(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

At the weekly work session, Commissioner Dan Camp announced that Beaver County, the Board of Commissioners, and the accounting firms sanctioned by the County will begin to work on the first phase of distributing the $14.8 million CARES Act funding granted due to the national (and statewide) COVID-19 outbreak.

“The first phase of the funding will be [for] municipalities and non-governmental grants,” Camp said. “Non-governmental grants include small businesses, non-profits that are 501c3 & 501c19.”

Camp noted that the application period for Phase 1 funding will be from August 10 through August 24, and that applications can be taken care of online.

Commissioner Tony Amadio and Assistant Solicitor Nathan Morgan were not present at the work session, either in person or via phone. No comments were made on their absence.

The next work session is August 12 at 10 AM.

2 tornadoes confirmed in Pennsylvania during storm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that tornadoes touched down in Bucks and Montgomery counties during Tuesday’s storm. The weather service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey said more details would be provided later such as the strength and exact location of the storms, which were among six that struck the region. Tornadoes also touched down in Ocean and Cape May counties in New Jersey, Kent and New Castle Counties in Delaware and Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. Regional rail service was suspended Wednesday in Philadelphia after the storm raised the Schuylkill River and sent an unsecured construction barge into a bridge.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that tornadoes touched down in Bucks and Montgomery counties during Tuesday’s storm.
The weather service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey said more details would be provided later such as the strength and exact location of the storms, which were among six that struck the region. Tornadoes also touched down in Ocean and Cape May counties in New Jersey, Kent and New Castle Counties in Delaware and Queen Anne’s County, Maryland.
In Bucks County on Tuesday, high winds partially tore the roof off a day care center on the grounds of a suburban Philadelphia hospital, injuring four children. Bucks County government officials said in a Twitter post that high winds around Doylestown Hospital partially tore the roof off the day care center at Children’s Village, a private preschool on the hospital grounds, and overturned and moved around vehicles in the parking lot.
Doylestown Health said four children and some staff members were treated for minor injuries, and all of the children were moved to a local middle school to reunite with family.
Regional rail service was suspended Wednesday in Philadelphia after the storm raised the Schuylkill River and sent an unsecured construction barge into a bridge. The barge came to a rest against the Vine Street Expressway Bridge. Inspectors were checking for damage.
The bridge is upstream from a SEPTA rail bridge at 30th Street. The commuter bus and rail agency said is suspended all regional rail service out of an abundance of caution until the barge was secured or crossed under the bridge. Interstate 676, which crosses the bridge, also was closed in both directions.

 MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — TSA officers at Pittsburgh International Airport stopped a Connellsville man from taking a loaded handgun onto an airplane at Pittsburgh International Airport yesterday.

The man told TSA officers he forgot he had a .380 caliber handgun with him when he was stopped at the checkpoint. A TSA officer who was working at a checkpoint X-ray machine’s monitor spotted the weapon was in the man’s carry-on bag.

Allegheny County police confiscated the weapon after they were contacted by the TSA. So Far this year there have been nine guns that have been confiscated at Pittsburgh International Checkpoints.

McClain Road Culvert Replacement Underway in Chippewa Township

 Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing culvert replacement work is underway on McClain Road in Chippewa Township.

The work is requiring the closure of McClain Road between Route 251 and Elmbrook Road around-the-clock through mid-September. Additional work includes pavement restoration and guide rail installation. Through traffic will be detoured via Elmbrook Road and Route 251.

Motorists are advised to use caution. Work zone safety is everyone’s responsibility.

(Beaver, Pa.) Penn State Ext. in Beaver is reminding you that Canning season is just around the corner, and now is the time to check your dial gauge pressure canner!  Accurate pressure is critical for safe processing of low acid foods such as green beans, beets, corn, potatoes, soups, and meats. If the pressure reading on your gauge is not accurate, bacteria and spores, which can cause illness or death, may not be killed. It’s important to have the pressure gauge tested each year.

Although the office is closed to the public at this time, The Extension is happy to offer no-contact dial gauge pressure canner testing by appointment only on Friday, Aug. 7 from 9 am to 4 pm at the Penn State Extension office in Beaver.  Call Mary Alice Gettings at 724-371-2067 to make an appointment.  The testing is available at no charge and you only need to bring the canner lid with the gauge. Weighted gauge canner lids do not need to be tested. At the time of your appointment, you will place your pressure gauge/lid in a bin outside the back door of the office.  While you wait in your car, Mary Alice will retrieve your pressure gauge/lid, test it, place it back in the bin, and call you when testing is complete to discuss the results.

Penn State Extension’s Let’s Preserve series of fact sheets can be found at https://extension.psu.edu/food-safety-and-quality/home-food-safety/lets-preserve

For webinars, articles, and videos check out https://extension.psu.edu/food-safety-and-quality/home-food-safety/food-preservation.

Gov. Wolf to Nominate Noe Ortega to Serve as Education Secretary

Harrisburg, PA — Governor Tom Wolf announced today his intention to nominate current Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Deputy Secretary of Postsecondary and Higher Education Noe Ortega to serve as the next Secretary of Education. Ortega will replace Pedro Rivera, who will continue to serve as Secretary until he becomes President of Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology on Oct. 1, 2020.

“Noe Ortega has a proven record of advocating for equity and access for all students,” said Gov. Wolf. “Recently, Noe has been spearheading Pennsylvania’s efforts to diversify our educator pipeline to make our classrooms better reflect the students we educate, and his expertise will continue to advance the department’s mission of ensuring Pennsylvania’s learners have access to the educational opportunities that will help them succeed.”

Before joining PDE in 2017, Ortega spent eight years at the University of Michigan (U-M), where he held several academic and administrative roles, including working as the Assistant Director and Senior Research Associate at the National Center for Institutional Diversity and as the Managing Director for the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good. Ortega also spent nearly a decade working in the areas of financial aid and enrollment management at both public and private universities in Texas and served as a P-16 Specialist for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. He also spent nearly seven years as director of a language institute in Japan where he trained teachers in the area of early childhood language acquisition.

“Under Pedro Rivera’s leadership Pennsylvania adopted the landmark basic education funding formula, the Future Ready PA Index, an innovative school measuring tool for communities to more easily evaluate how their schools are performing, and implemented a school improvement strategy to provide struggling schools with resources and guidance to help them develop plans responsive to local conditions and needs,” said Gov. Wolf. “His leadership has been critical during the commonwealth’s response to COVID-19 and the relationships he cultivated with education stakeholders during his tenure have strengthened the ties between state and local partners and allowed local schools to inform state education policy.”

HARRISBURG – Attorney General Josh Shapiro today permanently shut down Equitable Acceptance’s efforts to operate in Pennsylvania, and is requiring the company to cancel nearly $200,000 in debt for its former Commonwealth customers.Rather than helping customers who had already been scammed by debt relief companies, Equitable Acceptance capitalized on an already predatory industry and charged unacceptably high interest rates.

“Equitable Acceptance scammed people who were simply trying to pay down their student loans and today we’ve kicked them out of Pennsylvania and canceled hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for Pennsylvanians,” said Attorney General Shapiro. “Student loan debt is a huge burden for far too many in our Commonwealth, which is why we’re fighting for borrowers everyday. When companies like Equitable Acceptance come along, prey on Pennsylvanians and try to rip them off with high-interest pay-back schemes, we will hold them accountable.”

Equitable Acceptance provided financing to borrowers to pay debt relief companies to enroll them in student loan repayment programs offered through the US Department of Education, including income-driven repayment (IDR) plans such as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.  Despite the fact that consumers can enroll in IDR and PSLF for free, these debt relief companies charged consumers on average more than $1,300 in fees for their services.  Equitable Acceptance then charged these borrowers interest rates ranging from 17.99% to 20.99% for the financing.  Even worse, some of these student loan debt relief companies were scams that took advantage of borrowers and failed to provide any of the services as advertised.

Tackling the abuses in the student loan industry has been a top priority for Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who has taken action against for profit schools, student loan servicers and bogus student loan debt relief companies.  Since taking office in 2017, Attorney General Shapiro has secured more than $50 million in debt cancellation for student borrowers in Pennsylvania. The Attorney General sued and shut down a student loan debt relief scam, Student Loan Relief, LLC. He has also sued the U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, for her unlawful attempts to rescind rules to protect student loan borrowers. In the case of the Borrower Defense to Repayment rule, the Attorney General obtained a nationwide injunction in 2018, which made millions of borrowers who were defrauded by for-profit colleges eligible for cancellation of their federal loans.

Just last week, the Attorney General won a major victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which allowed his lawsuit against Navient Solutions, the second-largest student loan servicer, to proceed toward trial.
On June 30, the Office also announced a partnership with Summer, an organization helping borrowers with navigating student debt, to provide free student loan assistance to all Pennsylvanians.

“I also want to remind borrowers who are paying back student loans that there’s no need to pay companies to enroll you in any income-driven repayment plans offered by the U.S. Department of Education,” concluded Attorney General Shapiro. “Instead, interested Pennsylvanians should apply for these services, for free, at meetsummer.org/pa, studentloans.gov, or by calling the company that services their student loans.”

The settlement was filed in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas by Senior Deputy Attorney General Amy L. Schulman of the Pittsburgh Regional Office.