(File Photo: Source for Photo: (File Photo: Source for Photo: Police respond to an active shooter situation at the Tree of Life synagogue on Wildins Avenue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pa., on Saturday, October 27, 2018. (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette via AP)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A commemoration ceremony that was inside the Jewish Community Center in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh marked eight years since the synagogue shooting at the former Tree of Life synagogue that took the lives of 11 people and changed the lives of many others. 

Family members lit 11 candles yesterday for the 11 congregants of Dor Hadash, New Light, and Tree of Life who were shot and killed on October 27th, 2018. 

The victims of that shooting were: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger. 

That event brought a room of people together for a night of prayer, reflection and song. 

This ceremony finished with remarks from the event’s keynote speaker, Mark Nordenberg, who served as the chancellor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Chester County, Pa. election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester on Nov. 4, 2020. Law enforcement agencies, civil defense officials and election administrators have begun meeting in Pennsylvania to coordinate how they will identify and fight election threats with the presidential contest just eight months away in the battleground state, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt reminded voters, in his eighth and final pre-election virtual media briefing, that the deadline to apply for a mail ballot (click here to do so) for the November 3rd election is here.

The deadline was yesterday at 5 p.m.

You can go to vote.pa.gov to apply online, and voters should complete their ballot and immediately return it to their county elections office.

People can either drop it off at their county elections office or they can drop it off at an authorized drop box if their county has one.

Mail ballots must be received at respective county elections offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day for them to count. 

(File Photo of an American Flag)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) Eat’n Park restaurants will offer a 10% discount to both active and former U.S. military personnel as well as their families throughout the month of November. 

This discount will be available at all Eat’n Park locations across the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. 

The discount applies to all meals on the check of the active or former military member.

Military personnel will also receive a free Smiley Cookie with their meal on Veterans Day, which is November 11th. 

This military discount and Veterans Day cookie offer are valid exclusively for dine-in guests of Eat’n Park.

That promotion cannot be applied to online purchasing or takeout orders.

Guests must present proof of military service to receive this offer.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Environmental Protection Agency workers survey Leslie Run in East Palestine, Ohio, on June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

(EAST PALESTINE, OH-AP) The Environmental Protection Agency’s response to the disastrous 2023 East Palestine train derailment will be investigated after local residents of the small town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and Vice President JD Vance pressed for the review.

The Inspector General of the EPA announced the investigation Tuesday to assess the agency’s response to the worst rail disaster in more than a decade and the subsequent health and environmental concerns that have developed despite the EPA’s assurances to the public that no toxic levels of chemicals lingered in the community weeks and months later.

An assortment of chemicals spilled and caught fire after the failed bearing sent the Norfolk Southern train careening off the tracks late one Friday night in February 2023. Residents evacuated as officials decided three days later to blow open five rail cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the “vent and burn” move that generated a massive black plume of smoke and sent chemicals drifting across several states was unnecessary. But at the time, the officials in charge of the emergency response worried the tank cars might explode and do even more harm.

Jami Wallace and other East Palestine residents have been pushing for this investigation — much like they pressed the EPA initially to test for whether cancer-causing dioxins were released in their hometown — so she said “I’m going to cry” when she heard the news. Since the derailment, Wallace has kept track of more than 80 people who live in the area and have developed cancer, although it’s difficult to prove that every illness is directly linked to the derailment.

“It’s like we’ve had to push them along the way for every single thing they did, and then they didn’t even do it right,” said Wallace, who promised never to give up the fight. “We’re not going to stop when you poison our kids.”

The recent request from Vance and the head of the EPA helped get the investigation started. But multiple complaints from residents and whistleblowers have also been made in the years since the derailment.

The Inspector General’s office said this investigation will determine whether the EPA fulfilled its responsibilities and whether the EPA had “sufficient data to support the agency’s public communications” assuring residents they were safe to return home and live in the small town. Testing experts questioned whether the test data EPA shared with the public obscured the risks and whether the agency could determine just how dangerous it is to be exposed to this cocktail of chemicals. Health standards are generally based only on exposure to a single chemical.

Wallace said she’s not sure how much good might come out of this investigation, but it will continue to put a bit of light on the lingering concerns around East Palestine.

“If nothing else, at least we’re getting attention again,” Wallace said. “And people know that we’re here and that we are not OK.”

