Senator Elder Vogel, Jr., announces approval of over $1.2 million for road improvement projects in Beaver and Butler counties

(File Photo of Senator Elder Vogel, Jr.)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to a release from Senator Elder Vogel Jr.’s office, Vogel announced that a total of over $1.2 million was approved for road improvement projects in Beaver and Butler counties. The Commonwealth Financing Authority awarded these grants.

According to the release, here are where the fundings went and the purposes they will be used for in the future.

  • 72 Steel Inc. will receive $300,000 to construct a freight railroad connection to a proposed steel mill in Aliquippa.

 

  • Forward Township, in cooperation with Adams Township, will receive $125,000 to widen Marburger Road in the townships.

 

  • Hopewell Township will receive $351,222 for sidewalk extensions along Brodhead Road, Laird Avenue and Circle Drive.

 

  • Midland Borough will receive $200,000 for roadway and pedestrian improvements on five roads in the borough.

 

  • South Beaver Township will receive $100,000 for improvements to the entry road of South Beaver Township Park.

 

  • Zelienople Borough will receive $213,300 for the preliminary design of the Zelienople Connector Project.

State Representative Rob Matzie announces grant for new transportation infrastructure in Beaver County

(File Photo of State Representative Rob Matzie speaking)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Ambridge, PA) According to a release from State Representative Rob Matzie’s office, Matzie announced new transportation infrastructure is coming to parts of Beaver County with a grant of $651,200. Matzie confirmed that $300,000 was secured for railroad infrastructure construction to serve the waterfront industrial site in the city of Aliquippa. A $219 million advanced steelmaking facility is the target for the site. Hopewell Township received $351,222 for a sidewalk extension installation project. The release also states that Midland Borough and South Beaver Township received $200,000 and $100,000 respectively for their projects.

Third person accused of alleged Aliquippa VFW assault turns herself in to custody

(Photo Courtesy of the City of Aliquippa Police Department)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

(Aliquippa, PA) The third offender responsible for the alleged attack on Preston Coleman at an Aliquippa VFW bar on January 5th, 2025 is now in jail. Twenty-one-year-old Ireland Brown of Ambridge turned herself in on Monday. Brown was the bartender on duty when Coleman was assaulted. Brown faces one misdemeanor charge and three felony charges that have been filed against her. Brown joins Brett Ours and Ronald Brown, the other two suspects accused of the crime, in the Beaver County Jail. 

Funeral set for an officer killed while responding to a gunman in a Pennsylvania hospital

(File Photo: Source for Photo: This undated photo provided by the Denver Police Department shows Andrew Duarte who served as a Denver police officer from 2017 to 2022. (Denver Police Department via AP) DPearson)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A funeral service will be held later this week for a Pennsylvania police officer shot and killed while responding to a hospital intensive care unit where authorities said a gunman had shot three hospital employees and taken staff members hostage last weekend.

West York Patrolman Andrew Duarte’s funeral Friday at a church in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, will be livestreamed but not open to the general public.

An autopsy Monday concluded his death was caused by being shot in the torso on Saturday inside UPMC Memorial Hospital in York. Duarte, 30, was declared dead shortly after noon that day at a different hospital, where he was taken for treatment.

The service will be limited to his family members and friends, sworn members of law enforcement, dignitaries and special guests, according to a news release issued by his family and the West York Borough Police Department. A police funeral procession will precede the service.

Authorities said Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, brought a gun and zip ties to the intensive care unit before responding officers shot and killed him. Five others were wounded — officers from two other local police agencies, a doctor, a nurse and a member of the hospital’s custodial staff.

The coroner’s office said Archangel-Ortiz lived just a couple blocks away from the police department where Duarte worked. His autopsy is planned for Tuesday.

York County District Attorney Tim Barker said Saturday that Archangel-Ortiz appeared to have had recent contact with the ICU “for a medical purpose involving another person.” Officials have not spoken publicly about that incident or disclosed his motive.

“It is absolutely clear and beyond any and all doubt that the officers were justified in taking their action and using deadly force,” Barker told reporters Saturday. “Quite frankly, they needed to use deadly force because by doing so, they potentially saved even more lives, even as they lost one of their own.”

Duarte began work for West York in 2022 after five years with the Denver Police Department, according to his LinkedIn profile. He described receiving a “hero award” in 2021 from Mothers Against Drunk Driving for his work in impaired driving enforcement for the state of Colorado. His family directed memorial donations to groups that combat drunk driving.

An obituary posted Monday called Duarte a hero to his family and community. It noted that he had been born in Oakland, California, and had a degree in criminal justice and police science from California University of Pennsylvania. His interests included photography, guitar, hiking and traveling. Survivors include his parents and his girlfriend.

Northern York County Regional Police Chief David Lash said Sunday that one of his officers who was wounded in the shooting had been released from hospital treatment and was expected to fully recover. Lash thanked state troopers who applied a tourniquet to the wounded officer’s leg and provided life-saving care until he could be transported.

The other wounded officer, a member of the Springettsbury Township Police Department, has also been released from hospital care and is recovering at home, Chief Todd King said in a Facebook post on Monday. It is likely that officer will recover fully, King said.

