Story by Beaver County News Correspondent Sandy Giordano

(Midland,  Pa.) Midland School District Superintendent Sean Tanner announced last week that a tribute to veterans and service personnel will take place  Friday, November 20  from 11 a.m. to noon. The event will be a drive thru  event where vets will receive a free meal    at the bus turnaround on Seventh Street..

GOP tries again to get high court to ax health care law
By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican elected officials and the Trump administration are advancing their latest arguments to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, a long-held GOP goal that has repeatedly failed in Congress and the courts. Arguments are scheduled for Tuesday in the Supreme Court’s third major case over the 10-year-old law, popularly known as “Obamacare.” Republican attorneys general in 18 states and the Trump administration want the whole law to be struck down, which would threaten coverage for more than 23 million people. California is leading a group of Democratic-controlled states that is urging the court to leave the law in place.

AAA: Gas Prices Lower in Pennsylvania; Demand Continues to Trend Low
The average price of gasoline across Western Pennsylvania is two cents lower this week at $2.482 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                  $2.482
Average price during the week of November 2, 2020                                $2.501
Average price during the week of November 11, 2019                              $2.785

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

$2.490      Altoona
$2.525      Beaver
$2.557      Bradford
$2.541      Brookville
$2.413      Butler
$2.475      Clarion
$2.345      DuBois
$2.552      Erie
$2.395      Greensburg
$2.599      Indiana
$2.294      Jeannette
$2.587      Kittanning
$2.555      Latrobe
$2.585      Meadville
$2.577      Mercer
$2.178      New Castle
$2.574      New Kensington
$2.599      Oil City
$2.478      Pittsburgh
$2.426      Sharon
$2.510      Uniontown
$2.599      Warren
$2.235      Washington

Trend Analysis:
The national gas price average pushed a penny cheaper this week to $2.11, following an increase in gasoline stocks and a dip in demand. The Energy Information Administration reports stocks added 1.5 million barrels to total 227.6 million, while demand decreased to 8.3 million b/d.

Domestic crude prices fluctuated last week due to market concern about increasing coronavirus infections worldwide, which is likely to lower crude demand. While oil prices rallied on the week, up from a four-month low of $35/barrel to as high as $39/barrel, they remain relatively inexpensive. This is a dominant factor, along with already low demand, contributing to the cheaper prices seen at pumps around the country.

On the week, only four states saw gas prices increase: Indiana (+6 cents), Ohio (+6 cents) and Illinois (+2 cent) and Washington, D.C. (+1 cent). As has been the trend for weeks now, the majority of states gas price averages continue to push cheaper. Nearly 20 states start the week with an average at least three cents cheaper than last Monday. Today’s national average is seven cents cheaper than last month and 51 cents less expensive than last year.

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

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 76 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.

Last’s night ‘s Hopewell School Board work   session    was held in person and on ZOOM centered around the pandemic.

A resident  addressed the board about her concerns, and another sent many questions concerning the  educational process underway during the pandemic at all  grade levels.

(Beaver County, Pa.) The Beaver County Commissioners have cancelled their work session scheduled for tomorrow due to Veteran’s Day. The Commissioners also announced they have cancelled their regularly scheduled Public Meetings on November 12^th and 26^th.

There will only be one Public Meeting in November and that will be on Thursday, November 19^th at 10AM in the Commissioners Meeting Room.  At that meeting is when they will pass the proposed budget for 2021. The budget will be placed on display after that meeting.

DMVA Launches PA VETConnect, a Statewide Outreach Initiative that Better Serves Veterans in Need of Assistance 

Harrisburg, PA – Today, the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) launched PA VETConnect, a statewide outreach initiative designed to better serve the commonwealth’s nearly 800,000 veterans. PA VETConnect identifies and cultivates new community partnerships to simultaneously broaden referral capabilities and connect veterans to the best possible resources, regardless of the township, county or region where they reside.

“Pennsylvania provides a variety of programs and benefits for veterans, but there are still areas that we do not have formal programs due to lack of funding,” Governor Tom Wolf said. “PA VETConnect is our solution because it allows us to address these gaps through creative inter-agency coordination and community partnerships. We owe it to our veterans to provide them with the help they need and have earned through their military service.”

