By Beaver County Radio News/Program Director Frank Sparks
October 8, 2021- 6:42 AM
(McKees Rocks, Pa.) A 35-year-old Brian Irby is dead after he was shot in the chest Thursday afternoon in McKees Rocks.
The shooting occurred in the 300 bock of Fair Oaks Street.
First responders found Irby with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was rushed to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The WPIAL football playoffs are inching ever so closer, and Matt Drzik will have the matchups for Friday night on the Friday morning show.
6:30 to 9:00, it’s A.M. Beaver County with Matt Drzik and Frank Sparks.
Pfizer asks US to allow COVID shots for kids ages 5 to 11
By LAURAN NEERGAARD and JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press
Pfizer is asking the U.S. government to allow use of its COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11. If regulators agree, shots could begin within a matter of weeks. Pfizer already had announced that a lower dose of its vaccine worked and appeared safe in a study of the youngsters. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Thursday officially filed its application with the Food and Drug Administration. FDA’s advisers are scheduled to debate the evidence later htis month. Until now the vaccine was available only as young as 12, and many parents and pediatricians are clamoring for protection for younger kids.
Friday’s Teleforum program starts with Larry Kelly of the law group Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly, and George. Teleforum finishes with Heritage Valley president/ceo Norm Mitry. In between host Eddy Crow will babble, squawk, and rant about who knows what. Teleforum happens every weekday from 9 till noon on am1230, am1460, and 99.3fm presented by St. Barnabas.
October 7, 2021- 9:45 AM
Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing drilling work on Todd Road (Route 3013) in Center Township, Beaver County, will begin Thursday, October 7 weather permitting.
Single-lane alternating traffic will occur on Todd Road from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays through Wednesday, October 13 between Farm Lane and the northern terminus of the roadway. Flaggers will control traffic. Crews from Armstrong Drilling will conduct drilling operations.
Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, 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 1,000 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.
October 7, 2021- 6:54 AM
Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing inspection activities on the Ambridge- Aliquippa Bridge and the Laughlin Memorial Bridge over Route 65 (Ohio River Boulevard) in Ambridge Borough, Beaver County will occur Thursday and Friday, October 7-8 weather permitting.
Single-lane restrictions will occur in each direction on Route 65 for bridge inspection activities according to the following schedule:
Crews from the Pickering, Corts & Summerson will conduct the routine inspection activities.
Motorists should be prepared for changing traffic patterns. Please use caution when driving through the area. Work zone safety is everyone’s responsibility.
Motorists can check conditions on major roadways 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 1,000 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.
Keystone State News Connection
| October 7, 2021- 6:51 AM |
Emily Scott
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Major changes are on their way to the U.S. Department of Education’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which could have a big impact on some of Pennsylvania’s educators.
The program was created in 2007 and meant to provide student-loan relief to public-service workers, including teachers, paraprofessionals and professors, but it has long been plagued by bureaucratic issues that have made it difficult to qualify.
The changes announced Wednesday allow eligible borrowers to complete a waiver to count all payments toward the forgiveness program, regardless of the loan program or payment plan.
Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education, said the department is ready to right the wrongs inflicted on teachers across the country.
“We want to make sure that we’re doing everything in the agency to protect our borrowers, our students,” Cardona pledged. “We serve our students. We have to make that clear, not only in our talk, but in our actions. You’ve done so much to help our community. You were made a promise, and it’s now our turn to deliver on that promise.”
Pennsylvania has the second-highest average student debt in the country, according to The Institute for College Access and Success.
Under the program, the remainder of your student debt is forgiven once 120 monthly payments have been made while working full-time for a nonprofit or government employer.
Jessica Giordano, course director of the genetic counseling program at Columbia University, graduated in 2008, and when she checked in on her student-loan forgiveness in 2017, she was told she enrolled in the wrong loan plan and was not eligible.
Giordano said going forward, she hopes the forgiveness program is simplified.
“If you’re making your payments and been responsible and doing your work, I think it should just be streamlined and easy,” Giordano contended. “Because this complexity just makes it seem like the government doesn’t actually want to forgive the loans.”
Challenges still remain for the forgiveness program as the Pennsylvania Higher Education Association, which operates one of the Department of Education’s main student loan servicers, FedLoan, will not renew its contract with the federal government when it expires in December. According to the most recent data available from 2019, 65% of Pennsylvania college graduates have student debt.
(File Photo of Chippewa Twp Police Cruiser)
Story by Beaver County Radio News/ Program Director Frank Sparks
October 7, 2021-6:10 AM
(Chippewa Township, Pa.) Pa State Police in Beaver are reporting that the body of a 46 year-old Beaver Falls women was found along Pa Route 51 in Chippewa around 8:15 AM yesterday, October 6, 2021.
Troopers reported via release that Chippewa Township Police Department requested their assistance after the body of Sharon Benyo was found by a gas worker in field. State Police conducted forensic services and the scene was processed and is considered to be a homicide.
Benyo is the former wife of Beaver County defense attorney Gerald Benyo. She had recently been released from state prison and was trying to get her life in order.
Beaver County District Attorney David J. Lozier said that Beaver County Coroner David J. Gabauer ruled Wednesday night that Benyo died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to the head. The state police are asking that anyone that has seen Benyo in the last 3 or 4 days to please contact them. at 724-773-7400.
By Mark Peterson – Beaver County Radio. October 7, 2021 4:35 A.M.
(Beaver County, PA) October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the Women’s Center of Beaver County has partnered with Beaver County Radio to produce and publish a four part series on issues associated with Domestic Violence.
Some of the most common questions that people have regarding domestic violence topics, center around Protection From Abuse Orders, or P.F.A.’s. Beaver County Radio spoke with Laura Peterson, a Legal Advocate with the Women’s Center Of Beaver County, recently concerning P.F.A.’s. Ms. Peterson helped define the parameters about P.F.A.’s including who can get one and how one goes about attaining such an order. Here is an excerpt from her recent interview on “A.M. Beaver County”:
The Women’s Center of Beaver County provides free legal advocacy services daily and makes one of their legal advocates available daily at the Beaver County Courthouse for those who have questions, or wishing to file a protection from abuse order, or more commonly referred to as a P.F.A. For more information about meeting with a legal advocate from the Women’s Center of Beaver County, call 724-775-0131.
This is the first segment in a four part special series that is focused on domestic violence, as part of an overall effort to educate and raise awareness of the issue during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas is shown during an interview in Johnstown, Pa., Wednesday, Jan.15, 2021. Thomas was charged Wednesday, Sept. 22, with violently raping a woman he knew through work, leaving her home only after she told him she would not call police, authorities said. (Todd Berkey/The Tribune-Democrat via AP)
October 6, 2021 at 1:22 PM
SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) — Officials in a rural western Pennsylvania county say the prosecutor’s access to his office and the courthouse are restricted after he was charged last month with violently raping a woman he knew through work. Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Lynn Thomas is charged with rape in an alleged attack on the woman in her Windber home. County Solicitor Michael Barbera says Thomas can no longer enter the building through side doors or after hours and no longer has access to a law enforcement database. The 36-year-old Republican said last week he plans a leave of absence to focus on his case. His lawyer says Thomas denies the allegations.