FILE – A man uses a cellphone in New Orleans, Aug. 11, 2019. On Tuesday, May 23, 2023, attorneys general across the U.S. joined in a lawsuit against a telecommunications company accused of making more than 7.5 billion robocalls to people on the national Do Not Call Registry. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

PHOENIX (AP) — Attorneys general across the U.S. have joined a lawsuit against a telecommunications company accused of making more than 7.5 billion robocalls to people on the national Do Not Call Registry. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix against Avid Telecom, its owner and the company’s vice president. The lawsuit says Avid Telecom used spoofed or invalid caller ID numbers, including more than 8.4 million calls that appeared to be coming from government and law enforcement agencies as well as private companies. Avid Telecom’s owner has a phone listing in Tucson, Arizona, but didn’t return a call seeking comment on the lawsuit.

An automatic system drops pharmaceutical orders on a conveyor belt to be placed into boxes at Morris and Dickson Co., in Shreveport, Wednesday, July 13, 2016. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping opioid painkillers for nearly four years after a judge recommended in 2018 it lose its license for its “cavalier disregard” of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis. (Henrietta Wildsmith/The Shreveport Times via AP)

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest drug distributors to keep shipping addictive painkillers for nearly four years despite a judge’s recommendation to strip its license for turning a blind eye to thousands of suspicious opioid orders. The DEA did not respond to questions about its handling of Morris & Dickson Co. or the involvement of a key consultant the company had hired who is now the DEA’s second-in-command. But the delay has raised concerns about how the revolving door may be impacting the DEA’s mission to police drug companies blamed for thousands of overdose deaths.

FILE – A worker collects shopping carts in the parking lot of a Target store on June 9, 2021, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month, after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month, after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers. Target declined to confirm which items it was removing but among the ones that garnered the most attention were “tuck friendly” adult women’s swimsuits that allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts. Designs by Abprallen, a London-based company which designs and sells occult- and satanic-themed LGBTQ+ clothing and accessories, have also sparked a backlash.

FILE – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reacts to applause as he gives his State of the State address during a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives March 7, 2023, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, File)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to launch his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday. The 44-year-old Republican governor is an outspoken cultural conservative and long seen as Donald Trump’s leading rival for the Republican nomination. He plans to announce his decision in an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. The audio-only event will be streamed on Twitter Spaces beginning at 6 p.m. EDT. DeSantis will join a crowded Republican contest to decide whether the party will move on from Trump in 2024 as it works to retake the White House from President Joe Biden.

Hershey, PA – Today, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) and Dr. Robin Engel, Senior Vice President of the National Policing Institute, presented an analysis of data collected from all trooper-initiated traffic stops in 2022 across the Commonwealth. The data collection program is designed to identify patterns and trends in traffic stops and outcomes, and identify opportunities for improvement in policy, training, and supervision. Dr. Engel is a leading academic in the field of criminal justice and criminology, with expertise in empirical assessments of police behavior, police use of force, and police-community relations.

“Dr. Engel and her research team analyzed demographic and other information gathered from more than 440,000 trooper-initiated traffic stops last year,” said Colonel Christopher Paris, Commissioner of the PSP. “The data shows our department has made great progress in these outcomes over the years, and we’re proud of the work our troopers continue to do. We appreciate the partnership with the National Policing Institute as we move forward with one of the most comprehensive and high-quality data collection efforts in the country.”

“The Pennsylvania State Police should be commended for reestablishing their comprehensive, voluntary data collection system, and these findings should inspire confidence among Commonwealth residents toward the leadership and Troopers of the Pennsylvania State Police,” Dr. Engel said.

Among the key findings from the 2022 data analysis is that variables such as the reason for the stop and evidence discovered are the strongest predictors of post-stop outcomes, such as warnings, citations, arrests, and discretionary searches. The report showed no detectable, substantive racial or ethnic disparities in warnings, citations, or arrests during traffic stops.