“With the governor’s leadership, the DMVA staff has made PA VETConnect a priority project so that we can reach deeper into communities, establish a wider network of advocates, and provide the best possible programs and services to our veterans,” said Maj. Gen. Anthony Carrelli, Pennsylvania’s adjutant general and head of the DMVA. “We realize that there is no way a program of this magnitude can be successful without the cooperation of our community partners. We are a more helpful agency to veterans because of these relationships.”

Two innovative features of PA VETConnect make the program unique in Pennsylvania, which has the fourth largest veteran population in the nation, when it comes to veteran advocacy.

The key to PA VETConnect is an Information and Referral (I&R) database that provides those who serve veterans – such as county directors of veterans affairs and veteran service organizations – with the names, contact information and an overview of thousands of organizations throughout the commonwealth that have the resources to assist veterans’ specific needs.

The DMVA has also committed a staff of Regional Program Outreach Coordinators (RPOC) to work with veteran advocates throughout Pennsylvania to build relationships and develop a network that connects Pennsylvania’s military heroes to the resources they need to live a healthy, quality life. The RPOCs are DMVAs field-level individuals who live and work throughout the state. They not only discover new resources to assist veterans within their communities and across the commonwealth but serve as a liaison between veteran advocates and DMVA.

“Thanks to this vast compilation of organizations, veterans will no longer be limited to the resources – or lack of resources – in their immediate area. By identifying thousands of organizations throughout the state, veterans can now be connected to where they will be best served, and that includes across county lines,” Gov. Wolf added.

PA VETConnect is part of the Governor’s Customer Service Transformation initiative that improves the overall experience of Pennsylvanians dealing with state government. PA VETConnect helps veterans and families with an array of issues, including homelessness, mental health, suicide, employment, financial challenges, legal, family crisis, and much more.

To learn more about PA VETConnect, visit www.dmva.pa.gov/VETConnect. Veterans who are in need of assistance and want to connect with a service through PA VETConnect can send an email request to RA-MVVET-CONNECT@pa.gov.

(Aliquippa, Pa.) In September of 2015, Bradley Stewart & Anthony Checca got out of state prison ad went on a crime spree in several counties. They robbed a home of a drug dealer in Ambridge and struck a juvenile girl in the mouth causing her to need four teeth fixed. Then they went to Aliquippa to rob another drug dealer. They roughed up another juvenile there.

While Stewart was leaving the house, several relatives of the Aliquippa juvenile arrived and started to strike him. He ran towards the van where Checca was waiting for him.  Someone shot Stewart as he reached the van and he and Checca sped away.

Checca looked over at Stewart and saw that he had died. Checca pulled over to the side of the road and dumped Stewart out of the van and down over the hill.

Crime Solvers has offered a ONE WEEK ONLY – NOVEMBER 8 – 14^th, 2020 reward of $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the individual who shot Bradley Stewart.  Anyone with information may call the Aliquippa Police Department, Det. Sgt. Steve Roberts.

PITTSBURGH Pa. (Nov. 9, 2020) – The Commission on Cancer (CoC) has named James McCormick, DO, FACS, FASCRS, Allegheny Health Network’s System Chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery and Medical Director of the Rectal Cancer Center of Excellence at AHN Cancer Institute, recipient of its State Chair Outstanding Performance Award.

The award is given to physicians who have exhibited outstanding leadership and innovation, and have made significant contributions to the improvement of cancer care in their state. CoC State Chairs represent the CoC by providing leadership and support to programs and physicians in their region. As collaborators, innovators and experts, they work alongside other cancer professionals to improve the quality of cancer care.

AHN was the first health system in the region, and sixth in the nation, to be designated as a Rectal Cancer Center of Excellence (NAPRC). This designation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer is granted only to programs that commit to providing high-quality care to patients with rectal cancer, and undergo a rigorous review of its performance and compliance with NAPRC standards.

The CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for cancer patients through standard setting, which promotes cancer prevention, research, education and monitoring of comprehensive quality care.