AN ALIQUIPPA POLICE OFFICER WAS COMMENDED LAST WEEK. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

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A LANDSLIDE IS REPORTED ON AN ALIQUIPPA STREET. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

TWO VETERAN POLITICIANS HAVE TEAMED UP TO SEEK THEIR PARTY’S NOMINATION FOR BEAVER COUNTY COMMISSIONER. DEMOCRATS TONY AMADIO AND DENNIS NICHOLS ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK THEIR INTENT TO RUN AS A TEAM FOR COMMISSIONER. AMADIO IS THE CURRENT MINORITY COMMISSIONER AND IS SEEKING HIS FOURTH TERM ON THE BOARD. NICHOLS SERVED ONE TERM ON THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FROM 2012 TO 2016 AS A REPUBLICAN MINORITY COMMISSIONER. AFTER LOSING IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY TO CURRENT COMMISSIONERS DAN CAMP AND SANDIE EGLEY, NICHOLS CHANGED PARTY AFFILIATION.

THE NEW RESOURCES FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DRUG-AND ALCOHOL-TREATMENT FACILITY IN OHIOVILLE IS SET TO OPEN. THE COUNTY-FUNDED ADDICTION TREATMENT FACILITY IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN TAKING PATIENTS SOON. THE FACILITY WILL OFFER SHORT-AND-LONG TERM OPTIONS FOR THOSE DEALING WITH ADDICTION.

Welcome to Beaver County Memories, a look back at the people, places and events that have made Beaver County a special place, presented by St. Barnabas Beaver Meadows. In this first segment about Beaver County musicians, you might feel the need to sing along as we highlight some of the musical groups and performers that have called Beaver County Home.

From his home is West Aliquippa, it is theorized, that Henry Mancini had a good view of the Ohio River, and at night, the young Mancini, at the time, sat outside and observed the beauty of the moon and stars in the sky and the light that they cast reflecting off of the tranquil waterway below. This was believed to be Mancini’s inspiration for “Moon River”, one of many award winning songs that Henry Mancini would compose throughout his prolific career. Enrico Nicola Mancini, or Henry Mancini as we know him, enjoyed great success as a composer, arranger and conductor and also performed as a solo artist. His most well known work was writing the musical scores for hundreds of movies and television shows. In addition to the aforementioned “Moon River”, a song from the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, other very familiar tunes penned by Mancini would include the Peter Gunn television series theme and music from the movie The Pink Panther.

Not long after Henry Mancini had written about the celestial beauty of his backyard, a set of twins, also from Aliquippa, began to write music that would eventually be heard over the radios and record players everywhere. Melvin and Mervin Steals were in their early twenties when they got the attention of a record producer at Gamble Records in Philadelphia. This led to the Steals brothers contributing a couple of songs to an introductory album being recorded by another Beaver County band in 1968 called The Jaggerz. One of those tunes, “Gotta Find My Way Back Home”, became a fairly well known song and the first small bit of fame and fortune for both the Jaggerz and the Steals brothers. In 1973, Melvin penned the words and Mervin wrote the music to “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love”, a hit song that was recorded by legendary motown group, The Spinners. The song sold over three million copies and continues to receive significant airplay and has been covered and re released by dozens of other artists through the years. Through they moved on to other careers, To date, the duo of songwriting twins from Aliquippa have written around twenty five songs that continue to receive airplay and produce royalty checks.

The Jaggerz, who we mentioned earlier, had roots in Beaver County as well. The original line up was made up of prominent local musicians including Jimmy Ross, Donnie Iris, Bill Maybray, Jim Pugliano, Benny Faiella and Thom Davies. The group hit it big in 1970 with the release of a song from their second album that went to number two on the billboard charts that year called “The Rapper”. In all, The Jaggerz have had eleven nationally released songs, with three of them reaching the top one hundred according to Billboard Magazine. The Jaggerz continue to perform in the Beaver County area many times a year with original members, Ross and Failla joined by Hermie Granati, Paul Martello, Chris Patarini and Dennis McAbee to make up the present day version of the band.

Another family act from Aliquippa had significant success in the late sixties and early seventies. The Stringfield family put together a group called The El Pooks that performed with a similar style, energy and talent level likened to the Jackson 5 or Sly and The Family Stone. In 1970, The El Pooks recorded “Psychedelic Soul, Parts I and II” at Orivious Records in Ambridge. The song became a region wide favorite and copies of the original vinyl record are still a highly sought after item in online auction sites. The pinnacle of the El Pooks career happened when they at one point in time performed as the opening act for the Temptations.

This has been part one of Beaver County Musicians, part of Beaver County Memories, presented by St. Barnabas Beaver Meadows. In Part 2, we will shine the memory spotlight on other great musicians who first performed right here in Beaver County. Tune in everyday for a another memory on Beaver County Radio, or visit beavercountyradio.com for a complete transcript of this and other archived editions of Beaver County Memories.

TODAY IS MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY…AND LINCOLN PARK in Midland IS CELEBRATING. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 21ST, 2019

 

*** WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON FOR BEAVER COUNTY… WIND CHILLS FROM 10 TO 20 BELOW ZERO…. COULD CAUSE FROSTBITE ON EXPOSED SKIN IN AS LITTLE AS 30 MINUTES. A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT FROSTBITE AND HYPOTHERMIA CAN OCCUR IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. ***

TODAY – CLOUDY SKIES WITH A FEW SNOW SHOWERS THIS
AFTERNOON. VERY COLD. HIGH – 15.

TONIGHT – PARTLY CLOUDY. VERY COLD. LOW AROUND 0.

TUESDAY – MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGH – 34.

