DEP Launches Expanded Online Permitting Options to Assist Businesses 

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today announced a new online permit application tool that will help permit applicants submit their permit applications electronically. The new tool, OnBase-DEP Upload Form, will allow applicants to submit applications for all DEP authorizations.

“Online permit applications will allow for faster processing and more focus on parts of the permit application that relate to the environment and public health,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “Paper applications will still be accepted, but applicants are strongly encouraged to use this new electronic permit application submission tool to improve the efficiency of the permit application submission and review processes as DEP employees continue to telework to help control the spread of COVID-19.”

DEP had previously developed several online permit applications in its e-Permitting system under the Wolf administration and has reduced the backlog of permits under review by nearly 90 percent. Payment for application fees is not a part of the tool, and applicants will still need to submit payment under separate cover. Applications for permits that are included in DEP’s e-Permitting system should only be submitted in the e-Permitting system.

“As we begin to recover from the impacts that COVID-19 has had on Pennsylvania, improving the permit application process will help businesses get back on their feet and people back to work,” said McDonnell. “Electronic permitting is an important new tool for applications, and will continue to allow DEP staff still under telework orders to efficiently review applications.”

Benefits of the online tool include:

• Lower costs for DEP and applicants – no paper and mailing envelopes
• Better efficiency for DEP staff; applications can more easily be moved between staff to prevent backlog
• Allows DEP staff to continue to process applications without going into an office, ensuring continued operations through pandemic conditions

“These applications will still be scrutinized for impacts to the environment and public health – but we can cut down on needless back and forth letters between DEP and applicants over missing information or incorrectly submitted applications,” said McDonnell.

Guidance for the new permit application tool can be found here.
Instructions for applicants to submit permit fees can be found here.

More information on the online permitting tool can be found here: https://www.dep.pa.gov/DataandTools/Pages/Application-Form-Upload.aspx

2 dead, 7 wounded in shooting at North Carolina block party
By SARAH BLAKE MORGAN Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Police say two people were killed and seven others were wounded early Monday when multiple people fired into a crowd at an impromptu celebration in North Carolina. Five others were hit by vehicles. Police say the shooting happened at an impromptu block party in Charlotte that was a continuation of Juneteenth celebrations. About 400 people were gathered when someone in the crowd was struck during a hit-and-run accident, prompting the arrival of an ambulance and first responders. Police heard shots fired when they arrived. No motive was immediately clear, and no one was in custody by late Monday morning.

Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano

(Aliquippa, Pa.) On Saturday June 22, 2020 Aliquippa Fire Crews were called to assist Verizon with traffic control at Kiehl Street and Highland Avenue and for a cracked pole that fell  on power lines. The fire department closed the road until Verizon were able to make repairs.

Existing home sale plunge 9.7% in 3rd straight monthly drop
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — US existing home sales plunged 9.7% in May. It was the third straight monthly decline and further evidence of the harm the virus pandemic has done to the housing market. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that the  May decline pushed sales down to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of  3.91 million, the slowest pace since a home buyers tax credit expired in October 2010. Sales were down in all parts of the country with the biggest decline coming in the Northeast.

PITTSBURGH, Pa (June 22, 2020) – Physicians from Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) in Pittsburgh, part of Allegheny Health Network (AHN), are among the first in the country to document a potential association between the onset of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The case study was just published in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Neuromuscular Disease.

GBS is a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the myelin sheath of the peripheral nervous system, which significantly interrupts signal transmission to the brain.  Roughly two thirds of patients with GBS contract the illness shortly after a severe viral, respiratory or bacterial infection.

“Although the number of documented cases internationally is notably small to date, it’s not completely surprising that a COVID-19 diagnosis may lead to a patient developing GBS. In fact, similar connections were made during the 2016 Zika virus outbreak,” said Sandeep Rana, MD, neurologist at AGH and lead author of the case study. “The increase of inflammation and inflammatory cells caused by the infection may trigger an irregular immune response that leads to the hallmark symptoms of this neurological disorder.”

Patients diagnosed with GBS will experience progressive, ascending, symmetrical paralysis of the arms and legs, with or without cranial nerve involvement. For many, the disorder initially presents itself with tingling or numbness in the lower portion of the body and advances upward, with muscles losing complete ability to respond to stimuli.  In extremely severe cases, patients may progress to total paralysis.

According to a case study published in April in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, COVID-19 stimulates inflammatory cells and produces various inflammatory proteins or “cytokines” and as a result, creates immune-mediated processes. Since GBS is an immune-mediated disorder, the molecular imitation of the body’s response may play a critical factor.

