The annual Beaver County Chamber of Commerce State of the County breakfast happened this morning at the Fez in Hopewell township. Introductory comments were offered by Beaver County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jack Manning. The meeting included addresses by the three county commissioners. County Commission Chairman Dan Camp pointed to the new casino development happening in Northern Beaver County as the key development that happened in 2018. Tony Amadio echoed Camp’s comments about the casino project, using the word “Jackpot” to describe the fortune of securing such s big project for the county. Amadio touched on the success achieved during his last term in office, with the announcement of the Shell Chemical Cracker plant coming to Beaver County happening at the beginning of the current four year segment, and the casino project just recently announced toward the latter part. Sandie Egley championed her work in helping improve the county’s finances, and implementing new procedures in the courthouse to improve efficiency. One of the big concerns discussed by all three commissioners at this morning’s meeting was the unfunded state mandate to update the county voting machines, estimated to cost around 3 million dollars. Beaver County Radio Sponored the event that was attended by around 200 people.

NATIONAL MOLDING PLANT IN HARMONY TOWNSHIP IS RELOCATING…RESULTING IN THE LOSS OF DOZENS OF JOBS. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf will pitch the first budget proposal of his second term to lawmakers, and the Democrat can be expected to seek another big, new chunk of money for education. Wolf’s budget address to a joint legislative session is scheduled for Tuesday morning. His plan is expected to exceed $33 billion for the fiscal year starting July 1 and he’s hinted that he’ll continue to seek more from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5TH, 2019

TODAY – AREAS OF PATCHY FOG THIS MORNING. MORNING
HIGH OF 53 WITH TEMPS FALLING TO NEAR 40.

TONIGHT – CLOUDY SKIES WITH A FEW SHOWERS AFTER
MIDNIGHT. LOW – 33.

WEDNESDAY – PERIODS OF RAIN. HIGH – 54.

Couple sentenced to jail for attack on Pittsburgh teacher
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A judge has sentenced a woman and her boyfriend to jail in an attack on a teacher in Pittsburgh.
Thirty-year-old Daishonta Williams and 27-year-old Vincent Beasley were both ordered Monday to serve 11½ to 23 months in jail on November guilty pleas to aggravated assault and conspiracy.
Authorities say the October 2017 assault followed an incident involving Williams’ daughter at Pittsburgh Martin Luther King PreK-8. They say Williams hurled a brick, striking the teacher in the face, and Beasley grabbed her from behind and kicked her.
Both defendants apologized in court to the teacher, who said she sustained a concussion and just returned to work two weeks ago.
Williams wept and begged to be spared jail, citing her three children, but the judge said the defendants’ actions have consequences.

Push resumes to recognize official Pennsylvania amphibian
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Senate wants to make the slimy and unsightly Eastern hellbender the state’s official amphibian, an effort to highlight the plight of a creature whose numbers researchers say are declining because of pollution in rivers and streams.
The bill passed 48-1 on Monday, and goes to the House.
The sponsor, Sen. Gene Yaw, says members of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s student leadership council came up with the idea and Lycoming College’s Clean Water Institute helped draft a proposal.
The Senate passed a hellbender bill last year, but it died in the House, where it encountered competing legislation promoting the Wehrle’s salamander.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the hellbender is an aquatic salamander that can grow up to two feet long, making them the largest North American amphibian.

Virginia governor consults with officials on whether to quit
By ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam consulted with top administration officials Monday about whether he should stay in office or resign amid an uproar over a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page.
Practically all of the state’s Democratic establishment — and Republican leaders, too — turned against the 59-year-old Democrat after the picture surfaced of someone in blackface next to another person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.
The sense of crisis deepened as the official next in line to be governor, Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, denied an uncorroborated allegation of sexual misconduct first reported by a conservative website. Fairfax told reporters that the 2004 encounter with a woman was consensual, and he called the accusation a “smear.”
Northam stayed out of sight as he met with his Cabinet and senior staff, following a meeting the night before with minority officials in his administration. The governor wanted to hear their assessment of whether it is feasible for him to stay in office, according to a top administration official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The meetings included frank conversations about the difficulties of governing under such circumstances, the person said.
The state government was thrown into confusion by the scandal on what was already one of the legislature’s busiest days of the session, with the House and Senate each seeking to complete legislation to send to the other chamber.
Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne said he told Northam that the state cannot afford a prolonged period of uncertainty over his future. Northam’s office is in the middle of negotiations with GOP lawmakers over a major tax overhaul and changes to the state budget. The Republican Party controls both houses of the legislature.
“One way or the other, it needs to be resolved,” Layne said.
The furor over the picture erupted on Friday, when Northam first admitted he was in the picture without saying which costume he was wearing, and apologized. But a day later, he denied he was in the photo, while also acknowledging he once put on blackface to imitate Michael Jackson at a dance contest decades ago.
The scandal threatens to cripple Northam’s ability to govern. In another sign Monday of the challenges he could face if he tries to stay in office, Katherine Rowe, president of the College of William & Mary, canceled an appearance by Northam at an event this Friday because his presence would “fundamentally disrupt the sense of campus unity we aspire to.”
Northam, who is one year into his four-year term, has also lost the support of many declared and potential Democratic presidential candidates.
The state’s Republican House speaker said there is “a rightful hesitation” among lawmakers to seek Northam’s impeachment or removal, and they are hoping he steps down instead.
“Obviously on impeachment, that’s a very high standard,” Speaker Kirk Cox said. “And so I think that’s why I think we have called for the resignation. We hope that’s what the governor does. I think that would obviously be less pain for everyone.”
If Northam does resign, Fairfax will become the second African-American governor in Virginia history.
Referring to the allegation against him, Fairfax said he was not surprised it came at a critical time for the office of governor: “It’s at that point that they come out with the attacks and the smears. It is unfortunate. It really is, but it’s sadly a part of our politics now.”
The Associated Press is not reporting the details of the accusation because AP has not been able to corroborate it. The Washington Post said Monday that it was approached by the woman in 2017 and carefully investigated but never published a story for lack of any independent evidence. The Post said the woman had not told anyone about it, the account could not be corroborated, Fairfax denied it, and the Post was unable to find other similar allegations against him among people who knew him in college, law school or in politics.
The woman did not immediately respond Monday to a voicemail, text message or email from an AP reporter.
The allegations were first reported by Big League Politics, the news outlet that first published the yearbook image.
Northam, a pediatric neurologist who came to politics late in life, spent years courting the black community in the run-up to his 2017 race for governor.
He recently came under fire from Republicans who have accused him of backing infanticide after he said he supported a bill loosening restrictions on late-term abortions.
Late last month, Florida’s secretary of state resigned after photos from a 2005 Halloween party showed him in blackface while dressed as a Hurricane Katrina victim.
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Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.