Trump plans ‘major announcement’ on border, longest shutdown
By JILL COLVIN, LISA MASCARO, ZEKE MILLER and CATHERINE LUCEY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’ll be making a “major announcement” on the government shutdown and the southern border on Saturday afternoon as the standstill over his border wall continues into its fifth week.
Democrats are now proposing hundreds of millions of dollars for new immigration judges and improvements to ports of entry from Mexico but nothing for the wall, a House aide said, as the party begins fleshing out its vision of improving border security.
After days of bitter clashes between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it was unclear if the twin developments represented serious steps toward resolving the nasty partisan fight or posturing. But they were the first tangible signs of movement in a dispute that has caused a partial government shutdown, which Saturday was entering its record 29th day.
Trump’s refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion he wants to start constructing that wall, which Democrats oppose, has prompted the shutdown.
The White House declined to provide details late Friday about what the president would be announcing. But Trump was not expected to sign the national emergency declaration he’s been threatening as an option to circumvent Congress, according to two people familiar with the planning.
Instead, Trump was expected to propose the outlines of a new deal that the administration believes could potentially pave the way to an end to the shutdown, according to one of the people. They were not authorized to discuss the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The move, amid a shutdown that has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks, represents the first major overture by the president since Jan. 8, when he delivered an Oval Office address making the public case for his border wall. Democrats have said they will not negotiate until the government reopens, raising questions about how Trump might move the ball forward.
Democrats were proposing $563 million to hire 75 more immigration judges, who currently face large backlogs processing cases, and $524 million to improve ports of entry in Calexico, California, and San Luis, Arizona, the Democratic House aide said. The money is to be added to spending bills, largely negotiated between the House and Senate, that the House plans to vote on next week.
In addition, Democrats were working toward adding money for more border security personnel and for sensors and other technology to a separate bill financing the Department of Homeland Security, but no funds for a wall or other physical barriers, the aide said.
It was possible Democrats would unveil that measure next week as the cornerstone of their border security alternative to Trump’s wall, the aide said. Earlier Friday, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., who chairs the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subcommittee, said in an interview that some Democrats were asking leaders, “What is our plan?”
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the details publicly. The Democrats’ spending plans were first reported by The New York Times.
In a video posted on his Twitter feed late Friday, Trump said both sides should “take the politics out of it” and “get to work” to “make a deal.” But he also repeated his warnings, saying: “We have to secure our southern border. If we don’t do that, we’re a very, very sad and foolish lot.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said only that Trump was “going to continue fighting for border security” and “going to continue looking for the solution” to end what the administration had repeatedly referred to as a “humanitarian and national security crisis at the border.”
While few would argue that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the demand for entry by migrants and the Trump administration’s hardline response overwhelm border resources, critics say Trump has dramatically exaggerated the security risks and argue that a wall would do little to solve existing problems.
Trump will be speaking from the Diplomatic Room at 3 p.m.
Trump’s Friday evening tweeted announcement came after Pelosi, D-Calif., on Friday canceled her plans to travel by commercial plane to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying Trump had caused a security risk by talking about the trip. The White House said there was no such leak.
It was the latest turn — and potentially the most dangerous — in the high-stakes brinkmanship between Trump and Pelosi that has been playing out against the stalled negotiations over how to end the partial government shutdown.
And it showed once again the willingness of the former hard-charging businessman to hit hard when challenged, as he was earlier this week when Pelosi suggested postponing his State of the Union address until after the shutdown.
It was an unusually combative week between the executive and legislative branches.
Tensions flared when Pelosi suggested Trump postpone the annual State of the Union address, a grand Washington tradition — and a platform for his border wall fight with Democrats — that was tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29.
Trump never responded directly. Instead, he abruptly canceled Pelosi’s military flight on Thursday, hours before she and a congressional delegation were to depart for Afghanistan on the previously undisclosed visit to U.S. troops.
Trump belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he had just made a similar stop in a conflict zone during the shutdown — and said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate to reopen the government.
Pelosi, undeterred, quietly began making her own preparations for the overseas trip.
But on Friday, Pelosi said her plan to travel by commercial plane had been “leaked” by the White House.
“The administration leaked that we were traveling commercially,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol. She said it was “very irresponsible on the part of the president.”
She said the State Department told her “the president outing” the original trip made the scene on the ground in Afghanistan “more dangerous because it’s a signal to the bad actors that we’re coming.”
The White House said it had leaked nothing that would cause a security risk.
Denying military aircraft to a senior lawmaker — let alone the speaker, who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, traveling to a combat region — is very rare.
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California slammed Trump for revealing the closely held travel plan, calling it “completely and utterly irresponsible in every way.”
Some Republicans expressed frustration. Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted, “One sophomoric response does not deserve another.” He called Pelosi’s State of the Union move “very irresponsible and blatantly political” but said Trump’s reaction was “also inappropriate.”
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For AP’s complete coverage of the U.S. government shutdown: https://apnews.com/GovernmentShutdown
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Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann, Kevin Freking, Jon Lemire, Matthew Daly, Andy Taylor, Mary Clare Jalonick, Matt Lee, Lolita C. Baldor and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

Pennsylvania jobless rate stable as payrolls hit record high
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate stayed the same in December, at close to a two-decade low, although payrolls still jumped to a new record high.
The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 4.2 percent last month.
The national rate is 3.9 percent.
A survey of households found Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force grew by 21,000. Employment rose by 16,000 to a new record of nearly 6.2 million, while unemployment also rose by 5,000 to 274,000.
A separate survey of employers showed seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls rose by 13,200 in December. Education and health services and the leisure and hospitality sector grew by the biggest numbers. Manufacturing crept higher, as construction and the trade, transportation and utility sectors shrank.
Friday’s figures are preliminary and could change.