(Washington, D.C.) A New Brighton man and a Baden man are two of three local men were arrested Wednesday morning on charges stemming from the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Mitchell Vukich of New Brighton was arrested along with Nicholas Perretta of Baden, and Samuel Fox, of Mt. Pleasent on charges of entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and demonstrating in a Capitol building.

Vukich and Perretta were also charged with theft of government property. Vuckich appeared via Zoom for an initial appearance in federal court Wednesday afternoon.

As a condition of being released from custody pending his trial, Vukich agreed to surrender his passport, stay out of Washington, D.C. unless for court purposes, abide by a $10,000 unsecured bond and remove all guns from the home he shares with his father.

Fox and Perretta were also released under similar conditions following their hearings on Wednesday afternoon.

Vukich was identified after several tips and social media posts where he claimed to be on of the first 15 people inside the building. He was also seen on surveillance footage walking in several areas of the building. Police said he also admitted to being present in the U.S. Capitol during the events and admitted to taking paperwork, which he described as a congressional session.

Perretta was identified in surveillance footage as being with Vukich at the time. Police said Perretta admitted to being in the building with Vukich and taking papers from the interior of the Capitol, which he described as three-month-old congressional papers, that they later threw away outside of the Capitol.

Worker dies after fall through roof of building in park
SOUTH PARK, Pa. (AP) — Authorities in western Pennsylvania say a masonry company worker was pronounced dead after falling through the roof of a large building in a park near Pittsburgh. Allegheny County police and paramedics were called shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday to the Agricultural Building in the South Park Fairgrounds and found the 59-year-old man unresponsive. He was pronounced dead the scene, officials said. Detectives said the man was an employee of Marsa Masonry who was doing work on the building, and a witness reported seeing him fall backwards and go through a skylight in the roof, falling about 21 feet. His name wasn’t immediately released.

House votes for ‘vaccine passports,’ Health secretary limits
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republicans in the Pennsylvania House are advancing legislation to ban the use of so-called COVID-19 “vaccine passports” by colleges, universities or government entities and to put new restrictions on the health secretary’s powers during a health emergency. Representatives voted on party lines Wednesday to approve the measure that supporters described as a way to protect private health information. But opponents warn it would needlessly endanger public health. The bill would prevent the state health secretary from ordering closures and from requiring people who have not been exposed to a contagion to physically distance, wear a mask, “conduct a specific hygienic practice” such as hand-washing, quarantine or restrict travel. Wolf says he’ll veto it.

Senate launches voter ID constitutional amendment process
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A divided Pennsylvania Senate is starting the process of amending the state constitution to require identification for voters each time they cast a ballot. The party-line vote on Wednesday starts the lengthy amendment process that usually takes years to complete. All Republicans and a single Democrat voted as the proposal passed 30-20. Constitutional amendments require passage by both chambers in two consecutive two-year sessions before going to voters for the final OK. The voter ID provision is part of a package of changes that Republican state lawmakers have been pushing this year.

Keystone State News Connection

Philly to Be Part of Biden Community Violence Intervention Plan

Emily Scott

PHILADELPHIA — The Biden administration has a new federal strategy to address gun violence surging in cities across the country, including Philadelphia.

American Rescue Plan funds will be used to invest in a “Community Violence Intervention Collaborative,” made up of Philadelphia and 14 other cities. Trusted community members can work directly with people who might be involved in gun violence to intervene in conflicts and connect them with social services.

Kallel Edwards, Philadelphia organizer for the group CeaseFirePA, believes there’s an extraordinary need to fund organizations doing on-the-ground work to get at the socioeconomic root causes of gun violence.

As Edwards put it, “This is an opportunity for cities to use the funds also to prevent some of the gun violence over the summer, by creating jobs and summer programs for the youth who have really taken a big hit, you know, in these cities, in these targeted cities.”

In Philadelphia, 261 people have been killed in shootings so far this year, a 37% increase compared to this time last year.

Community Violence Intervention or ‘CVI’ programs nationally have reduced incidents by up to 60%, according to a 2019 report from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

City leaders in the collaborative will meet over the next 18 months to learn CVI best practices and how to add public-health approaches to addressing gun violence to their policies.

In his announcement Wednesday, President Joe Biden said these community efforts save lives, and that local governments also have federal dollars to support these programs.

