Loose barges temporarily shutter multiple Pittsburgh bridges
By The Associated Press
Strong river currents caused a dozen barges hauling coal to break loose from a tow boat, prompting the closure of major bridges crossing the Monongahela and Ohio rivers, at least one of which was struck, officials said.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said five vehicular bridges were shut down early Monday because of the loose barges, which were reported just before 5 a.m. Monday. The Liberty, Smithfield, Fort Pitt, West End and McKees Rocks bridges later reopened. Port Authority of Allegheny County
The Panhandle bridge, a light rail transit bridge, took “a direct hit from a loose barge” but also reopened after inspection, the Port Authority of Allegheny County said.
Murray American Transportation Inc. of Monessen said strong currents caused the loaded barges to break free from the M/V Brenda L. Murray II.
“We are working with the United States Coast Guard and other state and federal regulatory agencies to investigate this matter, and to determine the cause of the barge breakaway,” the company said in a statement.
The company said all barges had been secured. Lt. Shawn Simeral of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Pittsburgh said all 12 had been accounted for although “not all have been removed from the river.”
Simeral said earlier that officials had received reports that the Liberty Bridge was struck by at least one barge and the Smithfield and Fort Pitt bridges may have been struck.
“We have barges that are near them that are not yet out of the water,” he said. “We are waiting for the bridge inspectors to confirm that for us.”
Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District, said on Facebook that they were aware of the situation, but none of the barges had impacted the Emsworth Locks and Dams, the first lock on the Ohio River.
Islamic State group targets US convoy in northeastern Syria
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — An Islamic State suicide bomber targeted a joint convoy of U.S. and allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria on Monday, marking the second attack against U.S. troops in less than a week and further highlighting the dangers surrounding U.S. plans to withdraw forces after a declaration that the extremist group had been defeated.
The attack happened on a checkpoint on the edge of the town of Shaddadeh in the Hassakeh province, on a road used by local Kurdish fighters and the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS militants near the Iraqi border.
U.S. military Col. Sean Ryan said there were no casualties among the U.S.-led coalition members. “We can confirm a combined U.S. and Syrian partner force convoy was involved” in the suicide bomb attack, he said.
“We will continue to review the situation and provide updates as appropriate,” he added.
Monday’s bombing came days after a suicide attack killed 19 people, including two U.S. service members and two American civilians, in the northern Syrian town of Manbij. That bombing, outside a popular restaurant frequented by American troops, was the deadliest assault on U.S. troops in Syria since American forces moved into the country in 2015.
The extremist group claimed both attacks in statements carried by its Aamaq news agency. IS has been driven from virtually all the territory it once held in Syria and Iraq but continues to carry out attacks in both countries.
The Kurdish Hawar news agency, based in northern Syria, said Monday’s blast targeted a Syrian Kurdish checkpoint as a coalition convoy was passing near Shaddadeh. It said two Kurdish fighters were lightly wounded in the blast.
A video it posted showed smoke rising from a vehicle on a desert road. Another video released by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights showed smoke rising from what appeared to be an armored vehicle belonging to the Syrian Kurdish militia in flames. Coalition armored vehicles and ambulances could be seen on the road.
The Observatory said the blast killed five people and wounded others.
In a Dec. 19 tweet announcing the withdrawal from Syria, President Donald Trump declared, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” He said the troops would begin coming home “now.” That plan triggered immediate pushback from military leaders and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Over the past month, Trump and others have appeared to adjust the timeline, and U.S. officials have suggested it will likely take several months to safely withdraw the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a leading voice on foreign policy and close ally of the president, said during a visit Saturday to Turkey that an American withdrawal from Syria that had not been thought through would lead to “chaos” and “an Iraq on steroids.” Graham urged Trump not to get out without a plan and said IS has not yet been destroyed in Syria.
The office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he and Trump spoke by phone early Monday about Manbij, and that Erdogan told Trump that Turkey is “ready to take over the security” of the town “without losing time.”
The fate of the Syrian town, controlled by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers terrorists, has been a source of tension between Ankara and Washington. Turkey insists on the withdrawal of the Syrian Kurdish militia, which drove IS from Manbij in 2016.
Erdogan called last week’s suicide attack in Manbij a “provocation meant to affect the U.S. decision to withdraw from Syria,” and said the two leaders agreed their military chiefs would “speed up” consultations about a safe zone in northeastern Syria.
In a separate development on Monday, the European Union added 11 businessmen and five companies to its list of Syrians under sanctions for backing President Bashar Assad’s government.
EU foreign ministers imposed travel bans and asset freezes on them, saying they “are involved in luxury estate development and other regime-backed projects, and as such support and/or benefit from the Syrian regime.”
