The Clarks, with guitarist Rob James, play their annual Acrisure Stadium Labor Day weekend show. (Photo courtesy of The Clarks).

(Story by Beaver County Radio Staff)

Popular rib festival returns with fan favorites alongside exciting new amenities

PITTSBURGH – Tasty barbecue and catchy tunes will reign Labor Day weekend at the annual Kickoff and Rib Festival at Acrisure Stadium.

Presented by I.C. Light. the western Pennsylvania staple marks the kickoff of
football season and will run Aug. 28 through Sept. 1.

The annual festival offers 12 nationally recognized rib vendors, plus football, free concerts, food and other fun for all. Admission to the festival grounds is free. Food and drink will be available for purchase.

New this year, the PA Pork Council will sponsor the rib judging and awards. The first-place grand champion will receive an authentic championship belt crafted by the designer of the World Wrestling Entertainment championship belts.

On Aug. 29, from 6–8 p.m., Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren will
sign autographs at the PA Pork Council booth.

The Kickoff and Rib Festival has a rich history of musical acts that have performed at the festival and gone onto remarkable success — artists such as Eric Church, Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line, Brothers Osbourne, Chris Janson, LoCash, Eli Young Band and Midland, along with previously well-established acts like Bret Michaels, Charlie Daniels, Travis Tritt, Kansas, The Outlaws, Night Ranger, Bad Company, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 38 Special and Phil Vassar.

Again, there will be free performances throughout the festival, including popular Pittsburgh rockers The Clarks and innovative Nashville singer-songwriter Redferrin, coming off of two hit songs this year with “Just Like Johnny” and “Jack and Diet Coke.” He is the newest member of Pittsburgh’s Taylor Gang Management.

The Aug. 30 activities include the Duquesne University versus University of Pittsburgh football game at noon.

The entertainment lineup:

Aug. 29: The Clarks at 9 p.m. with opening act Poster Child at 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 30: Post Game Street Party with DJ Steve Maffei Jr. from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Aug. 31: Redferrin at 9 p.m. with opening act Junior Guthrie and The Push at 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1: BBQ & Blues Monday featuring Pittsburgh blues acts Guitar Zack at 1:30 p.m.;
Jimmy Adler Band at 3 p.m.; House of Soul at 4:30 p.m.; Billy Price at 6:30 p.m.

Festival hours are noon to 11 p.m. Aug. 29-31 and noon to 9 p.m. Sept. 1.

Free activities daily include the “Freak” Zone; beer and cocktail beverages, a prize wheel and other contests, vehicle and power tools displays and The FedEx Great Hall featuring Steelers memorabilia including Steelers Super Bowl trophies. The Steelers Pro Shop will also be open, plus rides, games and vendors.

Guests also can also visit the 2026 NFL Draft Mobile Exhibit located next to the Hall of Honor Museum tent. The exhibit celebrates western PA’s rich football history and ties to the NFL Draft.
Also, test your Skills at the Steelers Experience (on the Friday, Sunday and Labor Day Monday) and meet mascot Steely McBeam (Sunday and Monday.)

(File Photo: Caption for Photo: police car lights at night in city with selective focus and bokeh background blur) Credit for Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images/iStockphoto/z1b)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to Pittsburgh police, multiple young men will soon be facing animal cruelty charges after recent videos posted on social media in August of 2025 showed some men killing mice in the Northview Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh by igniting fireworks after they used duct tape to put these mice on the fireworks they ignited. Pittsburgh Public Safety confirms that the Pittsburgh Police Violence Prevention Unit got notified about these videos on August 13th, 2025. The incident was thought to have happend on the 410 block of Pleasant Road and detectives went there and found a roll of tape, a plastic bin and remnants of fireworks. The mice were purchased by these men reportedly from a local pet store and after dectectives investigated, they found that the Petco stores at the Waterworks Mall and on McKnight Road in Ross Township. Three to five men who are being considered suspects of this incident got detained following a search warrant on August 14th, 2025 of the believed location  where the mice were killed. Charges related to drug possession are the charges that some of the men will also face. Both interviews with witnesses and a review of surveillance video of this incident were completed by detectives. According to police, a person of interest in this case got taken into custody on charges that are unrelated to this incident and the investigation into this incident is ongoing.

(Photo Courtesy of Owens Corning)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) A U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Aliquippa will get a new roof on Thursday, August 28th, 2025 as part of the Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project from JP Roofing and Siding. Richard Kost will receive this roof at 1213 Pleasant Street in Aliquippa and the work to install that roof will start at 8 a.m. that day and finish no earlier than 1 p.m. on that same day. The labor will be donated by JP Roofing and Siding and the Owens Corning Foundation is donating the materials for roofing for this project. JP Roofing & Siding is also an Owens Corning Platinum Roofing Contractor. The Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project started in 2016 as an effort nationwide to give honor and gratitude to veterans who have served for the United States of America and thier families. Over 675 members of the military have gotten new roofs since the inception of The Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project.

(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of Allegheny Health Network)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to a release from Allegheny Health Network, AHN Jefferson Hospital of Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania has been recently recognized as a Gold-Level Labor & Delivery program distinction from the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative for its outstanding commitment to infant safe sleep practices. These awards from the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative go to hospitals in Pennsylvania that demonstrate dedication that is exceptional to efforts that are collaborative to aim to make outcomes for neonatal and maternal health better through initiatives which include safe sleep, maternal opioid use disorder, maternal sepsis and neonatal abstinence syndrome. AHN Jefferson provides sleep education for infants that is safe as well as resources to families across the Mon Valley, the southern parts of Allegheny County and the communities that surround it.

(File Photo of the Duquesne Light Company Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Allegheny County, PA) Yesterday evening at 5 p.m. was supposed to be when a meeting in Allegheny County was to be held by a Duquesne Light committee for a storm response regarding the storms that took place in Western Pennsylvania on April 29th, 2025 that caused power outages. However, according to Pennsylvania State Representative Abigail Salisbury, Duquesne Light canceled this meeting two hours before it was supposed to begin. Salisbury is a representative of the 34th District of Pennsylvania and she confirms that this cancellation is the second time that a meeting for customers was skipped by Duquesne Light Company because she claims that a meeting in Wlikins Township in July of 2025 that she arranged for constituents to ask direct questions  was dropped out by Duquesne Light. Allegheny County formed the Special Committee on Emergency Preparedness and After-Action Review to respond to these storms on April 29th, 2025 which left about 400,000 residents in Western Pennsylvania without power. September 17th, 2025 is the rescheduled date for this Duquesne Light storm committee response meeting that was canceled yesterday and there is no specific reason for that cancellation at this time.

(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A man from Pittsburgh was recently put on death row because of his conviction of murdering a SCI Somerset corrections officer. In March of 2025, Paul Kendrick received a guilty charge of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault and assault by a prisoner. According to a report from WJAC, a judge approved the recommendation to kill Kendrick yesterday even though Kendrick was sentenced to die in April of 2025. On February 15th, 2018, Kendrick attacked Sergeant Mark Baserman, which ended up killing Baserman when Kendrick was an inmate at SCI Somerset when he served two consecutive life sentences in prison for killing Maurice Freeman in Pittsburgh in August of 2014 when police confirm Kendrick killed Freeman following a game of basketball. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: This is the back of the safety helmet worn by a steelworker listening to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s meeting with media at the Clairton Coke Works, a U.S. Steel plant, in Clairton, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Clairton, PA) U.S. Steel and the Salvation Army of Western Pennsylvania are partnering up so they can collect donations to help the families of those that were impacted by the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works plant explosion that occurred in Clairton on August 11th, 2025. This affects the families of the two men that passed away from this incident, which are fifty-two-year-old Steven Menefee of Clairton and thirty-nine-year-old Timothy Quinn of Fitz Henry in Westmoreland County as well as the families of those who got injured in this incident, and the number of those people is at least ten. You can donate for this cause until September 30th, 2025 by going to the link below:

Click here for the link: salvationarmywpa.org/steel

You can also give to this cause by texting “steel” to the number 31333.

(File Photo of the Montgomery Locks and Dam)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) The project to improve the Montgomery Locks and Dam is underway in Western Pennsylvania. Doubling the commercial river traffic capacity traveling the Ohio River is the goal of this project and according to Shane Checkan, a river man, the $1.6 billion endeavor will be worth the investment. The economic impact will be $1.2 billion in economics, nine million tons of cargo that is navigated yearly being doubled and 10,000 construction jobs being made in the Western Pennsylvania region. The US Army Corps of Engineers confirms that 2033 will be when the Montgomery Locks and Dam project is finished if all goes according to their plan.

(File Photo of Congressman Chris Deluzio)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Center Township, PA) According to a release from Congressman Chris Deluzio’s office, Deluzio recently wrapped up a full day visiting sites and talking with constituents across Beaver County during Congress’ August district work period. Deluzio went to the Hookstown Fair to talk with the Brunton family about the grants from him that secured funding to help Brunton Dairy Farm recover from a fire back in 2023. Deluzio also went on a tour of work that is ongoing by the US Army Corps of Engineersto modernize the Montgomery Locks & Dam, in which he is hardly working to get federal funding for that project totaling $183 million. Deluzio also ate lunch in Beaver Borough at Café Kolache in between these stops for both the conversations and the tour that he took recently.

(File Photo of the Rochester Area School District Sign near its main entrance)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Rochester, PA) Back-to-school-season has begun in Beaver County, and the Rochester Area School District is currently looking for two substitute teachers for positions in their respective jobs. According to a Facebook post yesterday from the Rochester Area School District, they are in need of a middle school special education substitute teacher and a high school special education substitute teacher. If you are interested in either of these positions, contact 724-775-7500, extension 1230.