Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released a new map detailing the Pennsylvania communities that qualify as “energy communities” under his provision in the Inflation Reduction Act. Senator Casey’s tax credits are incentivizing companies to build and manufacture new energy projects in the communities that have powered our Nation for generations, creating well-paying jobs, and attracting new investment.

“Our coal communities have a storied tradition of powering our Nation since the Industrial Revolution and that’s what makes them uniquely qualified for new energy jobs,” Senator Casey said. “With the new tax credits I fought for in the Inflation Reduction Act, more clean energy projects will be built in our communities and Pennsylvania workers will continue to light the way into the future.”

As the Biden Administration worked to implement Senator Casey’s tax credits, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the energy community tax credits in May 2023. As a member of the Committee, Senator Casey invited Patty Horvatich, Senior Vice President, Business Investment at the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, to testify on how Southwestern Pennsylvania is well-equipped to compete for new energy and manufacturing investments and to explain the impacts they will have on the region. She testified that the new incentives were already driving new business interest in investing in the region.

The Inflation Reduction Act provides a bonus tax credit worth 10 percent of the cost of any clean energy project placed in an energy community, defined as a brownfield site, an area with significant fossil fuel employment, or a census tract or any immediately adjacent census tract with a recent coal mine or coal plant retirement. The tax credits are administered by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service, in close collaboration with the Department of Energy. The Treasury Department’s announcement and information on qualifying for the bonus credit can be found here.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing bridge work on southbound I-79 in Aleppo Township, Allegheny County, will occur Wednesday night, August 23 weather permitting.

Bridge parapet and approach slab work will occur on southbound I-79 at the southbound bridge over Glenfield Road from 7 p.m. Wednesday night to 6 a.m. Thursday morning. Southbound I-79 will close between the Emsworth/Sewickley Route 65 (Exit 66) off-ramp and the Neville Island Bridge. To allow the work to occur, southbound I-79 traffic in the local (right-hand lane) will be detoured at the Emsworth/Sewickley Route 65 (Exit 66) interchange.  All southbound I-79 through traffic should use the express lane.

Local Lane Detour

• From southbound I-79, all traffic will take the Emsworth/Sewickley Route 65 (Exit 66) off-ramp
• Turn left onto Glenfield Road
• Continue straight onto Kilbuck Street
• Turn right onto Deer Run Road
• Turn left onto the ramp to southbound I-79
• End detour

The work is part of the $26.49 million I-79 improvement project. Improvements include four bridge deck replacements, one bridge preservation, milling and resurfacing, preservation work on seven sign structures, installation of five new ITS signs, guide rail improvements, signage updates, and pavement marking installation. A southbound crossover will occur on I-79 in 2023 for bridge deck replacement work. The majority of the project will conclude in the spring of 2024.

The prime contractor is the Joseph B. Fay Company. Work on this project will be coordinated with other projects in the area.

To help keep motorists informed as work progresses, PennDOT has created an email distribution list for the I-79 Neville Island Bridge rehabilitation including traffic advisories and construction updates. Enroll by sending email addresses to stcowan@pa.gov. Please write “Subscribe – I-79” in the subject line.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways 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 1,000 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.

Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Allegheny, Beaver, and Lawrence counties at www.penndot.gov/District11.

Information about infrastructure in District 11, including completed work and significant projects, is available at www.penndot.gov/D11Results. Find PennDOT’s planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.

Follow PennDOT on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PennDOTNewsand like the department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaDepartmentofTransportationand Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pennsylvaniadot/.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state police can’t hide from the public its policy on how it monitors social media.

Advocates for civil liberties cheered the decision. The law enforcement agency had argued that fully disclosing its policy for using software to monitor online postings may compromise public safety.

All four Democratic justices supported the majority decision, which said the lower Commonwealth Court went beyond its authority in trying to give the state police another attempt to justify keeping details of the policy a secret. Tuesday’s order appears to end a six-year legal battle.

A state police spokesperson said the agency is reviewing the court decision.

Andrew Christy, a lawyer with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said the ruling “sort of puts law enforcement on the same playing field as all government agencies. If they have a legal justification to keep something secret, then they have to put forth sufficient evidence to justify that.”

