(Photo from Beaver County Radio 70th Anniversary Celebration in May of 2018 as Faiella performs with Jimmie Ross and the Jaggerz)

(Beaver Falls, Pa.) During the Jaggerz appearance at the Turners on Friday night it is being reported by band mates that Benny Faiella suffered a mild heart attack while on stage. After the show on Friday band member Hermi Granati posted a message on his Facebook page saying Please everyone say some prayers for Benny “Eugene” Faiella from The Jaggerz who endured a mild heart attack on stage at the Beaver Falls Turners last night, but like the tough West Aliquippa Paisano he is, he played it out and hit every note!
Granati’s post went on to say that:
“He is in good spirits at Heritage Valley Hospital in Brighton Twp and the doctors will figure out if it is a blockage of some kind – I and many other people love this guy like family – we lift him in faith for a full recovery – praise God Almighty”

Harrisburg, PA – Governor Tom Wolf sent a letter to Senate and House leadership and chairs of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee in response to their request seeking data on COVID-19 from the Department of Health.

“My administration is committed to transparency and we have released a historic amount of public data throughout this pandemic,” Gov. Wolf said. “I appreciate the leaders’ concerns and we will provide the General Assembly with additional data, including data by legislative district.”

The governor said the Wolf Administration will be releasing vaccination reports by legislative district so that the General Assembly and public can better understand how well each member’s district is performing.

As the voters of Pennsylvania have asked the legislature to play a greater role in the management of emergencies, the governor also urged the General Assembly to create a frequently updated dashboard to track efforts by legislative district to help encourage vaccinations.

“We must work together to stop the spread of this terrible virus; therefore, in return, I am asking the General Assembly to share this forthcoming data with their constituents, so Pennsylvanians have another resource on the impact of COVID-19 in their communities,” Gov. Wolf said. “I once again encourage all legislators to join me in urging all eligible Pennsylvanians to get vaccinated.”

The Department of Health’s COVID-19 Dashboard and Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard already provide significant state and county level case data, and the COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard provides statewide and county level vaccination information. The Department of Health provides updates to these data points and more daily.

The letter reads as follows:

The Department of Health has publicly released a historic amount of data on COVID-19 details and demographics to help inform the General Assembly and the general public throughout the pandemic, and they continue to do so. We are happy to provide more information regarding your specific requests as follows:

• Case count data for individuals 0-18 years old is available, though this information will be updated weekly rather than daily.
• We are finalizing information for public release early next week on post-vaccine cases, but also for hospitalizations and deaths.
• The Department relies upon multiple experts to forecast COVID-19 metrics, many of which are compiled by the CDC. We would encourage you to utilize the CDC’s publicly available compilation of forecasting to find and monitor projected data for the weeks and months ahead.

I very much appreciate your concern about making sure Pennsylvanians are vaccinated. Unfortunately, as you can see from the Department of Health’s data dashboard, we continue to lag significantly in many areas of the state. Sadly, this is holding us all back, and, in part, leads to having to issue school mask mandates to protect our children and keep our classrooms open as part of the broader effort to keep Pennsylvanians on the job to fuel our economic recovery.

Together, the Vaccine Task Force has helped make Pennsylvania a national leader on vaccines. However, we need efforts from every member of the General Assembly to continue to improve vaccination outcomes. In the coming weeks, we will be releasing vaccination reports by legislative district so that the General Assembly and public can better understand how well each member’s district is performing.

In July, I wrote the General Assembly a letter asking for help in getting individuals vaccinated. As the voters of Pennsylvania have asked the legislature to play a greater role in the management of emergencies, I am asking you to create a frequently updated dashboard to track efforts by each member of the General Assembly to help encourage vaccinations. This should include information such as how many vaccination clinics have been publicized or facilitated by each member of the legislature, what vaccination outreach has taken place through various media forums, and efforts members plan to take to educate parents and students about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine as we anticipate its approval for younger ages in the coming months. Information to assist members in these efforts can be found on the Commonwealth’s PA Unites Against COVID website.

Our goal should be to strive to be the best state in the country on vaccinations, and your partnership is critical. Thank you again for your interest in this vitally important effort.

