(File Photo)

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing single-lane restrictions on Freedom Crider Road (Route 2004) New Sewickley Township, Beaver County will begin on Monday, March 17 weather permitting.

Single-lane alternating traffic will occur in various locations on Freedom Crider Road between Park Quarry Road and Route 989 daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through mid-April. Crews will conduct punch list work on the drainage system. Flaggers will assist motorists through the work zone.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.

Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Allegheny, Beaver, Lawrence counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District11.

Information about infrastructure in District 11, including completed work and significant projects, is available at www.penndot.pa.gov/D11Results. Find PennDOT’s planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.

Find PennDOT news on X, Facebook, and Instagram.

(File Photo of New Sewickley Township Police Department Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(New Sewickley Township, PA) A tractor-trailer tipped over on Thursday in Beaver County. According to the New Sewickley Township Police Department, the incident happened on Crows Run Road and the incident caused Crows Run Road between Freedom Crider Road and the line of Conway Borough to be closed temporarily. Initial reports from officials confirm that one person allegedly was trapped inside the tractor-trailer. That is all the details that we have at this time. 

(File Photo of Conressman Chris Deluzio)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Washington, D.C.) Congressman Chris Deluzio spoke this week at the U.S. House of Representatives building about the incredible redemption story of Brunton’s Dairy Farm after an unthinkable fire ripped through parts of their farm. According to Deluzio, “the Bruntons – they’re Western PA tough,” and the cows returned to their home at the farm. Deluzio also stated that the farm’s operation for milking is back and the farm has technology which includes milkers assisted by robotics to milk the cows.

(File Photo of Senator John Fetterman)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Washington, D.C.) According to a release from Senator John Fetterman’s office, Fetterman introduced legislation to pay off outstanding student meal debt directed by the United States Department of Agriculture. The department will receive authority to buy food to put in food banks. The department will also fully pay for breakfast or lunch programs that cost schools debt. Almost half a million children who have food insecurities have debt totaling nearly $234 million in the state of Pennsylvania.  

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Student protesters gather inside their encampment on the Columbia University campus, April 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, File)

(AP) Universities across the U.S. have announced hiring freezes, citing new financial uncertainty as the Trump administration threatens a range of cuts to federal contracts and research grants. Some have announced layoffs.

Johns Hopkins University said Thursday it is eliminating more than 2,200 workers because of a loss of funding from USAID. Some employees are in Baltimore but most work in 44 other countries in support of the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, its medical school and an affiliated nonprofit organization.

In February, the Trump administration announced deep cuts to National Institutes of Health grants for research institutions, a shift that could reduce the money going to some universities by over $100 million. Some schools already have shelved projects because of the cuts, which have been delayed temporarily by a court challenge.

Recently, President Donald Trump has shown appetite for targeting colleges’ funding more directly. His administration has vowed to take federal money from colleges that defy his agenda on issues including diversity, equity and inclusion programs, transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports, and student protests that he deems “illegal.”

On March 7, the administration on Friday pulled $400 million from Columbia University over what it described as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus. The Education Department followed up with a letter Monday warning 60 colleges they could lose federal money if they fail to make campuses safe for Jewish students.

Higher education has been a steady job generator since the pandemic, with private colleges and universities adding 35,000 jobs nationwide last year. Hiring freezes and cuts at universities could contribute to slower job growth in the months ahead, advocates for workers say.

Private and public colleges have been announcing freezes

Over the last two weeks, more than a dozen institutions have announced limits on hiring for faculty and staff positions and other measures to tighten purse strings.

Hiring freezes have been announced at schools including Harvard; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Notre Dame; the University of Pennsylvania; the University of Pittsburgh; Emory University; the University of Vermont; North Carolina State University; the University of Washington; and the University of California, San Diego.

In a statement, Harvard leaders said the decision was “meant to preserve our financial flexibility until we better understand how changes in federal policy will take shape and can assess the scale of their impact.”

The University of Washington’s provost, Tricia Serio, said in a blog post she recognized how the uncertainty of the moment could “prompt stress, worry and anxiety.”

“By using this time to proactively save our resources and thoughtfully plan, we will be better prepared to manage any future funding cuts to protect our mission for the public good,” she wrote.

Several universities said they also are looking for other ways to reduce expenses, including Emory, where President Gregory Fenves said it is necessary to “take prudent measures to prepare for what may be a significant disruption to our finances.”

Universities see risks for federal funding on several fronts

Colleges had been bracing for head winds under the new administration, including the possibility of a big hike in the tax on university endowments. But the new administration has taken several steps that have heightened uncertainty.

In addition to the reductions ordered to NIH grants, money for research and projects has been held up by delays in approval processes and cuts to programs linked to DEI.

After a dustup between Trump and Maine’s governor over transgender athletes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended funding for research at the University of Maine. The funding was restored this week, officials said.

The $400 million hit to Columbia in particular shook institutions of higher education.

The withdrawal of federal money is not the way to fight hate, said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council of Education. The cancelation, he said, will “eviscerate academic and research activities” at Columbia.

“But we also are deeply concerned that unless the administration reverses course, it will move on to wrongly target research at other institutions, wreaking further chaos, confusion, and negative consequences,” Mitchell said.

On Thursday, U.S. officials said a federal task force to combat antisemitism had notified leaders in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston that it wants to meet and discuss incidents where colleges in their cities may have failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Military personnel search for Sudiksha Konanki, a university student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday, March. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) The case of missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki has now been given a Yellow Notice worldwide alert by Interpol. The police officers of every country that is a member of Interpol will get a notification to continue the search. Konanki was last seen in Punta Cana on March 6th when she disappeared. A surveillance video also shows Konanki and several others walking to a beach before she went missing in the Dominican Republic.