(File Photo)

(Center Twp.), Pa.) A two vehicle  accident that occurred on Route 18 by the old Toys R’ Us entrance to the Beaver Valley Mall happened Saturday following the heavy rain . One person was injured, according to Fire Chief Bill Brucker.  Brucker said the road was slick due to the rain and  oil and gas from the  accident and had to be closed  for about an hour while Moore’s Auto Wrecking’s crew   cleared the scene  Chief Brucker said the roadway was very dangerous.

Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano

(Aliquippa, Pa.) PA State Police have issued a warrant for Derrick Council, 37 of Aliquippa in connection with an assault on his fiance   on June 30.  The incident was reported to Aliquippa Police on July 2 and state police took over the investigation .According to the criminal complaint the incident took place at a residence on McDonald Boulevard  the victim told investigators her fiance fired several rounds in the floor of their residence  while she was directly under him attempting to leave the residence.  The   criminal complaint states that the incident began with a verbal argument between  the victim and Council..

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The federal government is planning to carry out the first federal execution in nearly two decades, over the objection of the family of the victims and after a volley of legal proceedings over the coronavirus pandemic. Daniel Lewis Lee, of Oklahoma, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Monday afternoon at a federal prison in Indiana. He was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife and her 8-year-old daughter. The comes after an appeals court lifted an injunction late Sunday that had been put in place last week after the victims’ family argued they’d be at high risk for coronavirus if they had to travel to attend the execution.

Keystone State News Connection

Andrea Sears

NEW HOPE, Pa. — A dam removal project is having a positive impact on the Delaware River’s ecosystem, including a boost to the population of migratory fish.

Removal of the Columbia dam on the Paulins Kill in New Jersey has given migrating shad and sea lamprey access to 20 miles of spawning waterways that had been inaccessible for a century.

Shad are especially important for fishing in the Delaware where there are shad festivals and fishing contests.

But Beth Styler Barry, director of river restoration for The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey, points out that people aren’t the only ones who will benefit from increasing the number of fish in the river.

“More shad means more food for things like eagles, heron, bears, otter,” she states. “It brings an additional source of nutrition to the entire ecosystem.”

Removing the dam also made it possible to restore 32 acres of floodplain that had been covered by the water behind the dam.

Kent Smith, chief of the steering committee for the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership, says the dam removal project on the Paulins Kill is a good example of restoring what environmentalists call white water-to-blue water connectivity.

“You allow for natural tidal cycles,” he explains. “Freshwater lenses can flow out over the surface of the estuaries and animals like American shad have the ability to move into their freshwater habitat to complete their life cycle.”

Shad started returning to the area less than three weeks after dam removal was completed last year and this year breeding sea lampreys also have been observed.

Barry points out that the restoration brings a number of environmental benefits including washing away built-up sediment and improved water quality.

“The Delaware as a whole is continuing to improve as an ecosystem and, especially as climate changes, the cooler water will be more and more important not only for spawning and feeding but for the temperature refuge,” she states.

Two more dams on the Paulins Kill will be removed over the next two years, giving migrating fish access to 45 miles of rivers for spawning and improved habitat for resident species.

Vetoed petrochemical tax break bill revived in Pennsylvania
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania state lawmakers could vote on legislation this week that provides millions of dollars in tax breaks to turn natural gas into fertilizer and other chemicals, emerging from closed-door negotiations after Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a similar bill earlier this year. The replacement legislation differs in some ways from what Wolf vetoed in March after saying that the Republican-controlled Legislature had not negotiated it with him. The newer version puts limits on how much each facility could reap in tax credits, for instance. A spokesman said Sunday the House Republican majority leadership will share the new version with rank-and-file members this week to gauge support for it.

18 injured in fire aboard ship at Naval Base San Diego
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Eighteen people have suffered minor injuries in an explosion and fire Sunday on board a ship at Naval Base San Diego. The blaze called in shortly before 9 a.m. on the USS Bonhomme Richard. The cause is under investigation. Officials don’t immediately know where on the 840-foot amphibious assault vessel the fire was sparked. San Diego is the Bonhomme Richard’s home port and it was undergoing routine maintenance at the time of the fire. Officials said about 160 sailors and officers were on board — far fewer than the thousand typically on the ship when it’s on active duty.

US Navy welcomes 1st Black female Tactical Aircraft pilot
KINGSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Navy has welcomed its first Black female Tactical Aircraft pilot. The Navy on Thursday recognized that Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle had completed naval flight school and would later this month receive the flight officer insignia known as the “Wings of Gold.” The Naval Air Training Command tweeted that Swegle is the Navy’s “first known Black female TACAIR pilot.” According to Stars and Stripes, Swegle is from Burke, Virginia, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2017. Officials say she is assigned to the Redhawks of Training Squadron 21 in Kingsville, Texas.

2 officers, suspect killed in Texas border town shooting
MCALLEN, Texas (AP) — Authorities say two police officers were shot and killed Saturday by a suspect who later fatally shot himself in a South Texas border town after responding to a domestic disturbance call. McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez identified the slain officers as 45-year-old Edelmiro Garza and 39-year-old Ismael Chavez. Garza was an officer with the police department for more than eight years while Chavez had over two years of experience. Police say the officers first met with two people who reported assaults that took place inside a nearby home on the south side of the city. The alleged shooter, whom police identified as 23-year-old Audon Ignacio Camarillo, opened fire when officers attempted to enter the home.

Florida reports largest, single-day increase in COVID cases
By TAMARA LUSH and TERRY SPENCER Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any one state since the beginning of the pandemic. According to state Department of Health statistics released Sunday, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases. California had the previous record of daily positive cases — 11,694, four days ago. New York had 11,571 on April 15. The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week in Florida, with about 500 fatalities. On Sunday, 45 more deaths were reported. Throughout May and into June, the state reopened much of its economy with some restrictions.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida shattered the national record Sunday for the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any state since the beginning of the pandemic, adding more than 15,000 cases as its daily average death toll continued to also rise.
According to state Department of Health statistics, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases, and 45 deaths were recorded.
California had the previous record of daily positive cases — 11,694, set on Wednesday. New York had 11,571 on April 15.
The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week as Florida reported 514 fatalities — an average of 73 per day. Three weeks ago, the state was averaging 30 deaths per day. Since the pandemic began in March, 4,346 people have died in Florida of COVID-19, the state says.
Testing has doubled over the last month, going from about 25,000 tests per day to almost 50,000, but the percentage of people testing positive has risen even more dramatically. A month ago, fewer than 5% of tests came up positive on a daily average. Over the past week, the daily average exceeded 19%.
About 10.7% of Saturday’s 143,000 tests came up positive. “I still think we need to increase our testing a little bit more,” said University of Florida epidemiologist Dr. Cindy Prins, adding that the state and local health departments should ramp up their contact tracing.
Prins said that she’s still concerned about large crowds, gyms and some restaurants as being places of mass transmission. Reports of illegal clubs and raves in South Florida is also a worry, she said.
“I really do think we could control this, and it’s the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when we’re in a crisis, and we’re definitely not doing it,” she said. “I know people want to live their lives. There have been a lot of other times, people have made those sacrifices in order to benefit our society. It’s almost like a war effort. That’s what we need right now.”
Hospitals in several counties have stopped doing elective surgeries. HCA West Florida have ceased inpatient elective procedures at hospitals in Hillsborough, Pinellas and six other nearby counties, said an HCA spokeswoman on Sunday. Florida ceased elective surgeries statewide from March until early May in order to free up beds, and to reserve personal protective equipment for health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients.
Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach are the top three counties for hospitalizations, with 3,232 people hospitalized — 42 percent of the 7,542 people in hospitals statewide for coronavirus.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez told CNN on Sunday that his county’s hospitals will soon reach capacity, but he said more beds can be added, including for intensive care.
“We still have capacity, but it does cause me a lot of concern,” he said.
Throughout May and into June, the state reopened much of its economy with some restrictions — and the number of positive cases began rising, but it wasn’t until the last week that the daily death total began rising, too.
Because of the increase in cases and the positivity rate, doctors have predicted a rise in deaths, saying the mortality rate usually increases two to four weeks later as some of those infected get sicker and eventually die. Health experts are concerned that people are gathering in crowds, and have expressed concern that the Republican National Convention’s nomination party for President Donald Trump will be held in Jacksonville in August.
On Saturday, the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom reopened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, concerning health experts who urge people not to gather in groups. Guests at the park said that people were wearing masks and social distancing, and videos showed near-empty parks.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that even with the rising rates, he still wants the schools to reopen as scheduled next month, saying children have not proven to be vectors for the disease in states and countries where campuses are open. He said while each county will have to come up with procedures, depending on their local infection rate, not opening the schools would exacerbate the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students.
“We know there are huge, huge costs for not providing the availability of in-person schooling,” he said. “The risk of corona, fortunately, for students is incredibly low.”
Meanwhile, a commissioner for a county near Jacksonville is seriously ill with the virus, according to a posting by his daughter on Facebook.
St. Johns County Commissioner Paul Waldron had recently voted against a county ordinance requiring masks, but not because he opposed them. He said he wanted more answers from county administrators about which masks are most effective and whether the county had enough for employees and visitors at government buildings.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak