The Beaver County Sheriff’s office, led by Tony Guy, has recently added a new sticker to each of their patrol cars. This addition is meant to honor The United States, and what it stands for. Beaver County Radio News Intern, Christina Sainovich, has details…
Going out swinging: Puig brawls again as Reds finish trade
By JOE KAY AP Sports Writer
CINCINNATI (AP) — Jared Hughes’ errant pitch threw a load of fuel on one of the majors’ most flammable rivalries.
Call it Pirates vs. Reds, round two — and a fitting farewell for Yasiel Puig.
Hughes hit Starling Marte with his first pitch in the ninth inning Tuesday night, setting the stage for the latest dust-up between the Ohio River rivals. Four Pirates and four Reds were ejected in Pittsburgh’s 11-4 win, including Puig, who was in the process of being traded.
“The ball just slipped and it was real unfortunate and a lot of bad things happened afterward,” Hughes said.
And it’s not over.
Reds manager David Bell faces a suspension for coming back onto the field and going after Pirates manager Clint Hurdle during the fracas. Bell had already been ejected for arguing a strike call an inning earlier.
And there was Puig, who’s headed to Cleveland as part of a three-team deal for starter Trevor Bauer, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been announced.
Puig prolonged the fight that started when Reds reliever Amir Garrett went toward the Pirates dugout and threw several punches.
Puig’s summary of the inning: “That’s crazy.”
The NL Central rivals have been going at each other for years. The nastiness resumed this season when Derek Dietrich admired his homer at PNC Park in April, touching off a fracas.
On Tuesday, Dietrich got into the lopsided game late, and Keona Kela threw a fastball up-and-in that set off the Reds.
“I just wanted to show them that we didn’t agree with the way things went down, and you have to pitch in,” Kela said. “I was just going my part.”
Between innings, Joey Votto exchanged words with Kela.
“Today was an example of us standing our ground for what we think is right,” Votto said. “At some point, a group of players has to do that.”
Both benches had been warned when Hughes plunked Marte, so the reliever and Reds bench coach Freddie Benavides were ejected. Garrett relieved and, during the inning, traded words with Pirates starter Trevor Williams, who was in the dugout.
Garrett ran from the mound toward the dugout and started swinging as players came onto the field. Garrett was upset over the up-and-in pitch to Dietrich.
“I definitely do think they teach that in that organization,” Garrett said. “I don’t think it’s right to throw at somebody. That’s not something you should do. If you have a problem, handle it like a man.”
When the fight began, a livid Bell ran back onto the field and went after Hurdle, who got knocked to the ground in the scrum. Pirates hitting coach Rick Eckstein got Bell in a headlock. Bell yelled at Hurdle as he left the field.
“It’s a shame that this is allowed and that they’re able to get away with it,” Bell said of the up-and-in pitch. “They celebrate it, they support it, they clearly allow it. I don’t know if they teach it, but they allow it. It’s dangerous.”
Four Pirates were ejected: Williams, Chris Archer, Kyle Crick and Francisco Cervelli, who is on the injured list.
“No one likes getting shown up,” Williams said. “Alphas don’t like it. You hope it’s done. You hope it’s over. Hopefully, it won’t escalate. Today was pretty bad for us, pretty bad for baseball, pretty bad for everybody.”
Puig was given a warm ovation from Reds fans as he left the field after his ejection, knowing he was headed to Cleveland. He was also at the center of the memorable fight that followed Dietrich’s homer in April, taking on nearly the entire Pirates team at one point — a striking image with Pittsburgh sporting bright yellow throwback uniforms.
As for the game, Pittsburgh ended a nine-game losing streak behind trade candidate Corey Dickerson, who had another big game at Great American Ball Park. He drove in a career-high five runs with a pair of homers and a single. In 14 career games at Great American, Dickerson is batting .431 with nine homers and 18 RBIs. He’s had three four-hit games and three multi-homer games.
