PA Court: Special wine, liquor orders can be sent directly
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A court ruling Friday says the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board must let special orders be shipped directly to retailers instead of sending them to state stores for pickup. The Commonwealth Court says the PLCB can’t ignore a 2016 state law that permits the direct shipping of wines and spirits not sold in state stores. Retailers and restaurants have instead had to get their orders at state stores that have been closed or operating on a limited basis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Judge Kevin Brobson says the agency must comply in a reasonable timeframe.

 Chapel Road Slide Repair Restarts Monday in Center Township

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing slide remediation work on Chapel Road (Route 3005) in Center Township, Beaver County will begin Monday, May 4 weather permitting.

Beginning at approximately 7 a.m. Monday, slide repair work will resume on Chapel Road. The roadway, which was closed in mid-March, will remain closed to traffic around-the-clock through late July to allow crews from A. Folino Construction to conduct the work. Chapel Road is closed between Center Grange Road and Pleasantview Drive.  All traffic will be detoured.

Posted Detour

North of the Closure

• From Chapel Road, turn left onto Old Brodhead Road
• Turn left onto Brodhead Road
• Turn left onto Center Grange Road
• Follow Center Grange Road back to Chapel Road
• End detour

South of the Closure

• Same detour in the opposite direction

Additional work on this slide project includes pavement reconstruction, drainage improvements, guiderail upgrades, signing updates, sewer line repair, pavement markings and other miscellaneous construction activities. The work is part of a three-slide $1.17 million contract. The overall project will conclude in October 2020.

Motorists are advised to use caution, allow extra time, and expect changing traffic patterns when traveling through the area.

Work on this project will be in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and state Department of Health guidance as well as a project-specific COVID-19 safety plan, which will include protocols for social distancing, use of face coverings, personal and job-site cleaning protocols, management of entries to the jobsite, and relevant training.

Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 950 traffic cameras.

….AND NOW IT’S TIME FOR THE ‘BUSINESS MINUTE’ REPORT…BROUGHT YOU BY MINUTEMAN PRESS:

Stocks are falling in midday trading on Wall Street after Amazon and other big companies laid out how the coronavirus pandemic is hitting their bottom lines. The S&P 500 was down 2.9% Friday. Amazon sank after its profits fell because of a sharp increase in costs related to providing deliveries safely during the pandemic, despite a big increase in revenue. Bond yields held steady and the price of oil rose slightly. Many world markets were closed for the May Day holiday. The S&P 500 is still on pace for its second-straight weekly loss.

PHOENIX (AP) — Jason W. Still has been waiting six weeks for his first unemployment check since  losing his job as a cook at an upscale restaurant in Spokane, Washington. Out-of-work bartender Luke Blaine in Phoenix says he’s holding steady since getting his first unemployment check three weeks ago. But things are growing tighter as the rent comes due again for more than 30 million people around the U.S. who have sought unemployment benefits amid shutdowns caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Eli Oderberg in Denver is among those in a later wave of layoffs affecting additional sectors like his, the oil industry.

 

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As the coronavirus pandemic continues to force the closure of meatpacking plants across the country, hog farmers have had to respond quickly to a rapidly growing backlog of animals in their barns by killing and disposing of pigs. Many large-scale hog farmers have little choice once barns reach full capacity. Officials estimate about 700,000 pigs across the nation can’t be processed each week and will be euthanized if plants don’t resume operations. To help farmers, the USDA has set up a center that can supply the tools needed to euthanize hogs. That includes captive bolt guns and cartridges that can be shot into the heads of larger animals as well as chutes, trailers and personal protective equipment.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Essential workers will strike nationwide on May Day to demand safer conditions during the coronavirus outbreak, while other groups plan rallies against tight stay-at-home orders they say are crippling the U.S. economy. Organizers say employees of Amazon, Whole Foods, Target and FedEx have become the unexpected frontline workers of the pandemic. Workers will walk off the job or call out sick to demand unpaid time off work, hazard pay, sick leave, protective gear and cleaning supplies. Meanwhile protesters will take to the streets in cities nationwide to demand states loosen shelter-in-place rules and “reopen.”

….AND THAT’S THE ‘BUSINESS MINUTE’ REPORT…BROUGHT YOU BY MINUTEMAN PRESS.

 

(Beaver Falls, Pa,) Tune into 1230 WBVP, 1460 WMBA, 99.3 FM, and beavercountyradio.com at 2 p.m. today to find out live on the air if Beaver County is on Gov. Tom Wolf’s list of counties to reopen starting next Friday May 8, 2020.

We will have full coverage of the Governor’s Press Conference at 2:00 p.m. Courtesy of Common Wealth Media Services.

New White House press secretary McEnany to hold 1st briefing
WASHiNGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new spokeswoman, Kayleigh McEnany, is to face reporters for the first time in the White House Briefing Room on Friday, something her predecessor never did during a nine-month stint as press secretary. During past administrations, a White House press secretary holding a formal briefing would hardly be news. But it’s an oddity in the current administration, in which the media-obsessed Trump sees himself to be his best spokesman, communications director and strategist. Trump shook up his communications team in early April. Former press secretary Stephanie Grisham rejoined the first lady’s office in a new role as Melania Trump’s chief of staff.

Biden on sexual assault allegation: ‘never, never happened’
By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is denying a former staffer’s allegation of sexual assault, saying the accusation is not true. “This never happened,” Biden says.  It’s Biden’s first public comment on an accusation of sexual assault by his former Senate staffer, Tara Reade. He answered questions about the allegation Friday in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Biden said he will ask the National Archives to determine whether there is any record of such a complaint being filed, but he said repeatedly that he doesn’t believe such a record exists. Reade worked for Biden when he was a U.S. senator from Delaware.

Biden denies former staffer’s sexual assault allegation
By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is denying a former staffer’s allegation of sexual assault, saying the accusation is not true. “This never happened,” Biden says in a statement Friday.  It’s Biden’s first public comment on an accusation of sexual assault by his former Senate staffer, Tara Reade. He is to appear on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to discuss the allegation for the first time on television.expected to give his first public comments on a sexual assault allegation that has roiled his presidential campaign.  A number of former Biden staffers have defended him. But Biden himself has yet to weigh in on the accusation, even as it’s taken on fresh attention this week after two of Reade’s associates said she previously told them about elements of her allegations.