(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, the Beaver Falls City Council heard a presentation from Connor Haney of The Reclaim Project, a non-profit organization set to help lower recidivism in Beaver County through a re-entry employment program. Nearly a dozen houses that haven’t had taxes paid on them–and are now in the hands of the county itself–are being sought after by The Reclaim Project.

“What we are asking is that the city of Beaver Falls purchase these houses,” Haney said, “and then–through the grant that we have received–once Beaver Falls’ ownership efforts after signing a deed to that house, the county will be able to send a check to you guys that we will then invoice you for minus the cost of the house so that–in the end–the house will cost Beaver Falls nothing. The grant will take care of that.”

Haney also mentioned that the buildings that would be claimed by the city at no charge would not be demolished, but deconstructed. Mayor Kenya Johns thanked Haney for the presentation and his efforts with city manager Charles Jones and fire chief Mark Stowe. The decision on buying the houses was not voted on at the meeting.

Also from the city council meeting:

• Two repository purchases were made to Jacques Pope on 7th Street and ELMM Enterprises, LLC on 3rd Avenue
• A pair of city block parties were set in motion; a Unity For Community basketball tournament on July 31, and a CDC block party on August 2
• A positive update from Fire Chief Mark Stowe on the rescue of two dogs from the fire on College Hill on Monday, including new firefighters who helped with the previously heavier workload by a shorter staff

The next city council meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 26 at the City Building at 7:00 PM.

(File Photo of Gov Wolf courtesy of Pa Media Services)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf is following in the footsteps of other Democratic governors following the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling and looking to protect patients who travel to Pennsylvania for the procedure from being prosecuted by their home states. Wolf on Tuesday said that he’d refuse a request from any other state to arrest or detain any out-of-state resident traveling to Pennsylvania to seek an abortion. He says he’ll also refuse to arrest or detain anyone providing or assisting with it. Many states are curtailing or banning abortions. Wolf signed an executive order on Tuesday to back up his statement. Abortion remains legal in Pennsylvania up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

(Hawaii Police Department via AP)
HONOLULU (AP) — A jury in Hawaii has found a Pennsylvania man not guilty of manslaughter. Benjamin Fleming of Pittsburgh was charged with manslaughter in the strangulation death of a college buddy he was vacationing with on the Big Island last year. Fleming and two friends from Carnegie Mellon University were staying at a vacation rental in Kailua-Kona when a night out drinking ended in a deadly fight. An autopsy showed that Abhishek Gupta of Pittsburgh was strangled. Fleming’s defense attorney says that Gupta’s death was tragic but it was not a crime. Prosecutors didn’t immediately comment on the verdict, which was reached last week.

(Photo Courtesy Pa. Media Services/File)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Citing the need to fight climate change, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed Republican-penned legislation that would have stopped municipalities from adopting building codes that prohibit natural gas hookups. Wolf, in a Monday veto message to lawmakers, said the legislation takes away “local decision-making” from municipalities looking to address climate change. The legislation passed the Republican-controlled House and Senate largely along party lines. Republican lawmakers had cast the legislation as protecting consumer energy choice, but also to protect the state’s natural gas industry. States, cities and counties elsewhere in the U.S. have begun looking at all-electric building codes

(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden is apologizing for saying Latinos are “as unique” as San Antonio breakfast tacos. Through a spokesperson, the first lady apologized Tuesday for “words that conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community.” Jill Biden was in San Antonio on Monday to address the annual conference of UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights and advocacy group. In her speech, she said the community’s diversity is as “distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful of the blossoms of Miami and as unique as the breakfast tacos” in San Antonio. The first lady was roundly criticized for the comment. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists tweeted, “We are not tacos.”

(File Photo Courtesy of Pa Media Services)
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Nursing home trade associations in Pennsylvania say they have agreed to boost staffing levels as part of a deal with Gov. Tom Wolf to increase aid to an industry struggling with high turnover. Wolf on Monday signed legislation authorizing nearly $300 million a year in additional Medicaid payments to nursing homes, which were wracked by the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s almost 20% more annually. Wolf said the deal is a “major step forward for Pennsylvania’s long-term care industry.” Officials say the money should boost worker salaries, staffing levels and retention while stabilizing the facilities’ finances and improving the quality of care.

Gas prices are five cents lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $4.828 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                $4.828
Average price during the week of July 5, 2022                                        $4.929
Average price during the week of July 12, 2021                                      $3.291

The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:      

$4.759      Altoona
$4.946      Beaver
$4.839      Bradford
$4.776      Brookville
$4.836      Butler
$4.813      Clarion
$4.786      DuBois
$4.790      Erie
$4.895      Greensburg
$4.769      Indiana
$4.894      Jeannette
$4.850      Kittanning
$4.898      Latrobe
$4.793      Meadville
$4.826      Mercer
$4.788      New Castle
$4.771      New Kensington
$4.799      Oil City
$4.868      Pittsburgh
$4.799      Sharon
$4.889      Uniontown
$4.812      Warren
$4.850      Washington

Trend Analysis:

Pump prices declined across the country again, with the national average falling another 12 cents since last week to $4.67. Today’s national average is 32 cents less than a month ago and $1.53 more than a year ago.

The dip in the cost of gas occurred despite a rise in demand, likely due to robust July 4^th holiday automobile travel. AAA forecast that 42 million people would hit the roads for the holiday weekend, a new record. According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand increased from 8.92 million barrels per day to 9.41 million barrels per day ahead of the 4th of July holiday, while total domestic gas stocks decreased by 2.5 million barrels. Typically, these supply/demand trends would put upward pressure on pump prices but falling oil prices contributed to lower pump prices

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by $2.06 to settle at $104.79. Although the price of crude rose at the end of the week due to increased optimism as markets rebounded, the price was still down nearly $4 per barrel from the previous week.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 72 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members.  News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.