Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that according to department data, fatalities, injuries, and crashes decreased overall after intersections at 39 locations were replaced with 42 roundabouts.

“PennDOT is continuing its work to identify and implement innovations and best practices across Pennsylvania,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “I’m proud to see that the data on roundabouts remains consistent on saving lives and reducing crash severity.”

PennDOT recently reviewed data for 36 single-lane and six multi-lane roundabouts on state routes at intersections that were previously stop or signal controlled. This update to data released in 2022 now includes an additional seven roundabouts. These intersections were selected based on having at least three years of crash data available before and after the roundabouts were built. This accounts for a total of 460 before years and 250 after years of data.

Department data from 2003 through 2022 obtained from police-submitted crash reports and weighted based on the number of before and after years, but not for increases in traffic volume shows that crashes involving suspected serious injuries were reduced by 24%; crashes involving suspected non-serious injuries were reduced by 51%; and the total number of crashes were reduced by 3%.

Although roundabouts are frequently installed to address intersections with safety issues, they are also commonly installed to improve traffic flow or for other reasons such as traffic calming.

The seven new roundabouts included in this review are at the following intersections:

• Berks County:
  • Route 73 and Lynx Drive, opened in 2019.
  • Route 73 and Oley Road, opened in 2019.

• Bucks County:
  • Route 4049 (Tollgate Road) and Old Bethlehem Pike, opened in 2019.

• Crawford County:
  • Route 6/322 and Route 19/98, opened in 2019.

• Cumberland County:
  • Route 2017 (Lisburn Road) and Rossmoyne Road, opened in 2019.

• Luzerne County:
  • Route 2008 (Middle Road) and Prospect Street, opened in 2019.

• Wyoming County:
  • Route 1017 (College Ave.) and Edwards Lane, opened in 2019.

Additional roundabouts included in this review can be found on the PennDOT website.

In addition to the 42 that met the selection criteria, 36 other roundabouts have been built on state routes.

Although roundabouts are typically safer and more efficient than traditional signalized intersections, they may not always be the best option due to topography or other reasons, such as property impacts, capacity issues and proximity to other intersections.

Roundabouts are recognized by the Pennsylvania State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) as an innovation that has become standard practice within the transportation community.

The Pennsylvania STIC facilitates the rapid implementation of proven, well-researched and documented state, regional, national and international technologies, tactics, techniques and other innovations that are new to Pennsylvania. The STIC also supports the implementation of the Federal Highway Administration’s Every Day Counts (EDC) innovations.

PITTSBURGH, PA – A resident of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to one year and  one day in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States. Nocito, former CEO and President of  Pittsburgh-based Automated Health Systems (AHS), will serve – in addition to his prison sentence  – 3 years of supervised release, which includes six months on home detention, and pay approximately  $15,824,056 in restitution to the Government. United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced  today.  

United States District Chief Judge Joy Flowers Conti imposed the sentence on Joseph Nocito,  age 81, of Sewickley, PA.  

Court documents and statements outline Nocito’s scheme between 2006 and 2012 to illegally  classify millions of dollars of personal expenses as deductible business expenses and finance  construction of a 51,000-square-foot mansion valued at approximately $30 million. Nocito named  the home “Villa Noci.” The falsified expenses included interior and exterior construction costs;  design and furnishings; an outdoor pool and pool house; tennis, basketball and bocce courts; and  landscaping for the grounds. Nocito also fraudulently expensed millions of dollars for other personal  expenses such as luxury vehicles, artwork, country club memberships, homes for his children and  private school tuition for grandchildren.  

In addition to filing false personal returns, Nocito underreported AHS’s profits by shuffling  millions of dollars of income through other entities in fraudulent transactions designed to conceal  AHS’s true income and tax liability. Among other things, Nocito made recurring, sham payments  from AHS to other entities he controlled, falsely characterizing the transactions as payments for  management, administrative or consulting expenses. He then deducted the expenses in AHS’s  corporate income tax returns.  

