(Credit for Photo: Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Department of Health)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) announced today that 1,078 measles cases have been confirmed across 41 counties in Pennsylvania so far in 2026. The Pennsylvania Department of Health continues to lead the robust response in Pennsylvania to the ongoing outbreak of measles and is making the most up-to-date information on cases, deaths and hospitalizations available on their measles dashboard at pa.gov/measles (click here to learn more.) 

According to a release from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, here are the key updates that they include and more information about measles and how to treat it: 

• New Positive Cases (since October 5, 2026): 74
• Total Counties: 41
• Total Cumulative Cases: 1,078
• Total Hospitalizations: 207
• Total Confirmed Measles-Associated Deaths: 5
• Measles cases among vaccinated individuals: 4 (less than 1% of cases)

Outreach and Response 

• DOH is proactively working with residents, community organizations, and health care providers to combat the measles outbreak in the Commonwealth through access to fact-based information and access to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. 

• State health officials have administered nearly 5,200 MMR vaccinations at 156 pop-up vaccination clinics in the affected communities since the outbreak began in late April. Dozens of additional vaccine clinics are scheduled for the upcoming weeks and months, based on community interest and need. Overall, state health center staff have administered more than 7,700 MMR vaccine doses to residents across the Commonwealth in 2026. 

• Health care providers have also seen a surge of interest from residents seeking MMR vaccinations. In a typical month, Pennsylvania health care providers administer approximately 25,000 doses of the MMR vaccine. In August 2026, more than 49,000 MMR vaccines were administered across the Commonwealth and over the first three weeks of September 2026, more than 38,000 doses have been administered. 

Getting Vaccinated 

• The best protection against measles remains getting fully vaccinated. The MMR vaccine, administered over two doses, boosts a person’s immune system and provides 97% lifetime protection. People who have two documented doses of MMR do not need another. Adults who have only one dose, or who cannot find their vaccination records, should talk with a health care provider or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. 

• Residents interested in getting vaccinated should contact their trusted health care provider. 

• MMR vaccine is available across the state by contacting a health care provider, county or municipal health department, DOH State Health Center, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), or a Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. 

Measles Symptoms and Transmission 

• Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious short- and long-term health problems including pneumonia and brain swelling, with nearly 20 percent of people who contract measles being hospitalized. Death from measles, though rare, occurs in one to three patients per 1,000 cases. 

• Measles spreads when a person who is infected breathes, coughs, or sneezes. The virus remains infectious in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours after the person with the infection leaves the area. 

• Symptoms begin with fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes (conjunctivitis), followed by a rash that starts on the head and spreads downward. Without proper protection or supportive care, measles can be deadly. Symptoms can start 7 to 21 days after exposure. 

• People who believe they were exposed to measles, and are experiencing symptoms, should contact their health care provider or call DOH’s toll-free hotline at 877-PA-HEALTH (877-724-3258). 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Chester County, Pa., election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa., Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt reminded Pennsylvanians today that the deadline to register to vote in the November 3rd midterm election is just less than two weeks away. 

That deadline is October 19th. 

Eligible voters in Pennsylvania will have the opportunity to cast the ballot for their U.S. House of Representatives seat, Governor/Lieutenant Governor, even-numbered state Senate districts, and all state House districts. 

The Pennsylvania Department of State’s candidate database lists the candidates that are running for office to be eligible to vote in the November 3rd election. 

A person is eligible to vote in Pennsylvania by being a U.S. citizen for at least one month before the primary, a resident of the election district in which the person plans to register for at least 30 days before the primary, and at least 18 years old on or before November 3rd. 

Pennsylvanians who are already registered to vote can check their registration status online by clicking here. 

They can also update their voter record with any address, name or party affiliation changes (click here for more information). 

Eligible Pennsylvanians also can get a voter registration application at these following locations below, which is where there are more reminders about voting and deadlines, according to a release from the Pennsylvania Department of State:

• their county voter registration office,

• county assistance offices,
• Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program offices,
• Armed Forces recruitment centers,
• county clerk of orphans’ courts or marriage license offices,
• area agencies on aging,
• county mental health and intellectual disabilities offices,
• student disability services offices of the State System of Higher Education, and
• Americans with Disabilities Act-mandated complementary paratransit providers.

Schmidt noted that voters that are registered can request a mail ballot (click here to learn more) and vote from their home or their county elections office, or they can vote at the polls on Election Day. Mail ballot applications must be received by county elections offices by 5 p.m. on October 27th.

The deadline for the county elections offices to receive mail ballots that are completed is 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 3rd. Mail ballots that are received after that time will not be counted.

Pennsylvanians that prefer to vote in person can find their polling place at vote.pa.gov (click here to learn more). The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and any voter that is in in line by 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

The Department of State’s voter information website, vote.pa.gov (click here to learn more), is available in English, Spanish, and Chinese and it offers a polling place locator (click here to learn more) and contact information for county elections offices, and also includes tips for first-time voters (click here to learn more), mail-in and absentee voters (click here to learn more), elderly and disabled voters (click here to learn more), and members of the military (click here to learn more).

