Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published July 11, 2024 12:35 P.M.
(Aliquippa, Pa) A 17 year old female was shot in the torso around 5 a.m. on Wednesday. According to the updated report the incident occurred in the area 1024 Irwin Street. She was transported to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital with non-life threatening injuries .
Anyone with information is asked to contact state police at 724-773-7400.
Helen Lagleva, 91, Ambridge, formerly of Daly City, California, passed away peacefully at home on July 8, 2024. She was the daughter of the late Patricio and Maria Talactac. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Rupert Lagleva, siblings, Nemencia (Mimi g) Ligaya, Art, Rose, Lourdes (Luding), Marlet, Francisco (Toto), and Rene. Surviving are her children, Olga (Ogi) Filamor, Ruth (Paul) Tisak, Bill (Grace) Lagleva, grandchildren, Mark Filamor, Oli Filamor, Cassandra Tisak, Blake Lagleva, Briela Lagleva, Blaire Lagleva,, numerous great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. Helen, originally from the Philippines, was a remarkable person who left a lasting impact on those around her. Her business skills across various fields shows she was versatile and driven. Her love for cooking and caring for her family speaks volumes about her nurturing spirit, and her passion for bingo highlights her enjoyment of life’s simple pleasures. Her memory is eternal and she will be missed greatly by those she loved and those who loved her. Friends and family will be received on Saturday, July 20, 2024, from 8:30 until 10:00 AM in the Alvarez-Hahn Funeral Services and Cremation, LLC., 547 8th Street, Ambridge, 724-266-2549. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 AM at Saint Luke the Evangelist Church, 725 Glenwood Avenue, Ambridge, PA. Additional services and Burial will take place in Daly City, California
Allan F. “Champ” Ferragonio, 73, of Economy, passed away July 8, 2024 after a long and hard fought battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Affectionately known as “Champ,” he was loved by so many, especially his wife Debbie, his children Melissa (Chip), Allan (Amy), John (Adina), Jeff (Ashley), Chris (Michelle), Brandon (Lauren), Garrett (Nikki), and Rachael (Astian), and grandchildren Charlie, Emily, Gina, Em, Luca, Cora, Jaxson, Addison, Maddox, Rocco, Ava, and Aydan. To know Champ was to love him. He had an easy going personality, was first to lend a helping hand, and always put others’ needs before his own. He spent his life around cars — building them, racing them, and fixing them — and was the owner and operator of C&G Performance for 30 years. His customers trusted and respected him, and many of them became lifelong personal friends. He earned his reputation as one of the best in the business. But what made him happiest was being at home, with his kids and grandkids scattered around and a steaming bowl of Debbie’s pasta for dinner. Champ’s family is beyond grateful to Dr. Anastasios Raptis and all of the other heroes who work at the Hillman Cancer Center and the 6W unit of Shadyside Hospital, and to the bone marrow donor somewhere in Italy whose selfless gift gave us five years with him that we did not think we would have. A celebration of Champ’s life will be scheduled for a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Champ’s memory to the Hillman Cancer Center (hillman.upmc.com) or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (lls.org).
Kathleen Ruth Pittser, 68, of Harmony, PA, passed away at her home on July 6, 2024, surrounded by her loving family.
Born on October 4, 1955, to the late Charles and Ruth Kurcina, Kathleen was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister and aunt. She was a member of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church.
Kathleen will be sadly missed by her husband, Donald Pittser; children, Jocelyn (John) McCarty, Jason (Josee) Pittser, Jennifer (Ryan) DeCaro, and Kayla Pittser; brother, Richard (Robyn) Kurcina; sisters, Beth Kurcina, and Joyce (Koichi) Kiyohara; and grandchildren, Daniel McCarty, Benjamin McCarty, Cecilia McCarty, Jacob Pittser, Josef Pittser, Jonah Pittser, and Javin Pittser.
Friends will be received in the Noll Funeral Home Inc., 333 Third Street, Beaver, PA 15009, on July 10, 2024 from 2pm-4pm and 6pm-8pm. A Mass of Christian Burial will be conducted on July 11, 2024 at Our Lady of the Valley Parish, Saints Peter and Paul Church, 200 Third Street, Beaver, PA 15009 at 10am. Online condolences may be shared at www.nollfuneral.com
Interment to follow at Beaver Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be shared in Kathleen’s name to Club Hope Foundation, www.clubhopefoundation.com
David William Rittelmann died on July 8, 2024 at Celebration Villa of Chippewa in Beaver Falls. He was born on January 5, 1925 in Baden, Pa to Louis J. and Clara Schmitt Rittelmann.
He graduated from Ambridge High School in 1942. In his early career David worked as a messenger for Bethlehem Steel in Leetsdale, as a welder for Curtiss Wright in Beaver and as a letter carrier and assistant postmaster at the U.S. Post Office in Baden. He served in the 28th division of the U.S. Army in Germany in 1950-1952.
After his Army service he resumed work with the Post Office in Baden and in 1957 he was employed in the accounting department of Babcock and Wilcox Tubular Division in Beaver Falls. Meanwhile he attended night school at Geneva College and graduated cum laude in 1959 with a BS degree in Business Administration. David joined Moltrup Steel, a local producer of cold finished steel bars in 1965. He was named sales manager in 1970 and became vice-president sales in 1977.
He served on the boards of the Upper Beaver Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Beaver Falls Rotary Club and was a past chairman of the board of the Pennsylvania Economy League. He also served on the Chippewa Township Planning Commission. He was also a long-time parishioner at St Monica’s Catholic Church in Chippewa.
David was preceded in death by his wife Elizabeth (Bette) Suprock Rittelmann in 2017. They were married for 65 years. Bette suffered a stroke in 1999 and he was her primary caregiver until her death. His eldest son David Wayne Rittelmann also preceded him in death in 2022. His siblings all preceded him in death; Lt. Col. Paul Rittelmann PSP, Lucille Springer, Sister Marie Colette Rittelmann C.S.J, Evelyn Straub, Louis J Rittelmann and his twin, Clara Swarlis
He is survived by his daughters; Michele (Jack)Baker, Louisville, KY Rebecca (Mark)Dever, Beaver and his son Eric (Cathi)Rittelmann, Hopewell. He was an indulgent Pappap to his grandchildren; Julia Rittelmann, David (Stephanie) Rittelmann, Katelyn (Isaiah) Middleton, Jared (Katie)Baker, Michael (Tara) Rittelmann, Marissa Dever and Rachel Rittelmann. David is also survived by seven great grandchildren: Kaiden and Kyler Middleton, Sloane, Brax, Maddox, and Colette Baker and Hudson Rittelmann plus one more on the way, David leaves behind many nieces and nephews and a brother-in-law Charles Suprock, Ligonier, Pa.
David lived in Chippewa for over 60 years and was fondly nicknamed “The Mayor of Birnesser Drive”. He enjoyed all the cook outs, keggers and campfires in the neighborhood which often ended with a stirring rendition of “The Little Brown Mouse”. He enjoyed a cutthroat game of Euchre, imploring his partners to “get the kids off the street.” He always had a smile and a joke for anyone. He enjoyed his life and a fine Manhattan.
Friends will be received on Friday, July 12th from 4-8PM in the GABAUER-LUTTON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICES, INC., Chippewa Twp., 117 Blackhawk Road, Beaver Falls.
Military honors will be presented at the funeral home by the Beaver County Special Unit on Saturday, July 13th at 9AM.
Prayers will be offered in the funeral home on Saturday, July 13th at 9:30AM followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10AM at St. Monica Church of St. Augustine Parish, 116 Thorndale Dr., Beaver Falls.
Private interment will be in Sylvania Hills Memorial Park.
The family wishes to thank the staff of Celebration Villa of Chippewa and Gateway Hospice for their loving and patient care of our dear Manhattan Man in all his many moods.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Meals on Wheels or a veteran’s organization of your choice.
Barbara Jean Podbielski, 78, of New Galilee, passed away on Sunday, July 7, 2024, at Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh.
Born on June 25, 1946, in Ravenna, Ohio, she was the daughter of the late Roger and Arlene (Thompson) Stanley.
Barb retired from the Beaver Local School District and was a former member of the St. Rose and St. Ann Roman Catholic Churches. She was a devoted mother and grandmother who enjoyed spending her time with her family. In her free time, she could be found outside planting flowers or inside crafting.
She is survived by her husband, Henry “Hank” Podbielski; children, Terry (Kaitlyn Poplawski) Podbielski, Chris Podbielski and Michael Podbielski; grandchildren, Addison and Tallen; her sister, Kay Ziska; sisters-in-law, Barbara (Doug) Dunlap, Christine (Jeff) Marsico, Kay Podbielski, Sue (Tom) Podbielski, Brenda Stanley, and Louie Viebranz Stanley; brothers-in-law, Phil Ziska, Doug Dunlap, Tom Podbielski and Jeff Marsico; numerous nieces, nephews, and friends. She was preceded in death by her brothers Gary Stanley and Jeff Stanley and brother-in-law Dave Podbielski.