The shooting was the latest episode of a wave of gun violence in recent years that has swept through U.S. hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adapt to the growing threats. Such attacks have contributed to making health care one of the nation’s most dangerous fields, with workers suffering more nonfatal injuries from workplace violence than workers in any other profession, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Pennsylvania’s governor says the Trump administration has unfrozen billions in grants and loans

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference regarding the shooting at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pa. on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Monday that President Donald Trump ’s administration has freed up billions in federal aid that the Democrat had accused it of withholding illegally and unconstitutionally.

Shapiro said in a news conference that more than $2 billion that his administration had identified as either frozen or held up by an unspecified review was now accessible to state agencies.

Shapiro sued in federal court over the aid on Feb. 13, after federal courts had repeatedly rejected the Trump administration’s sweeping pause on federal funding and questioned whether the Trump administration was ignoring court orders.

Shapiro also said he pressed his case in conversations with senior Trump administration officials while he was in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia, which represents the federal agencies named in the lawsuit, declined comment Monday.

In federal court in Rhode Island, Trump administration lawyers, however, have argued that the government’s move to freeze funds was legal and asked a judge to reject a request by nearly two dozen Democratic states for a preliminary injunction.

Administration lawyers characterized the freeze as simply a “pause” to consider how best to use federal funds. They contended the case was moot since the Office of Management and Budget had rescinded its memo in late January freezing federal grants and loans.

Much of the stalled grant funding identified by Shapiro’s administration was passed by Congress in signature laws signed by former President Joe Biden, including his landmark 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and his 2021 infrastructure law.

The lawsuit had said aid was being withheld from programs that distribute money to upgrade energy efficiency in homes, plug abandoned gas wells, clean up abandoned mine land, improve municipal water and sewer systems and reimburse industry for cutting their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Five federal agencies were named as defendants: the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Interior and Transportation.

None have commented on the lawsuit, except for the Department of Energy, which said it was complying with the court orders. However, the department didn’t say whether it had released funding that Shapiro’s administration accused it of holding up.

 

Negative results found after fight breaks out in Aliquippa with a firearm involved

(File photo of Police Lights)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

(Aliquippa, PA) Aliquippa Police received a report and went to Plan 11 in Aliquippa after a fight that occurred on Saturday night. Police went to Madison Avenue and Third Street after receiving a report at around 10:30 p.m. According to the report, a man involved in the fight had a firearm with him. Everyone that was in the fight dispersed after police arrived. Negative results were found after officers investigated both roads.

Driver who stole a car taken to jail after pursuit in Aliquippa

(File Photo of Police Lights)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

(Aliquippa, PA) An unidentified suspect was apprehended on Friday after the person stole a car. Aliquippa Police were informed of a pursuit on northbound State Route 51 at around 10:20 p.m. A Honda was being searched for by Moon Township Police which has escaped from them multiple times. The driver was found and was taken to jail without incident after their vehicle became disabled in West Aliquippa.

PennDOT announces lane restrictions on Route 65 on the Ohio River Boulevard weather permitting

(File Photo of PennDOT logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) PennDOT District 11 announced that on Tuesday, February 25th and Wednesday, February 26th weather permitting, lane restrictions on Route 65 on the Ohio River Boulevard will occur. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, single-lane and shoulder restrictions will be on the road as sanitary sewer work will be conducted by crews from State Pipe Services. On Tuesday, Northbound Route 65 at the North Avenue intersection will be affected and on Wednesday, Route 65 in both ways between Charles Street and Camp Horne Road will be affected.

First-ever Pittsburgh Steelers Fan Cruise will set sail in 2026

(Photo Provided with Release)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to a release from the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team is partnering up with Seaside Events for the first-ever Steelers Fan Cruise in May of 2026. On May 19th, 2026, the Norwegian Escape Ship will set sail from Miami to Mexico and the Bahamas before going back to Florida. The activities include pool and beach parties, group dinners and meet-and-greets and autographs with legendary Pittsburgh Steelers players. You can go to SteelersFanCruise.com now to save up to a price of $250 for each person attending through April 1st, 2025. If you use the code KICKOFF2025 when you check out, you can get an autographed Steelers Fan Cruise commemorative football. The roster of legendary Steelers that will be present on the cruise with more to come include: Dermontti Dawson, Keith Gary, Louis Lipps, and Walter Abercrombie.

Computer training facility celebrates grand opening in Ambridge

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio News. Published February 25, 2025 5:00 A.M.

(Ambridge, Pa) A new computer lab aimed at training individuals in need of how to use computers is now open in Ambridge. Tech 2 Elevate is a nonprofit organization that will teach people common useful skills to getting online.

The facility is located on Merchant Street in Ambridge and held a grand opening and open house Monday morning.

Those in attendance heard statements from leaders of Tech 2 Elevate and Kinber as well as State Representative Rob Matzie.

Their organization has recently been working with libraries to offer their teaching but they say the benefits of the new facilty include more computers and more time to help residents.

In regards to the resources available, Representative Matzie said, “tell your neighbors, tell your friends, let them know that this exists”.

Matzie said the Covid pandemic allowed people including his own family to see the benefits the older population can recieve by using the internet such as interacting with their doctors.

The center has 25 laptops which were provided through state funding while Kinber did work such as wiring and providing furniture to properly equip the facility for use.

The facility is located at 233 Merchant Street in Ambridge.