(File Photo of Water)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Crews were responding to a water main break on the South Side of Pittsburgh this morning. It was reported near the intersection of Sarah Street and East Carson Street in the South Side Flats neighborhood of Pittsburgh at around 3:45 a.m. 

(File Photo of the PennDOT Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(York, PA) Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Pennsylvania Department of Aging (PDA), Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), the Pennsylvanian Insurance Department (PID), and the American Automobile Association (AAA) shared safe driving advice and resources available for older Pennsylvanians with residents at the White Rose Senior Center in York yesterday during Older Driver Safety Awareness Week. Pennsylvania has a network of shared-ride service providers which are dedicated to keeping older adults engaged mobile and safe in their community. According to a release yesterday from every aforementioned organization except for AAA, here is some more information about these providers, links for more information about them and tips for drivers:

• In 2024, there were 21,986 crashes involving at least one driver aged 65 or older that resulted in 308 total fatalities. This represents 19.8% of all crashes and 27.3% of all fatalities. Older drivers generally have fewer crashes per driver than the national average – but they have more crashes per mile of driving.

 

•  The Senior Shared Ride Program allows seniors to ride at a reduced fare. More than 2.7 million senior shared ride trips were provided in FY 2024-25. Additionally, the Free Transit Program for Seniors allows citizens aged 65 or older to ride for free on a local, fixed-route service whenever local public transportation is operating. During FY 2024-25, there were more than 25 million senior Free Transit Trips.

 

• While every person ages differently, aging typically brings certain — sometimes subtle — physical, visual, and cognitive changes that could impair an older person’s ability to drive safely. Older drivers and their families should work together to identify potential issues that may affect driving, outline courses of action to assist the older driver, and plan for when it’s time to hang up the keys.

 

• To help older drivers who may have difficulties driving, PennDOT partnered with PA Department of Human Services and transit agencies to develop an online tool called Find My Ride that allows older drivers to access free ride services online. The app allows transit agencies to process applications more efficiently, so users can access benefits more quickly. The app can be found at: findmyride.penndot.pa.gov, or at www.pa.gov/penndot by clicking on Traveling in PA, then Public Transit Options.

A list of approved mature driver courses available can be found online on PennDOT’s Mature Driver Improvement Courses page by clicking here.

 

Signs that can indicate it may be time to limit or stop driving altogether include:

• Feeling uncomfortable, fearful, or nervous when driving.
• Unexplained dents/scrapes on the car, fences, mailboxes, or garage doors.
• Frequently getting lost and frequent “close calls” (i.e. almost crashing).
• Slower response times, particularly to unexpected situations.
• Difficulty paying attention to signs or staying in the lane of traffic.
• Trouble judging gaps at intersections or highway entrance/exit ramps.

 

• PennDOT offers older drivers and their loved ones a resource to help assess older drivers’ abilities and offer guidance on next steps if their medical condition is reported to PennDOT. The Seniors Driving Safely publication series can be downloaded for free from the PennDOT Driver and Vehicle Services website by clicking here. The series also includes a publication designed to guide family and friends of older drivers in what can sometimes be difficult conversations about deciding to stop driving, as well as information for healthcare providers on PennDOT’s medical reporting program.

 

• Additionally, CarFit is an educational program created by the American Society on Aging and developed with AAA, AARP, and the American Occupational Therapy Association. CarFit is designed to help older drivers find out how well they currently “fit” their personal vehicle, to learn how they can improve their fit, and to promote conversations about driver safety and community mobility.

 

The following safe-driving habits, which should be routine at any age, are especially useful to older drivers:

• Plan ahead: lengthy car trips should be made during daylight hours. Morning may be best because most people aren’t as tired as they are in the afternoon.
• Don’t drive in rush-hour traffic if you can avoid it. Plan trips after 9:00 AM or before 5:00 PM. Know what roads near home are most congested and avoid them.
• When driving long distances, especially in winter, call ahead for weather and road condition updates.
• Look ahead. Good drivers get a jump on trouble by looking far down the road and making adjustments before encountering problems that may involve other vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists or animals.
• Maintain a safe speed. This depends on what the road is like, how well the driver can see, how much traffic there is and how fast traffic is moving.
• Keep a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of you. The PA Driver’s Manual advises that you should always keep a 4-second gap between you and the vehicle in front of you.

 

• Pennsylvanians with insurance questions can contact the Insurance Department Consumer Services Bureau online or at 1-877-881-6388.
• Additional information on older driver safety and mobility resources is available at both the PennDOT Driver and Vehicle Services website by clicking here and the Department of Aging website by clicking here.

(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of People’s Natural Gas)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Peoples Natural Gas is encouraging their customers in Pennsylvania to apply now for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP is a federally funded program that provides cash grants ranging from $200 – $1,000 that are one-time to help eligible low-income households pay their heating bills. These Grants can be directly applied to a Peoples account of a customer. According to a release in Pittsburgh today from People’s Natural Gas, here is some more information about applying for the LIHEAP program, the website to apply as well as some crisis eligibility guidelines they provide:

• To qualify for a LIHEAP grant, total gross household income must be at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Customers do not have to be on public assistance or have an unpaid heating bill. LIHEAP is open to both renters and homeowners, and Pennsylvania households experiencing a heating crisis may be eligible for additional benefits.

2025 LIHEAP/Crisis Eligibility Guidelines
Family Size	Month	Year
1	$1,956	$23,475
2	$2,644	$31,725
3	$3,331	$39,975
4	$4,019	$48,225
5	$4,706	$56,475
6	$5,394	$64,725
7	$6,081	$72,975
8	$6,769	$81,225
For each person, add:	$688	$8,250

• Customers can visit Peoples-Gas.com/LIHEAP to learn more and apply.

 

• LIHEAP is one of several programs Peoples offers customers to help pay bills or make energy-saving home improvements. If you or someone you know needs assistance, call 1-800-400-WARM (9276) or visit peoples-gas.com/help.

(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of Allegheny Health Network)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to a release in Pittsburgh today from Allegheny Health Network (AHN), the AGH Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Patient Mobility program, which is a new program at AHN Allegheny General Hospital, demonstrates that getting patients up and moving around while receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support can dramatically improve health outcomes, leading to better survival rates and shorter hospital stays. This program was launched in 2022 by critical care and cardiovascular clinicians at flagship hospital of Allegheny Health Network and is currently designed so patients can get upright and walking short distances or moving in some other capacity, but so long as they are stable on a heart-lung bypass machine. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is a type of heart-lung bypass therapy and patients that require it typically need bed rest that is extended, which is due to the severity of their illness and the invasive nature of the therapy itself.

(File Photo of the Beaver County Courthouse)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver, PA) Several topics were discussed at the Beaver County Commissioners’ work session this morning at 10 a.m. at the Beaver County Courthouse in Beaver. During the Department Head Report of the work session, Beaver County Controller Maria Longo mentioned the main topic addressed, which was increased and excessive spending as well as spending on items that were unacceptable in Beaver County. Longo has brought this up in a few other sessions looking for a solution because she is concerned about it and she stated that “as of this date, revenues are at $72.1 million, which is 66% of budget and expenses are at $81.2 million, 75% of budget, for a deficit of $9.1 million, and these numbers don’t include payroll that just posted to date which adds another $2 million, which puts us $11 million behind for 2025.” Longo also let the Commissioners know about several other matters including the $3,200 of charges on credit cards that were spent on non-essential promotional items with personal names on them and expenditures in increased travel. Longo is reporting these issues because she believes that this deficit spending that she is mentioning is wrong and it could have been avoided. Beaver County Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp recommended to Longo after rhetorically asking what can we do to solve the credit card issue is that no one has a credit card and everything is completed via a purchase unless someone is traveling. Chairman Camp also noted that the Commissioners’ heads of department as well as elected officials need to be responsible for holding their credit cards unless for example, they have to go to a hearing. In other business, during the Commissioners’ Report of the work session, Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning stated that the Commissioners attended the County Commissioners’ Association’s Fall/Winter Coference in Hershey the weekend before Thanksgiving. Manning confirmed that most of the talks there were about the Pennsylvania state budget and he said that 911 funding is the top priority for all sixty-seven Pennsylvania counties after a voting session taken at that conference for the priorities for 2026, followed by mental health funding and assistance with timely reassessment. Manning also gave congratulations to the staff of the Beaver County Jail after a recent inspection there, which went well despite some minor itesm that could be found with procedures and policies.

(File Photo of Congressman Chris Deluzio)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Carnegie, PA) According to a release in Carnegie today from Congressman Chris Deluzio’s office, Deluzio (PA-17) announced today that fourteen Western Pennsylvania fire departments are receiving more than $2.8 million in federal grant funding to support their public safety missions. This followed some outreach from the office of Deluzio to bring home grants like these back to the 17th Congressional District  of Pennsylvania. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) via the Department of Homeland Security’s Fiscal Year 2024 Assistance to Firefighters (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs was where the funding was provided through. The majority of this funding will help fourteen fire departments in Western Pennsylvania to purchase, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and critical equipment and other resources through the AFG program. The Assistance to Firefighters Grants went to these fire departments listed below along with their respective amounts they were awarded:

1. Beaver Falls Fire Department – $12,290 
2. Big Beaver Volunteer Fire Company – $4,571 
3. Castle Shannon Firemens’ Relief Association – $65,588 
4. Cherry City Volunteer Fire Company – $96,000 
5. Darlington Township Volunteer Fire Department – $471,428 
6. Hanover Volunteer Fire Department – $19,047 
7. Harmony Township Volunteer Firemen – $59,090 
8. Harrison Hills Volunteer Fire Company – $47,419 
9. Kennedy Township Independent Volunteer – $74,666 
10. Moon Township Volunteer Fire Company – $43,636 
11. Peebles Volunteer Fire Company – $52,436 
12. Presto Volunteer Fire Department – $330,604 
13. Ross/West View Emergency Medical Service – $363,181 
14. Southern Allegheny Valley Emergency Services – $242,761 

A Staffing for Adequate Fire Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant went to Southern Allegheny Valley Emergency Services with an amount of $949,240.