WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is keeping up his attack on the origins of the Russia investigation as he awaits the release of the redacted special counsel’s report. Trump portrays the investigation as an effort by Democrats and career officials in the Justice Department to bring him down. He told a Minneapolis TV station Monday, “This crime was all made up.” Attorney General William Barr plans to release a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report Thursday.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Sports betting activity leaped by almost one-third in Pennsylvania’s fourth full month, as more venues opened amid March Madness. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said Monday that gamblers bet $44.5 million in March at six casinos and two off-track betting parlors where it has approved sports betting. That was above $31.5 million bet in February, which had three fewer days.

THE CENTER TOWNSHIP SUPERVISORS HAVE APPROVED A LAND DEVELOPMENT PLAN. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

BCTA ADMINISTERS THE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TRANSPORTATION PLAN FOR BEAVER COUNTY. THAT’S THE PROGRAM THAT MAKES TRANSPORTATION AVAILABLE TO LOW INCOME CLIENTS WHO REQUIRE TRANSPORTATION SERVICE TO AND FROM MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS. BUT ACCORDING TO BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO, A BILL RECENTLY INTRODUCED IN THE STATE HOUSE WOULD CHANGE THAT…

A grand jury report says law enforcement and government regulators need new tools to effectively combat fraud within Pennsylvania’s sprawling Medicaid program. The report made public Monday says community based health-service programs can be “easily manipulated to facilitate fraud” because they lack supervision, training and oversight. The jurors say the person who provides a service should be named in requests for reimbursement and requests should include the time the service was provided.

State Rep. Rob Matzie today joined colleagues on the House Consumer Affairs Committee in ongoing public hearings to consider a bill that would add nuclear energy to the list of alternative energy sources benefiting from ratepayer-subsidized credits. Matzie, who is Democratic chairman of the committee and co-chairman of the bi-partisan, bi-cameral Nuclear Energy Caucus, heard testimony from industry representatives on the potential impacts of H.B. 11, which would require that utilities purchase an additional 50 percent of energy credits from nuclear power plants…

As the committee weighs the bill, Matzie cited the importance of a thorough vetting process that includes open dialog and transparency…

The bill in question would amend the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act – which requires that 18 percent of power sold in Pennsylvania be derived from alternative energy sources by 2021 – by adding a “zero-emission power” category reserved for the state’s nuclear power plants…

Without any action, two of those plants – including FirstEnergy’s Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant – are scheduled to shut down within the next few years…

SHELL AND CCBC ARE AGAIN TEAMING UP TO OFFER A CAREER EXPO AIMED AT MILITARY VETERANS. THE EVENT WILL BE HELD FROM 6 TO 8 P-M MAY 7TH IN CCBC’S STUDENT SERVICES CENTER. THOSE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING ARE ENCOURAGED TO REGISTER ON CCBC’S WEBSITE. HUNDREDS OF PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS TURNED OUT FOR A SIMILAR EVENT LAST MAY.

Pennsylvania state police are investigating how a woman became trapped in a drainpipe at a closed power plant. Emergency crews in Greene County were called to FirstEnergy’s now-shuttered Hatfield Power Plant in Carmichaels on Monday morning. Trooper Forrest Allison says a worker was about to drain a pond on the property into the nearby Monongahela River when he heard the woman shouting from the drainpipe below. She was freed and taken to a hospital.