The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced on Tuesday that the state generated $457,153,095 in gaming revenue for August 2023, which is a 7.5% increase from the previous year.

iGaming slots and tables were particularly successful during this past August, with slots gaining 39% from last year at $105,270,893 and tables going up 29% for a revenue total of $37,269,167. Both totals ease the major 35% drop by sports wagering in Pennsylvania over the last 12 months.

Locally, the three casinos remained somewhat steady. Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and Live! Casino Pittsburgh each increased their revenue slightly at 2.79% and 1.65% respectively, while Hollywood Casino at The Meadows dipped down 3.62% from August 2022.

An agreement between Norfolk Southern and the borough of Midland to provide an easement of land for the repair of stormwater pipes was reached on Tuesday. Congressman Chris DeLuzio’s office collaborated with municipal government leaders from Midland in order to have the agreement secured.

The stormwater pipes that have been used for over a century suffered major leaks in May of 2022, and the leaks have caused erosion that has led to the stability of the nearby riverbank to begin coming into question. The borough needed approval from Norfolk Southern in order to secure the land easement due to federal right-of-way railroad transportation laws.

“I am proud to have worked with the good people of Midland Borough government to secure this land easement from the railroad to protect the Ohio River, stop concerning hillside erosion, and allow Midland to repair their stormwater management system,” said Rep. Deluzio. “After causing our community so much pain in the wake of their devastating derailment, I will continue to push Norfolk Southern to operate as a strong partner in Western Pennsylvania communities like Midland.”

Keystone State News Connection – Danielle Smith

Election Day is less than two months away, and for the process to go smoothly, Pennsylvania needs a lot more poll workers. Many of the 8.7 million registered voters in the state would be eligible to work at the polls for the November 7th municipal elections.

Lauren Cristella, League of Women Voters board member and president and CEO of the Committee of 70, a voter education group, said 40,000 Pennsylvanians are needed twice a year to ensure elections happen, and added the state is also recruiting 17-year-olds to serve as poll workers, if they get permission from their school principal and a parent or guardian.

“Poll workers are our first, best defense against election fraud, anything that would cause disenfranchisement of voters,” Cristella said. “Fully-staffed, well-trained poll workers make voting easier for everyone. So, we took that as an important part of our mission, to make sure that these important roles are filled.”

Cristella added Pennsylvania’s population increase is one reason more poll workers are needed. In Philadelphia, for instance, each polling location requires five people to serve in the assigned roles – and there are over 1,700 locations.

Older Pennsylvanians are traditionally the backbone of poll staffing. But it has been a challenge since the pandemic to find enough workers, because COVID prompted many people to decide to stay home for health reasons, she said.

“There was a huge gap we had to fill – so many people stepped up. We recruited tens of thousands of people in Pennsylvania in 2020. Getting those people back is important,” Cristella continued.

People can sign up to become poll workers through the Pennsylvania Department of State website or the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania website.

According to League Program Manager Samantha Anthony, 1,200 people signed up online on the League’s website last year.

“We really encourage people to sign up through that link, so we can send them to the correct county election officials,” Anthony explained. “It kind of takes some of the administrative burden off of the county by making sure everybody’s registered to vote, and within the right county that they’re supposed to be in.”

Election workers are paid, but the exact rates depend on the county. Their work hours may start as early as 6:30 a.m., and polls close at 8:00 p.m.

September 19, 2023: Rochester, PA – Join us on Saturday, October 14, to celebrate the redesigned Rochester Shop ‘n Save and the grand opening of True Value Hardware! It’s a fun day for the entire community! Check out the new Shop ‘n Save store design featuring new departments, True Value Hardware, and much more!

Our valued vendors will feature special tastings throughout Shop ‘n Save. The festivities do not end in-store and continue all day long featuring our Community Heroes – Firefighters, Police, K-9s, and EMS!

Big ticket giveaways all day long featuring Grills, Riding Mowers, Firepits, and MORE!

Schedule of Events:

11:00 am – Ribbon Cutting Ceremony featuring comments from

Local and State Officials and Store Management.

11:00 am – 1:00 pm – Free Hot Dogs, Pumpkin & Cupcake Decorating,

Root Beer Floats courtesy of United Diary.

3:00 – 7:00 pm – Grand Opening RIBFEST featuring live music by the

MUDSLINGER BAND.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14

11:00 am- 7:00 pm

750 Ohio River Boulevard, Rochester, PA 15074

FILE – A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, Feb. 6, 2023. Norfolk Southern announced new details Monday, Sept. 18, about its plan to compensate East Palestine residents for lost home values since the fiery derailment disrupted life in the eastern Ohio town in February. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Norfolk Southern announced new details Monday about its plan to compensate East Palestine residents for lost home values since the fiery derailment disrupted life in the eastern Ohio town in February. The railroad’s program will no doubt be welcomed by some people who want to sell their homes and move away rather than deal with the lingering health worries. But some critics say the railroad should be doing more to address those health concerns instead of worrying so much about economic recovery in the area. The program will pay homeowners the difference between the appraised market values of their homes and the sale price. But accepting payment will force homeowners to forego any property claims they might eventually collect in a lawsuit.

FILE – Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., waves to members of the media, Monday, April 17, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The stuffy Senate is now a bit less formal. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says staff for the chamber’s Sergeant-at-Arms will no longer enforce a dress code on the Senate floor. The change comes after Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has been unapologetically wearing shorts as he goes about his duties, voting from the doorways so he doesn’t get in trouble for his more casual attire. Schumer says he will continue to wear a suit. The dress code will only apply to senators, not staff. The changes prompted outrage from some of the chamber’s more formal members.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published September 19, 2023 10:00 A.M.

(Center Township, PA) On Monday night the supervisors held their regular meeting  and no action was taken on bond reduction for the  Highland Meadows bond reduction for the subdivision,  More information is being requested from Chipotle for the required bonding and certificate of insurance for the new business.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that according to department data, fatalities, injuries, and crashes decreased overall after intersections at 39 locations were replaced with 42 roundabouts.

 

“PennDOT is continuing its work to identify and implement innovations and best practices across Pennsylvania,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “I’m proud to see that the data on roundabouts remains consistent on saving lives and reducing crash severity.”

 

PennDOT recently reviewed data for 36 single-lane and six multi-lane roundabouts on state routes at intersections that were previously stop or signal controlled. This update to data released in 2022 now includes an additional seven roundabouts. These intersections were selected based on having at least three years of crash data available before and after the roundabouts were built. This accounts for a total of 460 before years and 250 after years of data.

 

Department data from 2003 through 2022 obtained from police-submitted crash reports and weighted based on the number of before and after years, but not for increases in traffic volume shows that crashes involving suspected serious injuries were reduced by 24%; crashes involving suspected non-serious injuries were reduced by 51%; and the total number of crashes were reduced by 3%.

 

Although roundabouts are frequently installed to address intersections with safety issues, they are also commonly installed to improve traffic flow or for other reasons such as traffic calming.

 

The seven new roundabouts included in this review are at the following intersections:

• Berks County:
  • Route 73 and Lynx Drive, opened in 2019.
  • Route 73 and Oley Road, opened in 2019.

 

• Bucks County:
  • Route 4049 (Tollgate Road) and Old Bethlehem Pike, opened in 2019.

 

• Crawford County:
  • Route 6/322 and Route 19/98, opened in 2019.

 

• Cumberland County:
  • Route 2017 (Lisburn Road) and Rossmoyne Road, opened in 2019.

 

• Luzerne County:
  • Route 2008 (Middle Road) and Prospect Street, opened in 2019.

 

• Wyoming County:
  • Route 1017 (College Ave.) and Edwards Lane, opened in 2019.

 

Additional roundabouts included in this review can be found on the PennDOT website.

 

In addition to the 42 that met the selection criteria, 36 other roundabouts have been built on state routes.

 

Although roundabouts are typically safer and more efficient than traditional signalized intersections, they may not always be the best option due to topography or other reasons, such as property impacts, capacity issues and proximity to other intersections.

 

Roundabouts are recognized by the Pennsylvania State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) as an innovation that has become standard practice within the transportation community.

The Pennsylvania STIC facilitates the rapid implementation of proven, well-researched and documented state, regional, national and international technologies, tactics, techniques and other innovations that are new to Pennsylvania. The STIC also supports the implementation of the Federal Highway Administration’s Every Day Counts (EDC) innovations.

 

PITTSBURGH, PA – A resident of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to one year and  one day in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States. Nocito, former CEO and President of  Pittsburgh-based Automated Health Systems (AHS), will serve – in addition to his prison sentence  – 3 years of supervised release, which includes six months on home detention, and pay approximately  $15,824,056 in restitution to the Government. United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced  today.  

United States District Chief Judge Joy Flowers Conti imposed the sentence on Joseph Nocito,  age 81, of Sewickley, PA.  

Court documents and statements outline Nocito’s scheme between 2006 and 2012 to illegally  classify millions of dollars of personal expenses as deductible business expenses and finance  construction of a 51,000-square-foot mansion valued at approximately $30 million. Nocito named  the home “Villa Noci.” The falsified expenses included interior and exterior construction costs;  design and furnishings; an outdoor pool and pool house; tennis, basketball and bocce courts; and  landscaping for the grounds. Nocito also fraudulently expensed millions of dollars for other personal  expenses such as luxury vehicles, artwork, country club memberships, homes for his children and  private school tuition for grandchildren.  

In addition to filing false personal returns, Nocito underreported AHS’s profits by shuffling  millions of dollars of income through other entities in fraudulent transactions designed to conceal  AHS’s true income and tax liability. Among other things, Nocito made recurring, sham payments  from AHS to other entities he controlled, falsely characterizing the transactions as payments for  management, administrative or consulting expenses. He then deducted the expenses in AHS’s  corporate income tax returns.  

“The defendant diverted millions of dollars that should’ve gone to the IRS and used it to build  a 51,000 square foot mansion in the Pittsburgh suburbs, amounting to the largest tax fraud ever  perpetrated in our District,” said U.S. Attorney Olshan. “This crime is an affront to every  hardworking, tax-paying individual in this country. We commend our partners with IRS Criminal  Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their thorough and tireless efforts to hold  this defendant accountable for his egregious conduct.” 

“Today’s sentencing brings Mr. Nocito’s massive scheme to defraud the IRS to a  conclusion,” said Yury Kruty, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation. “Tax fraud  of this magnitude, never before seen in this Judicial District, deserves to be punished and today was  Mr. Nocito’s day of reckoning. Honest taxpayers suffer when self-admitted criminals like Mr.  Nocito swindle the government. The Special Agents of IRS-CI, our law enforcement partners, and  the Department of Justice remain steadfast in our dedication to prosecuting those who carry out  schemes that cheat the government and hurt those who pay their fair share.” 

United States Attorney Olshan commended the IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S.  Postal Inspection Service who investigated the case. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory C. Melucci and Nicole A. Stockey for the Western District  of Pennsylvania and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Matthew L. Cofer of the Tax Division  prosecuted the case.