Joe Musgrove (8-9) set a career high with his eighth win. He went six innings and gave up solo homers by Votto and Jose Iglesias . Tanner Roark (6-7) had a rough time Tuesday. He lasted only 3 1/3 innings — his shortest start of the season — and gave up five runs.
The teams conclude the series Wednesday, with neither one looking for another confrontation but not backing away, either.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it sparks again,” Musgrove said, noting that Bell ran back onto the field to join in the fight. “We don’t take lightly what happened tonight.”
SUSPENDED
The Pirates suspended bullpen coach Euclides Rojas for two games for an undisclosed contract violation. Rojas started serving the penalty Tuesday. The club had no further comment.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: Dickerson was back in left field after missing three games with a sore groin.
Reds: Reliever David Hernandez will be activated before the final game of the series on Wednesday. He’s been on the injured list with shoulder fatigue.
UP NEXT
Pirates: Dario Agrazal (2-1) makes his seventh start since his major league debut June 15. He gave up a career-high three homers in a 6-3 loss to the Mets on Friday.
Reds: Luis Castillo (9-4) is coming off his worst start of an All-Star season. He gave up a career-high six runs in five innings of a 12-2 loss to the Rockies on Friday.
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AP Sports Writer Tom Withers contributed from Cleveland.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Lunch was so good, they decided to return for dinner!
About a month and a half later, anyway.
The “they” of course is Beaver County Radio, who returned to Towne Square Restaurant on Third Street in Beaver with the Personality Prize Wheel and the Pirates Treasure Chest from 4-6pm on July 30. The friendly staff and customers each had their shot at some great prizes, and Matt Drzik joined Ed Hermick in making the broadcast a special time for all who participated.
Check out these photos from our live appearance:
The Pirates Treasure Chest will next be appearing at the Beaver Valley Mall on Saturday, August 3.
2 dead, 2 wounded in shooting at Walmart in Mississippi
By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (AP) — A gunman described as a disgruntled Walmart employee fatally shot two co-workers and wounded a police officer before he was shot and arrested Tuesday at a Walmart store in northern Mississippi, authorities said.
Southaven Police Chief Macon Moore said the man, whom he did not name, shot a Southaven police officer, who was protected by a bulletproof vest and suffered minor injuries. The chief said a second Southaven officer shot the suspect, who was then taken for surgery to a hospital in neighboring Memphis, Tennessee.
Both the people killed were Walmart employees, Moore said. Employees told The Associated Press that the first was shot in the parking lot, and the second was shot inside the store.
Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite described the suspect as a disgruntled worker with a grievance against his employer.
“It wasn’t an accident,” said Travis Jones, an overnight stocker who was working when he heard shots. “He knew what he was doing when he came in there.”
Jones said he saw the body of a store manager on the floor as they ran out of the store. “It was an ugly scene,” he said.
Nicholas Gales said the other slain worker was his brother, Brandon Gales. Jones called Brandon Gales his best friend, and described him as a father of four.
The shooting at about 6:30 a.m. brought a massive police response to the shopping complex, at a busy exit off Interstate 55 in Southaven, a suburb of 55,000 people.
Carlos Odom, 35, had just made his usual visit to his cousin, who works there, and said he was leaving when he heard more than a dozen shots.
“I just hear gunshots,” Odom said. “Pow. Pow. Pow. Pow. Pow.”
“When the cops run into the Walmart, you hear more gunshots,” Odom said. “After that, it stopped.”
Odom said he ran out into the parking lot and later spoke by phone with his cousin, who told him one of the victims was an employee, and the gunman worked there as well.
Phil Cox, 70, said had just bought some nasal spray and was in the parking lot when he thought he heard a gunshot, and then saw a man who may have been the shooter run into the store. He got into his truck to leave as police began arriving.
“Everything went crazy at that point,” Cox said, expressing sympathy for employees. “It’s just hard to believe what happened here, but it seems like it’s happening everywhere.”
Officers kept working to clear the store hours after the shooting, Moore said, in part because they found a suspicious package and called a bomb squad.
Moore said about 60 employees were working at the time. They were taken to the parking lot of an adjoining Chili’s restaurant and interviewed by officers. Some embraced, while one was placed in an ambulance. Others gathered in a circle to pray.
“The entire Walmart family is heartbroken by the loss of two valued members of our team,” Walmart U.S. President and CEO Greg Foran said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “We feel tragedies like this personally, and our hearts go out to the families of our two associates and the officer who was injured.”
The company is relieved the suspect was apprehended, and appreciates the quick response by authorities and its employees, Foran said.
“We’ll continue to focus on assisting law enforcement in their investigation and on supporting our associates,” he added.
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Associated Press writers Jeff Amy and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.
Top aides leave Dem campaign arm amid diversity complaints
By ALAN FRAM Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A mass departure of top aides shook House Democrats’ campaign arm Tuesday, an exodus prompted by complaints from Hispanic and black lawmakers that the organization’s staff lacked diversity.
Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement late Monday that she had “fallen short” and promised to “work tirelessly to ensure that our staff is truly inclusive.” Executive Director Allison Jaslow announced her departure and a DCCC aide said five other senior aides had also resigned.
The tumult comes in a period when race has become a partisan battlefield, following a series of Twitter attacks by President Donald Trump on House Democrats of color. In his latest blasts, he has disparaged Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and his city of Baltimore, which is majority black.
The shake-up also occurred as both parties are already fundraising and recruiting candidates for the 2020 elections, in which Democrats will be defending their House majority. The DCCC outspent its counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, in the 2018 elections that saw Democrats regain House control after eight years in the minority.
Lawmakers complaining about the DCCC’s staff have included Texas Democratic Reps. Filemon Vela and Vicente Gonzalez and Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Bustos, 57, became chairwoman of the campaign committee following the 2018 elections, arguing she would be effective because she has represented a swing district that swung to support Trump in 2016.
Hispanic lawmakers became disenchanted after she replaced top staffers, including many minorities, with aides who were largely white, said an aide to Gonzalez who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. New committee leaders often name long-time aides to their staffs.
In a statement last weekend, Gonzalez and Vela said the DCCC was “in complete chaos.” They said Bustos should appoint a person of color to be executive director “to restore confidence in the organization and to promote diversity.”
Fudge also told Politico, which first reported about the DCCC’s disarray, about her unhappiness about the committee’s lack of diversity.
“It is shocking, and something needs to be done about it,” she said.
Gabrielle Brown, spokeswoman for the Congressional Black Caucus, said black House lawmakers have been holding meetings with DCCC officials for months at which they expressed similar concerns. None of the lawmakers complained about the DCCC’s performance this year in raising money and finding candidates to challenge Republicans, the committee’s main job.
Bustos has also encountered broader problems that have caused divisions within the party.
Liberals in and out of Congress were angered when she announced the DCCC would not do business with political consultants who help Democrats challenging incumbent House Democrats. Much of DCCC’s money comes from dues paid by House Democrats, and incumbents have argued that an organization they finance should not give some of its lucrative business to consultants who work for challengers trying to unseat them.
Many Democrats were also unhappy when Bustos planned to attend an event in support of fellow Illinois Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski, an abortion opponent and one of the most conservative house Democrats. Bustos ended up not attending.
A House leadership aide said top Democrats largely faulted the now-departed Jaslow for not quickly responding to the complaints. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the situation publicly, said leaders did not believe Bustos should leave her post.
Jaslow, an Iraq war veteran, said in a statement that “sometimes selfless service means having the courage to take a bow for the sake of the mission — especially when the stakes are so high.”
DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’ll be watching the next Democratic presidential debate and predicts Joe Biden will be the likely 2020 presidential nominee for the Democrats. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday before leaving on a trip to Jamestown, Virginia, Trump said he’ll be watching as 10 Democratic candidates square off in Detroit and took a jab at Biden, who has often criticized him. Biden will be among another 10 candidates debating on Wednesday.
JAMESTOWN, Va. (AP) — Black lawmakers in Virginia who boycotted a visit by President Donald Trump are blasting Trump for his recent disparaging remarks about minority members of Congress. During an emotional ceremony at a Richmond site where a notorious slave jail once stood, members of Virginia’s legislative black caucus took turns criticizing Trump as the president spoke about 60 miles away in historic Jamestown.
Trump claims black people love his comments about Baltimore
By JILL COLVIN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is claiming a groundswell of African American support in response to his comments denigrating Rep. Elijah Cummings and his majority-black Baltimore district, despite polling showing consistently negative numbers.
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday, Trump claimed the building had been flooded with thousands of letters, emails and phone calls thanking him for “getting involved” and exposing corruption.
“They really appreciate what I’m doing, and they’ve let me know it,” said the Republican president. The White House did not immediately provide any evidence backing up Trump’s claims.
Trump’s comments came in response to fierce backlash against his earlier remarks lashing out at Cummings, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and calling his district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” Trump also is under fire for his ongoing attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color, whom he tweeted should “go back” to their countries — even though three of the four were born in the United States and all are U.S. citizens.
But Trump on Tuesday nonetheless declared himself “the least racist person” in the world, despite his recent comments and racist tweets. And he said “African American people love the job” he’s doing, despite the fact that numerous polls have shown African Americans are overwhelmingly negative in their assessments of his performance.
Approval among black Americans has hovered around 10% over the course of Trump’s presidency, according to Gallup polling, with 8% approving in June.
Polling also suggests his recent attacks could hurt Trump with suburban voters — and especially women — whom he may need to win next year. Trump in recent days, however, has expressed to advisers on his reelection team that he believes his broadsides against the minority Democrats will help excite his core supporters.
“I think I’m helping myself because I’m pointing out the tremendous corruption that’s taking place in Baltimore and other Democratic run cities,” Trump said Tuesday, as he continued to hammer his criticism.
“Those people are living in hell in Baltimore,” he said, adding he was open to some kind of unspecified federal involvement.
“If they ask,” he said, “We will get involved.”
Vice President Mike Pence, speaking to reporters in Columbus, Ohio, also defended Trump, pointing to the low black unemployment rate and criminal justice reform legislation that Trump signed into law last year.
“President Trump is someone who calls it like he sees it,” said Pence. “President Trump believes in being able to say when things are not what they should be, to call on leadership, to call on state leadership, and say you have to do better.”
Black unemployment did reach a record low during the Trump administration: 5.9 percent in May 2018. It currently stands at 6 percent. But many economists view the continued economic growth since the middle of 2009, when Democratic President Barack Obama was in office, as the primary explanation for hiring.
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Associated Press Deputy Polling Director Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report.
Three Rivers Regatta canceled days before slated start
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A regatta that has been a tradition in the city of Pittsburgh for more than four decades has been canceled days before its scheduled opening.
Attorney Charles Scholz told reporters Tuesday that The EQT Three Rivers Regatta promoter LionHeart Event Group hadn’t secured proper permits or paid vendors, including the state for use of Point State Park and police.
Scholz said the regatta board had no choice but to withdrew its permit application. Officials said investigations had begun and legal remedies would be pursued with an eye to bringing the regatta back next year.
The regatta, a summer tradition since 1978, features powerboat races, an “Anything that Floats” race, and various water stunts and concerts.
LionHeart president Derek Weber didn’t immediately return a call and email seeking comment.
Amazon center to bring 800-plus jobs to Pittsburgh area
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The governor of Pennsylvania says Amazon plans to establish a warehouse and distribution facility in the Pittsburgh area that will bring more than 800 jobs to the region.
Gov. Tom Wolf said Amazon will open a non-sortable fulfillment center in Findlay Township near Pittsburgh International Airport and has committed to investing more than $30 million into the project.
Amazon says on its website that employees at non-sortable fulfillment centers pick, pack, and ship bulky or larger-sized customer items such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment, or rugs.
The company is getting $1.6 million in job creation tax credits from the state.
Pittsburgh was one of the finalists for a new Amazon headquarters that the company decided in 2018 to split between Long Island City in Queens, New York, and Arlington, Virginia.