recognized for her skills in delivering outstanding customer service both internally and externally and also her ability to apply her extensive construction inspection and management knowledge in emergency situations.

Brian Rampulla, P.E., Structure Control Engineer

• Brian improves the department’s efficiency, service quality, and workforce strength. He elevates every project he touches, contributing to measurable cost savings, safer work environments, stronger partnerships, and enhanced public trust. Brian consistently delivers an exceptional performance that exceeds expectations. His ongoing support for employee development, especially new engineers and inspectors, strengthens the department’s internal capabilities and success for the future. His clear communication, respectful demeanor, and willingness to teach make him a trusted figure across all stakeholder groups. His mentorship has helped close the knowledge gaps, reinforce professional standards, and instill a culture of continuous learning. He’s known for being present, engaged, and incredibly effective under pressure, often leading field coordination in real time during structural emergencies. Brian simply exemplifies PennDOT’s core values through his unwavering dedication to customer service, mentorship, innovation, and collaborative problem solving and most importantly safety at all levels. He is a great asset to District 11.

More Information on The Star of Excellence Awards from PennDOT

• The Star of Excellence Awards are presented annually to employees who represent the department’s values of service, performance and integrity. The recipients represent a variety of organizational positions, spanning from highway maintenance and driver and vehicle services workers, to traffic control specialists, engineers and more.

(File Photo of Police Siren Lights)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Chippewa Township, PA) An investigation into a deadly motorcycle crash that occurred last night in Chippewa Township is underway by troopers of the Pennsylvania State Police. A motorcycle and another vehicle were involved in this crash that occurred close to the Chippewa Town Center along Route 51. Someone was killed in this crash, but that person has not been identified yet. Video provided to KDKA from a witness shows that before slamming into the other vehicle, the motorcycle was driving through the area at a high rate of speed. It is unclear at this time of what injuries occurred in this crash, if any, and it is unclear at this time what led up to it.

(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Sewickley, PA) According to court documents, thirty-one-year-old Dylan Lee Morris and thirty-four-year-old Noah Storm Sadowski will each spend up to twelve years in prison because they were accused of allegedly torturing sixty-two-year-old Jon Olson inside his Sewickley home last year. These two suspects were sentenced on Monday for their crimes. Olson testified that during an hour-long attack by these men, they burned him with lit cigarettes, handcuffed him, poked his body with knives, put glue on his eyes, duct taped his mouth shut, and threatened to kill him. This alleged incident occurred on the night of April 7th, 2024 at the home of Olson in Little Street. On June 17th, 2025, Morris and Sadowski pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy, robbery, aggravated assault and related counts.

(File Photo: Caption for Photo: PennDOT, PSP, PTC, Construction Industry Highlight National Work Zone Awareness Week)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Submissions for the 2025-2026 PennDOT Innovations Challenge will now be accepted until January 30th, 2026 for high school students in Pennsylvania. All students in grades 9-12 in Pennsylvania can participate in this challenge. According to a release from PennDOT, this challenge encourages students to use their problem-solving, creative and strategic-thinking abilities to solve real-world transportation challenges in a competition among their peers. A concept must be developed by high school students in this challenge which is to figure out a concept for artificial intelligence in work zones to improve safety for both those that use roads and work crews. The concept also should take deployment implications across Pennsylvania, outreach for the public and cost-benefit information into consideration and the concept must show how PennDOT can use systems that are smarter both to protect those who are working to make Pennsylvania better and to prevent accidents.For more information and to submit an entry for this challenge, go to penndot.gov/innovation.

(Photo Courtesy of Aliquippa Firefighters)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) A fire occurred at a house in Aliquippa yesterday and Aliquippa Fire Chief Tim Firich confirms that three adults and eleven kids escaped that fire safely. According to Beaver County dispatchers, emergency crews were called to the 400 block of Elmira Street at 3:11 p.m. yesterday because of that Aliquippa house fire which ended up damaging some of the house. An investigation is occurring for the cause of this fire.

(File Photo of Senator Elder Vogel, Jr.)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA)  Senator Elder Vogel, Jr. and other leaders of industry as well as lawmakers are currently raising awareness about hunger across Pennsylvania. Vogel and Representative Emily Kinkead were the authors of Senate Resolution 143, which made designation for September of 2025 as Hunger Action Month in Pennsylvania. According to Vogel, “Access to quality food is essential for individual and family health, which is why it continues to be my priority to support responsible solutions put forward to best benefit residents experiencing food insecurity.” Vogel and Kinkead are co-chairs of the Pennsylvania Legislative Hunger Caucus in the Pennsylvania Senate.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – A giant ladle glows red after pouring molten iron in to a vessel inside the basic oxygen furnace as part of the processes of making steel at the U.S. Steel Granite City Works facility Thursday, June 28, 2018, in Granite City, Ill. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Steel will stop processing steel slabs at its Granite City Works plant in Illinois, three months after Nippon Steel sealed a deal with President Donald Trump to buy the iconic American steelmaker by giving the government a say over decisions that affect domestic steel production.

U.S. Steel will end production at the plant, likely in November, but it won’t lay off any of the roughly 800 workers there or reduce their pay, it said. Workers will maintain the plant so that it is operational in case anything changes, U.S. Steel said.

They’ll keep their jobs at least until 2027, as a result of a national security agreement between Trump and Nippon Steel that allowed its buyout of U.S. Steel to go forward.

In a statement, the Pittsburgh steelmaker said Tuesday that it will “optimize” its operations by focusing on processing raw steel at its Mon Valley Works facilities in Pennsylvania and Gary Works in Indiana.

Granite City Works makes rolls of sheet steel for the construction, container, pipe and automotive industries.

The plant is located in southern Illinois, just outside St. Louis. However, in 2023, U.S. Steel stopped producing raw steel there when it idled the last operating blast furnace at Granite City. It idled the other blast furnace there in 2019.

The United Steelworkers union local in Granite City told its members in a memo that U.S. Steel is developing a severance package, but that U.S. Steel told it there would be no layoffs because of the decision.

In a statement, the United Steelworkers district director in Illinois, Mike Millsap, said it had yet to receive anything in writing from U.S. Steel about its plan for Granite City Works.

“As we continue to push U.S. Steel for details on how this impacts our members, we intend to hold Nippon accountable to the promises it made over the past year and a half to secure its deal,” Millsap said.

Nippon Steel in June finalized its nearly $15 billion takeover of U.S. Steel, ending a long and politically fraught process a year-and-a-half after the Japanese company first proposed the buyout.

The pursuit by Nippon Steel for the Pittsburgh-based company was buffeted by national security concerns and presidential politics in a premier battleground state, dragging out the transaction for more than a year after U.S. Steel shareholders approved it. The national steelworkers union opposed it, although officials some union locals supported it.

In the end, Trump changed his stance on invoking national security grounds to block it.

To sweeten the deal, Nippon Steel upped its guarantees of investment into U.S. Steel facilities and added a so-called “golden share” provision that gives the federal government the power to appoint a board member and a say in company decisions that affect domestic steel production and competition with overseas producers.

The protections last until 2035 for U.S. Steel facilities, except for Granite City. Those protections last until 2027.

(File Photo of a Police Siren Light)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver report that sixty-year-old Byron Pitts of Aliquippa was arrested on August 14th, 2025 for driving under the influence of alcohol in Aliquippa. Pitts was discovered by police on the 1100 block of Maratta Road. According to police, subsequently, Pitts was arrested for driving under the influence of an alcoholic substance and his charges are pending.