“For folks at home, the American Rescue Plan, which is a once-in-a-generation investment to reduce violence in America, is available,” Biden stressed. “It means more police officers, more nurses, more counselors, more social workers, more community violence interrupters, to help resolve issues before they escalate into crimes.”

Biden’s new gun-violence prevention plan also includes a ‘zero-tolerance policy’ cracking down on gun dealers who break the law.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said he’s hopeful this federal partnership can help the city address its gun-violence epidemic.

“We are going to hopefully work with the federal government to maybe get some of these large amounts of guns off the street, and continue working hard in our communities to build trust, to build relationships, and to put in place programs that give people the opportunity to make the right decisions in their life as opposed to making the wrong ones,” Kenney said.

The City Council and Mayor Kenney have committed $155 million to gun violence prevention in next year’s budget.

Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano

(Beaver, Pa.) Sheldon Jeter, Jr. 23, of Aliquippa was found guilty Wednesday afternoon, June 23, 2021 in Beaver County Court of first  degree murder of his friend Tyric Pugh. The murder occurred  May 15, 2020on Kiehl Street, in the city of Aliqiuppa. Pugh’s the  body was found by a passerby.

(Harrisburg, PA) – In order to create a fairer environment for local businesses, state Reps. Sara Innamorato, D-Allegheny, and Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Phila., have introduced legislation that would close a loophole in a Pennsylvania sales tax law.

Currently, major online retailers, like Amazon, calculate taxes based on “location of fulfillment,” which is typically a warehouse. For example, wherever Amazon has a warehouse, the sales tax of that area is included. However, two counties where Amazon does not currently operate a warehouse—Philadelphia and Allegheny—are the only counties in Pennsylvania that levy a local sales tax on top of the statewide tax.

Because Amazon doesn’t operate warehouses in Philadelphia or Allegheny counties, they don’t have to collect or remit local sales tax for orders purchased in those counties. This denies those communities of important tax revenue and gives the company a pricing advantage over local businesses that do collect local sales taxes.

“This is a loophole that ultimately hurts our local businesses. As we recover from COVID-19 and the severe negative impacts it left on our economy, this is the perfect time to close this loophole and create a fairer system to collect state and local taxes, putting our small businesses on an equal playing field with large online retailers,” Innamorato said.

The legislation, H.B. 1656, would require online sales in Pennsylvania to be finalized at the address of the purchaser, rather than the address of a retailer’s warehouse. Kenyatta noted this bill would allow for fairer competition between online retailers and the local, physical stores located in the community.

“Large online retailers evading paying their share with impunity comes at the peril of our commonwealth’s most populous counties and is a detriment to companies in these counties that employ local workers, contribute to local taxes and ultimately fuel local economies,” Kenyatta said. “By eliminating this tax loophole, our legislation is among the best opportunities for our legislature to help pull Pennsylvania and its local businesses out of this economic crisis.”

 House Bill 1656 will soon be referred to committee for further action.

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that a Pennsylvania public school wrongly suspended a cheerleader over a vulgar social media post. The court voted 8-1 Wednesday in favor of Brandi Levy, who was a 14-year-old high school freshman when she expressed her disappointment over not making the varsity cheerleading team on Snapchat with a string of curse words and a raised middle finger. Levy was not in school when she made her post but was suspended from cheerleading activities for a year anyway. The high court ruled the suspension violated Levy’s First Amendment rights. But the justices did not foreclose schools from disciplining students for what they say off campus.

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jefferson University coach Herb Magee is ready to return for another season on the bench.  He has 1,123 victories at the Division II school. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is the only college basketball coach in all divisions with more wins at 1,170. Magee turned 80 this week. Jimmy Reilly is Magee’s long-time assistant coach and he has already been approved as the program’s successor but there’s no timeline on when he will retire.  Magee ended his playing career at Philadelphia Textile as the school’s career leading scorer with 2,235 points.

(New Beaver, PA) – Pennsylvania State Police have reported via release that on June 23rd, 2021 at approximately 1:12 a.m., they responded to a business alarm at Ferrante Upholstering at 3384 State Route 18 in New Beaver. Upon entering the scene, State Police discovered one of the outside panes of glass on the west face of the business was shattered by unknown reasons, causing approximately $300.00 worth of damage. If anyone has any information or could provide surveilance footage regarding this incident, or any similar incidents in the area, please contact Pennsylvania State Police – New Castle at 724-598-2211 and reference the following incident number: PA21-854537.