Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published February 7, 2024 11:59 P.M.

(Freedom, Pa) At the Freedom Borough Council meeting Wednesday evening, the Freedom Volunteer Fire Department was questioned by Council on their compliance with state regulations. The Borough was recently sent a letter that allegedly suggested the Department was out of compliance and did not have proper training. The letter was said to be sent by a disgruntled former member of the department.

According to Council, their questioning and investigation of the department was done as a precautionary measure. Councilwoman Syndey Eckman led the discussion as her and other members of Council had numerous questions prepared for the fire department members who were in attendance as well as their departments attorney, Kenneth Fawcett.

When the department was asked about training certifications, fire chief Harry Gilarno relayed that modern firefighting training programs are long in duration comparative to a college course. Gilarno said that it is hard for volunteer firefighters to have the time to take such a course. Years ago, Beaver County had a fire school training program that many older members of the department received lifelong certifications from. Currently, Butler County still has a training program and some newer department members have taken their courses. Ultimately, Pennsylvania policy does not require special certification of firefighters and allows policies to be made within the fire house.

The Chief says he makes sure all members of the department are comfortable in the duties they perform each time they are on a call. The department did provide a copy of all members level of training with the Council.

The Council also asked about communication and equipment policies within the department and systems that they use, which were all stated to be in compliance with the state. Other questions asked by council included inquires of finance and other records.

According to legal representation, the current operations of the Freedom Borough Volunteer Fire Department were found to be in compliance with no legal concerns to the Borough. The Borough and Department agreed to have more transparency moving forward.

Following the nearly 2-hour long discussion, Chief Gilarno relayed to Council that Freedom and Conway Fire Departments are in the early stages of considering a merger. More discussions on the subject are set to be taking place in the near future.

The Brighton Township Fire Department will be hosting a Child Passenger Safety Technician Class on Thursday afternoon from 1 until 3 PM at their headquarters at 84 Grange Road in Beaver.

The event will offer any participants a free inspection of their car’s safety belts by local firefighters, but those interested must set up an appointment within the two-hour time frame in order to receive an inspection.

To make an appointment, please call Kristen Urso at 412-885-0266 or email her at kursa@paaap.org for available times. Further details are below.

MONACA — The future of Beaver County including innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development opportunities will be the topic of The Current event at 6 p.m. Feb. 21 at Penn State Beaver.

Leading the conversation will be Lew Villotti, president of the Beaver County Corporation for Economic Development and Ashu Kumar, Penn State Beaver assistant teaching professor of information technology and chief catalyst of the Beaver Valley LaunchBox.   

“Villotti and Kumar are two Beaver County leaders who are committed to fostering innovative thinking that will increase the vibrancy of our borough downtowns,” said Penn State Beaver Interim Chancellor Carey McDougall. “As speakers they will share great stories and ways of thinking that are inspiring and infectious, leaving participants with concrete steps to make our future better.”

The event, which begins at 6 p.m., will be held in Room 116 of the General Classroom Building. A map of the campus and the building, often referred to on campus as “the GCB,” can be found here. https://beaver.psu.edu/map

A southwestern Pennsylvania native, Villotti has an extensive background in federal, state and regional economic development initiatives. 

Kumar, who supports local development through his work with entrepreneurs via the Beaver Valley LaunchBox, will lead participants of the session through an activity designed to spur entrepreneurial thinking and conversation.

This interactive installment of The Current series is a chance to participate in a conversation about the future of Beaver County with other leaders and residents who want to see the county grow and innovate as we move into the future.

 

Penn State Beaver is situated on 105 wooded acres and features small class sizes, a close-knit community, award-winning faculty, and access to all the opportunities of a Big Ten university. For more, visit beaver.psu.edu.

 

RiverWise employs sustainable development practices to create a regional identity around the rivers of Beaver County. At the heart of this work is a concerted effort to organize stakeholders to dream, learn, and collaborate about the future of our rivers and the communities that surround them. For more information, visit: http://getriverwise.com.

(Story by BCR Intern Isaiah Wise)

Congressman Chris Deulzio and Guam delegate James Moylan are introducing The Best Price For Our Military Act of 2024 to protect public funds and fight price gouging in the defense industry. The bill requires that defense contractors provide certified cost and pricing data on the products they are selling to the Department of Defense.

Deluzio says “it is my job as a member of the House Armed Services committee to oversee the Department of Defense.” He also stated that his role is to make sure the military is equipped in the face of tremendous challenges around the globe.

Moylan added, “I am further committed to ending the lack of accountability and transparency in government contracting”. Moylan will be working together with Deluzio to combat price gouging and unfair practices through the best price for our military.

(AP) Federal investigators say they will determine the cause of last year’s fiery Norfolk Southern derailment in eastern Ohio at a hearing in East Palestine this June.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced Wednesday that it will hold the hearing at East Palestine High School on June 25 to approve the findings of its investigation. That will be nearly 17 months after the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border that prompted evacuations and left residents with lingering worries about possible long-term health problems that may develop because of the chemicals that spilled and burned.

This will be the second time the full NTSB visits the town of about 5,000 people after holding investigative hearings there last summer.

“The NTSB is returning to East Palestine for our final board meeting for the same reasons we went last summer: Because the communities most affected by this tragedy deserve to hear our findings in-person and in real-time,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.

Cleanup from the derailment is ongoing though Environmental Protection Agency officials said it may wrap up this summer if no additional contamination is found in the latest tests being conducted in the area. The government and railroad have reassured residents that their air and water are safe, but some doubt the test results because they don’t think enough testing has been done.

