(File Photo of the Cranberry Township Emergency Medical Services Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Cranberry Township, PA) An announcement came on Saturday from Cranberry Township EMS that on Monday, September 15th, 2025, a third ambulance will be added to its fleet because of the community requesting for another ambulance. The increase in demand and the increase in call volume to Cranberry Township EMS was experienced, which caused this announcement. According to a Facebook post from Cranberry Township EMS on Saturday, the new ambulance for Cranberry Township EMS will be stationed in the Southwestern part of Cranberry Township during peak hours, which officials confirm will let faster response times be seen, especially for calls into Beaver County.

(Photo Courtesy of Keystone Safari)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Grove City, PA) The new female baby giraffe at Keystone Safari was named Savannah on Friday after a naming contest was held at the zoo in Grove City, Pennsylvania. The winner of that naming contest was given two free season passes to the Keystone Safari. Savannah was born at Keystone Safari on August 22nd, 2025. Savannah’s mother, Blue Jeans, and Savannah’s father, Levi, have three other calves besides Savannah named Calvin, who was born in 2017, Timber, who was born in 2021, and Keyari, who was born in 2023. Levi and Blue Jeans were raised in the area of New Castle at Living Treasures Wild Animal Park before moving to Keystone Safari in the late part of 2018.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Co-owner Eric Abramowitz at Eric’s Rx Shoppe unpacks a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines at the store in Horsham, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke))

(AP) Now that Florida is taking steps to be the first state to get rid of school vaccine mandates, some states are looking at following its lead while others are promising to protect vaccines for children and adults.

Florida’s announcement Wednesday along with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s attempts to advance anti-vaccine policies have widened the debate over vaccine mandates — long a centerpiece of fighting infectious diseases.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said roughly 4 million deaths are prevented annually worldwide by childhood vaccinations.

While most Americans say kids should be vaccinated to attend school, adults nationwide are now less likely to think those immunizations are important. At the same time, routine childhood vaccine rates are falling.

Here is a rundown of what states are saying about vaccine mandates:

Massachusetts moves to protect access

Democratic Gov. Maura Healey governor issued a bulletin Thursday saying insurance carriers will be required to cover vaccinations recommended by the state’s department of public health regardless of whether they are endorsed by the federal government. Healey said she wants to make sure residents can afford the vaccines they want.

Vaccinations that Massachusetts insurers would be required to cover include routine shots for children, like measles, chickenpox and Hepatitis B. Healey said her state is also leading a bipartisan coalition of eight Northeast states that met over the summer to discuss coordinating vaccine recommendations.

West Coast governors band together

The Democratic governors in Washington, Oregon and California announced this week that they have created an alliance to establish their own recommendations for who should receive vaccines. They plan to coordinate their vaccine recommendations and immunization plans based on science-based evidence from respected national medical organizations, according to a joint statement.

Illinois seeks advice from medical experts

The state health department said it plans to issue specific guidance by the end of September that will help health care providers and residents make informed decisions about vaccinations. The health director said the department will consult with medical experts.

New Mexico gives the green light to vaccines

Pharmacists have received the go-ahead to administer COVID-19 shots based on state health department guidelines rather than just the federal government’s immunization advisory committee. Health Secretary Gina DeBlassie said Friday in a statement that New Mexico “cannot afford to wait for the federal government to act on this matter.”

Drugstore giant CVS responded by saying it will ensure the shots are in its pharmacies across the state as soon as possible.

Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington protect COVID-19 shots

Pennsylvania’s pharmacy board voted this week to protect the availability of COVID-19 vaccines for those most in need and make it accessible across the state, at the urging of Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also directed health officials to make sure residents are able to be vaccinated against the virus. A new order that went into effect Friday allows pharmacists to provide the vaccines without individual prescriptions.

Health leaders in Washington state issued a similar order covering COVID-19 shots for most residents.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: The sunsets on the Shankweiler Drive-In as previews run before the feature film “Jaws” in Orefield, Pa., Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

OREFIELD, Pa. (AP) — In a romance and adventure worthy of the big screen, a Pennsylvania couple is preserving the past and forging a future as the owners of the world’s oldest operating drive-in movie theater.

Lauren McChesney got more than admission to a double feature when she handed her ticket to Matt McClanahan at a different drive-in he managed in 2018. They started dating a year later, and, in August, got engaged. In between, they purchased Shankweiler’s Drive-In Theatre, which was Pennsylvania’s first drive-in and only the nation’s second when it opened in 1934.

The couple began brainstorming about drive-ins during a cross-country road trip that included stops at both operational and abandoned theaters. Their original goal was to open a new drive-in, but when they learned Shankweiler’s might get sold to developers, “the light bulb went off,” McClanahan said.