Norfolk Southern agreed to a $600 million class action settlement with residents, but that money has been largely tied up in the courts and questions about the initial settlement administrator mishandling the funds. A group of residents has also sued because they argue the class action attorneys misled them and pressured them into signing the deal.

A separate federal settlement that includes a $15 million fine for the railroad and $55 million to pay for decades of medical exams and groundwater testing has been under review for more than two years without a judge approving it.

Norfolk Southern is seeking to merge with Union Pacific and create the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. But that $85 billion deal still faces an extensive review by the Surface Transportation Board.

(Credit for Photo: Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Caption for Photo: Harper swimming in the Wetlands)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The National Aviary in Pittsburgh is beginning their 2026 Fall Annual Campaign: From Rescue to Recovery.

Dr. Marshall Sklar, who is a generous friend of that aviary and a member of its Donor Society, will only match the first $10,000 raised.

Support for recovery of a young Brown Pelican named Harper and other birds is the main reason that this campaign exists.

Harper became tangled in discarded fishing lines along a shoreline in Florida as a juvenile.

Harper was severely injured and was transported to the nearby Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, which is where a team worked hard on the pelican’s recovery.

Harper is now thriving in the Wetlands habitat of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh along with a long-time resident, Brown Pelican Ralph.

The match from Dr. Sklar goes straight to the National Aviary of Pittsburgh’s veterinary care program, which is the team that keeps Harper and every other bird that is there healthy.

Every gift to that aviary’s Fall Annual Campaign supports its Avian Conservation Fund.

If you give $50, it becomes $100 because of Dr. Sklar’s match.

You can donate to this campaign by clicking here.

“Critical Hours” is a radio show and podcast that discusses the ideas, movements, and moments reshaping our world, our communities, and our lives. Produced by the Catanzarite Studio LLC, with hosts Lauren Leonard and Stephen Catanzarite. Listen live Saturday mornings at 7.

From Dawn at Shippingport to Midnight at Chernobyl: A Critical Hours special presentation

Stephen Catanzarite and Lauren Leonard trace the line from the construction and operation of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station to the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.

In 1957, a reactor went critical at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, launching the first full-scale commercial nuclear power plant in the United States. Twenty-nine years later, a reactor at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union exploded.

This episode features Stephen Catanzarite’s talk at the Beaver Area Historical Museum last April, tracing the arc between these two events. It begins with President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech and the building of Shippingport Atomic Power Station, then follows the Soviet program, the design flaw that was known and suppressed, and the disaster that changed the course
of history.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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(Credit for Headline Photo and Photos Below: Photos Provided with Release Courtesy of McDonald’s)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) Participating McDonald’s restaurants are offering a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal, with a drink and a medium size French fries for $8 for a limited time beginning on Monday, November 2nd.

The McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese features a ¼ lb. of 100% fresh beef, which is cooked to order and it is topped with slivered onions, pickles that are tangy and two slices of American cheese that are melty on a sesame seed bun.

It is paired with the world famous McDonald’s French fries and a drink that is refreshing.

This meal is pictured below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McDonald’s is also introducing a new lineup of limited-time seasonal drinks starting on Tuesday, November 3rd at participating McDonald’s restaurants nationwide.

According to a release from McDonald’s, this lineup of seasonal drinks includes:

• Frosted Cranberry Splash with Sprite®: a crisp Sprite infused with bright orange and cranberry flavors, featuring cold foam and cranberry sprinkles for a refreshing finish.
• Red Bull® Frosted Cranberry Energizer: the bold, uplifting flavor of Frosted Cranberry with cold foam and sprinkles meets the energizing boost of Red Bull® – made for packed holiday schedules and festive adventures. Available with classic Red Bull and Red Bull Zero®.
• Cookie Butter Frappé, Latte and Iced Coffee: a creamy blend of rich cookie butter flavor topped with caramel cookie crumbs and sweet vanilla whip for a seasonal treat.

These drinks can be pictured below:

(File Photo of the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Pennsylvania State Police at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh reported today that a suspect stole an Apple iPhone from a twenty-six-year-old woman from Zelienople at that casino on Sunday.

This occurred at 3:23 a.m. and the victim forgot that iPhone when she left a slot machine.

Video surveillance shows the suspect picking the phone up and walking away.

According to police, the suspect was contacted and returned the phone, and the victim stated that she did not want to press charges.