Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published April 2, 2026 10:21 A.M.

(Beaver Falls, Pa) A barge found itself lodged on the dam near the Beaver Falls Sewage Treatment Plant Thursday morning.

The dam is located in the Beaver River just below the Eastvale Bridge. Two pieces of the barge got stuck at the dam while the aggressive river rolled on.

The barge appeared to be used for construction, possibly coming from the Turnpike project upriver.

 

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Cranberry Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Gibsonia reported via release today that twenty-two-year-old Erica Lefebvre of Big Beaver was not charged after she crashed her vehicle in Cranberry Township on Saturday. Lefebvre was driving on the on I-76 East on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when she lost control of her vehicle on the off-ramp at the Cranberry Interchange and hit the left concrete barrier on the road twice at 7:29 a.m. The charges were not filed against her because of a catastrophic failure with the right rear passenger side wheel and/or suspension. 

(File Photo of the CCBC Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Monaca, PA) Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) recently announced its selection to participate in Cohort 4 of the Transfer Student Success Intensive, a prestigious initiative led by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program (Aspen) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) that is supported by the Ascendium Education Group. The Monaca school will be part of a year-long program that empowers colleges and universities to improve outcomes for transfer students through data-driven strategies, peer learning, and expert guidance. The cohort four will include ten teams of ten four-year institutions and thirteen community colleges, which represent ten different states. These new partners will work collaboratively over the next year to create transfer reform strategies that are sustainable and are tailored to their institutional and student needs.

(File Photo of Someone Texting on a Phone while Driving)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Pennsylvania drivers will face fines starting June 5th if they are caught using handheld devices behind the wheel. The enforcement follows the implementation of Paul Miller’s law, which aims to curb distracted driving across the state. Governor Josh Shapiro signed the bill into law in 2024, making it illegal to use a hand-held device while driving, even when a vehicle is temporarily stopped for traffic or red lights. Motorists are still permitted to use hands-free technology for music, navigation and phone calls, or to contact authorities during emergencies while hand-held use of these devices is prohibited. Pennsylvania State Police officials confirmed that the conclusion of a designated warning period will lead to active citations for motorists. The law is named in honor of Paul Miller Jr., who was killed in a 2010 crash in Monroe County involving a tractor-trailer. The crash was caused by a distracted driver who was reaching for a phone. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – These are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in Pittsburgh Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

(Hershey, PA-AP) Hershey said Wednesday it will use classic recipes for all Reese’s products starting next year, a change that comes after the grandson of Reese’s founder criticized the company for shifting to cheaper ingredients.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have always been made with real milk chocolate or dark chocolate and peanut butter. But a small portion of Hershey’s and Reese’s products, like mini Easter eggs, are now made with a coating that contains less chocolate.

Hershey said that in 2027, it will shift those products to “their classic milk chocolate and dark chocolate recipes.”

The Hershey, Pennsylvania-based company said it will also be making other changes to its sweets portfolio next year, including transitioning to natural colors and enhancing Kit-Kat’s recipe to make it creamier. The company said it plans to increase its research and development funding by 25% next year.

“Hershey is committed to making products consumers love and that means continually reviewing our recipes to meet evolving tastes and preferences,” the company said in a statement.

Brad Reese, the grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, ignited the controversy in a public letter he sent to Hershey’s corporate brand manager on Valentine’s Day.

“How does The Hershey Co. continue to position Reese’s as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership, while quietly replacing the very ingredients (Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter) that built Reese’s trust in the first place?” Reese wrote in the letter, which he posted on his LinkedIn profile.

Hershey acknowledged some recipe changes but said it was trying to meet consumer demand for innovation. High cocoa prices also have led Hershey and other manufacturers to experiment with using less chocolate in recent years.

The Associated Press left a message with Brad Reese on Wednesday seeking comment.

Brad Reese is the grandson of H.B. Reese, who spent two years at Hershey before forming his own candy company in 1919. H.B. Reese invented Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in 1928; his six sons eventually sold his company to Hershey in 1963.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Luigi Mangione is escorted into Manhattan state court in New York, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione ‘s state and federal trials in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson were both postponed on Wednesday, with the state case delayed until September and the federal case pushed back to October.

Judge Gregory Carro rescheduled the state trial from June 8 to Sept. 8, acting hours after the judge in the federal case, Margaret Garnett, moved jury selection in that matter from Sept. 8 to Oct. 5. Opening statements and testimony in the federal case will begin on Oct. 26, Garnett said. Carro did not elaborate on his decision.

