Category: News

Russ Rose retires as Penn State women’s volleyball coach

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Russ Rose retired Thursday as Penn State’s women’s volleyball coach, ending a 43-year run that featured seven NCAA titles, 109 straight wins from 2007-10 and the Division I career victory record. The 68-year-old Rose will remain in an advisory role within the athletic department. Katie Schumacher-Cawley will serve as interim head coach. Rose finished with a 1,330-229 record, the most victories in Division I history. He led Penn State to national titles in 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014 and 25 conference championships — 17 in the Big Ten and eight in the Atlantic 10. As a player, Rose helped George Williams College win the 1974 NAIA title.

5 teenagers charged in armed carjacking of US Rep. Scanlon

Five teenagers face charges in Delaware after they were found in a vehicle that was stolen at gunpoint in Philadelphia from U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon. State police say Scanlon’s blue Acura MDX was located Wednesday night in Newark, Delaware. That’s about 45 miles from Philadelphia. The FBI charged a 19-year-old man with carjacking, a weapons charge, and aiding and abetting. A 14-year-old girl and three boys, ages 13, 15 and 16, are charged with receiving stolen property. The 15-year-old also is charged with resisting arrest and criminal mischief. Scanlon was unharmed.

US to lift omicron-linked travel ban on southern Africa

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will lift travel restrictions on eight southern African countries that it imposed to try to blunt the spread of the COVID omicron variant. The White House says the temporary travel bans bought scientists necessary time to study the new virus variant first discovered in South Africa. The World Health Organization and leaders in southern Africa criticized the travel ban as ineffective. The ban had barred entry to all non-U.S. citizens who had been in South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It will be lifted on New Year’s Eve.

VIDEO: Preparing For 2022 With Eric Brewer Of Beaver County EMS

(Published by Matt Drzik)

Beaver County is looking to enter 2022 the same way that it’s closing 2021…safely prepared in case of a nuclear disaster.

Though it’s not a situation that is hoped for or expected, the Beaver County Power Station, in conjunction with Beaver County Emergency Management Services, have released their annual pamphlet to Beaver County citizens in regards to what to do, who to contact, and where to go in case of an emergency situation in order to withdraw from the 10-mile radial area surrounding the nuclear plant in Shippingport.

Eric Brewer, the director for Beaver County EMS, joined Matt Drzik to talk about the 2022 strategy planning pamphlet which was also created in conjunction with neighboring Columbiana County in Ohio and Hancock County in West Virginia. Brewer spoke about the safety of nuclear power, and takes pride in the idea that the Power Station hasn’t had any major accidents since the beginning of the yearly updating; the updating was in response to the Three Mile Island incident that occurred in Pennsylvania back in 1979.

Brewer also went into great detail about the other services that the Beaver County EMS provides, including a similar preparation strategy for chemical facilities, as well as the department for 911 calls and alerts, including the Swift 911 alert system that sends messages to citizens about possible incidents and missing persons within the county, just to name a couple examples.

To see the full interview with Matt and Eric, click on the Facebook feed below.

14-Year-old Seneca Valley Student Arrested After TikTok Post

(File Photo)
Thursday, December 23, 2021 at 6:43 AM
(Jackson Twp., Butler County, Pa.) A 14-year-old 8th Grade Seneca Valley student has been arrested and charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct after a threat to the school on a TikTok post forced the district to learn remotely last Friday.
Jackson Township police and TikTok’s safety team worked together to identify the student.
The district also said the student is facing discipline, though it did not say what actions would be taken against the unnamed student.
The threat was deemed not credible.

Degraffenreid Issues Warning Over Redistricting Delays Affecting May Primary

Thursday, December 23, 2021 at 5:51 AM
By MARK SCOLFORO and MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s top state election official is warning that delays in drawing new legislative districts boundaries may require pushing back next year’s spring primary election. That’s as a group of voters asked Pennsylvania’s highest court to pick a new map of congressional districts if Gov. Tom Wolf and lawmakers fail to agree on one soon. Pennsylvania must redraw state legislative districts and congressional districts to account for a decade of demographic shifts, but partisan disagreements are threatening to delay both processes. Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid told the Legislative Reapportionment Commission in a letter Tuesday that its current schedule will not work with the current primary deadlines.

Gov. Wolf vetoes GOP Bill to Post School Course Materials Online

Thursday, December 23, 2021 at %;48 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is using his veto on a bill that would have required school districts to post information about textbooks, course material and state academic standards online. The Democratic governor said Wednesday the legislation “politicizes what is being taught in our schools” and that state regulations already require public schools to provide similar material upon request. It  would have required links or titles for every textbook and course summaries to be posted on district websites, starting with the next academic year. Both legislative chambers were split nearly along party lines in votes on the measure. Republicans supported the bill and Democrats were opposed.

BREAKING: Beaver Superintendent Dr. Carrie Rowe Resigns

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

According to a press release sent Wednesday, the Beaver Area Board of Education accepted the resignation of Superintendent Dr. Carrie Rowe on Monday, December 20, 2021. Rowe is leaving the school district to become a member of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, serving as the Director of the Bureau of School Support.

Dr. Rowe had served as a staff member at Beaver since 2004, beginning on the administrative team, accepting a position as Middle School Principal, and eventually becoming the Superintendent in 2016. During her tenure, Dr. Rowe helped the Beaver School District to a Pennsylvania Blue Ribbon Award and a National Blue Ribbon Award.

Rowe will remain Superintendent until the end of January 2021, at which point she will begin her new position.

 

From Meteorology To Theology: Father Mark Carter Talks Weird Weather And Christmas Cheer

(Published by Matt Drzik)

“People often asked me, ‘What has happened since you changed from meteorology to thinking about being a priest?’ And I say, ‘Well, my head’s still in the clouds.'”

Those words, spoken by parochial vicar Father Mark Carter from Our Lady Of The Valley Parish in Beaver County, encapsulates his strange path from learning about the weather to teaching about the story of Christ. He joined Matt Drzik on the December 22 edition of A.M. Beaver County to talk about the recent string of bizarre weather that has adorned the holiday season; a holiday season that he and his parishioners will be celebrating with several masses this weekend.

Fr. Carter studied meteorology before entering the seminary, and he spoke in detail about the bizarre phenomenon of days where the timing has caused the early morning temperatures to be warmer than the rest of the 24-hour day. Carter says that such patterns are directly related to a steady rise in global temperature; one that he says may lead to Floridian temperatures during Christmas in Beaver County by 2050–but one that will not last as the global temperatures start cooling into the next century.

Carter then turned to theology, a path that has taken him from Canton to Cleveland to the Beaver Valley, and he is currently in his third stint in the County (originally having participated with St. Cecelia parish in Rochester beginning in 1988). He expressed his love for the area, and spoke about the upcoming Christmas celebrations that Our Lady Of The Valley will be holding throughout Christmas weekend and into the new year.

To hear the full interview with Matt and Father Carter, click on the player below!

Court Rules Against Marsy’s Law That Voters Supported

(File Photo)
Wednesday, December 22, 2021 at 6:55 AM
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s highest court is putting a final nail into the coffin of a proposed victims’ rights constitutional amendment that state voters supported by a large margin more than two years ago but which has never gone into effect. The justices ruled Tuesday by a 6 to 1 vote that the sprawling proposal violated the Pennsylvania Constitution’s requirement that amendments address a single topic to prevent lawmakers from bundling together items that might not pass on their own individual merits. Unofficial tallies indicate the so-called “Marsy’s Law” amendment question passed by a ratio of 3 to 1 in 2019.