(Pittburgh, Pa.) PennDOT is announcing lane restrictions in the Fort Pitt Tunnel will occur tonight, September 13, 2021.

Single-lane restrictions will occur in each direction of the tunnel from 9:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. as crews conduct lighting repair work.

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The National Association of State Foresters was formed in 1920, with its first meeting in Harrisburg amid an increase in large wildfires throughout the country. One hundred and one years later, it met back in Pennsylvania to learn best practices to help fight forest-health issues similar to what they saw a century ago.

Because of the pandemic, last year’s conference went virtual. State foresters just wrapped up their 2021 in-person meeting in Pittsburgh with the last 100 years on their mind.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the state battled many wildfires, reducing the extent of once common tree species. State forester Ellen Shultzabarger said the lessons of the past can help inform the future of how we maintain forests.

“So we were talking about forest health 100 years ago,” said Shultzabarger. “Forests and these pests and these issues don’t just stay within boundaries, and it’s extremely important for us to work with our neighboring states and with our partners to really be effective in having good forest management moving forward.”

Forests cover nearly 60% of Pennsylvania. The state recently released its once-a-decade Forest Action Plan that assessed forest conditions and long-term sustainability goals.

Connecticut State Forester Chris Martin said the collaboration between state foresters is critical for preparing for extreme weather events as they become more common.

Martin said foresters in the Northeast learned from those in the South about their Urban Forestry Strike Teams, which deploy arborists to evaluate trees hit by storms to help FEMA make decisions on whether damaged trees need to be removed or will recover on their own.

“That’s a huge benefit financially to FEMA,” said Martin. “Because when you take a tree down, it’s far more expensive than if you have to take a couple limbs off and to make it safe and let the tree respond healthily. That’s been something that’s been working in southern states for several years, one of my takeaways that I wanna see happen in the Northeast.”

Among the policy decisions made at the conference include the approval of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, to protect forests from threatening invasive species.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing daytime roadway improvement work on Interstate 79 in Glenfield, Sewickley Hills and Franklin Park boroughs, and Kilbuck, Aleppo, and Ohio townships, Allegheny County will begin Monday, September 13 weather permitting.

(Beaver Falls, Pa.) The 30th Annual Beaver Falls Car Cruise was held on Saturday, September 11, 2021 on Seventh Ave. in Beaver Falls. The cruise was originally scheduled for June 12, 2021 but the committee chose to move it to September due to the pandemic.

The theme of the day was “911 Never Forget”. When the cruise was moved the cruise committee decided September the 11th would be the perfect day so that we could honor those who perished on the 20th Anniversary of 911. The cruise honored those who perished, those who gave their all as first responders and laborers, all first responders, and all veterans who served or are serving or paid the ultimate sacrifice with their life for our freedom with a parade at the beginning of opening ceremonies.

The opening ceremonies start with Beaver County Radio Program Director Frank Sparks welcoming the crowd to Beaver Falls on a beautiful day for a car cruise. The parade started at the Beaver Falls High School and made its way up Seventh Ave to the main stage  in front of Beaver County Radio. The key speakers who attended were Beaver Falls Mayor George Quay, Beaver Falls City Manager Charles “Mick” Jones, Beaver County Commissioners Tony Amadio and Jack Manning, Pa State Senator Elder Vogel, Pa State Reps Jim Marshall and Josh Kail, Larry Googins, President of the VVA 862, Ron Bogolea, and Donna Groom.

The Colors were presented by the VVA 862 Honor Guard and the 21 gun salute was also presented the honor guard. There ceremonies contained the invocation by Jeff Huff, Taps and Amazing Grace played on the bag pipes. National recording artist Donna Groom sung the National Anthem followed by a fly over of the c-47 Luck Of the Irish that was presented by Air Heritage in Chippewa.

You can watch opening ceremonies by pressing the play button below:

Check out all of the fun that happened throughout the cruise below:

Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano 

(Beaver Falls, Pa.) Just after midnight Friday morning, Beaver Falls Police  received information that Trae Ellis Jackson, 27, had arrest warrants out of multiple police agencies, including Ambridge, Pittsburgh, McKees Rocks, and the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department.  He was at the Third Base inn, Beaver Falls, New Brighton,  and Patterson Township Pol.ice responded.