People need to know what police are doing in order to decide if it’s appropriate, he argued.

“Ultimately that relies on the voters understanding what law enforcement is doing so that then, through their elected representatives, they can rein them in when they’re acting in a way that doesn’t comport with what the public wants,” Christy said.

Justifying what the majority opinion described as heavy or complete redactions on every page of the nine-page regulation, the head of the state police’s bureau of criminal investigations argued that greater transparency about the policy would make its investigations less effective.

The state Office of Open Records held a private review of the blacked out material and and ruled that making the policy public would not be likely to harm investigations, calling the social media policy processes strictly internal and administrative in nature.

Redacted sections addressed the use of open sources, what approval is required, when to go undercover and use an online alias and how to verify information. State police also blacked out the entire section on using social media for employment background investigations.

A panel of three Republican Commonwealth Court judges reversed the Office of Open Records’ ruling that the policy should be disclosed without redactions, saying in May 2018 that the state police investigations chief based his analysis about the risk of exposure on his own extensive experience.

The majority decision issued Tuesday said Commonwealth Court should not have given the state police a new opportunity to lay out the supposed public safety risks. The majority ruled that Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law does not permit Commonwealth Court to order additional fact-finding not sought by state police.

“If PSP had requested the opportunity for additional fact-finding, our disposition today may have been different,” Justice David Wecht wrote for the majority.

The open records law has a timely and efficient process that should be followed, he added, noting that “six years already have passed.”

“If and when appellate review is allowed to serve as a reset button based upon a court’s ill-defined policy concerns, there is no limiting principle, and the judiciary’s claims to neutrality and ordered decision-making vanish,” Wecht wrote.

In a dissent, Justice Sallie Mundy said the lower court identified a question of fact that was unresolved: “whether there was a connection between the text of the document and risks articulated in the agency’s affidavit” about public safety. She and Justice Kevin Brobson, who joined her dissent, are the high court’s two Republicans.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen’s two-run homer capped a five-run fifth inning against struggling Adam Wainwright, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 on Tuesday night.

Wainwright remained stuck on 198 career wins a day after accruing his 18th year of major league service time. He is 0-8 with a 12.56 ERA in nine starts since his last victory on June 17 against the New York Mets.

“Getting 199 would be great. I need to get to 199 before I think about 200,” said Wainwright, who plans to retire at the end of the season. “I thought today was going to be the day for sure especially after the way I started the game. I felt very confident we were going to win the game. I’m really disappointed. I was in complete control and let it get away.”

Wainwright retired the side in order in the first three innings before Ji Hwan Bae walked to lead off the fourth and scored on Connor Joe’s two-out single. The Pirates increased their lead to 6-1 with the five-run fifth that included a run-scoring groundout by Bae, a two-run double by Bryan Reynolds and McCutchen’s homer into the left-field bleachers, the 299th of his career.

St. Louis catcher Willson Contreras and manager Oliver Marmol were ejected in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes, and rookie Jordan Walker was tossed in the eighth, his first career ejection.

The Cardinals lost for the sixth time in seven games and fell 2 1/2 games behind the fourth-place Pirates in the NL Central. St. Louis hasn’t finished in last place since 1990, while Pittsburgh has done so each of the last four seasons.

“It’s been a weird year. It’s been a funky year,” Wainwright said. “We haven’t had a year like this since I’ve been here. I guess if you have one of these every 18 years, it’s not a terrible ratio. But I know it’s driving everyone in here crazy. I know it’s driving me crazy.”

Wainwright (3-9) was charged with six runs in 4 2/3 innings. He gave up seven hits, struck out three and walked one.

McCutchen is 26 for 83 in his career against Wainwright with four homers.

“I have nothing but respect for that guy,” McCutchen said. “He’s done it longer than I have. He’s a competitor. He’s going to compete every single time. No matter how many times we faced each other, he’s been trying to give me his best stuff. I’m going try and return the favor as well.”

Acquired from the Cardinals last season, Johan Oviedo (7-13) beat his old team for the first time in four tries. He allowed one run and four hits in five innings with five strikeouts and one walk.