“Why are we spending so much time trying to build one when there’s one literally down the road from our house that’s for sale and is like the most important drive-in?” he said.

The drive-in movie theater industry began in Camden, New Jersey, in 1933 and peaked in the late 1950s, with more than 4,000 drive-ins, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association. The numbers dropped rapidly in the 1970s and 80s as other entertainment options increased, along with land values that made selling for redevelopment attractive. Though popular during the pandemic, by 2024, there were only 283 left, according to the association.

McClanahan, 35, who grew up going to Shankweiler’s, had managed another drive-in and started a mobile movie business during the coronavirus pandemic. In contrast, McChesney, 41, had never been to a drive-in before 2018, and she left a stable corporate job in the health care industry to take on this new venture. Buying Shankweiler’s was a risk for both of them — they pooled their savings and secured a $1 million loan to buy the drive-in in 2022 — but one they say has paid off.

“This was an undertaking that was leaps and bounds bigger than anything I’d ever done in my life, in terms of investment, monthly expenses, and debt,” McClanahan said. “It still feels surreal when I think about it.”

They’ve built a successful business with the help of strong summer attendance, the occasional big-name film like “Wicked,” and special events like Valentine’s Day “date night” screenings of “The Notebook.” The drive-in is open seven days a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and Thursdays through Sundays the rest of the year. Tickets are $9 for children and $13 for adults.

Ken Querio, 52, of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, has been going to Shankweiler’s since he was a teenager. He made a point to seek out the owners before a recent viewing of “Jaws.”

“I actually thanked them,” he said. “It’s wonderful to have an old-school, an old venue like this still going.”

Wilson Shankweiler, a prominent hotel owner and movie buff, opened what was then called Shankweiler’s Park-In Theatre on April 15, 1934. McClanahan and McChesney are its fourth owners.

McChesney said the success of the business played a role in the timing of their engagement.

“We knew we’d eventually get married, but we kept doing other things instead, like starting businesses and buying movie theaters,” she said.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Students watch as a 26 bus passes the stop near Girls High at Broad and Olney streets Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Philadelphia. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Philadelphia’s public transit agency said Friday that it will restore services that it eliminated after a judge ordered it to undo the two-week-old cuts that were challenged in court as discriminatory toward poor and minority communities.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said it is working on a plan to restore service, and it moved to divert funding set aside for capital projects to keep those services intact for another two years.

SEPTA — one of the nation’s largest mass transit agencies — had described the cuts as more drastic than any undertaken by a major transit agency in the U.S. but necessary to deal with a deficit of more than $200 million.

At a news conference, SEPTA’s general manager, Scott Sauer, said the solution wasn’t ideal or sustainable, and “over the last two weeks, we’ve seen the devastating effects the service cuts have had on our riders.”

In a letter to the state Department of Transportation, Sauer asked for permission to use up to $394 million in state-provided capital funds to restore services and avoid other planned cuts for the next two years.

That’s about a year’s worth of funding it gets from the state for capital projects, but Sauer wrote that SEPTA believes diverting the cash and deferring capital projects won’t jeopardize the safety of riders. If PennDOT approves the transfer, SEPTA can restore the services Sept. 14, Sauer said.

In a statement, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office said the administration was “reviewing the request and determining next steps.” The Democratic governor has said he was open to diverting capital funds as part of a broader funding package for struggling transit agencies.

Across the state, Pittsburgh Regional Transit is considering a 35% service reduction to help close what it calls a roughly $100 million deficit this year. That could include eliminating 45 bus routes, reducing 54 others and eliminating one of three light rail lines.

In the state Capitol, Shapiro and Democratic lawmakers have been unable for the past two years to persuade enough Republican lawmakers to approve hundreds of millions more dollars in new transit aid to help fill deficits at SEPTA and other transit agencies around the state.

SEPTA has said its cuts amounted to a 20% across-the-board service reduction. That included eliminating bus routes with lower ridership and reducing the frequency of bus, trolley and rail services across the region.

After the cuts took effect, students and commuters had talked of needing to get up much earlier to make time for longer commutes, unusually crowded buses and skipped stops. Some said they were spending more on ridesharing or worried about losing their job.

SEPTA was leaving many more people behind at bus and trolley stops due to crowded conditions, while the number of bus trips running late rose more than 26%, Sauer said.

The authority still plans to go forward with fare increases of 21.5% on Sept. 14 that it estimated will bring in $31 million a year.

That increase had been set to take effect earlier this week for the system’s approximately 800,000 daily riders before the same judge temporarily halted it. However, the judge lifted her order on the fare increases that will boost a weekday ride from $2.50 to $2.90 on a bus, train or trolley.

