(AMBRIDGE) New grant funding of $1.3 million will create affordable housing and other opportunities for Beaver and Allegheny county residents struggling with homelessness, substance use and other issues, state Rep. Rob Matzie, D-Beaver/Allegheny, announced today.

Matzie said the funding – administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency through the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund – will go to area organizations serving the area’s most vulnerable residents.

“Having a place to call home can provide new hope and a fresh start for those in our community who are struggling because of addiction, domestic violence and other hardships,” Matzie said. “Securing this funding will help them get back on their feet, and it comes at an important time, when the pandemic has made life more difficult for many of our most vulnerable residents.”

Matzie said the projects funded include:

• Cornerstone of Beaver County – Emergency Shelter Renovation Project — $200,000.
• Beaver County Commissioners – Home Modification Program — $100,000.
• Beaver County – Rental and Utility Assistance — $50,000.
• Willissae’s Agency for Vision and Empowerment for WAVE Housing Services — $50,000.
• Allegheny County Department of Human Services – Mobility Counseling Program — $350,000.
• Allegheny County Save Your Home Program Housing Counseling — $150,000.
• North Hills Affordable Housing – HEARTH 25 years of changing loves– $200,000.
• Catapult Greater Pittsburgh Inc. – Decreasing Racial and Economic Disparity Through Homeownership and Asset Building — $200,000.

Funding for the grants came from Marcellus Shale Impact Fees and Realty Transfer Taxes.

BETHEL PARK, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a woman tried to run over two children in a school parking lot and made racial slurs about one of the youths. Eighteen-year-old Haley Jankowski, of Bethel Park, faces numerous charges stemming from the June 2 altercation. She has denied the allegations, saying she wasn’t trying to hit the youths but instead was trying to flee the scene because a large crowd was converging on her car and throwing bricks and rocks at it. She and the teen she was driving suffered minor injuries in the crash. Authorities say she was driving under the influence.

Keystone State News Connection

Michayla Savitt

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A gas preemption bill in the state Senate would prevent Pennsylvania municipalities from adopting policies to restrict or prohibit methane gas use in new homes and buildings, in favor of using electricity.

Critics of the measure say it could especially hurt areas like Bethlehem, which has its own climate plan and has reduced municipal greenhouse-gas emissions by 37% from 2005 to 2017.

Robert Routh, public policy and regulatory counsel for the Clean Air Council, said the bill would hinder local communities’ clean energy goals.

“The bill as currently written is over-broad,” Routh argued. “And it has the potential to chill any municipal efforts to, say, adopt new energy-efficiency measures, or even to offer financial incentives to developers to pursue all-electric construction for new buildings.”

Senate Bill 275 is still in committee, but Routh believes with the state’s deep ties to the gas industry, it’s likely the bill will pass, or be included in the budget as an amendment.

Appliances that use fossil-fuel energy sources account for 11% of greenhouse gas emissions in Pennsylvania, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Logan Welde, staff attorney and director of legislative affairs for the Council, thinks the policy could halt progress in curbing emissions.

“If we can’t reduce the amount of gas that we’re pulling out of the ground, transporting and burning, we are not going to be able to be on track to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions that we really have to do.”

A 2021 Department of Environmental Protection climate change impact assessment estimates the state is on course for a six-degree temperature increase by mid-century.

Rachel Golden, deputy director of the Clean Buildings Campaign for the Sierra Club, noted the Senate bill is part of a trend her organization is seeing in the U.S.

“The gas industry has seen this momentum, and they feel it is an existential threat to their business model,” Golden asserted. “It’s important to understand that the gas industry’s main revenue source from delivering gas to end users is to homes and buildings.”

She pointed out homes and buildings account for 94% of gas industry revenue in Pennsylvania, higher than the national average of 87%.

(Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Curtis Walsh)

(Photo above submitted by Patterson Township Secretary/Treasurer Christin L. Milnes)

On April 7th Patterson Township Police and Volunteer Fire Department, Patterson Heights Volunteer Fire Department, and Chippewa Township Police and Volunteer Fire Department responded to a single vehicle motorcycle accident on Darlington Road.  They found a male individual who was bleeding heavily from leg and head injuries while lying in the street.  Patterson Township VFD Quad 903 was the first to arrive on scene. Patterson Township Assistant Police Chief Nicholas Bathgate was also first on scene and managed operations.  Patterson Heights and Patterson Township Volunteer Fire Departments set up a landing zone for stat medivac while Beaver Falls and Chippewa Township Police conducted traffic.  Patterson Township QRS member and EMT Melissa Graeser, along with Chippewa Township Police Officers Tom Paranuik and Daniel Frederick performed patient care while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. They applied multiple tourniquets to control the bleeding.  CPR was performed by EMT Graeser and Officer Paranuik before assisting the ambulance crew with prepping for transport to the landing zone.  Stat Medivac transported the individual to a Pittsburgh Hospital.  The Patterson Township Board of Commissioners expressed their appreciation tonight for the heroic actions of these Departments and individuals by presenting them with a Proclamation of Appreciation.  Due to the efforts made by said individuals and their departments, they gave the victim a fighting chance.  Even  though the individual did not survive, these efforts enabled the victim to be an organ donor and save lives for others.

House GOP unveils ambitious proposal to revamp election law
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Republican proposal to revamp Pennsylvania election law would affect deadlines, early voting and mail-in ballots and require ID for all in-person voters. The measure, sponsored by Republican State Government Committee Chairman Seth Grove, was made public Thursday. It’s likely to encounter pushback from Democrats in a state where statewide elections are usually competitive. The state’s counties have urged lawmakers to pass something by the end of the month so that changes to how and when ballots are counted will be in place for the Nov. 2 vote.

By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature is ending Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic disaster emergency declaration and extending hundreds of regulatory waivers. A bill that passed the House and Senate unanimously on Thursday would extend the waivers until Sept. 30, unless Wolf’s administration ends them sooner. The bill goes to Wolf. Separately, the chambers passed a resolution Thursday to end Wolf’s disaster emergency declaration, carrying out what they see as the new powers given to them by voters in last month’s statewide referendum. Democrats questioned its legality and wisdom if there’s a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. It doesn’t require Wolf’s approval.

By DAVID KLEPPER and GARY FIELDS Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some police organizations and Republican politicians are blaming Democrats and last year’s defund the police effort for a troubling rise in homicides in many cities across the country. The increases are real, and some cities did make modest cuts to police spending. But the claims by Republicans overlook the fact homicides are up in many cities, including ones that increased police spending or have Republican mayors. Experts say the real reason homicides are up even though many other kinds of crime are down are complicated. They include the social and economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic and protests about killings by police following the death of George Floyd.

By ZEKE MILLER, AAMER MADHANI and JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press
MAWGAN PORTH, England (AP) — One year ago, the U.S. was the deadliest hotspot of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the cancellation of the Group of Seven summit. Now, the U.S. is a model for how to successfully emerge from the pandemic. In a speech on the eve of this year’s G-7 summit in England, Biden on Thursday will discuss plans for the U.S. to donate 500 million vaccine doses around the globe. The U.S. has faced mounting pressure to outline its plan to share vaccines with the rest of the world, especially as demand for shots in the U.S. has dropped precipitously in recent weeks.

