Author: Beaver County Radio

Sallie Joan Lutz (1961-2025)

Sallie Joan Lutz, 64, of Beaver, passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by her sisters, on the morning of December 3rd, 2025.

She was born in Rochester on March 20th, 1961, a daughter of the lateLucille and Raymond Lutz, of Vanport.

Sallie took up residence with her father after her mother passed away in 1990. She happily retired from a retail position. Sallie participated in basketball at BSHS and had a great passion for softball in her younger years, she played on a softball team for Robert’s Roadside Inn. Sallie was formerly a member of the Vanport Presbyterian Church.Sallie enjoyed her beautiful flower garden, which she also nurtured for her father’s enjoyment as well. She found peace in relaxing at the lake or on the riverbank with her fishing pole, this was also where she enjoyed spending time with Jesus. When Sallie entered a new season in her life, her joy was found with her family, watching the Steelers and the Bucs each season. Sallie was a “black and gold” fanatic, she loved cheering on all the Pittsburgh sports teams. After moving to Brighton Twp., God blessed Sallie with a good friend and neighbor, Jeannie Bischcoff. Jeannie was often found bringing a hot meal for the two of them to enjoy while cheering on “The Fever” together.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister, Carol Gray and her great nephew, Scott Smith.

She is survived by her big, loving family, including her sisters, Marilyn (Larry) White, Debbie Dugan, and Donna (Tom) Jackson, her nephews, Vincent Schuller, Jim Jackson and Tom Dugan Jr., her nieces: Wendy Pander, Dawn Goosby, Leah Jackson, Terri Deem, Tracy Smith, Mindy Smiley, Tina Utterback; as well as her great nephews, Eric Ree, Isaac Ree, Rashaud Goosby and Jacob Wakefield; along with her great nieces: Siera Goosby, Paige Deem, Lindsey Dugan, Alexis Dugan, Sara Grymes, Jenna, Alaksin, and Briana Wakefield; as well as her great great nephews and a niece.

A special thank you goes out to Sallie’s brother-in-law’s, Larry White and Tom Jackson, for always being there for her in her times of need. A special thank you also goes out to Jeannie Bischcoff, for being a caring friend and neighbor to Sallie. A special thank you also goes out to Good Samaritan Hospice for bringing comfort to Sallie.

Professional Arrangements have been entrusted to the Noll Funeral Home Inc., 333 Third Street, Beaver.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Sallie’s name may be made to the American Heart Association and the Beaver County Humane Society, 3394 Brodhead Rd, Aliquippa, PA 15001.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Sallie J. Lutz, please visit the flower store of the Noll Funeral Home, Inc. by clicking here.

Grove City College hosts Senator David McCormick and regional leaders for them to discuss regional challenges and opportunities

(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of Grove City College)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Grove City, PA) According to a release from Grove City College on Monday, U.S. Senator David McCormick went to visit that college on Monday to meet with both their officials and civic and political leaders from Mercer County. McCormick stated that he wanted to “talk a little and listen a lot” so he can learn about the opportunities and challenges that regional leaders are seeing and how his work that is happening in Washington, D.C., can advance the interests of western Pennsylvania. 

Leadbeter Introduces Aiden’s Law and Urges Continued Support for Legislation to Create a System in Pennsylvania to Alert the Public when Someone with Disabilities is Missing

(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of State Representative Robert Leadbeter)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to a release in Harrisburg yesterday from State Representative Robert Leadbeter’s office, Leadbeter (R-Columbia) was joined by family members of Aiden Ha, legislators and advocates for a press conference yesterday to announce the formal introduction of House Bill 2102 –known as Aiden’s Law, and urge continued support. The initiative that Leadbeter is championing, is named after Aiden Ha, who was a 6-year-old nonverbal and autistic child from Columbia County who was tragically found dead in a river in October. The legislation from Leadbeter would create a Purple Alert system in Pennsylvania, which is similar to the Amber Alert for abducted children, the Silver Alert for missing older adults and the Green Alert for missing at-risk veterans, as the Purple Alert system would rapidly notify the law enforcement and the public when an individual with certain intellectual, cognitive or developmental disabilities goes missing. 

Chabad Jewish Center of Cranberry pays respects to victims of mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia

(File Photo: Source for Photo: A small Christmas tree is at the center of an abandoned holiday picnic at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Freedom, PA) The Chabad Jewish Center of Cranberry gathered together yesterday in Freedom to pay respects to the victims of the targeted shooting at the Bondi Beach Jewish community’s Hanukkah celebration that happened in Australia. Australian authorities have stated that the mass shooting which killed fifteen people on Sunday was an anti-Semitic terror attack.

Reliever Gregory Soto and Pittsburgh Pirates finalize $7.75 million, 1-year contract

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – New York Mets pitcher Gregory Soto throws during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sept. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

PITTBURGH (AP) — Two-time All-Star reliever Gregory Soto and the Pittsburgh Pirates finalized a $7.75 million, one-year contract on Tuesday.

Soto gives the Pirates an experienced left-handed option in a bullpen that will get a makeover in 2026 after relievers Colin Holderman and Dauri Moreta were designated for assignment last month.

The 30-year-old is 15-34 with a 4.26 ERA and 56 saves over seven seasons with five teams. He was an All-Star in 2021 and 2022 for Detroit. He spent 2025 with Baltimore and the New York Mets, who acquired him in late July just before the trade deadline.

Soto struggled in New York, going 1-3 with a 4.50 ERA in 25 appearances. His departure is the second significant subtraction from the Mets bullpen in free agency after closer Edwin Díaz agreed to a three-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier Tuesday.

Pittsburgh appears to be settled at the back end of the bullpen, where Dennis Santana performed well after two-time All-Star David Bednar was traded to the New York Yankees last season. Soto gives the Pirates a pitcher who has filled a variety of roles, including closer.

Pittsburgh area man charged for bringing a large knife to his former workplace in Westmoreland County

(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Westmoreland County, PA) A man from the Pittsburgh area is now facing charges after police confirm he brought a large knife to his former workplace in Westmoreland County and told an employee that he had “murder on his mind all week.” According to the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office, Roneil Wright is accused of entering the building on Commerce Circle in Trafford in the evening hours of last Thursday with a “large, military-style knife.” Workers told police that Wright, who hadn’t been employed at the company since November and had no reason to be in the building, made statements about “who he needs to take care of,” and employees grew worried. Wright is facing several charges, including criminal trespass. The Westmoreland District attorney’s office stated Wright was remanded to the Westmoreland County Prison after failing to post a bond of $50,000. Court documents expressed that the preliminary hearing for Wright is scheduled for December 23rd, 2025.

Opening date set for new tower at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh worth over a billion dollars

(File Photo of the UPMC Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) An opening date has now been announced for a new tower worth over a billion dollars at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. UPMC officials told WTAE yesterday that the $1.3 billion hospital tower at that hospital is on track to be fully constructed by October of 2026. After a phase of testing for the building, according to UPMC, patients will then be moved into the new space on January 24th, 2027. 

Rob Reiner’s son Nick set to appear in court on 2 counts of murder in killing of his parents

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Rob Reiner, from left, Michele Singer Reiner, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan, and Jake Reiner arrive at the premiere of “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.

Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

“Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice,” Hochman said.

Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.

Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty in the case.

“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said.

The announcement came two days after the couple was found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the crime scene, police said.

Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Princess Bride.” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

Several of those closest to them, including actors Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David, released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple on Tuesday night.

“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”

Nick Reiner had been scheduled to make an initial court appearance earlier Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance was postponed.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Reiner may enter a plea, a judge may schedule an arraignment for later or the same issue that prevented him from coming to court Tuesday could cause further postponement. He is being held without bail.

Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.

On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.

Authorities haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.

Judge says he’s hopeful hearing on Luigi Mangione trial evidence will end this week

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Luigi Mangione talks to a photographer as he appears in court in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge said Tuesday he’s optimistic that a pretrial hearing will end this week in Luigi Mangione’s New York murder case in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“Hopefully we wind up on Thursday,” Judge Gregory Carro said at the hearing, which is in its third week of testimony.

Mangione, 27, is seeking to exclude items seized during his Dec. 9, 2024, arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, including a gun and notebook that prosecutors say tie him to Thompson’s shooting five days earlier in Manhattan.

Prosecutors have called more than a dozen witnesses so far, with at least one more expected after an off-day on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a Pennsylvania police evidence custodian, a New York City police homicide commander and an investigative analyst from the Manhattan district attorney’s office testified.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. The pretrial hearing applies only to the state case. His lawyers are making a similar push to exclude the evidence from his federal case, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Mangione was arrested after customers spotted him eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, a Pennsylvania city of about 44,000 people some 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. The restaurant’s manager told a 911 dispatcher customers thought “he looks like the CEO shooter from New York.”

Mangione’s lawyers contend that anything found in Mangione’s backpack should be excluded from his trial because police didn’t have a search warrant and lacked the grounds to justify a warrantless search.

Prosecutors say the search was legal because it was conducted in conjunction with an arrest and officers were checking to make sure there were no dangerous items in the bag that could be harmful to them or the public. Police eventually obtained a warrant, prosecutors said.

Items seized during that search include a 9 mm handgun that prosecutors said matches the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in similar handwriting in which he purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.

The Altoona police department’s evidence custodian, Officer George Featherstone, testified Tuesday that he logged evidence collected during Mangione’s arrest and placed it in labeled evidence bags and envelopes before turning it over to the NYPD.

NYPD Lt. David Leonardi, the commanding officer of the detective squad that investigated Thompson’s killing, testified that before going to Altoona he told a police sergeant there: “I would like no one to speak to him and all of the property held.”

Leonardi said he raced to Altoona with a team of detectives and personally drove the evidence back to Manhattan, where it was delivered to the NYPD’s crime laboratory for testing.

Investigative Analyst Anissa Weisel testified about a timeline she created of events surrounding Mangione’s arrest. Mangione’s lawyers objected, saying the timeline was missing too much information. Carro agreed, but said he’d only use the timeline as an aid to help him review body-worn camera footage and other material submitted during the hearing.

Male suspect escapes after robbing a 7 Eleven store in Aliquippa

(Photo and Headline Photo Courtesy of the City of Aliquippa Police Department)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) A robbery occurred yesterday at 12:07 a.m. in Aliquippa at the 7 Eleven on 2680 Brodhead Road. The City of Aliquippa Police Department is asking for the help of the public to identify the male suspect who escaped the store and went to the Subway area on Brodhead Road after he stole two cartons of cigarettes and threatened to shoot the store clerk even though he did not display a firearm. The public in the Aliquippa area are also advised to check their cameras and to notify the City of Aliquippa Police Department by calling 724-378-8000 if you have any information on this male suspect. According to a Facebook post from the City of Aliquippa Police Department yesterday, a white or biracial male entered the store wearing a red Carhartt jacket with an attached hood and the hood strings were pulled as to cover the male’s face and he was also wearing black or blue jeans and green or camo boots. The picture of him can be found below: