Church cancels annual festival after letter raises concerns
SCOTT TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — A Roman Catholic church in a Pittsburgh suburb has canceled its annual festival after an anonymous letter raised safety concerns.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh Pastoral Center received a handwritten letter in late July that said “Cancel August 14-17 Festival Security Problem is Huge.” Our Lady of Grace Parish in Scott Township was the only church in the diocese planning an event that week.
Church officials say while the letter did not specify a threat, there were concerns following the recent deadly shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
In a statement, the diocese said it mourns “the loss of carefree community.”
The church will consider other ways to raise money.
Authorities have not found the person who wrote and sent the letter.

Man in wheelchair attempted to rob Pittsburgh bank
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Police and the FBI are investigating after a man in a wheelchair attempted to rob a bank in Pittsburgh.
Police say a man described to be in his 60s entered the First National Bank in a wheelchair on Tuesday afternoon and handed a note demanding cash to a teller.
However, the man had second thoughts and left the bank.
The investigation is ongoing.

Police: Water tank wall collapses on worker, killing him
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a Michigan man who was trapped under part of a water tank he was working to disassemble in western Pennsylvania.
State police in Mercer County say 31-year-old Zachary Jock of Bad Axe, Michigan, was part of a company hired to disassemble the 100-foot tank in New Wilmington Township.
Police said that during the disassembly process, a piece of the tank’s metal wall collapsed on Jock at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, trapping him. He was taken to UPMC Jameson, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Police are investigating but have classified the case an accidental death.

State to close 2 centers for disabled over next 3 years
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania officials have announced plans to close two centers for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities over the next three years.
The Department of Human Services said Tuesday that public meetings will be held next month to gather comment on the plans to close the Polk State Center in Venango County in western Pennsylvania and the White Haven State Center in northeastern Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County.
The Polk center currently serves 194 residents and the White Haven center serves 112 people.
Officials say the commonwealth has steadily closed most state centers since the 1960s “when best practices turned toward community-based settings and away from institutions.” Fifty years ago, the department served more than 13,000 people with intellectual disabilities in state-operated facilities, but today fewer than 720 receive care in such facilities.

Curt Schilling says he may run for Congress in Arizona
PHOENIX (AP) — Former major league pitcher Curt Schilling says he’s thinking about running for Congress in Arizona.
Schilling confirmed in an email to The Arizona Republic on Monday that he’s considering a run. He declined to say which district he’d run in and wrote that “the illegal immigration issue is not a joke.”
Schilling, 52, helped the Arizona Diamondbacks to its only World Series championship in 2001. He won another World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2004.
He was later fired as an ESPN commentator for controversial online comments.
He’s an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, who tweeted, “Curt Schilling, a great pitcher and patriot, is considering a run for Congress in Arizona. Terrific!”
Schilling has in the past floated a Senate run in Massachusetts.

Facebook paid contractors to transcribe users’ audio clips
By MAE ANDERSON and RACHEL LERMAN AP Technology Writers
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook has paid contractors to transcribe audio clips from users of its Messenger service, raising privacy concerns for a company with a history of privacy lapses.
The practice was, until recently, common in the tech industry. Companies say the practice helps improve their services. But users aren’t typically aware that humans and not just computers are reviewing audio.
Transcriptions done by humans raise bigger concerns because of the potential of rogue employees or contractors leaking details. The practice at Google emerged after some of its Dutch language audio snippets were leaked. More than 1,000 recordings were obtained by Belgian broadcaster VRT NWS, which noted that some contained sensitive personal conversations — as well as information that identified the person speaking.
People react differently when they know other humans have heard them rather than machines because it’s a different type of connection, said Jamie Winterton, director of strategy at Arizona State University’s Global Security Initiative.
“We feel we have some control over machines,” she said. “You have no control over humans that way. There’s no way once a human knows something to drag that piece of data to the recycling bin.”
Facebook said audio snippets reviewed by contractors were masked so as not to reveal anyone’s identity. It said it stopped the practice a week ago. The development was reported earlier by Bloomberg.
Google said it suspended doing this worldwide while it investigates the Dutch leaks. Amazon said it still uses humans, but users can decline, or opt out, of the human transcriptions. Published reports say Apple also has used humans, but has stopped.
A report last week said Microsoft also uses human transcribers with some Skype conversations and commands spoken to Microsoft’s digital assistant, Cortana. Microsoft told tech news site Motherboard that it has safeguards such as stripping identifying data and requiring non-disclosure agreements with contractors and their employees. Yet details leaked to Motherboard.
It makes sense to use human transcribers to train artificial intelligence systems, Winterton said. But the issue is that companies are leading people to believe that only machines are listening to audio, causing miscommunication and distrust, she said.
“Communicating to users through your privacy policy is legal but not ethical,” she said.
The companies’ privacy policies — usually long, dense documents — often permit the use of customer data to improve products and services, but the language can be opaque.
“We collect the content, communications and other information you provide when you use our Products, including when you sign up for an account, create or share content, and message or communicate with others,” Facebook’s data-use policy reads . It does not mention audio or voice specifically or using transcribers.
Irish data-protection regulators say they’re seeking more details from Facebook to assess compliance with European data regulations. The agency’s statement says it’s also had “ongoing engagement with Google, Apple and Microsoft” over the issue, though Amazon wasn’t mentioned.
Facebook is already under scrutiny for a variety of other ways it has misused user data. It agreed to a $5 billion fine to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission probe of its privacy practices.
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Lerman reported from San Francisco.

One day after the eyes of America–and perhaps the world–were on Beaver County as President Donald Trump visited the Shell cracker plant in Potter Township, it was back to work for the Commissioners and crew at the daily work session. However, the protest to President Trump was brought up during the meeting, as County Solicitor Garen Fedeles cleared up any concerns about the Courthouse being used as a grounds for the Anti Trump crowd:

While the anti-Trump crowd was at the courthouse on Tuesday, the pro-Trump crowd was across the street in McIntosh Park.

The other major issue brought out at the Commissioners’ work session on Wednesday was the current association with two organizations focused on Beaver County’s homeless: The Cornerstone of Beaver County and Crossroads Men’s Shelter (both located in Beaver Falls). Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp explained the current situation:

The Commissioners will meet again on August 21 at 10:00 AM.

Army veteran pleads not guilty in anthem assault on teen
SUPERIOR, Mont. (AP) — An Army veteran pleaded not guilty to assaulting a 13-year-old boy who the suspect said refused to remove his hat during the national anthem at a rodeo in Montana.
Attorney Lance Jasper has told the Missoulian that defendant Curt Brockway, a 39-year-old veteran with a traumatic brain injury from an automobile crash, believed he was doing what President Donald Trump wanted him to do.
Brockway told investigators the boy cursed at him when he asked him to remove his hat.
Witnesses have said Brockway picked the boy up by his neck and slammed him to the ground. Court records say the boy suffered a skull fracture.
Brockway, of Superior, Montana, entered his plea Wednesday in the Aug. 3 encounter.
He remains free without bond. His next hearing is Oct. 23.