At a hearing Wednesday morning, Garnett said her decision was based on Mangione’s state murder trial happening in June, though she acknowledged the schedule could change again if the state trial were to be delayed.

“Whether we like it or not, we’re at the mercy of the state case,” Garnett said.

Garnett rejected a request by Mangione’s lawyers to postpone the federal case until January or February 2027, but such a delay could be in the offing with the federal case now set to go to trial just 27 days after the state trial commences. The state trial is expected to take four to six weeks.

In seeking to delay the trials, Mangione’s lawyers argued back-to-back prosecutions on a tight timeline would violate his constitutional rights. The state trial delay compresses the calendar further.

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty. He faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in either case, which are set to occur two blocks apart in lower Manhattan.

Along with the new date for the federal trial, Garnett compressed preparations for jury selection to give Mangione and his legal team more time to review questionnaires filled out by hundreds of potential jurors. The original schedule, which was set when the death penalty was still on the table, would’ve overlapped with a state trial held in June.

Federal prosecutors opposed a trial delay, arguing that witnesses are harder to locate and memories fade with the passage of time. At least one witness will be traveling from abroad, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Gentile said.

“The public has a right to a speedy trial as well, especially in a case as significant as this,” Gentile said, noting that Mangione’s lawyers have had more than a year to prepare and that both cases involve the same allegations and witnesses.

Carro previously raised the possibility of moving the state trial to September — but only if federal prosecutors appealed Garnett’s decision barring them from seeking the death penalty. They declined to do so.

Carro was undeterred by Garnett’s scheduling maneuver. Pushing the state trial until after the federal trial could have raised double jeopardy concerns.

The state’s double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in in a prior prosecution, such as a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a guilty plea. The cases involve different charges but the same alleged course of conduct.

At a hearing in February, Mangione spoke out against the prospect of two trials, telling Carro: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind.

Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used by critics to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

His lawyers have argued that authorities prejudiced him by turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle with armed officers parading him up a pier after he was flown to New York and by publicly declaring their desire to seek the death penalty before he was indicted.

In January, Garnett dismissed a federal murder charge — murder through use of a firearm — that had enabled prosecutors to seek capital punishment, finding it legally flawed.

Garnett, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden, also threw out a gun charge but left in place stalking charges that carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon Wednesday, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the thrilling leadoff in NASA’s push toward a landing in two years.

Carrying three Americans and one Canadian, the 32-story rocket rose from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center where tens of thousands gathered to witness the dawn of this new era. Crowds also jammed the surrounding roads and beaches, reminiscent of the Apollo moonshots in the 1960s and ’70s. It is NASA’s biggest step yet toward establishing a permanent lunar presence.

“On this historic mission, you take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation,” launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson told the crew right before liftoff. “Good luck, Godspeed Artemis II. Let’s go.”

Artemis II set sail from the same Florida launch site that sent Apollo’s explorers to the moon so long ago. The handful still alive cheered this next generation’s grand adventure as the Space Launch System rocket thundered into the early evening sky, a nearly full moon beckoning some 248,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away.

Five minutes into the flight, Commander Reid Wiseman saw the team’s target: “We have a beautiful moonrise, we’re headed right at it,” he said from the capsule. On board with him are pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen. It is the most diverse lunar crew ever with the first woman, person of color and non-U. S. citizen riding in NASA’s new Orion capsule.

“NASA is back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters following liftoff, calling the half-century hiatus a brief intermission.

Tensions high in the hours leading up to launch

Tensions were high earlier in the day as hydrogen fuel started flowing into the rocket. Dangerous hydrogen leaks erupted during a countdown test earlier this year, forcing a lengthy flight delay.

To NASA’s relief, no significant hydrogen leaks occurred. The launch team loaded more than 700,000 gallons of fuel (2.6 million liters) into the 32-story Space Launch System rocket on the pad, a smooth operation that set the stage for the Artemis II crew to board.

Then NASA had to overcome a flurry of last-minute technical issues — bad battery sensors and an inability to get commands through to the rocket’s flight termination system. In both cases, the issues were quickly resolved, allowing the launch to proceed.

What’s on tap for 10-day test flight?

The astronauts will stick close to home for the first 25 hours of their 10-day test flight, checking out the capsule in orbit around Earth before firing the main engine that will propel them to the moon.