The struggles in the nation’s sixth-most populous city reflect similar dilemmas at major transit agencies around the U.S. as they navigate rising costs and lagging ridership after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted commutes.

All told, SEPTA had warned that it will cut half its services by Jan. 1 and wouldn’t provide enhanced service for major tourist events next year. Those include FIFA World Cup matches in Philadelphia, events surrounding the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday, Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, the PGA Championship and NCAA March Madness games.

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: A flag featuring the image of Carlo Acutis is waved during the canonization Mass of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV declared a 15-year-old computer whiz the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint Sunday, giving the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used technology to spread the faith and earn the nickname “God’s influencer.”

Leo canonized Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006, during an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before an estimated 80,000 people, many of them millennials and couples with young children. During the first saint-making Mass of his pontificate, Leo also canonized another popular Italian figure who died young, Pier Giorgio Frassati.

Leo said both men created “masterpieces” out of their lives by dedicating them to God.

“The greatest risk in life is to waste it outside of God’s plan,” Leo said in his homily. The new saints “are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces.”

An ordinary life that became extraordinary

Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London to a wealthy but not particularly observant Catholic family. They moved back to Milan soon after he was born and he enjoyed a typical, happy childhood, albeit marked by increasingly intense religious devotion.

Acutis was particularly interested in computer science and devoured college-level books on programming even as a youngster. He earned the nickname “God’s Influencer,” thanks to his main tech legacy: a multilingual website documenting so-called Eucharistic miracles recognized by the church, a project he completed at a time when the development of such sites was the domain of professionals.

He was known to spend hours in prayer before the Eucharist each day. The Catholic hierarchy has been trying to promote the practice of Eucharistic adoration because, according to polls, most Catholics don’t believe Christ is physically present in the Eucharistic hosts.

But Acutis limited himself to an hour of video games a week, apparently deciding long before TikTok that human relationships were far more important than virtual ones. That discipline and restraint has proved appealing to the Catholic hierarchy, which has sounded the alarm about the dangers of today’s tech-driven society.

In October 2006, at age 15, Acutis fell ill with what was quickly diagnosed as acute leukemia. Within days, he was dead. He was entombed in Assisi, which known for its association with another popular saint, St. Francis.

Millions flock to Acutis’ tomb

In the years since his death, young Catholics have flocked by the millions to Assisi, where they can see the young Acutis through a glass-sided tomb, dressed in jeans, Nike sneakers and a sweatshirt. He seems as if he’s sleeping, and questions have swirled about how his body was so well preserved, especially since parts of his heart have even toured the world as relics.

Both saint-making ceremonies had been scheduled for earlier this year, but were postponed following Pope Francis’ death in April. Francis had fervently pushed the Acutis sainthood case forward, convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises and perils of the digital age.

“It’s like I can maybe not be as great as Carlo may be, but I can be looking after him and be like, ‘What would Carlo do?’” said Leo Kowalsky, an 8th grader at a Chicago school attached to the Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish.

Kowalsky said he was particularly excited that his own namesake — Pope Leo — would be canonizing the patron of his school. “It’s kind of all mashed up into one thing, so it is a joy to be a part of,” Kowalsky said in an interview last week.

Much of Acutis’ popularity is thanks to a concerted campaign by the Vatican to give the next generation of faithful a “saint next door” who was ordinary but did extraordinary things in life. In Acutis, they found a relatable tech-savvy millennial — the term used to describe a person born roughly between 1981 and 1996 who was the first generation to reach adulthood in the new millennium.

The Vatican said 36 cardinals, 270 bishops and hundreds of priests had signed up to celebrate the Mass along with Leo in a sign of the saints’ enormous appeal to the hierarchy and ordinary faithful alike.

Popular piety for the digital age

An hour before the Mass, St. Peter’s Square was already full with pilgrims, many of them young millennial Italians, many with toddlers in strollers.

“I learned from different people what his professors, his teachers said about his joy and the light he carried around him,” said Leopoldo Antimi, a 27-year-old Roman who got to the square early to secure a spot. “So for me personally as an Italian, even on social networks that are used so much, it is important to have him as an influencer.”

Matthew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at Holy Cross college in Worcester, Massachusetts, said Acutis’ canonization extends the church tradition of popular piety to the digital age.

“He becomes an emblem or model of how Catholics should approach and use the digital world–with discipline and with a focus on traditional Catholic spirituality that defies the passage of time,” he said in statement. “He is a new saint of simplicity for the ever complex digital landscape of contemporary Catholicism.”

Frassati, the other saint being canonized Sunday, lived from 1901-1925, when he died at age 24 of polio. He was born into a prominent Turin family but is known for his devotion to serving the poor and carrying out acts of charity while spreading his faith to his friends.