Republican lawmakers in Congress have said they want to wait until after the final NTSB report is released before considering any rail safety reforms even though they appeared to have bipartisan support. A bill that would require federal standards for trackside detectors that spot mechanical problems, additional inspections and two-person crews on freight trains has stalled in the Senate.

The NTSB said last spring in its preliminary report that the derailment was likely caused by an overheating bearing on one of the railcars. Three detectors showed the bearing starting to heat up as the train approached East Palestine, but it didn’t get hot enough to trigger an alert until it passed the final detector, and then there wasn’t enough time for the crew to stop the train before it derailed.

An assortment of toxic chemicals spilled and caught fire after 38 cars piled up off the tracks. A few days later, officials decided to blow open five tank cars of vinyl chloride, which is used to make plastic, and burn the chemical because they worried the cars might explode.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is rising Wednesday after Ford Motor, Chipotle Mexican Grill and other big stocks climbed following their latest earnings reports.

The S&P 500 was up 0.6% in midday trading and on track to return to a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 166 points higher, or 0.4%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.7%.

The relatively modest moves for the indexes belied some sharp swings for stocks underneath the surface. New York Community Bancorp, for example, went from an initial gain to a loss of 10.4% for its latest zigzag. It’s down more than 60% since rattling investors across the banking industry last week with a surprise loss.

It’s struggling with challenges related to its acquisition of Signature Bank, which was one of the banks that collapsed in last year’s mini-crisis for the industry. But New York Community Bancorp is also feeling pain from a problem dogging banks worldwide: weakness in commercial real estate.

Moody’s downgraded the bank’s credit rating late Wednesday to “junk” status from the lowest tier of investment-grade. Analysts also said they were concerned about the departures of key risk and audit executives for the bank.

New York Community Bancorp’s stock then went on a wild ride in off-hours trading, sinking and then rising after the bank said it had increased its deposits and gave details about how much cash it has on hand.

Stocks of other regional banks have been caught up in the drama, to a lesser degree, which has brought back uncomfortable memories of last year’s banking crisis. The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking index fell 1.5%.

UBS analyst Brody Preston said New York Community Bancorp’s latest quarterly loss and dividend cut are due to problems related specifically to it and “are not necessarily a proverbial canary in the coal mine for other banks in the space.” But attention is likely to remain on potential losses for banks tied to commercial real estate, particularly after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently highlighted them as a concern.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Chipotle Mexican Grill rose 7.8% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its restaurants sold more meals to customers than they did a year earlier.

CVS Health gained 3.2% after it likewise topped expectations for both profit and revenue in the final three months of 2023. The drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager, though, also trimmed its forecast for full-year results.

Ford Motor climbed 2.2% following its better-than-expected results, while Enphase Energy soared 18.1% despite falling just shy of forecasts. Investors are hopeful that weakness in demand for the supplier of solar and battery systems is nearing a bottom.

They helped offset a 12.6% drop for VF Corp., the company behind Vans, The North Face and other brands. It reported weaker results than analysts expected.

Snap tumbled 34.2% after its fourth-quarter revenue fell short of analysts’ expectations. The company behind Snapchat also gave a tepid forecast for 2024 after saying on Monday that it was laying off 10% of its workforce.

Wall Street was also trying to game out potential impacts from an announcement that ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery are planning to launch a streaming platform for sports. Many details are still to be worked out, as is how it will impact prices for broadcasting rights with sports leagues. But fuboTV, a streaming service that offers sports, fell 29.5%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding steady at 4.09%, where it was late Tuesday. It’s been on a jagged run recently as signals of a remarkably resilient economy force traders to push back forecasts for when the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates.

While a delay in rate cuts hurts the stock market, strong economic data also carry an upside for investors. They should mean stronger profits for companies.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were modest lower in Europe and mixed in Asia.

Stocks rose 1.4% in Shanghai but slipped 0.3% in Hong Kong following moves this week by authorities to prop up what have been some of the world’s worst-performing markets this year.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Not all legislators were on board with Governor Shapiro’s plans for the 2024-25 budget, as several local Republican leaders made their opinions known following Tuesday’s address.

Beaver County state representative Josh Kail claimed that Shapiro was “all talk, and no action” and added that “House Republicans are no longer waiting around for Gov. Shapiro”, claiming that their party is already establishing proper legislation.

“Students are trapped in failing schools. Energy costs are at risk of skyrocketing. Businesses are desperate for an improved tax climate. Permitting reform is well overdue,” Kail added. As much as the people of Pennsylvania deserve cohesion among government officials, to praise the governor’s budget proposal would be an endorsement of deception. The governor has no clothes.”

State Representative Aaron Bernstine of Lawrence County went a step further, calling the budget proposal “nothing more than an extreme liberal wish list that will cost hardworking taxpayers a fortune.” Bernstine called out Shapiro’s request as a means of “wasteful spending” in Harrisburg.

“His plan is a copy-paste version of the Bidenomics that are destroying our economy. From Philadelphia mass transit bailouts to doubling the minimum wage, Gov. Shapiro wants Pennsylvania to be just like California, which is where his campaign donations originate,” Bernstine added.

Fellow Lawrence County State Representative Marla Brown joined Kail and Bernstine in dissension, stating that when it comes to the budget, Pennsylvania “families cannot afford it”.

The budget negotiations begin in earnest on February 20.