(Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Curtis Walsh)

(Beaver Falls, PA) A two vehicle accident has occurred on 7th Avenue in Beaver Falls. Nobody was injured. One vehicle sustained heavy damage and the other had minimal damage. One car was rear ended by the other. Beaver Falls Police Department responded to the scene.

Harrisburg, Pa. – Governor Tom Wolf ordered United States and commonwealth flags on all commonwealth facilities, public buildings and grounds to fly at half-staff on Monday, May 31, 2021, in honor of Memorial Day.

“On Memorial Day, we commemorate the sacrifices of the brave individuals who serve in our armed forces and honor those who gave up their lives to preserve our freedom,” said Governor Wolf. “Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, to honor those we have lost and to share our gratitude for their immense sacrifice. On this day, we celebrate the freedoms that we all hold dear, and recommit ourselves to ensuring that our nation lives up to the promise these brave individuals fought for: the promise of freedom, liberty and equality for all.”

In accordance with the United States Flag Code, the US flag should be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to noon on Memorial Day, in honor of the nation’s battle heroes. The commonwealth flag has flown at half-staff since Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in honor of the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic and should continue to fly at half-staff until sunset on Memorial Day, May 31, 2021.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The inaugural harvest of genetically modified salmon began this week after the coronavirus pandemic delayed the sale of the first such altered animal cleared for human consumption in the United States. Company CEO Sylvia Wulf said several tons of salmon engineered by biotech company AquaBounty Technologies Inc. will now head to restaurants and away-from-home dining services in the Midwest and along the East Coast. AquaBounty has been raising its faster-growing AquAdvantage salmon at an indoor aquaculture farm in Albany, Indiana. The fish are genetically modified to grow twice as fast as wild salmon, reaching market size in 18 months rather than 36.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s $6 trillion budget proposal for next year would run a $1.8 trillion federal government deficit despite a raft of new tax increases on corporations and high-income people designed to pay for his ambitious spending plans. The whopping deficit projections are being driven by Biden’s costly plans for infrastructure and social spending, along with major new investments in domestic Cabinet agencies. The budget incorporates the administration’s eight-year, $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan and its $1.8 trillion American Families Plan. It also adds details on his $1.5 trillion request for annual operating appropriations for the Pentagon and domestic agencies.

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state attorney general charged two Tacoma police officers with murder and another with manslaughter in the death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who died after telling them him he couldn’t breathe as he was being restrained. Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed charges of second-degree murder Thursday against Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, and first-degree manslaughter against Timothy Rankine. Witnesses reported seeing Burbank and Collins, who are both white, attack Ellis. The 33-year-old was killed March 3, 2020, just weeks before George Floyd’s death triggered a nationwide reckoning on race and policing. Ellis’ final words — “I can’t breathe, sir!” — were captured by a home security camera.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A man who was working at a California rail yard when a gunman killed nine people says the attacker worked regularly with the victims and believes they were targeted. The worker says Samuel Cassidy stuck out as a loner and that he didn’t hurt people he encountered as he went to another building, where more shots were fired. A sheriff also told The Associated Press on Thursday that the shooter appeared to target some of the victims. Sheriff’s officials described him as “a highly disgruntled employee.” A Biden administration official also says he spoke of hating his workplace while he was detained by U.S. customs officers after a 2016 trip to the Philippines.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are poised to use a filibuster to derail Democrats’ effort to launch a bipartisan probe of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The showdown will be the first time this year the GOP has used the delaying tactic to try killing major legislation. The GOP seemed certain to succeed, but their victory may prod Democrats closer to curbing or eliminating a legislative tactic that’s been the bane of Senate majorities since the Founding Fathers. Progressives hope that if the commission bill dies by filibuster, the defeat would pressure Democrats to finally get rid of the tactic.

Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, is stepping down as executive director of the movement’s foundation. She decried what she called a smear campaign from a far-right group and recent criticism from other Black organizers, but told The Associated Press Thursday that didn’t influence her departure. She says she is leaving the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation to focus on other projects, including the upcoming release of her second book and a multi-year TV development deal with Warner Bros. Her departure follows a surge in support and political influence for the BLM movement, which was established eight years ago in response to injustice against Black Americans. In the last year the foundation raised over $90 million in donations.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Officials say that state horse-racing inspectors searching Parx Racing facilities in suburban Philadelphia discovered a “significant” amount of contraband. Their findings possibly include medications designed to boost a horse’s racing performance. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Tom Chuckas, the state’s director of thoroughbred horse racing, told the State Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday that some of what was found was unlabeled or expired medication. Chuckas says an investigation is underway. Joe Wilson, chief operating officer of Parx Racing, says three horses were scratched from races at Parx on Tuesday as a result of a trainer being suspended in connection to the search.