(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of Gavin Thunberg)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(New Brighton, PA) A house fire occurred in New Brighton yesterday.
Fire crews went to the scene on 6th Avenue near 8th Street.
Crews were on the scene as of 3:20 P.M.
Firefighters worked for more than an hour on overhaul.
The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
(File Photo of the Pittsburgh International Airport Sign)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Pittsburgh, PA) A woman who says that she was sexually assaulted by a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago wants answers from federal authorities just over five weeks after the reported incident happened.
The victim told WPXI that she was traveling for work on September 22nd when a man who was sitting next to her started touching her and exposed himself.
She stated that this happened about 30 minutes into the flight.
She noted that she was sitting in a window seat and initially made conversation with the man who was beside her.
She said she put in her AirPods later on and turned toward the window because she wanted to be left alone.
The man raised the armrest between them repeatedly after she put it down.
She confirmed that he pulled out a blanket at one point during the flight, and according to the victim, she began to feel something against her arm, but initially thought it could have been because the passengers were sitting close together.
However, she affirmed that he was rubbing her arm and he positioned the blanket so that it blocked the view of the two of them.
She also said that he touched her inner thigh and her leg.
That is when he exposed himself and touched himself.
She remembered him mouthing the word “no” after she told him she wanted to get up.
She eventually woke another passenger up and went to the back of the plane, which is where she told a flight attendant what occurred.
She was then moved to another seat.
According to a statement from United Airlines:
“We take this issue seriously, and this customer was moved to a different seat after reporting the incident to the flight crew. We also spoke with the customer and apologized for her experience. Law enforcement met this aircraft upon arrival in Chicago, and we have banned the other person involved pending our investigation.”
(File Photo: Source for Photo: (File Photo: Source for Photo: Police respond to an active shooter situation at the Tree of Life synagogue on Wildins Avenue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pa., on Saturday, October 27, 2018. (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette via AP)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Pittsburgh, PA) A commemoration ceremony that was inside the Jewish Community Center in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh marked eight years since the synagogue shooting at the former Tree of Life synagogue that took the lives of 11 people and changed the lives of many others.
Family members lit 11 candles yesterday for the 11 congregants of Dor Hadash, New Light, and Tree of Life who were shot and killed on October 27th, 2018.
The victims of that shooting were: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.
That event brought a room of people together for a night of prayer, reflection and song.
This ceremony finished with remarks from the event’s keynote speaker, Mark Nordenberg, who served as the chancellor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh.
(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Chester County, Pa. election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester on Nov. 4, 2020. Law enforcement agencies, civil defense officials and election administrators have begun meeting in Pennsylvania to coordinate how they will identify and fight election threats with the presidential contest just eight months away in the battleground state, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Harrisburg, PA) Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt reminded voters, in his eighth and final pre-election virtual media briefing, that the deadline to apply for a mail ballot (click here to do so) for the November 3rd election is here.
The deadline was yesterday at 5 p.m.
You can go to vote.pa.gov to apply online, and voters should complete their ballot and immediately return it to their county elections office.
People can either drop it off at their county elections office or they can drop it off at an authorized drop box if their county has one.
Mail ballots must be received at respective county elections offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day for them to count.
(File Photo of an American Flag)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Beaver County, PA) Eat’n Park restaurants will offer a 10% discount to both active and former U.S. military personnel as well as their families throughout the month of November.
This discount will be available at all Eat’n Park locations across the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
The discount applies to all meals on the check of the active or former military member.
Military personnel will also receive a free Smiley Cookie with their meal on Veterans Day, which is November 11th.
This military discount and Veterans Day cookie offer are valid exclusively for dine-in guests of Eat’n Park.
That promotion cannot be applied to online purchasing or takeout orders.
Guests must present proof of military service to receive this offer.
(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Pittsburgh Penguins center Ben Kindel plays in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Oct. 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Pittsburgh Penguins forward Ben Kindel returned to practice on Tuesday, a week after the 19-year-old fainted on the team’s flight back from Utah.
Kindel called what general manager Kyle Dubas described as a vasovagal episode “an interesting experience.”
The team’s plane had just left Salt Lake City on Oct. 20 when Kindel lost consciousness. He was tended to on the flight by the club’s medical personnel and spent the night in a Salt Lake City hospital for observation before being cleared to return to Pittsburgh the following day.
The club placed Kindel on injured reserve, but Kindel is optimistic he will be back soon. Pittsburgh is off until Thursday, when it hosts Utah.
“Obviously a couple weird days,” Kindel said. “Feels normal now just being back with the guys. Excited now for the rest of the year.”
Penguins coach Dan Muse said the team will take it one day at a time before determining Kindel’s status, but added he thought Kindel looked good while playing alongside Evgeni Malkin and Egor Chinakov on the second line.
Kindel underwent additional testing upon his return to Pittsburgh but was cleared to start doing some conditioning over the weekend, stressing he is eager to move on and get back to work.
“For me it’s in the past now,” said Kindel, who has two goals and two assists in four games. “It’s out of my head. Can’t control what happened. Just got to move forward. That’s where my head’s at.”
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said it was “awesome” to have Kindel at practice, calling it a “great sign.”
“I’m pretty sure that things are progressing well if he’s back out with us,” Crosby said.
Pittsburgh has won two straight since returning from a winless four-game road trip.