PLYMOUTH, England (AP) — The Latest on the Group of Seven nations meeting being held in England and the meetings Thursday between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden.
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PLYMOUTH, England — President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet for the first time Thursday against a backdrop of differences both political and personal.
Biden hopes to use his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trump’s term and is a reliable partner again. But tensions may simmer beneath the surface of Biden’s meeting with Johnson.
The president staunchly opposed the Brexit movement, the British exodus from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern with the future of Northern Ireland. And Biden once called the British leader a “physical and emotional clone” of Trump.
The British government has worked hard to overcome that impression, stressing Johnson’s common ground with Biden on issues such as climate change and his support for international institutions. But Johnson, the host for the Group of Seven summit that will follow his sit-down with Biden, has been frustrated by the lack of a new trade deal with the United States.
The two leaders were expected to announce the creation of a U.S.-U.K. task force that will move toward resuming travel between the two nations, according to a White House official. Most travel has been banned between the two nations since March 2020.
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LONDON — President Joe Biden will be welcomed with a military Guard of Honor and afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle when he meets the monarch on Sunday.
The queen will host the president and First Lady Jill Biden in her royal residence on Sunday, after the couple leaves the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, southwestern England.
The monarch will greet the Bidens in the castle’s quadrangle, where assembled soldiers from the Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards will give a royal salute and the U.S. national anthem will be played.
The president will then be invited to inspect the Honor Guard and watch the military march-past with the queen.
Biden will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch, with Lyndon B. Johnson the only one the queen has not met. She has received four other U.S. presidents at Windsor Castle: President Donald Trump in 2018; Barack Obama in 2016; George W. Bush in 2008; and Ronald Reagan in 1982.
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BERLIN — Germany is sticking to its opposition to easing patent protection on COVID-19 vaccines as it goes into the Group of Seven summit.
While many developed countries with strong pharmaceutical industries hesitated or were outright opposed to the idea, the debate received a jolt last month when the Biden administration announced support for granting waivers for vaccines.
But a senior German official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity in line with department rules, said Thursday: “We don’t think a waiver is helpful or is actually the problem, and nothing has changed about that.”
The official noted that talks are ongoing at the World Trade Organization in Geneva and said they may achieve “improvements within the system.”
Asked whether Germany plans to announce to give more vaccine to poorer countries after the U.S. unveils plans to donate 500 million doses around the globe, the official said Germany has done “a great deal” on three tracks: sharing doses, financing purchases via the COVAX program, and exports.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said last month that Germany is prepared to donate 30 million doses by the year’s end to poorer countries “assuming, of course, that the vaccines we have ordered actually arrive.” That would be part of a broader donation of 100 million doses by the European Union.
Germany hasn’t said when the donations will start.
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BERLIN — Germany sees one big message from this year’s Group of Seven summit: multilateralism is back.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is attending her last G-7 summit after nearly 16 years in power, has been a leading advocate of taking a multilateral approach to world affairs — in contrast to the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Asked what message Merkel wants to send at the summit, a senior German official replied: “The message of the summit overall — and that stands for what the chancellor has stood for over recent years — is that multilaterism, and the G-7, is back.”
The official, who said that there has been much common ground in pre-summit negotiations, stressed that issues such as climate change, the pandemic and many others can only be solved together.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department rules.
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LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being criticized for flying to the Group of Seven summit meeting in Cornwall, rather than taking the train, as he presses world leaders to do more to fight global warming.
Environmental activists bombarded Johnson’s Twitter feed with suggestions that the prime minister should practice what he preaches after he posted a photo of himself climbing off the plane accompanied by a call to make the world “better, fairer and greener.”
“This is how serious Boris Johnson is about combating the climate emergency: He flew to Cornwall,” Zarah Sultana, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party, tweeted in response.
According to figures posted on the U.K. government website, domestic flights generate about six times more greenhouse gases than rail travel. A train journey to Cornwall takes about five hours, compared with less than 90 minutes for a flight.
Johnson is hosting leaders from the world’s seven richest democracies during this weekend’s summit at the Carbis Bay resort in Cornwall. The agenda includes talks on climate change, the global response to COVID-19 and the taxation of multinational corporations.
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LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the nations of the world must set aside the “beggar my neighbor” attitude that led to squabbling over medicines and treatments for COVID-19.
Johnson said Thursday that Group of Seven leaders meeting this weekend in Carbis Bay, southwest England, will commit to vaccinating the world by the end of 2022.
The British leader wrote in The Times of London that it was time for wealthy countries should “shoulder their responsibilities and to vaccinate the world.”
But he faces criticism because the U.K. has yet to send any doses abroad and has cut its international aid budget, citing the economic blow of the pandemic.
Johnson said Thursday that Britain would donate “millions” of doses from surplus stocks — though he didn’t say when.
Johnson also noted that the British government helped fund the development at Oxford University of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which accounts for 1 in 3 vaccine doses around the world.
President Joe Biden is announcing Thursday that the U.S. will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine to share with poorer countries over the next year.
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BRUSSELS — Top European Union officials are joining calls to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, ramping up the pressure on China to be more open about the virus, ahead of the Group of Seven summit.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that “we have to know where it did come from in order to draw the right lessons and to develop the right tools to make sure that this will never happen again.”
Von der Leyen says “the investigators need complete access to whatever is necessary to really find the source of this pandemic.” She said Europe had responded reasonably well to the heavy economic impact of virus restrictions because it had drawn the right lessons from the 2008 financial crisis.
European Council President Charles Michel says “the world has the right to know exactly what happened.”
Last month, President Joe Biden ordered U.S. intelligence officials to “redouble” their efforts to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, including any possibility the trail might lead to a Chinese laboratory.