The public can also access weekly voter registration statistics (click here to learn more), historical election data (click here to learn more), annual voter registration reports (click here to learn more), election directives and guidance (click here to learn more), and other resources for election administration on the Department of State’s website. You can learn more about annual voter list maintenance by visiting the Department’s Fact-Checking Pennsylvania-Related Election Claims page (click here to learn more).

Route 18 Frankfort Road Bridge Reopens in Potter Township

Short-term restrictions continue throughout the remainder of the project

Pittsburgh, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is announcing the Route 18 Frankfort Road Bridge over Raccoon Creek in Potter Township, Beaver County has reopened to traffic.

The Route 18 Frankfort Road Bridge closed to traffic on Monday, September 28 to accommodate roadway tie-in work and was to remain closed through Friday, October 9. Crews have completed the work ahead of schedule and have reopened both the Route 18 bridge and Raccoon Creek Road to traffic.

Additionally, there will be short-term restrictions continuing throughout the remainder of the project including a one-day detour anticipated in November for demolition of the old bridge and single-lane alternating restrictions from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM weekdays through 2027.

The existing bridge over Raccoon Creek maintained traffic while the new structure and roadway realignment were constructed on this $25.27 million replacement project. A reduced duration detour was utilized to allow crews to complete the roadway tie-ins. The project also includes a sidewalk and aesthetic architectural surface treatments on the bridge. The overall project is anticipated to conclude in the fall of 2027.

Please stay alert and drive cautiously – safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Travelers can check conditions on major roads by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,200 traffic cameras. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.

Find PennDOT’s planned and active construction projects at www.pa.gov/DOTprojects. Subscribe to PennDOT news and find transportation results in Allegheny, Beaver, and Lawrence counties at www.pa.gov/DOTdistrict11.

Find PennDOT news on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

(File Photo of the Beaver County Courthouse)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver, PA) A few topics were discussed at today’s Beaver County Commissioners’ work session.

County Solicitor Garen Fedeles addressed during the solicitors’ report of the session that there are thirty resolutions prepared for tomorrow.

These included two of them as agreements with Economy Borough for an emergency services unit and drug task force, along with some amendments for community development projects.

Those projects include things like new sidewalks at the Women’s Center and an agreement with Constellation to sell energy tax credits in the county.

The main topic was when Commissioner Jack Manning talked about the playground at Brady’s Run Park during the commissioners’ report.

Manning stated that the Commissioners received some calls about it and they have been talking with County Recreation and Tourism Director Tony Caltury.

Manning confirmed that the Commissioners do have some estimates to replace that playground and go through the process for doing that.

This is because the Commissioners have been addressing for more than a year that some of the playground’s equipment is in poor shape, and they do not want the playground to be more of a hazard for safety.

Manning also noted that the paving project that required painting the lines at Friendship Circle in Beaver has been finished.

(File Photo of the Highmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Washington, PA) Highmark Wholecare will host a free farmers market tomorrow in Washington, Pennsylvania at the Washington Junior Senior High School with Washington School District and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Students as well as their families and members of the community will be able to select their own fresh produce and the food distribution will occur from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., while supplies last.

The event is part of Highmark Wholecare’s Farm-to-Family program so the medicaid insurer address food insecurity.

13,000 pounds of food will be available for over 600 families at this event, which makes it the largest Farm-to-Family event in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the program’s history.

Highmark Wholecare has given out over 226,000 pounds of food to 12,000 families at farmers markets in Western and Central Pennsylvania through 30 events so far this year.

(File Photo of the American Red Cross Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The American Red Cross is asking people to book a time to give blood or platelets to help keep the blood supply as strong as possible this fall.

There is a constant need for blood and donors of all blood types are needed.

Those who come to give from September 21st-October 18th, will receive a $15 e-gift card to a merchant of their choice. Anyone who comes to give from October 19th-November 22nd will receive up to $20 in Gift Cards, which is an $10 Amazon Gift Card by email and 500 bonus points that can be redeemed for a $10 e-gift card through Blood Donor Rewards.

According to a release from the American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania, here are some ways to donate blood:

Simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org (click here), call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enable the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age in most states (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.

Blood and platelet donors can save time at their next donation by using RapidPass® to complete their pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online, on the day of their donation, before arriving at the blood drive. To get started, follow the instructions at RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass (click here) or use the Blood Donor App.

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Cranberry Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Gibsonia reported today that a state police vehicle was hit by another vehicle in Cranberry Township yesterday.

This crash occurred at 11:25 a.m. and the police vehicle was stationary before the crash occurred.

That police vehicle was along the shoulder of the Cranberry on-ramp to Interstate 76 so the PSP Gibsonia trooper that was in the vehicle could monitor traffic.

A vehicle driven by sixty-five-year-old Randy L. Jones of Las Vegas, Nevada went off of the road because of an unknown reason and then went through a grassy area before hitting the police vehicle with his vehicle.

Jones’ vehicle then went up an embankment and stopped at the crest of that embankment.

That vehicle was towed from the scene.

Jones was taken by an ambulance to Allegheny General Hospital so he could undergo treatment of an unknown injury.

The police trooper was not injured.  

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Actress Eva Marie Saint attends the 20th Annual Art Directors Guild Excellence In Production Design Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eva Marie Saint, the pale, willowy actor who won an Academy Award for her first movie, “On the Waterfront,” and starred opposite Cary Grant in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller “North by Northwest,” has died. She was 102.

Saint, whose acting work lasted well into her 90s, died at her home in Los Angeles on Tuesday, confirmed family representative Jeff Sanderson.

Saint had one of the most spectacular debuts in Hollywood history, as the love interest of Marlon Brando’s tormented Terry Malloy in “On the Waterfront,” and her first trip to the Academy Awards was memorable too. Pregnant with her first child, Saint accepted her Oscar from Frank Sinatra and smilingly murmured a unique winner’s speech: “I think I may have the baby right here.” (Her son, Darrell, was born two days later.)

The award for the 1954 classic made her an instant star, but she soon astonished Hollywood with a firm independence that would mark her career. She refused offers of studio contracts and declined chances to follow up on her great success, explaining that she was taking time off to become acquainted with her new son. (A daughter, Laurette, was born in 1958.)

A curated career

In her first decade in Hollywood, Saint appeared in a mere seven films. She declined such top-level productions as “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit” with Gregory Peck, “Summer and Smoke” with Laurence Harvey and “The Rainmaker” with Burt Lancaster. She credited her husband, TV and stage director Jeffrey Hayden, with persuading her to star in Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” the classic 1959 thriller in which Saint plays a spy who seduces Grant, but ends up falling for him.

“I vividly remember him saying, ‘Honey, I think you should find a quiet spot. I’ll take care of the children and I want you to really think about this and reread this script,’” she told Vanity Fair in 2014. “He was so right. And that’s what husbands are for.”

Instead of being put off by her selectivity, studios continued offering her starring roles in such films as “Exodus” (with Newman), “Raintree County” (Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift) and “All Fall Down,” with Warren Beatty.

She turned more to television in the 1970s and enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1980s as the mother of Cybill Shepherd in the hit sitcom “Moonlighting” and as Tom Hanks’ mother in the film comedy “Nothing in Common.” She won an Emmy for the 1990 miniseries “People Like Us,” and had roles in such 21st century movies as “Because of Winn-Dixie,” “Superman Returns” and “Winter’s Tale,” adapted from Mark Helprin’s novel of the same name. In 2021, she played Marisa Tomei’s aunt in the brief audio play “The Bus Ride,” part of “The Pack Podcast.”

Saint was married to Hayden for 65 years, until his death in 2016.

That was her real name

When Saint emerged in the public consciousness, many believed her theatrical-sounding name must have been invented. She was born with it on July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey. The family moved to Delmar, a small town near Albany, New York, where her father was a Goodrich Rubber Co. manager. Eva’s goal was to become a third-grade teacher like her mother, but at Bowling Green State University in Ohio she tried out for a play and won the leading role.

After graduation, she lived with her parents and began hunting for acting jobs in Manhattan. After a fruitless year, she landed a two-line role as a telephone operator on a radio drama and soon was working steadily on soap operas and nighttime dramas, appearing for two years as Claudia on “One Man’s Family.” Network television was booming in the early 1950s, and her looks and dramatic sense made her a favorite with casting people and producers.

She credited Lee Strasberg with helping her overcome shyness

A critical turn in Saint’s career came when she auditioned before Elia Kazan and was accepted into the Actors Studio, which shaped a generation of method-actor stars. She credited acting coach Lee Strasberg with helping her overcome her shyness.

“Lee Strasberg, when he got to know me a little bit, gave me a scene to do where I had to cry in front of my peers,” she told The Santa Barbara Independent in 2009. “I worried about it, I worked on it, I tried to use what I was learning at the studio. I finally did the scene, and I cried, and my peers were crying with me. It was just an incredible moment for me.”

Saint was rejected for the single female role in the play “Mister Roberts,” but was hired to understudy the actor chosen, Jocelyn Brando, Marlon’s sister. In six frustrating months Saint never got to substitute for Brando. She finally made it to Broadway in “A Trip to Bountiful,” which she had played on television.

Kazan invited her to try out for the female lead in “On the Waterfront” by improvising a scene with Brando. She was told to try to stop a young man from entering her apartment. She told the Los Angeles Times in 2001: “All I know is that Marlon got in the door and turned on the music. We started dancing. He flicked my skirt. Kazan saw the sparks fly, and that’s how I got the part.”