Friends will be received on Monday, July 15th from 2-4PM and 6-8PM in the GABAUER-LUTTON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICES, INC., Chippewa Twp., 117 Blackhawk Road, Beaver Falls.
Prayers will be offered in the funeral home on Tuesday, July 16th at 9:30AM followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10AM at St. Monica Church of St. Augustine Parish, 116 Thorndale Dr., Beaver Falls.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation at ucp.org in Barb’s name.
FILE – A shopper heads into a Target store Jan. 11, 2024, in Lakewood, Colo. Target will no longer accept personal checks from shoppers as of July 15, underscoring how this once popular method of payment has gone the way of such archaic artifacts as the floppy disc or the rolodex. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Target will no longer accept personal checks from shoppers as of July 15, another sign of how a once ubiquitous payment method is going the way of outmoded objects like floppy disks and the Rolodex.
The Minneapolis-based discounter confirmed the move in a statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday, citing “extremely low volumes” of customers who still write checks. Target said it remained committed to creating an easy and convenient checkout experience with credit and debit cards, “buy now, pay later” services and the Target Circle membership program, which applies deals automatically at checkout.
“We have taken several measures to notify guests in advance” about the no-checks policy, the company said.
Target’s decision leaves Walmart, Macy’s and Kohl’s among the retailers that still accept personal checks at their stores. Whole Foods Market and the Aldi supermarket chain previously stopped taking checks from customers.
Shoppers have pulled out checkbooks increasingly less often since the mid-1990s. Cash-dispensing ATMs, debit cards, online banking and mobile payment systems like Venmo and Apple Pay mean many young adults may never have written a check.
Check usage has been in decline for decades as Americans have largely switched to paying for their services with credit and debit cards. Americans wrote roughly 3.4 billion checks in 2022, down from nearly 19 billion checks in 1990, according to the Federal Reserve. However, the average size of the checks Americans wrote over the 32-year period rose from $673 in 1990 — or $1,602 in today’s dollars — to $2,652.
The drop in check writing enabled the Federal Reserve to sharply reduce its national check processing infrastructure. In 2003, it ran 45 check-processing locations nationwide; since 2010, it has operated only one.
Rising incidents of check fraud are also making people shy away from check writing. It’s being fueled by organized crime that is forcing small businesses and individuals to take additional safety protections or to avoid sending checks through the mail altogether.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two swing districts in a swing county may very well decide which party controls the House in the swing state of Pennsylvania, one of several where pivotal legislative battles are playing out in the shadow of the presidential campaign.
Democrat Brian Munroe and Republican Joe Hogan were elected nearly two years ago to their seats in the suburbs north of Philadelphia, winning by margins of 515 and 76 votes, respectively, out of more than 30,000 ballots cast.
Their races this year are among a few dozen nationally that could determine party control in state capitols and, ultimately, who sets public policy on such contentious issues as abortion, guns and transgender rights. The contests are particularly important due to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have weakened federal regulatory oversight and returned more power to states.
“State legislatures will determine the rights and freedoms we have and the direction our country takes. The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said Daniel Squadron, co-founder of The States Project, which recently announced a $70 million effort to aid Democratic legislative candidates in certain states.
All told, groups aligned with Democrats and Republicans are planning to pour a couple hundred million dollars into state legislative battles. Nearly 5,800 legislative seats in 44 states are up for election this year. The top targets include a half-dozen states where control of a chamber is in play — Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Most of those states also are presidential battlegrounds. In some cases, national political groups are trying to link legislative candidates to the fortunes of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. In others, they are trying to distinguish them from the top of the ticket.
Biden sought to rebound from a poor debate performance by campaigning in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. But his political problems have led some Democrats to suggest he should step aside and raised concern that down-ballot Democrats also could suffer if discouraged Democrats choose not to vote.
Democrats won a slim 102-101 majority in the Pennsylvania House two years ago. But Republicans expressed confidence they can retake the chamber this year, citing inflation, immigration and Biden’s troubles.
“If the election were held tomorrow, I’d feel great about it,” said Pennsylvania state Rep. Josh Kail, head of the campaign efforts for Pennsylvania House Republicans.
The Republican State Leadership Committee already has run ads in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin pinning inflation on Biden and other Democrats while touting Republican legislative candidates.
Democrats are targeting Wisconsin after a new liberal majority of the state Supreme Court struck down the previous Republican-drawn districts that had entrenched the GOP in power. The new districts, backed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, improve Democrats’ chances.
The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning a half-century of abortion rights showed both the influence of national politics in state elections and the importance of state legislatures. After the ruling, many Republican-led states banned or limited abortion while many Democratic-led states strengthened abortion protections.
