In this week’s episode of Highmark Heroes, Jim Roddey talks with Allegheny Health Network oncologist Dr. Suzanne Schiffman to talk about–among other things–the pancreas and how to properly take care of it.  Then, Mr. Roddey talks with former Pennsylvania State Senator Tim Murphy about his latest book entitled “The Christ Cure: 10 Biblical Ways to Heal from Trauma, Tragedy, and PTSD”.

“Heroes” is presented by Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the Allegheny Health Network, airing Saturdays at 10:00 AM and Sundays at 12:30 PM on Beaver County Radio. Archived editions of “Heroes” can be heard at the Beaver County Radio Podcast Library.

Pastor David Grove of the Church of the Redeemed of Beaver Valley returns to the gospel this week…but perhaps not the gospel you’re thinking about. Tune in this week to find out what Pastor Dave speaks of.

“Wake Up Beaver Valley” airs every Saturday morning from 9 AM to 10 AM on Beaver County Radio and is presented by the Church of The Redeemed of Beaver Valley. Archived editions of “Wake Up Beaver Valley” can be heard at the Beaver County Radio Podcast Library.

Facility management at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center released the following statement on April 28, 2023:

“We are saddened to receive a strike notice by the therapists union despite our generous wage offers and continued efforts to find common ground. Since the beginning of the year, we have met on a monthly basis with the union and proposed a number of new pay packages, including the highest wages in our history. The union has continuously refused these offers.
Although some employees are choosing to abandon the seniors and families here beginning May 6, thankfully, we have strong contingency plans in place to ensure that we remain 100% covered and our high-quality patient-centered care will not be affected.
We have a long tradition of supporting and rewarding the hard work our dedicated front-line staff and hope that we can come to a fair and amicable agreement to ensure our teams and our residents continue to receive the exceptional care and support they deserve.”

HARRISBURG, April 28 – State Rep. Rob Matzie introduced legislation today to reauthorize key provisions of Pennsylvania’s Public Utilities Code that promote fair dealings between utility companies and their customers.

Matzie, who is chairman of the House Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities Committee, introduced H.B. 1077 to ensure that payment plans, protection from shutoffs and other safeguards remain in place for consumers who might be struggling with bills.

“The re-authorization of Chapter 14 is of paramount importance to Pennsylvania’s utility customers,” Matzie said. “Simply put, it clarifies and codifies how utility companies are permitted to address customers who have fallen on hard times and are having trouble paying their bills. The law expires at the end of next year, so the time is now to make sure it’s reauthorized in a thoughtful, thorough, and timely manner.

“It’s important to remember that we’re talking about essential items – electricity, water and gas. My bill seeks to expand the tools that utility companies have to work with their customers who are struggling to pay their bills, in order to avoid having their service turned off.”

Chapter 14 of PA Title 66 sets the framework for consumer safeguards between a public utility and its customers. Most Pennsylvania utility customers are afforded certain protections under Chapter 14 in areas such as service connections and shut-offs, fees and deposits, delinquent bills and payment plans.

First implemented in 2004, the law was reauthorized in 2014. It is due to expire at the end of 2024.

This image released by Phillips shows “O.J. Simpson,” an acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas portrait of the Buffalo Bills running back in 1977. The portrait, which was in the collection of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and deaccessioned in 2011, will be auctioned, will be auctioned in New York on May 16. (Phillips via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — An Andy Warhol silkscreen portrait of O.J. Simpson is going up for auction. Part of Warhol’s famous “Athletes” series, the portrait spent 19 years in the possession of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which says it never displayed it. The Phillips auction house is billing the work as a rare instance of two major 20th century pop culture figures coming together. Now 75, Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of the double slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was found liable for the deaths in 1997 by a California civil court jury, and later served nine years in prison for armed robbery.

Harrisburg, PA – Today, Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Acting Secretary Rick Siger announced that a total of $3.5 million has been awarded through the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority (BFTDA) to a pair of Pennsylvania venture capital firms that will make investments in early-stage technology companies.

 

Governor Josh Shapiro and his Administration are committed to making the Commonwealth a leader in innovation, job creation, and economic development. The Governor’s first budget proposal — a commonsense set of solutions to the most pressing issues Pennsylvanians face — increases funding to spur innovation and attract and retain businesses in Pennsylvania.

 

“This funding will create opportunities for early-stage technology companies to grow right here in Pennsylvania, and ensure the Commonwealth remains an economic leader driving innovation on a global scale,” said Acting Secretary Siger. “DCED is proud to work with the BFTDA to provide funding to companies at the cutting edge of industries that drive our economy forward. Investments like these are key to the future of Pennsylvania.”

 

The BFTDA awarded $2.5 million on behalf of Activate Ventures III, LP, (Activate) a Bethlehem-based fund that will target investments of up to $1-5 million in approximately 30 early-stage technology companies, with an emphasis on healthcare-related software businesses led by tenured entrepreneurs.

 

Activate will be led by a group of investors including Managing Partners Glenn Bressner, and Todd Pietri, formerly of Milestone Venture Partners. They will be joined by Pietri’s former Milestone Partner, Edwin A. Goodman and fellow Bethlehem venture capitalist, Jeff Davidson.

 

BFTDA also awarded $1 million on behalf of Global Opportunity Pennsylvania GP II, LLC, (GO.PA) a Philadelphia-based fund that will target investments of up to $2-7 million in roughly 20 early-stage technology companies. This fund will involve a collaboration among the Ben Franklin Technology Partners offices statewide and as such, will draw on opportunities from around the Commonwealth.

 

GO.PA is being formed by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BF-SEP) as a wholly-owned subsidiary. BF-SEP is staffed by 32 individuals, including seven investment professionals. Strategically, the fund will be venture-growth oriented. The team will focus on providing follow-on financing in the most promising Ben Franklin Technology Partners-backed companies.

 

As one of the oldest and most emulated state technology development programs in the nation, the BFTDA was established to promote an entrepreneurial business environment, advance technology innovation, and create a technology-ready workforce.

 

The mission of the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority is to encourage and coordinate programs and investments, which advance the competitiveness of Pennsylvania’s companies and universities in the global economy.

 

Governor Shapiro and his Administration are committed to growing Pennsylvania’s economy so that it works for everyone. For more information about his commitment to workers, businesses, and our economy, visit the Governor’s website.

 

For more information about the BFTDA or the Department of Community and Economic Development, visit the agency’s website, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that in 2022, statewide traffic deaths decreased to 1,179 from 1,230 in 2021. Reportable crashes were also down in 2022, amounting to the second lowest on record since 1951.

 

Public safety is a top priority of the Shapiro administration. PennDOT’s commitment to reducing traffic crashes and fatalities builds on Governor Shapiro’s promise to ensure every Pennsylvanian feels safe in their community, including on the roadways.

 

“Pennsylvania is committed to moving toward zero deaths,” said Carroll. “Our biggest priority continues to be safe travel across all transportation modes, and we continue to work with our partners to decrease fatalities through education and enforcement.”

 

PennDOT focuses on data trends to drive enforcement and education improvements and invests approximately $23.5 million annually in federal grant funds statewide to support these behavioral safety programs.

 

In addition to behavioral safety, PennDOT focuses on infrastructure improvements to roadways in an effort to further reduce fatalities and serious injuries. Approximately $482 million in Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program funds has been invested in 337 unique safety projects from 2017 to 2022. During that same timeframe, another $50 million of state funds was invested in low-cost safety improvements at over a thousand of locations. Examples of low-cost safety countermeasures include centerline and edge-line rumble strips and high friction surface treatments.

 

“It certainly is good news that our fatalities are decreasing, but they are still too high,” said Acting PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “One life lost is one too many, especially if the death could have been prevented. Safety is everyone’s responsibility. We owe it to each other to slow down and pay attention when we’re driving because these unsafe behaviors put everyone’s life at risk. And buckle up! Your seat belt is your best defense against reckless drivers.”

 

With the overall decrease in traffic deaths, fatalities in several crash types reached new lows. These numbers indicate that Pennsylvania is rebounding from the high number of traffic crashes and fatalities seen nationwide throughout the pandemic.

• Fatalities in crashes involving speeding (second lowest in more than 20 years) – 169 fatalities, down from 201 in 2021.
• Fatalities in hit fixed object crashes (second lowest in more than 20 years) – 361 fatalities, down from 397 in 2021.
• Unrestrained fatalities (third lowest in more than 20 years) – 354 fatalities, down from 378 in 2021.
• Fatalities in crashes involving a 16–17-year-old driver (fourth lowest in 20 years) – 28 fatalities, down from 45 in 2021.
• Bicyclist fatalities (second lowest in 10 years) – 15 fatalities, down from 24 in 2021.
• Fatalities in local road crashes (second lowest in five years) – 196 fatalities, down from 214 in 2021.

 

While the overall number of highway deaths decreased last year, increases were noted in several crash types. Fatalities in distracted driving crashes and head-on crashes reached a 10-year high, while fatalities in crashes at signalized intersections reached a 20-year high. Pedestrian fatalities reached the second highest number in 20 years, while fatalities in crashes involving 65–74-year-old drivers reached the third highest number in 20 years.

• Fatalities in crashes involving distracted driving – 80 fatalities, up from 60 in 2021.
• Fatalities in head-on crashes – 181 fatalities, up from 151 in 2021.
• Fatalities in crashes at signalized intersections – 133 fatalities, up from 122 in 2021.
• Fatalities in crashes involving 65–74-year-old drivers – 169 fatalities, up from 163 in 2021.

 

Though motorcyclist fatalities decreased slightly, they reached a 10-year high in 2020, increasing further in 2021 to 226. Last year’s 217 fatalities ties 2020 for the second highest number in more than 10 years.

 

For more information on reportable crash data, visit PennDOT’s Pennsylvania Crash Information Tool (PCIT) website, www.crashinfo.penndot.gov. All crash download spreadsheets and the “Custom Query Tool” are updated with 2022 data. The 2022 “Facts Book” and “Public Crash Databases” will be available June 1.

 

For more information on the department’s highway safety initiatives, visit www.penndot.pa.gov/safety.

 

PennDOT’s media center offers social-media-sized graphics highlighting topics such as seat belts, impaired driving, and distracted driving for organizations, community groups, or others who share safety information with their stakeholders.

 

Subscribe to statewide PennDOT news and traffic alerts at www.penndot.pa.gov/news or choose a region under “Regional Offices.” Information about the state’s infrastructure and results the department is delivering for Pennsylvanians can be found at www.penndot.pa.gov/results. Find PennDOT’s planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.

 

Follow PennDOT on Twitter and like the department on Facebook and Instagram.

FILE – This 1955 file photo shows Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn Bryant Donham, the white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of making improper advances before he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 has died Tuesday night, April 25, in hospice care in Louisiana, according to a death report filed Thursday, April 27, 2023, in Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office in Louisiana. She was 88. (AP Photo/Gene Herrick, File)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of whistling at and accosting her in 1955 has died. Carolyn Bryant Donham died Tuesday night at 88. That’s according to a death report filed Thursday in Westlake, Louisiana. Her claim against Till caused his lynching in Mississippi, and the brutal act galvanized a generation of activists to rise up in the Civil Rights Movement. Till’s kidnapping and murder gained international attention after his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral in their hometown of Chicago so the world could see her 14-year-old son’s mutilated body in photos published by Jet magazine.

FILE – This undated photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a blacklegged tick, which is also known as a deer tick. Ticks will be more active than usual early in spring 2023, and that means Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections could spread earlier and in greater numbers than in a typical year. Ticks can transmit multiple diseases that sicken humans, and deer ticks, which spread Lyme, are a day-to-day fact of life in the warm months in New England and the Midwest. (CDC via AP, File)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — After a mild winter in the U.S., scientists are watching to see if there will be an uptick in ticks this year. More ticks this spring could mean a wider spread of Lyme disease and other infections. Deer ticks, which spread Lyme, are a day-to-day fact of life in the warm months in New England and the Midwest. In Connecticut, a state disease expert says they are already seeing more ticks than usual this month. It varies by region, but tick season generally stretches from April to October and Lyme disease cases peak in the summer.