Dr. Engel added, “PSP’s rate of contraband seizures during discretionary searches is among the highest in the nation. Our review of the PSP’s criminal interdiction training also suggests that their focus on both effective and equitable practices is a promising approach and serves as a national model.”

“This data is a valuable tool in our toolbox as we strive to carry out our duties with integrity, respect and trust in accordance with our department’s core values,” added Colonel Paris. “Coupled with continued improvements in training, and our enhanced, more user-friendly, citizen complaint procedures, this data will help guide us as we provide the professional police services that residents of this Commonwealth not only expect but deserve.”

The Pennsylvania State Police became one of the first police agencies to voluntarily collect traffic-stop information when the department first partnered with Dr. Engel in 1999 and continued voluntary reporting of traffic stops through 2010. The PSP reinitiated robust data collection in 2021 for all trooper-initiated traffic stops, with the initial year of the program focused on improving data collection and addressing data quality issues when identified.

Established in 1970, the National Policing Institute (formerly the National Police Foundation) is the oldest nationally known, nonpartisan, nonprofit, non-membership independent research organization dedicated to pursuing excellence through science and innovation in policing. As the country’s oldest police research organization, the National Policing Institute has learned that police practices should be based on scientific evidence about what works best, the paradigm of evidence-based policing.

The 2022 CDR report is available online at psp.pa.gov

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published May 24, 2023 10:16 A.M.

(Hopewell Township, PA) Anissa Klesser was selected at Tuesday night’s meeting to fill the unexpired term of Lori Mckittrick who resigned recently Ms. McKittrick served on the board for 14 years.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court will take its first crack at whether a governor can force power plant owners to pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, or whether he first needed approval from a Legislature that opposed the plan. Hanging in the balance is Pennsylvania’s effort to become the first major fossil fuel-producing state to adopt carbon pricing. On Wednesday, the state’s highest court will hear arguments on whether a lower court was right to halt Pennsylvania’s participation in a multistate consortium that imposes a price and declining cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The way the justices react could give hints as to how they might ultimately rule.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published May 24, 2023

(Beaver Falls, PA) Beaver Falls City Council met last night. Council started the meeting with a proclamation of the celebration of 143 day, a statewide day to share acts of kindness with on another inspired by Fred Rogers. Council went on to approve a list of general fund expenditures at a cost of $320,704.19. It also revealed that a stop sign installation is being planned for 6th Avenue and 20th Street. Council will meet again on September 12th at 7pm.

FILE – President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with his “Investing in America Cabinet,” in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, May 5, 2023, in Washington. Biden would veto a House GOP bill that aims to restrict asylum, build more border wall and cut a program that allows migrants a chance to stay in the U.S. lawfully for two years, an administration official said Monday, May 8. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden was getting nowhere with Congress on immigration. So administration officials looked outside the U.S. for solutions. They sought to portray immigration not as one of America’s most intractable problems, but as an issue for the entire Western hemisphere to address. It was a shift in focus that plays to Biden’s faith in the power of global diplomacy. And it’s one that may hold more promise for making progress, particularly as smuggling networks increasingly steer migrant families from around the world up through the dangerous and often deadly Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama.

FILE – An historical marker at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., is seen on Feb. 21, 2023. Authorities could temporarily seize firearms and background checks would be expanded for gun buyers, under two bills passed Monday, May 22, 2023, in the Pennsylvania House, where Democrats are using their razor-thin majority to push gun-control measures after a yearslong standstill in the politically divided government. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Authorities could temporarily seize firearms and background checks would be expanded for gun buyers, under two bills passed in the Pennsylvania House. The two measures were both approved Monday, and now go to the Republican-controlled Senate. Democrats are using their razor-thin majority in the House to back gun-control measures after a yearslong standstill in the politically divided state government. The party describes the bills as relatively moderate measures to cut down on gun trafficking, suicide deaths, accidental shootings and day-to-day violence. Republicans oppose them, saying they punish law-abiding gun owners.