(File Photo)
Story by Frank Sparks News/Program Director
11:57 AM
(Beaver, Pa.) Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier has announced that his office has reached a plea bargain with Michael Miklaicic, who is accused of killing his father earlier this year.
The district attorney said in a release that Miklaucic will plead guilty to third-degree murder for the strangulation death of his father.

Miklaucic told police he went to his dad’s home in New Sewickley to help him get out of a scam in March. He said his father already lost a substantial about of money.

On Tuesday morning, March  16, 2021, at approximately 8:05 a.m. New Sewickley police received a 911 dispatch call  from Michael miklaucic  reporting that his father was dead, and he  was the one that killed him. When officers arrived at 657 Fezell Road, New Sewickley Township, Miklaucic was found on the front porch and was immediately taken into custody without incident.

At some point, police say Miklaucic strangled his dad. He later told police he did it to protect his dad from the humiliation he might face.

Miklaucic of New Sewickley Township was charged with one count of Criminal Homicide arising from the death of his father that same morning. 

Following discussions between the Commonwealth, representatives of the deceased victim, and the Defendant, an agreement has been reached. 

Michael Miklaucic will enter a plea to one count of Murder in the Third Degree and one count of strangulation tomorrow morning, December 10, 2021,  at 10 AM for an agreed sentence of 20–50 years in state prison. 

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A lawyer for Pennsylvania’s acting health secretary is defending the validity of the secretary’s order requiring masks inside K-12 schools to fight COVID-19. The attorney for Acting Heath Secretary Alison Beam asked state Supreme Court justices during oral argument in Philadelphia on Wednesday to focus their decision on a single regulation he says gives her that authority. The directive remains in place while the court considers a legal challenge from the state Senate’s highest ranking leader and others. Beam’s mandate took effect in early September. A lower court has ruled Beam lacked authority to require masks, didn’t follow state laws about enacting regulations and acted without a required existing disaster emergency.

Keystone State News Connection

December 9, 2021

Emily Scott

PHILADELPHIA — New legislation in the state Senate would address what housing advocates say are unfair eviction records leading to residents being denied rental applications.

The screening report services landlords use for personal information on prospective tenants take data from court websites to determine if there was an eviction filed against them, without always including the outcome.

Sen. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia, introduced Fair Records for Renters legislation, which would permanently seal eviction records for tenants, and only allow them to become public if the landlord wins the eviction case.

Saval said the flaw in eviction records can create housing barriers for Pennsylvanians.

“This is incredibly pertinent right now because of the pandemic when a number of people have had evictions filed against them for nonpayment of rent,” Saval asserted. “They are going around with these eviction records in the data screening services, and it’s going to be impossible or very difficult for them to find housing and stable housing.”

Saval released a co-sponsorship memo last week and plans to introduce legislation this month. A similar bill has already been introduced in the House by Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, D-Philadelphia, and Rep. Rick Krajewski, D-Philadelphia.

Holly Beck, supervising attorney for Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, has supported many families who have experienced issues finding housing because of an eviction case coming up on their screening report.

Beck said Black mothers are hit hardest by these rental procedures.

“It is an enormous racial-justice and gender-justice issue,” Beck contended. “Sealing eviction records would allow families to move forward from a time of crisis and stabilize neighborhoods, communities, and allow landlords to see responsible tenants who are able to pay their rent.”

Philadelphia’s Renters’ Access Act went into effect in October and requires landlords to give tenants a copy of the screening report to check for errors in the event it is used to deny housing.

Keystone State News Connection

December 9, 2021

Emily Scott

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Beaver County will soon be the home of the largest petrochemical plant in the Appalachia region, but a new report cautions with the project near completion, the promise of an economic boom for Western Pennsylvania so far has not materialized.

Shell’s Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, an ethane cracker plant, was announced in 2012 and is expected to open in 2022 or 2023. The Ohio River Valley Institute’s recent report found over the last decade, Beaver County has seen no reduction in poverty, and once construction is complete, the 6,000 temporary jobs will reduce to 600 permanent work opportunities.

Eric de Place, research fellow at the Ohio River Valley Institute, said the realities in the county are dire.

“Since the project was announced, the county has lost population,” de Place observed. “It actually lost businesses. It has fewer people employed now in that county than it did before the project was announced. So, if you’re another community thinking about petrochemicals, I would say Beaver County is a big red warning flag.”

Once fully operational, the plant is expected to produce 1.6 million tons of polyethylene each year. In an attempt to attract Shell to the region, state lawmakers approved a $1.6 billion tax break for the company, the largest ever in state history.

A recent study from Robert Morris University found the Shell plant could add nearly $4 billion to the Pennsylvania economy annually, with hundreds of millions of dollars going directly to Beaver County.

But de Place noted headwinds in the petrochemical industry make it worth questioning if the project will be viable in the future.

“As the cracker facility opens, and as it shifts to actually producing polyethylene, let’s continue to look back at the track record on the ground and compare it to the promises and see whether economic growth happens or not,” de Place urged. “We can use that to make decisions about the relative tradeoffs, there are some environmental impacts, of course, with a project that size.”

The Ohio River Valley Institute report found income did increase in Beaver County, with median income unadjusted for inflation growing at the same rate as the U.S. as a whole, and slightly faster than the state overall.

(Beaver, Pa.) Krisinda Bright the Ambridge mother who is accused of shooting and killing her two children in their Ambridge home in February of this year has agreed to plead guilty to charges of first degree murder according to the Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier’s office.

Bright told police that she shot and killed her 22-year-old daughter Jasmine Cannady in an upstairs bedroom and then went to the basement and pointed the gun at 16 year-old Kiara Bright as she pled for her life and shot and killed her.

Bright will plead guilty to two counts of murder in the first degree next week. Each count comes with a life sentence.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

BEAVER, PA–After nearly two years of hearing about reassessment and theorizing about how much has happened, on December 8 the men behind the operation provided an update of their own.

A group of individuals from Tyler Technologies spoke at Wednesday’s Commissioners’ work session at the Beaver County Courthouse to showcase their progress up to this point, led by regional manager Kevin Rake.

“We have 92,000 properties to visit,” Rake said. “[and] we have visited 91% of residential properties, and 100% of commercial properties…save for a few ‘straggling’ properties.”

Rake mentioned that the reassessment phase of the actual property inspection should wrap up in early 2022 during either January or February. After that, it’ll be time for the next step of the process, which gives citizens their chances to review and respond.

“What we’ll do after the first of year is mail to each property owner a report known as a ‘day-mailer’ to outline information we have on record for that property,” Rake added. “And it’ll give the opportunity to the property owner to review that record. If they have anything they want revised, they will mark on that and send it back to us either by mail or by website, which we’re working on.”

The Commissioners will hold a public meeting on Thursday at 10 AM in the public meeting room.