In “Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Associated Guillain-Barré Syndrome: Case Report,” (doi: 10.1097/CND.0000000000000309) a 54-year-old man was transferred to AGH with ascending limb weakness and numbness that followed symptoms of a severe respiratory infection. Upon arrival, clinicians noted areflexia and further diagnostic testing showed he was positive for COVID-19.

He was started on a five-day regimen of intravenous immunoglobulin for a presumed diagnosis of GBS. However, he continued to progress and experienced complications of elevated heart rate at rest, double vision and burning sensation throughout the body.

During his follow-up neurological examination he was noted to have profound weakness in his legs, moderated weakness in his arms and facial muscles as well as minor weakness in his muscles that control eye movement.

“The electrical abnormalities of this patient were consistent with demyelinating form of GBS syndrome. As we continue to observe COVID-19 and its manifestations, we’re anticipating that the rate of GBS incidents may be higher than initially expected,” continued Dr. Rana.

A series of similar observations have been made by clinicians at three hospitals in northern Italy in April. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine (DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2009191), “Guillain–Barré Syndrome Associated with SARS-CoV-2,” clinicians examined five patients that developed GBS of an estimated 1,200 cases with COVID-19 infections. Introductory reports of a potential connection were also published in The Lancet from researchers in Wuhan, China (doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(20)30109-5.)

“Since GBS can significantly affect the respiratory system and other vital organs being pushed into overdrive during a COVID-19 immune response, it will be critically important to further investigate and understand this potential connection,” Rana concluded.

For more information on Allegheny General Hospital and the Neuroscience Institute at Allegheny Health Network, visit ahn.org.

WHO reports largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases
By JOSEPH WILSON and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization has reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24 hours. The UN health agency said on Sunday that Brazil led the way with 54,771 cases tallied and the US next at 36,617. Over 15,400 came in in India. Experts say rising case counts can reflect multiple factors including more widespread testing as well as broader infection. Overall in the pandemic, WHO has reported 8,708,008 cases _ 183,020 in the last 24 hours _ with 461,715 deaths worldwide, with a daily increase of 4,743. More than two-thirds of those new deaths were reported in the Americas.

(Mc Connell’s Mill State Park) A Fourth accident this year and the third in the last few weeks happened at Mc Connells Mill State Park on Saturday. A woman was climbing around 3:30 pm when she fell on the Alpha Pass Trail. She was rescued by first responders and parks rangers and flown to a Pittsburgh hospital. It’s being reported that the hiker injured her head and arm.

In May a man fell into Slippery Rock Creek at McConnell’s Mill and his body still has not been found. A couple weeks later a female hiker fell and hurt her head and had to be life-flighted to a Pittsburgh hospital and then in February a female hiker fell from a cliff and had to be rescued. There has not been any update on the women’s condition.

Andrea Sears

HARRISBURG, Pa. — White, evangelical Christians are a major part of President Donald Trump’s political base, but recent polling indicates conflicts between his actions and Christian teachings may be eroding that support.

Evangelical backing for Trump is largely grounded in his promises to ban abortion and ensure religious freedom.

But his own behavior often runs counter to what many consider to be core Christian values — opposition to extramarital affairs and dishonesty, and policies that negatively affect immigrants, the poor and the environment.

Ron Sider, founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, points out that the National Association of Evangelicals says civic engagement must have a “biblically balanced agenda.”

“That large evangelical network is saying you have to be concerned with all of those issues,” he stresses. “And, of course, we also have to look at the character of the candidates.”

Recent polls by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and Pew Research Center have found decreases in support for Trump among white evangelicals since March of this year.

Sider notes there also has been a decrease in the number of Americans who identify themselves as evangelical, especially among young people.

“There’s no doubt but that large numbers of young evangelicals are abandoning the evangelical church in droves, some of them even abandoning Christianity,” he states.

Robert Jones, who heads PRRI, says the share of the American population that is white and evangelical has fallen by two percentage points, to 15%, since 2016.

Sider contends evangelicals need to avoid letting one or two issues override all the other values that are at the heart of their faith.

“This brings spiritual danger — not only to the future of American democracy, but even more to societal respect for Christianity, and even the person white evangelicals claim to worship and obey,” he points out.

Sider says the message in his recent book of essays by 30 evangelicals, entitled “The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump,” isn’t to tell people how they should vote, but that they should apply a full range of biblical principles to this and every election.