The EU sanctions list now includes 270 people and 72 “entities,” which are usually companies, organizations or agencies.
The EU began imposing sanctions on Assad and his supporters in 2011, after peaceful protests erupted against his family’s decades-long rule and the government launched a violent crackdown. The sanctions are reviewed every year.
The measures include an oil embargo, investment restrictions, a freeze on Syrian central bank assets held in the EU, and export bans on equipment that could be used to crack down on civilians.
Prop bets popular for Super Bowl, but NFL wants them gone
By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Many Americans in places where sports betting is legal for the first time are beginning to make wagers on the Super Bowl, including some bets on the performances of individual athletes.
But if the National Football League had its way, bets on things like passing touchdowns for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady or rushing yards for Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley would be restricted — or even outlawed as too risky and vulnerable to manipulation or cheating.
Proposition bets — also known as prop bets — are less popular during the regular season but gain steam during the Super Bowl each year as a way to bet on the outcome of more than one thing at a moment the sports world is intensely focused on a single game.
In testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives committee on Sept. 27, NFL Executive Vice President Jocelyn Moore asked Congress to let professional sports leagues and gambling regulators ban prop bets that involve the performance of individual athletes over the course of a game.
“Examples might range from the number of passing yards by a quarterback in a football game or the number of points or rebounds by a team during a quarter of a basketball game, to the number of ‘throw-ins’ in a soccer match, or even how many flags a referee might throw in a contest,” she testified. “These types of bets are significantly more susceptible to match-fixing efforts, and are therefore a source of concern to sports leagues, individual teams, and the athletes who compete.
“To address concerns regarding risky betting fixtures, we encourage Congress to allow professional and amateur sports organizations to identify which types of bets simply pose too significant a risk to the integrity of sports and to work with regulators not to authorize them,” she said.
An NFL spokesman said last week there has been no change in the league’s position since the September testimony.
Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US, the American arm of the British bookmaker that runs several sportsbooks in this country, said the league’s request is a solution in search of a problem.
“We’ve been doing this for many years, and this issue is way overblown,” he said. “With the exception of the Super Bowl, player props are a tiny portion of the business — a fingernail on the world’s biggest man.”
He acknowledged such bets will make up a bigger proportion of Super Bowl gambling.
“Prop betting on the Super Bowl is quite popular and keeps people engaged throughout the game, even if it’s a blowout,” he said. “We’ve never seen evidence of a player prop being manipulated.”
Most sportsbooks also limit the amount of money that can be bet on player props to lessen the likelihood that cheaters would try to make a huge profit by conspiring with a player or referee to manipulate the outcome of such a bet.
Asher said William Hill’s limits vary, but typically restrict such bets to no more than $500 or $1,000.
In Sunday’s football championship games, prop bets offered by William Hill included bets on who would score the first touchdown of the game, ranging from 6-1 odds for Sony Michel of the Patriots (he did score first) and Damien Williams of the Chiefs, to 60-1 on Gehrig Dieter, a backup wide receiver for Kansas City.
Bets were taken on whether Brady would pass for more or less than 291 yards (he had 348); whether Michel would get more or less than 79 rushing yards (he had 113); whether Julian Edelman would have more or less than six receptions (he had seven); whether Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes would have more than 315 passing yards (he had 295); whether KC tight end Travis Kelce would exceed six receptions (he had three), and whether Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill would exceed 84 receiving yards (he had 42).
Similar bets were taken on whether Saints quarterback Drew Brees would complete more than 25 passes (he completed 26); whether Saints running back Alvin Kamara would tally more than 107 combined rushing and receiving yards ( he had 111), and whether the Rams’ Todd Gurley would rush for more than 71 yards (he gained just 10).
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Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
7:30pm
[2A] Northgate at Aliquippa
[2A] Shenango at South Side Beaver
[3A] Beaver at Ellwood City
[3A] Freedom at Beaver Falls
[3A] Riverside at Neshannock
[4A] Quaker Valley at Blackhawk
[4A] Keystone Oaks at Ambridge
[4A] Hopewell at New Castle
[5A] Moon at Lincoln Park
[5A] West Allegheny at Thomas Jefferson
[NC] Central Valley at Hampton
AN ALIQUIPPA POLICE OFFICER WAS COMMENDED LAST WEEK. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…
A LANDSLIDE IS REPORTED ON AN ALIQUIPPA STREET. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…
TWO VETERAN POLITICIANS HAVE TEAMED UP TO SEEK THEIR PARTY’S NOMINATION FOR BEAVER COUNTY COMMISSIONER. DEMOCRATS TONY AMADIO AND DENNIS NICHOLS ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK THEIR INTENT TO RUN AS A TEAM FOR COMMISSIONER. AMADIO IS THE CURRENT MINORITY COMMISSIONER AND IS SEEKING HIS FOURTH TERM ON THE BOARD. NICHOLS SERVED ONE TERM ON THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FROM 2012 TO 2016 AS A REPUBLICAN MINORITY COMMISSIONER. AFTER LOSING IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY TO CURRENT COMMISSIONERS DAN CAMP AND SANDIE EGLEY, NICHOLS CHANGED PARTY AFFILIATION.
THE NEW RESOURCES FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DRUG-AND ALCOHOL-TREATMENT FACILITY IN OHIOVILLE IS SET TO OPEN. THE COUNTY-FUNDED ADDICTION TREATMENT FACILITY IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN TAKING PATIENTS SOON. THE FACILITY WILL OFFER SHORT-AND-LONG TERM OPTIONS FOR THOSE DEALING WITH ADDICTION.
Welcome to Beaver County Memories, a look back at the people, places and events that have made Beaver County a special place, presented by St. Barnabas Beaver Meadows. In this first segment about Beaver County musicians, you might feel the need to sing along as we highlight some of the musical groups and performers that have called Beaver County Home.
From his home is West Aliquippa, it is theorized, that Henry Mancini had a good view of the Ohio River, and at night, the young Mancini, at the time, sat outside and observed the beauty of the moon and stars in the sky and the light that they cast reflecting off of the tranquil waterway below. This was believed to be Mancini’s inspiration for “Moon River”, one of many award winning songs that Henry Mancini would compose throughout his prolific career. Enrico Nicola Mancini, or Henry Mancini as we know him, enjoyed great success as a composer, arranger and conductor and also performed as a solo artist. His most well known work was writing the musical scores for hundreds of movies and television shows. In addition to the aforementioned “Moon River”, a song from the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, other very familiar tunes penned by Mancini would include the Peter Gunn television series theme and music from the movie The Pink Panther.
Not long after Henry Mancini had written about the celestial beauty of his backyard, a set of twins, also from Aliquippa, began to write music that would eventually be heard over the radios and record players everywhere. Melvin and Mervin Steals were in their early twenties when they got the attention of a record producer at Gamble Records in Philadelphia. This led to the Steals brothers contributing a couple of songs to an introductory album being recorded by another Beaver County band in 1968 called The Jaggerz. One of those tunes, “Gotta Find My Way Back Home”, became a fairly well known song and the first small bit of fame and fortune for both the Jaggerz and the Steals brothers. In 1973, Melvin penned the words and Mervin wrote the music to “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love”, a hit song that was recorded by legendary motown group, The Spinners. The song sold over three million copies and continues to receive significant airplay and has been covered and re released by dozens of other artists through the years. Through they moved on to other careers, To date, the duo of songwriting twins from Aliquippa have written around twenty five songs that continue to receive airplay and produce royalty checks.
The Jaggerz in 1968. Photo Courtesy of Jimmy Ross.
The Jaggerz, who we mentioned earlier, had roots in Beaver County as well. The original line up was made up of prominent local musicians including Jimmy Ross, Donnie Iris, Bill Maybray, Jim Pugliano, Benny Faiella and Thom Davies. The group hit it big in 1970 with the release of a song from their second album that went to number two on the billboard charts that year called “The Rapper”. In all, The Jaggerz have had eleven nationally released songs, with three of them reaching the top one hundred according to Billboard Magazine. The Jaggerz continue to perform in the Beaver County area many times a year with original members, Ross and Failla joined by Hermie Granati, Paul Martello, Chris Patarini and Dennis McAbee to make up the present day version of the band.
The youngest of the Stringfield family musicians, Bobby “Vegas” Stringfield, pictured in Beaver Falls in 2015.
Another family act from Aliquippa had significant success in the late sixties and early seventies. The Stringfield family put together a group called The El Pooks that performed with a similar style, energy and talent level likened to the Jackson 5 or Sly and The Family Stone. In 1970, The El Pooks recorded “Psychedelic Soul, Parts I and II” at Orivious Records in Ambridge. The song became a region wide favorite and copies of the original vinyl record are still a highly sought after item in online auction sites. The pinnacle of the El Pooks career happened when they at one point in time performed as the opening act for the Temptations.
This has been part one of Beaver County Musicians, part of Beaver County Memories, presented by St. Barnabas Beaver Meadows. In Part 2, we will shine the memory spotlight on other great musicians who first performed right here in Beaver County. Tune in everyday for a another memory on Beaver County Radio, or visit beavercountyradio.com for a complete transcript of this and other archived editions of Beaver County Memories.
TODAY IS MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY…AND LINCOLN PARK in Midland IS CELEBRATING. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…