“The defendant diverted millions of dollars that should’ve gone to the IRS and used it to build  a 51,000 square foot mansion in the Pittsburgh suburbs, amounting to the largest tax fraud ever  perpetrated in our District,” said U.S. Attorney Olshan. “This crime is an affront to every  hardworking, tax-paying individual in this country. We commend our partners with IRS Criminal  Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their thorough and tireless efforts to hold  this defendant accountable for his egregious conduct.” 

“Today’s sentencing brings Mr. Nocito’s massive scheme to defraud the IRS to a  conclusion,” said Yury Kruty, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation. “Tax fraud  of this magnitude, never before seen in this Judicial District, deserves to be punished and today was  Mr. Nocito’s day of reckoning. Honest taxpayers suffer when self-admitted criminals like Mr.  Nocito swindle the government. The Special Agents of IRS-CI, our law enforcement partners, and  the Department of Justice remain steadfast in our dedication to prosecuting those who carry out  schemes that cheat the government and hurt those who pay their fair share.” 

United States Attorney Olshan commended the IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S.  Postal Inspection Service who investigated the case. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory C. Melucci and Nicole A. Stockey for the Western District  of Pennsylvania and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Matthew L. Cofer of the Tax Division  prosecuted the case. 

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing inspection activities on the Ambridge- Aliquippa Bridge and Laughlin Memorial Bridge over Route 65 (Ohio River Boulevard) in Ambridge Borough, Beaver County will occur Tuesday and Wednesday, September 19-20 weather permitting.

Single-lane restrictions will occur from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day on Route 65 for bridge inspection activities according to the following schedule:

• Tuesday, September 19 – A southbound lane restriction between 12th Street and 9th Street for the inspection of the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge
• Wednesday, September 20 – Lane restrictions in both directions between Cross Street and 4th Street for the inspection of the Laughlin Memorial Bridge

Crews from the Pickering, Corts & Summerson will conduct the routine inspection activities.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published September 19, 2023 9:52 A.M.

(Hopewell Township, PA) On Friday, Hopewell Area School District Superintendent Dr. Jeff Beltz said a threat was found on social media targeting schools holding homecoming festivities over the weekend. A Hopewell Police officer was sent to each of the district’s buildings as a precaution.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published September 19, 2023 9:48 A.M.

(Center Township, PA) Center Township Police Chief Aldo Legge reported Monday night that there were no more threats made after a search was done at the mall. The mall will operate as normal Tuesday.

(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)

Center Township Police are present at the Beaver Valley Mall. Evacuation of the mall is currently underway, according to a police spokesperson.

More details will be provided to Beaver County Radio when  they are available.

MORGANTOWN, Pa (AP) — Nine juveniles who escaped from a detention center in Pennsylvania and were at large for less than a day have been captured, state police said Monday.

All will be charged with escape and some may face other charges.

“We’re going to interview all nine of them,” said Pennsylvania State Police Trooper David Beohm. “I know there’s stuff in the works right now to decide where they are going to go after that takes place.”

Beohm said the first four were taken into custody shortly before 6 a.m. after they went to a residence and knocked on the door.

They turned themselves in because they were cold and tired, Beohm said.

The other five were captured after police received a report of a stolen vehicle and “a sort of pursuit” took place, Beohm said. Four youths were taken into custody from the vehicle and a fifth, who took off on foot, was caught in a field a short time later.

State and local police were called late Sunday to take control of the juvenile center in Morgantown, about 49 miles (78.8 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia. Beohm said the escape happened after the juveniles wrested the keys away from two staff members.

Abraxas Academy is a secure residential treatment program providing “specialized care for delinquent male youth between the ages of 14 to 18 in 9th grade or above,” according to the facility’s website.

The escape follows the capture of an escaped murderer who eluded Pennsylvania authorities for several days despite an extended manhunt.

But Beohm said the teenagers likely didn’t have the desperation or motivation of someone like Danelo Souza Cavalcante, who escaped from a Pennsylvania jail and eluded law enforcement for two weeks before his capture on Sept. 13.

“I figured we’d catch these kids because they are not as resilient” as Cavalacante, Beohm said at a press conference.

The convicted murderer escaped from the Chester County jail in southeastern Pennsylvania on Aug. 31 by crab-walking up between two walls that were topped with razor wire, then jumping from the roof.