(File Photo of Gavel)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

(Aliquippa, PA) A complaint was filed against the Aliquippa VFW Post 3577 after three suspects were accused of allegedly attacking Preston Coleman there on January 5th, 2025. According to Coleman’s attorney, Todd J. Hollis of Pittsburgh, a civil case has been filed against the Aliquippa VFW Post in the Beaver County Prothonotary’s office by Coleman’s family. One of the suspects, twenty-one-year-old Ireland Brown, also posted bond after her arraignment. The other two suspects, Brett Ours and Ronald Brown, are still in jail. 

 

(File Photo of the Seneca Valley School District Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Jackson Township, PA) Seneca Valley School District is under scrutiny after some parents of students that go there spoke about the school not addressing incidents of racial bullying. One family sent an email to the district about the alleged lack of protection towards their children that mentioned both emotional trauma and racial harassment. A statement from the district confirmed investigations are continuing and the district will take action once violations are discovered.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – The Department of Homeland Security logo is seen during a news conference in Washington, Feb. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for Quakers and a handful of other religious groups.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chang found that the Trump administration policy could violate their religious freedom and should be blocked while a lawsuit challenging it plays out.

The preliminary injunction from the Maryland-based judge only applies to the plaintiffs, which also include a Georgia-based network of Baptist churches and a Sikh temple in California.

They sued after the Trump administration threw out Department of Homeland Security policies limiting where migrant arrests could happen as President Donald Trump seeks to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations.

The policy change said field agents using “common sense” and “discretion” can conduct immigration enforcement operations at houses of worship without a supervisor’s approval.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the new DHS directive departs from the government’s 30-year-old policy against staging immigration enforcement operations in “protected areas” or “sensitive locations.”

A coalition of Quaker meetings from states including Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia sued DHS and its secretary, Kristi Noem, on Jan. 27, less than a week after the new policy was announced.

Many immigrants are afraid to attend religious services while the government enforces the new rule, lawyers for the congregations said in a court filing.

“It’s a fear that people are experiencing across the county,” plaintiffs’ attorney Bradley Girard told the judge during a February hearing. “People are not showing up, and the plaintiffs are suffering as a result.”

Government lawyers claim the plaintiffs are asking the court to interfere with law-enforcement activities based on mere speculation.

“Plaintiffs have provided no evidence indicating that any of their religious organizations have been targeted,” Justice Department attorney Kristina Wolfe told the judge, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.

More than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans have also filed a similar but separate lawsuit in Washington, D.C.

Plaintiffs in the Maryland case are represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation, whose lawyers asked the judge to block DHS enforcement of the policy on a nationwide basis.

“DHS’s new policy gives it the authority to enter any house of worship across the country, no matter its religious beliefs,” the attorneys wrote.

Government lawyers say immigration enforcement activities have been allowed in sensitive places, including houses of worship, for decades. The only change in the policy is that a supervisor’s approval is no longer mandatory, they added.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – The Nittany Lion logo taken before an NCAA college football game between Penn State and Delaware, Sept. 9, 2023, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(New Kensington, PA) According to a letter on Tuesday from Penn State University President Neeli Bendapudi, twelve Penn State campuses could be potentially closing because of the pressure of finances and enrollment decline. One of them is Penn State Beaver and the president will be given a recommendation on which schools will close. According to Bendapudi, the other campuses that are up for closing potentially are: DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Hazleton, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Schuylkill, Scranton, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York. Bendapudi will decide whether these schools will stay open before Penn State’s Spring commencement.

(File Photo of PIAA Logo)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s governing body for high school sports has changed its policy that allowed transgender athletes to compete in prep athletics to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order.

The board of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association voted last week to remove a policy that had deferred to school principals to determine an athlete’s “gender” when “questioned or uncertain,” and instead approved one that officials said was designed to comply with Trump’s order.

The new policy defers to principals to determine a student’s “sex” when “questioned or uncertain,” and adds a line that says that, in accordance with Trump’s executive order, “schools are required to consult with their school solicitors relative to compliance with the order.”

Associations in some other states, including Maine, have signaled they may defy the president’s order, while others were taking a wait-and-see approach.

Trump signed the order on Feb. 5, giving the federal government wide latitude to pull federal funding from entities that “deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities” by allowing transgender athletes to participate. Legal challenges are expected.

In response to Trump’s order, the NCAA revised its transgender participation policy to limit women’s college sports to athletes assigned as female at birth. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, a governing body for smaller schools, effectively banned transgender athletes in 2023 from women’s sports.

The number of transgender athletes competing at the high school and college level is believed to be small, but the topic became a campaign issue for Trump last year as he declared his intent to “keep men out of women’s sports.”

 

(File Photo of Transportation Security Administration Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to the Transportation Security Administration, another gun was intercepted at the Pittsburgh International Airport on Monday. A man from Cambria County was stopped at a checkpoint after he possessed a loaded gun. The TSA confirmed that five guns have been intercepted at the airport in this month alone and eight have been intercepted so far this year.