Category: News

Ambridge Council Announces the Purchase of ” STREET SOUNDS “

Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano

(Ambridge, Pa.) Ambridge Council approved  an innovative application “STREET SOUNDS” purchased from AirNetix to provide notifications, public safety announcements  and music via  speakers between 4th and 8th streets,  at its recent meeting. Borough Manager Mario Leone said the installation of the system  is an awesome opportunity  make a pedesstrian-friendly atmosphere. He said the system will  also be used to promote businesses and their specials.”

CCBC President Roger Davis Receives Contract Extension Through June 2026

(Photo courtesy of CCBC)

(Monaca, PA ) Community College of Beaver County’s (CCBC) Board of Trustees announced today that it has re-appointed Dr. Roger W. Davis as president of the college with a four-year extension to his existing contract.
The unanimous decision was made at the September 21 public Board of Trustees meeting and is effective until June 2026.
“I am truly humbled by the Board of Trustees’ belief in my efforts to lead CCBC forward,” said President Davis.

Trustee Pamela Johnson, who served as Board Chair during the initial hiring of Dr. Davis, said of the decision: “As past board chair I have had the great honor of serving with Dr. Roger Davis in his inaugural contract. Dr. Davis has demonstrated servant leadership to and through the entire campus and community. Pandemic and fiscal challenges have been tackled proactively, and his transparency and integrity has promoted Board/President relationships. I have every confidence in his ability and desire to lead Community College of Beaver County into the future.”
Since becoming CCBC’s ninth president in 2019, Dr. Davis has championed student success and strategic retention. He worked closely with faculty and staff to establish the CCBC Honors Program and grew the nationally distinct High School Academy to more than 200 students from 60 school districts throughout Western Pennsylvania.

Dr. Davis has also led the development of a dynamic, engaged, and diverse CCBC Foundation Board working alongside them to support CCBC students. Under his leadership, the CCBC Foundation has secured more than $20 million in grants, gifts, and federal relief funding, and opened the Shell Center for Process Technology Education, a 14,000 square foot state-of-the-art advanced manufactured training center on campus, which was fully funded by external philanthropic support.
Committed to the people and neighborhoods that CCBC serves, President Davis and his team respond whether it’s launching the first-in-the-region Process Technology associate degree program to fill critical energy and advanced manufacturing roles, partnering seamlessly with Heritage Valley Health Systems to administer more than 31,000 vaccinations in the historic Golden Dome or creating new and accessible
community classrooms for working adults and underserved populations in local libraries in Ambridge, Aliquippa and Beaver Falls.

“Dr. Davis is like the old TV ad for Eveready batteries – an energized rabbit that never stops. I admire his energy and it’s contagious for those around him,” said Steve Robinson, Board Treasurer, who led the subcommittee on this extension effort. “Dr. Davis is a humble and caring person that talks the talk and walks the talk.” Prior to his appointment, Dr. Davis served as CCBC’s Executive Vice President and Provost, a position that relocated the Baltimore native to Beaver County in July 2016. Since arriving on campus he has successfully led the College to a strategic plan that has transformed the College’s culture of assessment, retention, and diversity, and strengthened CCBC’s core values of Respect, Accountability, Integrity,
Students First, and Excellence (RAISE). His drive to excellence led to the College’s recognition as one of the 2020 Great Colleges to Work For, and the Beaver County Times Best College of the Valley consecutively.

A resident of Rochester, he is an active community member in the region, cultivating a campus-wide sense of community growth and engagement. Dr. Davis is a board member for the Beaver County March of Dimes, the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce, Beaver County Educational Trust, the United Way of Beaver County, Heritage Valley Health Systems, and The Franklin Center of Beaver County, where he
currently serves as Board Chair. He also serves as a team evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) and as a board member for EntreEd, The National Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. He is a dynamic speaker and is often called upon to speak at regional and national conferences and at
professional development programs.

“Dr. Davis has an extraordinary human spirit which has allowed him to lead in an extraordinary way. No one knows what the future holds. COVID-19 said it all. Fortunately, we feel very good about the possibilities for CCBC,” said Board Secretary Genetha Woods-Short, who also served on the subcommittee of Trustees negotiating the contract renewal. “Congratulations, Roger!”

Dr. Davis earned a doctoral degree in Urban Educational Leadership from Morgan State University; a Master of Science degree in Adult Education, with Honors, from Coppin State College; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Get to Know President Davis
 A competitive tennis player, Dr. Davis has traveled the world and explored other countries along the way. He identifies Gran Canaria, Spain as one of his favorite stops, noting the beautiful beaches, wonderful people, and delicious food as reasons to place this trip on your bucket list.
 His first book, The 30 Most Powerful Words in the English Language, was released January 1, 2021.
 Although an introvert by nature, the Beaver County transplant enjoys the genuine friendliness of strangers he has met since arriving to Pittsburgh.
 Dr. Davis recognizes Dr. Mary Ellen Hrutka, his first true mentor in higher education, as having the most impact on his professional career. “She taught me the ropes…how to maneuver, treat people with kindness, produce top-notch work, show up, speak up, and focus on student
success.”
 The college and community leader will always consider his mother to be most influential in his life. “She always focused on excellence and exposing me to as many diverse situations and opportunities as possible.

 

President Biden Doubling Vaccine Purchase, Calls for More Global Shots

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
President Joe Biden is set to announce that the U.S. is doubling, to 1 billion doses, its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world. Biden is also set to embrace a goal of vaccinating 70% of the global population within the next year. The stepped-up U.S. commitment will be the cornerstone of a global vaccination summit the president is convening virtually Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Biden will push well-off nations to do more to get the coronavirus under control around the world. Word of Biden’s plan comes from two senior Biden administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the president’s remarks.

Pennsylvania Ready to Provide COVID-19 Booster Shots Upon CDC Authorization

(Photo Courtesy of Pa Media Services)

Hershey, PA – Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam today signed an order to ensure that vaccine providers are prepared to start COVID-19 booster shots as soon as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues the necessary federal guidance.

“Pennsylvania is well prepared to start providing vaccine booster shots just as soon as the CDC provides the approval and guidelines on who can get it,” Beam said during a news conference at the Hershey Pharmacy. “Vaccine providers — especially pharmacies — have already done a tremendous job administering more than 12 million vaccines across the state. Now they are ready to get booster shots to people as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to discuss boosters on Sept. 22 and 23 and is expected to make recommendations and provide guidance to vaccine providers following the meeting.

The Department of Health’s order requires vaccine providers, as possible, to:

  • provide online scheduling for vaccination appointments,
  • provide a telephone number, with prompts to a live agent during normal business hours, to assist in scheduling appointments,
  • offer walk-in appointments, and
  • work with local Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) and Medical Assistance Managed Care Organizations (MCO) to help schedule eligible adults and people who cannot leave their homes.

“COVID-19 vaccines do work,” Hershey Pharmacy Owner and Pharmacist Chuck Kray said. “They are safe and highly effective at preventing serious illness. We are seeing the highly contagious Delta variant and it is sending case numbers soaring throughout our area. Getting the vaccines and the booster shot will protect not only you, but your loved ones during this spike.”

“Our team is still administering about 100 shots per week in Hershey Pharmacy and at area nursing facilities, clinics and schools,” Kray said. “We are ready to begin administering the boosters as soon as the federal government gives us the go ahead and guidelines. Please, do your part and get vaccinated in this fight to end the pandemic.”

There are currently more than 2,000 vaccine providers across the state with COVID-19 vaccine inventory. To date, vaccine providers have administered 12.6 million total vaccine doses. More than 6.1 million Pennsylvanians are fully vaccinated; with a seven-day moving average of more than 15,600 people per day receiving vaccinations.

“The data is abundantly clear that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing hospitalization and death,” said Acting Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson. “We continue to urge every eligible person to get the vaccine, not only for themselves, but to protect their family and loved ones, especially kids under 12 who are too young to get the vaccine, which is in plentiful supply across the state.”

Last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced that, since January 2021, 97 percent of COVID-19-related deaths and 95 percent of reported hospitalizations due to COVID-19 were in unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated people.

To find a vaccine provider near you, visit vaccines.gov.

AAA: Western PA Gas Prices Increase; Hurricanes Still Impacting Gasoline Supplies

AAA: Western PA Gas Prices Increase; Hurricanes Still Impacting Gasoline Supplies
Gas prices in Western Pennsylvania are three cents higher this week at $3.373 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                 $3.373
Average price during the week of September 13, 2021                            $3.343
Average price during the week of September 21, 2020                            $2.534

The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:      

$3.353      Altoona
$3.359      Beaver
$3.384      Bradford
$3.363      Brookville
$3.360      Butler
$3.437      Clarion
$3.345      DuBois
$3.449      Erie
$3.337      Greensburg
$3.360      Indiana
$3.347      Jeannette
$3.368      Kittanning
$3.357      Latrobe
$3.351      Meadville
$3.464      Mercer
$3.293      New Castle
$3.350      New Kensington
$3.459      Oil City
$3.339      Pittsburgh
$3.359      Sharon
$3.347      Uniontown
$3.459      Warren
$3.343      Washington

Trend Analysis:

The national gas price average rose two cents on the week to $3.19, matching a seven-year-high last seen in early August. While the post-Labor Day period usually sees less demand and lower gas prices, this year, the impact of Hurricane Ida, followed two weeks later by Hurricane Nicholas, has slowed oil production and refinery recovery along the Gulf Coast.

 

Hurricane Nicholas complicated and slowed the recovery from Ida, but the seasonal drop-off in demand helped mitigate price increases on the week. However, this is only the mid-point for hurricane season and there have already been 17 named storms. Motorists could see price fluctuations into October.

True to seasonal form, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports gasoline demand has fallen 8% to 8.9 million barrels per day, the lowest since Memorial Day.

 

Approximately 23% of offshore Gulf of Mexico oil production remains offline. However, most storm-affected refineries are reporting some level of restarting. Once fully back online, refinery production will help to increase domestic supply levels, which took another step back by 2 million barrels to 218 million barrels in EIA’s latest report. This is the lowest stock level since the post-Hurricane Harvey period in 2017. The tightened supply level has contributed to an increase in oil prices, which hit a high of $72 per barrel last week, a level not seen since July. If the price of oil remains at this level or goes higher, it will likely result in higher prices at the pump.

 

Today’s national average of $3.19 is two cents more than a month ago and is $1.01 more than a year ago.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 72 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members.  News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Beaver County Fireman Battling Esophageal Cancer Dies

(Patterson Heights, Pa.) The Patterson Heights Volunteer Fire Department announced on their Facebook Page around midnight last night that “at 8:34 PM on Tuesday evening, September 21, 2021, Lieutenant Sam Stadterman passed away peacefully after a hard fought battle with Esophageal Cancer.” We first told you about Sam and his battle back in March of this year. The post went on to say that” Sam was a great first responder and dedicated line officer for the PHVFD. His invaluable leadership will be sorely missed. Rest easy, brother, we’ll take it from here. Your contributions to not only the PHVFD, but fire service as a whole to Beaver County will not be forgotten. Please keep his wife, Lisa and family in your prayers.”

Sam is survived by his wife Lisa and two step-daughters.

Conway Man Taken Into Custody After SWAT Situation

(Conway, Pa.) Law enforcement officers converged on the home of David Dofner on 13th Street in Conway on yesterday morning after he was spotted by multiple people waving guns at drivers as they passed by his home.
Police obtained a search warrant for Dofner’s house and tried to make contact with him over a PA system in which he refused to come out. Eventually a neighbor was able to contact Dofner over the phone and he still refused to come out saying the only way he was coming out is if law enforcement shot him or they “shot it out.”
At one point Dofner was spotted in his doorway with a pistol in his left hand. SWAT negotiators eventually got him to come outside where he was pepper balled before being taken into custody.
Dofner faces charges of terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person.

Police seized about 30-50 weapons from the home including assault rifles, hunting rifles, shotguns and handguns. There were also more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
Police are working to see if the guns were legally his.

Groundbreaking Takes Place For Midland Innovation & Technology Charter School

“The future continues to be bright in Midland.”

Those words, coming from MITCS Board of Directors Jerry Hodge, summed up the optimistic atmosphere as the Midland Innovation & Technology Charter School had its official groundbreaking at its site on Tuesday; a site currently sandwiched in between the Whemco and Valmont plants in Midland.

The new trade school for students Grades 9-12 will become the third charter school in Midland following PA Cyber and Lincoln Park Performing Arts, and it will be the first of the three to focus on real-world skills in a hands-on learning environment. Chris Shovlin, who is an MITCS Organizing Committee member and had spoken to Beaver County Radio about the MITCS in recent weeks, emceed the groundbreaking and spoke of the future of education and prosperity in Beaver County.

“Over the decades, Midland had become a capital of industry and then it became a capital of modern charter and cyber school education,” Shovlin stated. “[MITCS] is a response to the children of Southwestern Pennsylvania who are thirsting for an education that–through authentic learning and built on the axiom of intentional diversity–will provide opportunities for them to find gainful employment [and] earn the types of wages that will keep them here, so that they can make their homes here and raise their families here.”

Among the options to be provided by the MITCS is the Dr. Cyril H. Wecht Academy of Forensic Sciences & Law. Dr. Wecht, the famed pathologist from Pittsburgh, acknowledged his gratefulness at the recognition at the groundbreaking ceremony.

“I am very, very honored and extremely proud to have had this school in the Midland Charter School,” said Dr. Wecht. “For me, it is a great honor.”

Joining Dr. Wecht in the category of naming honors was Charles J. Betters, a man who was credited several times over during the groundbreaking ceremony as the brainchild and engine to push the existence of the MITCS towards its current reality. To that degree, the first building in the MITCS will be named the Charles J. Betters Innovation Center in his honor.

The MITCS also received a $500,000 grant from PGT Trucking, presented by PGT President Pat Gallagher who also made a speech at Tuesday’s groundbreaking.

For more photos from the ceremony, check out the gallery below:

U.S. Births Declined During the Pandemic

ANNE MORSE

COVID-19 pandemic has affected both the beginning and end of the life cycle for the U.S. population: Births declined and mortality went up.

Provisional monthly data show a downturn in births in winter 2020-2021 but there were signs of a possible rebound by March.

While the data indicate the pandemic caused the decline, we considered other factors, too.

Among them:

  • Births in the United States have a seasonal pattern.
  • The number of U.S. births has declined every year since 2008 (except for 2014).
  • There are similar patterns in other countries.

 

COVID-19 was declared a national emergency March 13, 2020. The largest percentage of babies conceived after that would be born during or after the first week of December 2020. Evidence that the pandemic affected fertility can be seen starting in December 2020.

The Seasonal Effect

U.S. births have regular annual cycles: They normally increase in the spring, peak in the summer, decline in the fall and are lowest in the winter.

This means that, even in the absence of a pandemic, we would expect births to be lower in December and January than in the summer.

Even accounting for seasonality and the usual decline in annual births, the number of births in December 2020 and January 2021 was unusually low and that is very likely the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, comparing one month during the pandemic to the same month before the pandemic shows a substantial drop that can’t be explained by seasonality.

There were 285,138 births in December 2020 — 23,664 (7.66%) fewer than in December 2019. On average, there were 763 fewer births each day in December 2020 than in December 2019.

U.S. Births Declining Since 2008

Not all of the decrease in births should necessarily be attributed to the pandemic. The number of U.S. births has been declining every year since 2008 (except 2014).

Between 2000 and 2019, the number of daily births declined an average 0.39% a year. The pace of decline accelerated between 2010 and 2019, when the number of daily births dropped on average 0.96% a year.

But the decline was much steeper in in 2020: The average number of daily births was 4.06% lower than in 2019.

Figure 2 shows births by year and month in the U.S. Even in the pre-pandemic months of 2020, there were fewer births each month than in 2019.

There was a noticeable decline in births especially in the summer. The summer decline suggests 2020 may have already been on track to experience a sharper decline in births than in previous years, even without the pandemic.

It is also possible that the pandemic led to a higher rate of conceptions not being carried to term.

Dip and Possible Rebound

Even accounting for seasonality and the usual decline in annual births, the number of births in December 2020 and January 2021 was unusually low and that is very likely the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As noted earlier, monthly data show a substantial decline in births (7.66%) in December of 2020 compared to December 2019. January births experienced an even greater year-to-year decline: down 9.41% from 2020 to 2021.

Births also declined in February 2021 compared to last year.

By March 2021, the decline slowed. Births declined only 0.15% between March 2020 and March 2021. This is substantially smaller than the 0.91% drop from March 2019 to March 2020.

This trend suggests that some people who postponed having babies last year had them this year.

The winter decrease in births may have been prompted by couples who consciously chose to delay having children amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. It may also have been influenced by stress or limited physical interaction with a sexual partner.

Other Countries

The United States is not alone in experiencing lower births followed by a slight rebound in the past year.

The Human Fertility Database shows monthly fertility data through December 2020 for 35 countries and through March 2021 for 30 countries. Although the database covers a limited number of countries, the pattern is clear.

Twenty-one of the 30 countries with monthly data through March 2021 had fewer births in December 2020 than in 2019 but more births in March 2021 than in March 2020.

Spain, for example, saw births decline in December 2020 but go back up in February and March. Spain also had more births in March 2021 than in March 2020. And Germany had more births in March 2021 than in any other March in the past 20 years.

It’s important to note that countries have different fertility and seasonality patterns. What’s more, countries experienced the brunt of the pandemic at different times and to different degrees.

Births and the Pandemic

It is still too soon to make broad conclusions about the pandemic’s effect on U.S. birth trends. But the data so far indicate there was a temporary drop in births amid the pandemic after accounting for other factors that existed before the pandemic — declining births and seasonality.

As time passes and more data become available, we will gain a better understanding of how the pandemic impacted fertility and will shape the size and composition of the nation’s population in the future.