(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Environmental Protection Agency workers survey Leslie Run in East Palestine, Ohio, on June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
(EAST PALESTINE, OH-AP) The Environmental Protection Agency’s response to the disastrous 2023 East Palestine train derailment will be investigated after local residents of the small town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and Vice President JD Vance pressed for the review.
The Inspector General of the EPA announced the investigation Tuesday to assess the agency’s response to the worst rail disaster in more than a decade and the subsequent health and environmental concerns that have developed despite the EPA’s assurances to the public that no toxic levels of chemicals lingered in the community weeks and months later.
An assortment of chemicals spilled and caught fire after the failed bearing sent the Norfolk Southern train careening off the tracks late one Friday night in February 2023. Residents evacuated as officials decided three days later to blow open five rail cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the “vent and burn” move that generated a massive black plume of smoke and sent chemicals drifting across several states was unnecessary. But at the time, the officials in charge of the emergency response worried the tank cars might explode and do even more harm.
Jami Wallace and other East Palestine residents have been pushing for this investigation — much like they pressed the EPA initially to test for whether cancer-causing dioxins were released in their hometown — so she said “I’m going to cry” when she heard the news. Since the derailment, Wallace has kept track of more than 80 people who live in the area and have developed cancer, although it’s difficult to prove that every illness is directly linked to the derailment.
“It’s like we’ve had to push them along the way for every single thing they did, and then they didn’t even do it right,” said Wallace, who promised never to give up the fight. “We’re not going to stop when you poison our kids.”
The recent request from Vance and the head of the EPA helped get the investigation started. But multiple complaints from residents and whistleblowers have also been made in the years since the derailment.
The Inspector General’s office said this investigation will determine whether the EPA fulfilled its responsibilities and whether the EPA had “sufficient data to support the agency’s public communications” assuring residents they were safe to return home and live in the small town. Testing experts questioned whether the test data EPA shared with the public obscured the risks and whether the agency could determine just how dangerous it is to be exposed to this cocktail of chemicals. Health standards are generally based only on exposure to a single chemical.
Wallace said she’s not sure how much good might come out of this investigation, but it will continue to put a bit of light on the lingering concerns around East Palestine.
“If nothing else, at least we’re getting attention again,” Wallace said. “And people know that we’re here and that we are not OK.”
Norfolk Southern agreed to a $600 million class action settlement with residents, but that money has been largely tied up in the courts and questions about the initial settlement administrator mishandling the funds. A group of residents has also sued because they argue the class action attorneys misled them and pressured them into signing the deal.
A separate federal settlement that includes a $15 million fine for the railroad and $55 million to pay for decades of medical exams and groundwater testing has been under review for more than two years without a judge approving it.
Norfolk Southern is seeking to merge with Union Pacific and create the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. But that $85 billion deal still faces an extensive review by the Surface Transportation Board.
(Credit for Photo: Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Caption for Photo: Harper swimming in the Wetlands)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Pittsburgh, PA) The National Aviary in Pittsburgh is beginning their 2026 Fall Annual Campaign: From Rescue to Recovery.
Dr. Marshall Sklar, who is a generous friend of that aviary and a member of its Donor Society, will only match the first $10,000 raised.
Support for recovery of a young Brown Pelican named Harper and other birds is the main reason that this campaign exists.
Harper became tangled in discarded fishing lines along a shoreline in Florida as a juvenile.
Harper was severely injured and was transported to the nearby Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, which is where a team worked hard on the pelican’s recovery.
Harper is now thriving in the Wetlands habitat of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh along with a long-time resident, Brown Pelican Ralph.
The match from Dr. Sklar goes straight to the National Aviary of Pittsburgh’s veterinary care program, which is the team that keeps Harper and every other bird that is there healthy.
Every gift to that aviary’s Fall Annual Campaign supports its Avian Conservation Fund.
If you give $50, it becomes $100 because of Dr. Sklar’s match.
“Critical Hours” is a radio show and podcast that discusses the ideas, movements, and moments reshaping our world, our communities, and our lives. Produced by the Catanzarite Studio LLC, with hosts Lauren Leonard and Stephen Catanzarite. Listen live Saturday mornings at 7.
From Dawn at Shippingport to Midnight at Chernobyl: A Critical Hours special presentation
Stephen Catanzarite and Lauren Leonard trace the line from the construction and operation of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station to the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
In 1957, a reactor went critical at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, launching the first full-scale commercial nuclear power plant in the United States. Twenty-nine years later, a reactor at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union exploded.
This episode features Stephen Catanzarite’s talk at the Beaver Area Historical Museum last April, tracing the arc between these two events. It begins with President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech and the building of Shippingport Atomic Power Station, then follows the Soviet program, the design flaw that was known and suppressed, and the disaster that changed the course
of history.
Part 1:
Part 2:
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(Credit for Headline Photo and Photos Below: Photos Provided with Release Courtesy of McDonald’s)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Beaver County, PA) Participating McDonald’s restaurants are offering a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal, with a drink and a medium size French fries for $8 for a limited time beginning on Monday, November 2nd.
The McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese features a ¼ lb. of 100% fresh beef, which is cooked to order and it is topped with slivered onions, pickles that are tangy and two slices of American cheese that are melty on a sesame seed bun.
It is paired with the world famous McDonald’s French fries and a drink that is refreshing.
This meal is pictured below:
McDonald’s is also introducing a new lineup of limited-time seasonal drinks starting on Tuesday, November 3rd at participating McDonald’s restaurants nationwide.
According to a release from McDonald’s, this lineup of seasonal drinks includes:
These drinks can be pictured below: