Buses pose particular challenge for schools’ pandemic plans
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania schools are working on how they will safely transport students this fall, but one idea that won’t be part of the plan is to install plastic barriers around school bus drivers. The state Transportation Department rejected that idea recently, saying there wasn’t evidence it’ll make anyone safer. But a bus trade group spokesperson says the idea was to protect drivers, many of whom are older people at risk of serious illness. The challenge of getting students to school without putting them at heightened risk of COVID-19 infection could involve staggered schedules, limited ridership and health checks.
Category: News
Video that shows officer with knee on man’s head sparks fury
Video that shows officer with knee on man’s neck sparks fury
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Video posted on social media that shows a Pennsylvania police officer with his knee on a man’s neck trying to restrain him has prompted protests and a demand from the local Black Lives Matter group to suspend the officers involved. The video shot Saturday night from a passerby’s vehicle shows Allentown officers restraining a man on the ground outside a hospital. A protest formed hours later outside the police station, with calls for an investigation. Allentown Police released a statement Sunday night saying the interaction is being investigated and additional videos are being reviewed.
Washington NFL team dropping ‘Redskins’ name after 87 years
Washington NFL team dropping ‘Redskins’ name after 87 years
By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington NFL team is shedding the “Redskins” name effective immediately. The change comes less than two weeks after owner Dan Snyder launched an organizational review amid pressure from sponsors to make a change. A new name for one of football’s oldest franchises must still be selected and it’s unclear how soon that will happen. Native American experts and advocates have long protested the name they call a “dictionary-defined racial slur.” The name dates to 1933 when the team was still based in Boston.
Kelly Preston, Actress and Wife of John Travolta, Dies at 57 Years Old
Kelly Preston, actor and wife of John Travolta, dies at 57
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Kelly Preston has died at age 57. John Travolta, Preston’s husband of 28 years, confirmed late Sunday that his wife had died after a two-year battle with breast cancer. Preston enjoyed a lengthy career in film and television, appearing in “Jerry Maguire,” “Twins” and at times starring with her husband in films like “Battlefield Earth” and “Gotti.” The couple was married in 1991 in Paris after meeting on a film set, and had three children together. They experienced tragedy in 2009 when their son Jett died after a seizure in the Bahamas.
Monaca to Start Automated Garbage Collection Today, Monday July 13, 2020
(File Photo)
Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano
(Monaca, Pa.) Borough manager Mario Leone announced that the automated garbage collection begins today, Monday July 13, 2020. Each household received a 95 gallon wheeled cart for weekly trash collection Excess trash requires a resident to call Waste Management 1-866-4460 to arrange for pickup of the additional items. Payments will need to be made by credit card. Cost of trash bags is $2 each, bulk items such as mattresses and furniture $5 each , white goods such as appliances $10 per item. On Mondays odd address #’s will be picked up beginning at 6 a.m. , Tuesdays even address #’s will have trash pickup All trash bags must be a manageable weight for a one person pickup Please return your cart to to a rear yard storage location, leaving out is an ordinance violation.
Accident in Center Twp. On Saturday Leaves One Injured.
(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.
Arrest Warrant Issued for Aliquippa Man over Domestic Incident.
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..
Feds to execute 1st inmate in 17 years for Arkansas murders
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.
Removing Dams Brings More Shad to the Delaware
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
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.










