(Beaver, Pa.) Beaver County Commissioners Chairman Dan Camp reported that Heritage Valley Health system has accounted for 96 percent of the COVID-19 vaccines that have been distributed to them. Camp said that the 96 percent includes first responders who will receive an e-mail this week to schedule their vaccination. Camp reported that Heritage Valley said that is roughly around 4,000 doses. He went on to talk about how the county and Heritage Valley are working together to get the vaccine distributed and that they will continue to work together as the next wave of vaccines becomes available to make sure it is available to all Beaver Countians.
Click the play button below to hear Commissioner Camp during the work session:
Beaver County was dealt its first major blow for 2021, as PUSH Beaver County notified the County Commissioners that the Maple Syrup Festival has been cancelled for the second consecutive year.
At their weekly work session, Commissioner Jack Manning announced the unfortunate news from PUSH BC’s Regis Collins: “It is too tenuous given the current state of COVID, and given the ongoing restrictions of Harrisburg on the number of people in indoor facilities…they have decided to cancel. We are certainly hoping, in our conversations, that in 2022 we’ll start it back up.”
Manning added: “Disappointing, but I certainly respect their decision among all the uncertainty.”
This is the second year that PUSH Beaver County will have to wait to host its first Maple Syrup Festival after taking the reins from the Beaver County Conservation District after the 2019 event.
Harrisburg, PA – Today, during the 2021 Virtual Pennsylvania Farm Show, Agriculture Russell Redding invited proposals for $460,000 in funding through the state’s Specialty Crop Block Grants created under the PA Farm Bill in 2019 and renewed for the 2021-22 Fiscal Year. Eligible projects will enhance the competitive position and stimulate market growth for crops designated as high priority because of their growth potential and importance for environmental sustainability. Conservation cover crops were added to the list of eligible crops for the program’s second year.
“Our 2021 Farm Show theme is ‘Cultivating Tomorrow’,” Secretary Redding said. “What better time to announce funding that will support market growth in key crops and cultivate healthier soil, water and seed resources those crops need to sustain future growth? These grants — and all of the funding seeded by the Pennsylvania Farm Bill — quite literally cultivate tomorrow.”
State Specialty Crop Block Grants enhance, rather than replace federal block grants, and are available to fund specialty crops designated as high priority crops in the state: hemp, hops, hardwoods, honey; barley, rye and wheat for distilling, brewing and malting; and conservation cover crops. Eligible projects enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of specialty crops, for example, through research to increase conservation and environmental outcomes, enhance food safety, develop new and improved certified seed varieties, or improve pest and disease control. A percentage of funds will be designated to projects in rural communities with at least 20 percent of the population below the federal poverty line.
Recipients of 2019-20 Grant Awards along with a summary of eligibility and potential uses of funding can be found at agriculture.pa.gov/pafarmbill. Full grant guidelines will be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on Saturday, January 23, and project proposals will be accepted January 25 through 4:59 PM on March 5, 2021. Funded projects must be completed by June 20, 2023.
State Specialty Crop Block Grants were created under the historic Pennsylvania Farm Bill, Governor Wolf’s bold, aggressive, and necessary investments in Pennsylvania agriculture to grow opportunities and resources, remove barriers to entry, and inspire future generations of agriculture leaders.
The debate is heated almost from the start as House sets up a vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
Democrats and a few Republicans say Trump must be removed immediately after he egged on a violent mob of supporters a week ago who then stormed the Capitol. The insurrection happened as some of Trump’s GOP allies were challenging his election defeat, echoing the president’s false claims that there was widespread fraud in his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Most Republicans are saying impeachment is divisive. They’re not mentioning the president.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio is one of Trump’s most vocal defenders. Jordan blames Democrats for objecting to previous election results and he’s repeating baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
But Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts says Democrats haven’t pushed conspiracy theories that a president won in a landslide when he actually lost — which is what happened to Trump.
McGovern is looking back at the deadly Capitol siege and saying “people died because of the big lies that were being told.” And he says that’s enough to merit impeachment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is on the verge of being impeached for a second time, with an afternoon vote expected in the House. He faces a single charge, “incitement of insurrection,” after telling a mob of loyalists to, as he put it, “fight like hell” against election results. The subsequent attack on the U.S. Capitol turned deadly and delayed finalizing Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.
Security is exceptionally tight at the Capitol, beefed up by armed National Guard troops, with secure perimeters set up and metal-detector screenings required for lawmakers entering the House chamber. A small number of Republicans are supporting impeachment along with the Democrats.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has selected Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Barack Obama, to run the U.S. Agency for International Development. That’s the agency that oversees U.S. foreign humanitarian and development aid. Biden made the announcement Wednesday and said he was elevating the position to the National Security Council in the White House.
Power served as U.N. ambassador from 2013 to 2017. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for her book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” about the U.S. foreign policy response to genocide.
(Beaver Falls, Pa.) Tune into Beaver County Radio today, January 13, 2021 at 10:10 a.m. for a special interview with Helen Kissick, President of the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce. Helen will formally award the honor of Big Business of the Year to Mark Peterson, Beaver County Radio Owner/Manager.
Helen will also be talking with Teleforum fill-in host Frank Sparks about the different ways businesses in Beaver County can receive aid to help during the Pandemic. Helen will be available to take you questions by calling 724-843-1888 or 724-774-1888. The interview will also be presented on Facebook Live on the Beaver County Radio Facebook Page @ https://www.facebook.com/beavercountyradio
(Story by Sandy Giordano, Beaver County Radio News Correspondent)
Ambridge Borough Council met last night and approved the fire department’s application for a FEMA SCBC grant in the amount of $135,000. The cost share is estimated to be between $6,500-$8,500, plus a 1.5% grant writer fee of $2,038.50.
Council will advertise for a part-time seasonal Parking Enforcement Officer. The position is for 20 hours a week for approximately 16 weeks, between March and October. The salary is set at $12.50 per hour.
Council’s next meeting is Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is on the verge of becoming the first president to be impeached twice, as lawmakers move quickly to punish him over last week’s deadly Capitol attack. Trump’s fiery speech at a rally just before the Jan. 6 riot is at the center of the impeachment charge against him, even as the falsehoods he spread for months about election fraud are still being championed by some Republicans.
The Democratic-controlled House will move to impeach Trump Wednesday for the second time in 13 months — this time with just days left in the defeated president’s term.
The wall of Republican support that has enabled President Donald Trump to weather a seemingly endless series of crises is beginning to erode. Trump’s weakened standing among his own party will come into sharper focus on Wednesday when the House is expected to impeach the president for inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol last week.
A handful of Republicans have already said they’ll join the effort, a number that could grow as the vote nears. The choice facing Republicans isn’t just about the immediate fate of Trump but whether the party’s elected leaders are ready to move on.