“It feels amazing,” Oviedo said. “I’m not going to lie. It feels great.”

David Bednar worked a scoreless ninth for his 27th save in 30 opportunities.

The Cardinals’ lone run off Oviedo came when Richie Palacios led off the fifth inning with his first career home run. A night earlier, Palacios’ brother, Pirates outfielder Joshua Palacios, went deep in their first-ever meeting in the major leagues.

Contreras doubled in a run in the sixth and Alec Burleson’s RBI single in the seventh drew the Cardinals within 6-3.

Joe had two hits in helping the Pirates win for the third time in four games. He hit three doubles a night earlier.

(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)

The Hopewell School board made several personnel moves at Tuesday night’s meeting. They hired Ashley Ashbaugh as a paraprofessional at the Elementary School, Arlene Nalli, part time art teacher at the junior high school resigned, and paraprofessional Maegana Johnson also resigned from the school.

Director of Buildings and Grounds Ed West updated the district on what was done to get the buildings ready for back to school on Thursday, and what improvements were made, and what recommendations he had for any necessary repairs or replacements in the buildings or grounds of each school in the district.

Student hand books for the elementary, junior and senior high schools were approved. 

An agreement was approved between the district and Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit to provide ESL  (English as a second language) for the 2023-24 school year. Cost of the class is $105.00 an hour. The district’s Health and Safety Plan was also approved.

The board’s next meeting is September 12, 2023 at 7 p.m.

(Conway, PA) The boil water advisory issued Friday for the borough of Conway has been lifted. The boil water advisory was for the downtown area, 5th avenue to Route 65. All testing has come back negative. There no other advisories for Conway. The advisory was put into place following a water main break that took place Friday.

HARRISBURG – Rep. Marla Brown (R-Lawrence) has introduced a joint resolution that would provide a more efficient process to remove local elected officials who neglect the duties of their office.

“The Constitution provides the method for removing a municipal official before their term expires but the impeachment process is long and protracted,” said Brown. “To get the governor upon concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate to remove a local elected official is unlikely. We need a simpler way to remove officials who have violated the public’s trust and abused the office to which they were elected to serve.”

The legislation would amend the Pennsylvania Constitution by adding a section that authorizes the General Assembly to enact legislation that would prescribe additional methods for removing a municipal official for specific enumerated reasons:

• Absenteeism from meetings.
• Dereliction of duty.
• Inappropriate moral conduct.
• Abuse of power.

If approved by the voters, this constitutional amendment and the subsequent legislation would provide municipalities with the power to properly hold elected officials accountable and to remove those officials from their positions in a timely and orderly manner.

“Pennsylvania ranks as one of the toughest states in the nation to oust municipal officials,” said Brown.

Currently, a co-sponsorship memo is being circulated seeking bipartisan support for the legislation, which will be introduced in the coming days.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing gas line installation work on Route 68 (Third Street) in Beaver Borough, Beaver County will start Tuesday night, August 22 weather permitting.

Lane narrowing will occur at the intersection of Route 68 and Dravo Avenue from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. through Thursday night, August 24 as crews from Columbia Gas conduct gas line installation work.

PennDOT is not involved in this work and is providing this information as a public service announcement only. For additional information contact Abigail Sullivan at 724-650-7741.

Please use caution well traveling through the corridor.

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 1,000 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.

Gas prices are two cents lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.875 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                       $3.875
Average price during the week of August 14, 2023                                           $3.893
Average price during the week of August 22, 2022                                           $4.254

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

$3.990      Altoona
$3.739      Beaver
$3.756      Bradford
$3.876      Brookville
$3.931      Butler
$3.942      Clarion
$3.968      DuBois
$3.960      Erie
$3.871      Greensburg
$3.894      Indiana
$3.886      Jeannette
$3.884      Kittanning
$3.902      Latrobe
$3.810      Meadville
$3.999      Mercer
$3.697      New Castle
$3.889      New Kensington
$3.993      Oil City
$3.859      Pittsburgh
$3.608      Sharon
$3.802      Uniontown
$3.999      Warren
$3.863      Washington

Trend Analysis:

The national average for a gallon of gas is up a penny over the past week to $3.86, despite lower demand and the price of oil falling several dollars per barrel. But the potential for hurricane development and forecasts of an expanding heat dome over Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas may cause refineries in these states to curb production because of the sizzling temperatures. Today’s national average is 28 cents more than a month ago and four cents more than a year ago.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand slid from 9.30 to 8.85 million barrels per day last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks slightly decreased from 216.4 to 216.2 million barrels. Although demand has fallen, fluctuating oil prices have kept pump prices elevated.

At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate decreased by $1.61 to settle at $79.38. Oil prices declined amid ongoing concern that if interest rates continue to increase, the economy could tip into a recession. Additionally, the EIA reported that total domestic commercial crude inventories decreased from 445.6 to 439.7 million barrels.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at gasprices.aaa.com.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joshua Palacios hit a three-run home run and had a career-high five RBIs to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat St. Louis 11-1 on Monday night, sending the last-place Cardinals to their fifth loss in six games.

Palacios’ drive down the right-field line capped a four-run fourth inning to put the Pirates ahead 8-0 and chased starter Drew Rom, who was making his major-league debut. Palacios capped the scoring with a two-run double in the eighth.

Palacios also made a nice sliding catch of Jose Fermin’s line drive in left field to end the game.

Monday marked the first time Palacios faced his brother, Cardinals infielder/outfielder Richie Palacios, in the major leagues. Richie had a pinch-hit single in the ninth.

The brothers were winter ball teammates in Puerto Rico with Mayaguez after last season and played together for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic in March.

“We’ll definitely remember that forever,” Joshua Palacios said. “Today was like a bucket list thing. We always wanted to play against each other in the big leagues. It was a blessing that it happened. It’s a very competitive household. I had to set the tone today.”

Palacios, who grew up in Brooklyn, estimated he had 45-50 family members in the stands.

“Thank God this wasn’t New York City, or I might have gone broke,” Palacios said with a smile.

The Cardinals remained in fifth place in the NL Central, falling 1 1/2 games behind the Pirates. St. Louis hasn’t finished in last place since 1990.

The Pirates and Cardinals met as the bottom two teams in the division for the first time since 1995.

Connor Joe tripled three times and rookie Endy Rodriguez also had three hits for the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen, Palacios and Alika Williams added two hits each as Pittsburgh finished with 16.

Bailey Falter (1-7) allowed one run in six innings of bulk relief for his first win since last Sept. 30 while pitching for Philadelphia against Washington. The left-hander also tied a career high with eight strikeouts.

“Actually, I wasn’t feeling the greatest when I woke up this morning,” Falter said. “So, I was just trying my hardest to grind through the whole entire game or whenever they took the ball out of my hand.”

Thomas Hatch worked three scoreless innings as the opener for Pittsburgh, which had lost five of its previous seven games. Andrew Knizner’s leadoff homer in the fifth inning, the backup catcher’s 10th of the season, accounted for the Cardinals’ lone run.

Rom (0-1) was recalled from Triple-A Memphis prior to the game, less than three weeks after being acquired from Baltimore in a trade for pitcher Jack Flaherty. The 23-year-old was tagged for eight runs – six earned – and eight hits in 3 2/3 inning.

Rom started twice for Memphis and won both times with a 1.64 ERA.

“I kind of let the game speed up a little bit on me,” Rom said. “It was just me trying to do too much with what I’ve got. I should’ve kept the same mentality I had in Memphis, just keep it nice and crisp and smooth and easy.”

The Pirates scored two runs off Rom in the first inning, both unearned because of a two-out error by Fermin, the second baseman. Rodriguez drove in the first run with an infield single and Joe scored on a wild pitch.

Liover Peguero’s two-run single in the third pushed the Pirates’ lead to 4-0. Joe hit an RBI double an inning later and Palacios followed with his fifth longball.

Williams doubled in the Pirates’ final run in the eighth inning. Cardinals center fielder Tommy Edman then saved two runs by slamming into the fence to catch Alfonso Rivas’ two-out drive despite St. Louis trailing by 10 runs.