(Photo Courtesy of KDKA)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Washington County, PA) According to authorities, multiple people were injured after an explosion at a plant in Washington County yesterday. Dispatchers state that a call about an explosion at Langeloth Metallurgical Company’s plant in Smith Township came in around 6:15 p.m. Smith Township Fire Chief Brandon Kriznik confirmed that four people were taken to the hospital for treatment. Their conditions were not known immediately. Chief Kriznik expressed that the explosion happened during a chemical transfer and there were no hazardous emissions. A Facebook post yesterday from Smith Township wanted “to reassure the community that at this time there are no reported casualties and no immediate risk to the public.” 

(File Photo of a Dollar Sign)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Federated Hermes, Inc. (FHI) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $107 million.

On a per-share basis, the Pittsburgh-based company said it had profit of $1.39.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.20 per share.

The one of the nation’s largest managers of money market funds posted revenue of $482.8 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $470.1 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $403.3 million, or $5.13 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.8 billion.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – This April 2, 2021, file photo shows bridges spanning the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh. Republicans in Congress are making the politically brazen bet that it’s more advantageous to oppose President Joe Biden’s ambitious rebuild America agenda than to lend support for the costly $2.3 trillion undertaking for roads, bridges and other infrastructure investments. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan 28, 2026– The SCN2A Foundation today announced a research collaboration with Unravel Biosciences, Inc., an AI-enabled therapeutics company established to advance drugs for complex diseases. The collaboration intends to advance preclinical research for SCN2A-related disorders caused by loss-of-function mutations, a subset of SCN2A conditions driven by insufficient functional protein.

SCN2A is a gene critical for normal brain signaling and one of the largest genetic causes of autism and epilepsy. In many individuals, certain genetic changes, including splice-site, frameshift, nonsense, and select missense mutations, result in the body producing too little working SCN2A protein, causing serious neurological symptoms such as epilepsy and neurodevelopmental impairment. This project is specifically designed to address that shared biological problem.

“Our focus is on SCN2A mutations where the fundamental issue is a lack of functional protein,” said Jason Curry, Co-Founder of the SCN2A Foundation. “By partnering with Unravel Biosciences, we are taking a disciplined, mechanism-driven approach to identify strategies that may increase functional SCN2A protein in the brain.”

“We are excited to collaborate on a program that is clearly defined by the complex patient biology rather than diagnosis alone,” said Richard Novak, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of Unravel Biosciences. “Precision matters in rare diseases where each patient with a shared diagnosis may have quite different therapeutic responses; this effort reflects a thoughtful approach to matching therapies to the right mutation mechanisms for each patient using our Living Molecular Twin approach.”

Under the collaboration, the teams will evaluate therapeutic approaches in mutation-relevant laboratory models, with an emphasis on understanding how loss-of-function SCN2A protein responds at the RNA and protein level, influenced by other genetic and environmental factors specific to each patient. The work is intended to inform future therapeutic development.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Damage from an explosion at Bristol Health & Rehab Center is seen, Dec. 24, 2025, in Bristol Township, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Hours before a deadly explosion ripped through a Pennsylvania nursing home last month, staff grew concerned about the smell of natural gas on several floors and brought in workers from the local utility company to check it out, federal regulators said Wednesday.

The preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board provides details about the three hours that passed between the report of a gas odor and the thunderous blast in Bristol, just outside Philadelphia, as well as how utility workers were on the scene for much of that time. It also notes that a utility worker traced the leak to a valve in a meter set in the basement boiler room.

While the presence of utility workers and witness accounts of a heavy gas smell in the explosion’s aftermath raised questions about a possible leak, PECO had said at the time it could not determine the cause or whether its equipment was involved.

Two residents and an employee were killed and about 20 people injured, including one of the utility workers, just a few days before Christmas. Part of the building collapsed, trapping people inside, as emergency workers, staff and even medics from a nearby hospital rushed to evacuate people.

Exelon, PECO’s parent company, shut off the gas flow to the facility almost two hours after the explosion, according to the report. It’s not clear why it took that long to do so.

Investigators plan to focus on Exelon’s pipeline safety management and how it trains people, their qualifications, “odor complaint response” and other factors.

With the new report, a PECO spokesperson said the company recognizes “the importance of continuous improvement and vigilance with respect to the safe and reliable delivery of electric and natural gas service.” The emailed statement expressed sympathy to the victims and their families, to displaced residents and to the wider community.

According to the report, a maintenance director at Bristol Health & Rehab Center reported the smell of natural gas in the basement on Dec. 23 and called the utility company. The PECO worker arrived at Bristol Health & Rehab Center just before noon, about an hour after the odor was detected. Staff also smelled gas on the first and second floors.

The Exelon energy technician determined there was a leak on a meter set valve in the basement and called for help fixing it. A meter set includes the meter, regulator, piping, valves and fittings.

An Exelon foreman sent out a meter services technician to make the repair. He arrived at about 1:20 p.m. The explosion occurred at around 2:15 p.m.

Federal inspectors say the line and gas equipment have been tested, with some items sent to a lab for more study.

(Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press and Business Wire)

PITTSBURGH & BETHESDA, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan 28, 2026– Intelligent power management company Eaton is collaborating with Flexnode, an innovative digital infrastructure company, to deliver modular, scalable rack and power infrastructure for data center compute applications. Eaton will supply critical power backup, racks and cable management technologies for Flexnode’s modules that help data centers reduce deployment schedules by 35% on average. Additionally, Eaton led Flexnode’s Series A round to further accelerate its approach to data center infrastructure.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260128848275/en/

Eaton collaboration with Flexnode supports delivery of resilient, high-performance computing environments optimized for AI workloads.

As large-scale data center buildouts approach gigawatt-level power demands, high-density power, cooling and compute infrastructure requires a more efficient and scalable approach. Eaton brings complete, future-proof systems and enables modular, cost-effective production that reduces time to build and onsite labor requirements. The company’s collaboration with Flexnode expands Eaton’s modular offering in the U.S., which includes its Fibrebond business ’ pre-integrated enclosures for data center power infrastructure.

“As AI, high-performance computing (HPC) and quantum workloads push rack densities beyond one megawatt, Eaton’s modular strategy provides IT and power infrastructure that’s efficient, adaptive to dynamic load profiles, and enables scalable, repeatable builds across diverse geographies,” said Linsey Miller, senior vice president and general manager of Distributed IT at Eaton. “Our collaboration with Flexnode expands our grid-to-chip data center approach and allows us to help customers deploy data center infrastructure faster by going fully modular.”

“AI factory infrastructure requires the most advanced levels of architecture, engineering and construction,” said Andrew Lindsey, CEO of Flexnode. “With Eaton, we will automate deployments using Flexnode’s flexible modular building platform to meet the urgency, precision and scale requirements of modern AI workloads today and tomorrow.”

Together, Eaton and Flexnode will offer turnkey, prefabricated IT infrastructure purpose-built for high power density data halls from 3.5 to 35 megawatts, and the ability to deploy multiple data halls onsite. The collaboration couples Eaton’s technologies and 800 VDC power infrastructure with Flexnode’s modular construction from design to deployment. Eaton technologies will be integrated into the Flexnode NX Compute Module, for rapid deployment to support the most demanding compute requirements.

(File Photo of a Police Siren Light)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Pittsburgh reported via release yesterday that two drivers were charged for tailgating after a three-vehicle crash in Pittsburgh yesterday evening. Three drivers were traveling on I-279 North at 7:04 p.m. and twenty-six-year-old Ryland Smith of Pittsburgh stopped because of traffic. Both thirty-two-year-old Matthew Lofiego of Butler and thirty-six-year-old Shondre Ellis-Barnes of Pittsburgh hit the vehicle of Smith. Smith and her passenger, twenty-eight-year-old Jorden Smith of Pittsburgh, had possible injuries. Both Lofiego and Ellis-Barnes were charged.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing, Dec. 18, 2025, in New York. (Shannon Stapleton/Pool Photo via AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — A man claiming to be an FBI agent showed up to a federal jail in New York City on Wednesday night and told officers he had a court order to release Luigi Mangione, authorities said. He’s now locked up there too.

Mark Anderson, a 36-year-old Minnesota native who has a history of drug and other arrests and disclosed last year in court papers that he suffers from mental illness, was arrested and charged with impersonating a federal officer in a foiled bid to free Mangione from the Metropolitan Detention Center. Mangione is being held at the notorious Brooklyn jail while awaiting state and federal murder trials in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

A criminal complaint against Anderson did not identify the person he attempted to free. A law enforcement official familiar with the matter confirmed it was Mangione. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

Anderson was ordered held without bail after an initial appearance Thursday in Brooklyn federal court. He was not required to enter a plea. A day after getting stopped at the entrance, he is now jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center, according to federal prison records.

A message seeking comment was left for Anderson’s court-appointed lawyer. A message was also left for a spokesperson for Mangione’s legal team.

In a lawsuit last year alleging injuries from a fall at a city homeless shelter, Anderson said he has “multiple disabilities” and has been ruled by the Social Security Administration to be “fully disabled because of mental illness.” He said he had no money and said he received state and federal assistance.

According to public records, Anderson has had numerous drug and alcohol-related arrests and convictions over the past two decades in his native Minnesota and in Wisconsin, where he has also lived. He also has cases pending in the Bronx, including one in which he’s accused of showing a gun.

Man had papers “signed by a judge” and a pizza cutter, authorities say

According to the criminal complaint, Anderson approached the jail intake area around 6:50 p.m. Wednesday and told uniformed jail officers that he was an FBI agent in possession of paperwork “signed by a judge” authorizing the release of a specific person in custody at the jail.

When the officers asked for his federal credentials, Anderson showed them a Minnesota driver’s license, threw documents at them and claimed to have weapons, the criminal complaint said. The documents appeared related to filing claims against the Justice Department, according to an FBI agent who viewed them and prepared the complaint. Officers searched Anderson’s bag and found a barbecue fork and a circular steel blade, the complaint said. In a photo included in the complaint, the blade appeared to be a small pizza cutter wheel.

Anderson’s driver’s license listed an address in Mankato, Minnesota, about 65 miles (110 kilometers) southwest of Minneapolis. He moved to New York for a job opportunity and started working at a Bronx pizzeria when that fell through, the law enforcement official said. Court records indicate he had been living in the city at least since 2023, including at motels, a shelter and a Bronx apartment.

Acting as his own lawyer, he has filed handwritten lawsuits against the Pentagon, Chinese and Russian ambassadors and a Minnesota police department, all of which have been thrown out. Another lawsuit, alleging a Bronx pizzeria forced him to work 70 hours a week with no overtime, is still pending.

Mangione due in court Friday as death penalty ruling looms

The alleged attempt to free Mangione added a bizarre wrinkle to a critical stretch in his legal cases.

Hours before Anderson’s arrest, the Manhattan district attorney’s office sent a letter urging the judge in Mangione’s state case, Gregory Carro, to set a July 1 trial date.

On Friday, Mangione will be in court for a conference in his federal case. The judge in that case, Margaret Garnett, is expected to rule soon whether prosecutors can seek the death penalty and whether they can use certain evidence against him.

Last week, Garnett scheduled jury selection in the federal case for Sept. 8, with the rest of the trial happening in October or January, depending on whether she allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison.

A cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry, Mangione has attracted legions of supporters, some of whom have regularly turned up at his court appearances donning green clothing — the color worn by the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi — as a symbol of solidarity. Some have brought signs and shirts with slogans such as “Free Luigi” and “No Death For Luigi Mangione.”

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

After several days of court proceedings in Pennsylvania, Mangione was whisked to New York and sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center.

The jail is also home to former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Former inmates include hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Police)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to a release in Harrisburg yesterday from the Pennsylvania State Police, they unveiled a series of enhancements yesterday to their patrol vehicles which significantly improve visibility during traffic stops and emergency responses to enhance safety for both troopers and the public. The upgrades include a distinctive V-shaped light bar which provides full 360-degree illumination and a new 400-watt siren system which includes four speakers and a low-frequency Rumbler device. These upgrades reflect the commitment that the PSP has to embracing new technologies and emerging tools to ensure troopers have the resources they need to perform their duties safely and efficiently while strengthening their ability to protect Pennsylvania communities. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: The Clairton Coke Works, a U.S. Steel coking plant, is seen Monday, Aug 11, 2025, in Clairton, Penn. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Clairton, PA) The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) says it has been notified by U.S. Steel of a pollution control equipment breakdown at the Clairton Coke Works plant. That department stated in a release yesterday afternoon that a breakdown is when equipment is not properly working and more pollution then normal gets released. The cause of the breakdown is under investigation and U.S. Steel is required to submit a report within seven days. The ACHD also confirms that Control Room 2 of the plant went offline around 8:05 p.m. on Tuesday due to a breakdown. That caused Control Rooms 2 and 5 to not process coke oven gas, which was then combusted at the facility. The outage lasted until around 8:20 p.m. on Wednesday and the equipment is now back online.