The ruling gave Democrats a new campaign theme for the 2022 legislative elections, which were the first conducted under voting districts redrawn using 2020 census data. Democrats wrested control of legislative chambers away from Republicans in Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
This year’s reelection bids by Hogan and Munroe are among 15 Pennsylvania House races spotlighted by the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Both of their Bucks County districts gave slightly more than half their votes to Biden four years ago and a larger margin to Democrats John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro in their 2022 races for U.S. Senate and governor.
“We believe we have a great opportunity not just to protect our majority in the suburbs, but to grow our majority,” Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Matt Bradford said.
Democrat Anna Payne, who is challenging Hogan, sees abortion rights, public safety and school funding as the key issues.
“To some extent, people are looking for common sense,” Payne said. “They don’t want anybody who’s too extreme on one side or too extreme on the other.”
Hogan, a former congressional aid, has burnished a moderate image in the General Assembly, working on childhood education and public transit, among other things.
“I’m willing to work with anybody to do what I think is the right thing,” Hogan said.
Rosemary Donahue, a 77-year-old retired nurse and registered Republican, said she has received mail from Hogan and will be evaluating his performance on such issues as fixing roads, supporting schools and women’s health rights. She regularly follows state and national politics.
“If you watch television, you can’t think of anything else, because you’re constantly being bombarded by the presidential election, advertisements and all,” Donahue said.
Arlene McBride, who recently became one of Munroe’s constituents, said she’ll be watching his race with Bucks County Recorder of Deeds Dan McPhillips to see who is more inclined to preserve the social safety net. She ranks women’s health, education and welcoming immigrants among her top issues.
“Do they care about others or are they strictly for business?” said McBride, 90, a registered Democrat. “It doesn’t seem that those who are strictly for big business really care about the less fortunate.”
Research has shown that many voters know little about their state legislative candidates, so “national politics will probably dominate the state legislative elections,” said Steven Rogers, a political scientist at Saint Louis University who focuses on state legislatures.
While Republicans seek to reverse their 2022 losses, Democrats are pushing to flip closely divided, GOP-led legislative chambers in Arizona and New Hampshire.
Immigration and inflation are especially hot issues in Arizona. And abortion rights supporters recently submitted petition signatures to get a constitutional amendment on the November ballot. That has raised the stakes in a state where voter registration is divided almost equally among Republicans, independents and Democrats.
“I’m expecting a lot of the national issues — the national dynamics — to really play into the legislative races in Arizona because of our battleground-state status,” said James Strickland a political scientist at Arizona State University.
FILE – A food delivery worker rides down a sidewalk after a pickup from a restaurant in New York on Jan. 29, 2024. DoorDash is stepping up efforts to stop delivery drivers who are breaking traffic laws. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, FILE)
DoorDash said Tuesday that it’s stepping up efforts to identify dangerous delivery drivers and remove them from its platform after a flood of complaints from cities.
In a letter sent last month to DoorDash and other food delivery companies, Boston officials said they were seeing an increase in the unlawful and dangerous operation of motorcycles, mopeds and motorized scooters by delivery workers.
The city said riders were running red lights, traveling the wrong way on one-way streets, exceeding posted speed limits and driving on sidewalks.
San Francisco-based DoorDash said it has created a dedicated point of contact for the Boston Police Department to make it faster and easier to process requests for drivers’ records. The company said it would also consider removing drivers from the platform if police report they have broken traffic laws.
DoorDash said it was starting the effort in Boston but may expand it to other cities.
DoorDash said it’s also partnering with Boston and other cities to share guidance on vehicle registration requirements in multiple languages. It will also warn delivery workers about activities that break local laws, like driving on sidewalks.
“We will remind Dashers that failing to comply with local laws or our standards could lead to removal from our platform,” the company said.
Officials in Boston, New York and other cities have said that in many cases, drivers are using unregistered vehicles for deliveries. Some drivers may also share accounts, so a person with multiple traffic violations might be using a vehicle registered to someone else.
In New York, authorities have seized 13,000 scooters and mopeds so far this year that were unregistered or used to break traffic laws.
“They have terrorized many of our pedestrians, particularly our senior and older adults,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said last month at an event where 200 motorized two-wheeled delivery vehicles were destroyed. “Riders who think the rules don’t apply to them, they’re going to see an aggressive enforcement policy that’s in place.”
In response, DoorDash said it will more frequently prompt drivers to submit a real-time selfie to prove their identity while they’re making deliveries. The selfie is then compared to previously submitted government identification.
DoorDash said it would remove drivers who fail to confirm their identities.
DoorDash wouldn’t say Tuesday how many drivers it typically removes from its platform each year for breaking traffic laws.