They won’t pause for a stopover or orbit the moon like Apollo 8’s first lunar visitors did so famously on Christmas Eve 1968, reading from Genesis. But they stand to become the most distant humans ever when their capsule zooms past the moon and continues another 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) beyond, before making a U-turn and tearing straight home to a splashdown in the Pacific.

Once settled in a high orbit around Earth, the astronauts assumed manual control and practiced steering their capsule around the rocket’s detached upper stage, venturing as close as 33 feet (10 meters). NASA wants to know how Orion handles in case the self-flying feature fails and the pilots need to take control.

Crew has an amazing sight in store

During Monday’s lunar flyby, the moon will appear to be the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. The astronauts will take turns peering through Orion’s windows with cameras. If the lighting is right, they should see features never before viewed through human eyes. They’ll also catch snippets of a total solar eclipse, donning eclipse glasses as the moon briefly blocks the sun from their perspective and the corona is revealed.

All of NASA’s moon plans — a surge in launches over the next several years leading to a sustainable moon base for astronauts assisted by robotic rovers and drones — hinge on Artemis II going well.

It’s been more than three years since Artemis I, the only other time NASA’s SLS rocket and Orion capsule have soared. With no one aboard, the Artemis I capsule lacked life-support equipment and other crew essentials like a water dispenser and toilet.

These systems are now making their space debut on Artemis II, ratcheting up the risk. That’s why NASA is waiting a full day before committing Wiseman and his crew to a four-day trip to the moon and four-day journey back.

The capsule’s toilet is already acting up. Koch informed Mission Control that it shut down seconds after she activated it. Mission Control advised her to to use a handheld bag-and-funnel system for now — CCU, short for Collapsible Contingency Urinal — while engineers pondered how to deal with the so-called lunar loo.

“There’s always been a lot riding on this mission,” NASA’s Lori Glaze said ahead of launch. But the teams are even more “energized” now that the space agency is finally accelerating the lunar launch pace and laser-focusing on surface operations — seismic changes recently announced by Isaacman.

Artemis offers a fresh beginning

With half the world’s population not yet born when NASA’s 12 moonwalkers left their boot prints in the gray lunar dust, Artemis offers a fresh beginning, NASA’s science mission chief Nicky Fox said earlier this week.

“There are a lot of people who don’t remember Apollo. There are generations who weren’t alive when Apollo launched. This is their Apollo,” said Fox, who was 4 when Apollo 17 closed out the era.

NASA is in it for the long haul this time. Unlike Apollo, which focused on fast flags and footprints in a breakneck race against the Soviet Union, Artemis is striving for a sustainable moon base elaborate enough to satisfy even the most hard-core science fiction fans. But make no mistake: Isaacman and the Trump Administration want the next boot prints to be made by Americans, not the Chinese.

Until Isaacman’s program makeover, Artemis III was crawling toward a moon landing no sooner than 2029. The billionaire spacewalker slid in a new Artemis III for 2027 so astronauts could practice docking their Orion capsule with a lunar lander in orbit around Earth. Astronauts’ momentous landing near the moon’s south pole shifted to Artemis IV in 2028 — two years before an anticipated Chinese crew’s arrival.

Like Apollo 13 — astronauts’ only moon landing miss — Artemis II will use a free-return, lunar flyby trajectory to get home with gravity’s tug and a minimum of gas. The gravity of both the moon and Earth will provide much if not most of the oomph to keep Orion on its out-and-back, figure-eight loop.

There are inherent dangers

The danger is right up there for Artemis II. NASA has refused to release its risk assessment for the mission. Managers contend it’s better than 50-50 — the usual odds for a new rocket — but how much more is murky.

The SLS rocket leaked flammable hydrogen fuel during ground tests, a recurring problem that engineers still do not completely understand. The hydrogen leaks and unrelated helium blockages stalled the flight for two months, coming on top of years of vexing delays and cost overruns. Both problems also thwarted Artemis I, whose capsule returned with excessive heat shield damage. To NASA’s relief, Wednesday’s countdown was leak-free.

Beating the Soviet Union to the moon made the huge risks acceptable for Apollo, said Charlie Duke, one of only four surviving moonwalkers.

“I’m cheering you on,” Duke said in a note to Wiseman and his crew before their flight.

During a weekend news conference, Koch stressed how humanity’s path to Mars goes through the moon, the proving ground for points beyond.

“It is our strong hope that this mission is the start of an era where everyone, every person on Earth, can look at the moon and think of it as also a destination,” she said.

Added Glover: “It’s the story of humanity. Not Black history, not women’s history, but that it becomes human history.”