AAA: Pennsylvania Gas Prices Jump Ahead of Memorial Day Weekend
The average price of gasoline across Western Pennsylvania is 16 cents higher this week at $2.265 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

On the week, Pennsylvania (+8 cents) saw the largest increase among Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states and saw the second biggest jump of all states in the country. Otherwise states in the region saw mostly increases of a few pennies, but no more than a nickel. State averages range between $1.71 in North Carolina to $2.17 in Washington, D.C. In addition to Washington, D.C., New York ($2.15) and Pennsylvania ($2.14) carry the most expensive averages in the region and land among the top 10 highest in the country.

While gasoline stocks saw a slight increase, to push total inventory to nearly 71 million barrels, regional refinery rates dropped just below 50%. As more states in the region move towards opening, which is likely to increase gasoline demand, motorists can expect gas prices to increase, but still remain cheap compared to typical May pump prices.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                  $2.265
Average price during the week of May 11, 2020                                         $2.106
Average price during the week of May 20, 2019                                         $3.068

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

$2.258      Altoona
$2.264      Beaver
$2.264      Bradford
$2.248      Brookville
$2.263      Butler
$2.211      Clarion
$2.224      Du Bois
$2.265      Erie
$2.261      Greensburg
$2.284      Indiana
$2.258      Jeannette
$2.273      Kittanning
$2.259      Latrobe
$2.281      Meadville
$2.296      Mercer
$2.180      New Castle
$2.279      New Kensington
$2.299      Oil City
$2.270      Pittsburgh
$2.299      Sharon
$2.278      Uniontown
$2.295      Warren
$2.295      Washington

On the National Front
Pump prices continue to increase across the country with nearly every state’s average pushing more expensive on the week, on average by four cents. At the start of the Memorial Day work week, the national gas price average is $1.87.

The last time the national gas price average leading into the holiday was under $2/gallon was 17 years ago in 2003. That year motorists paid, on average, $1.50 to fill-up. Gas prices this year won’t be as cheap as 2003, but today’s national average is a dollar cheaper than one year ago. While Memorial Day gas prices are likely to remain this cheap, this year’s unofficial kick-off to summer is not going to drive the typical millions of Americans to travel as the country continues to practice social distancing.

Americans can expect gas prices to continue to push more expensive, possibly hitting $2/gallon in the next few weeks. This is mostly due to demand increasing as states re-open. This week will also bring the Environmental Protection Agency’s waiver on the sale of winter-blend gasoline to an end. Stations will switch over to summer-blend gasoline, which is more expensive to produce. Typically, the switchover to summer-blend can cause gas prices to spike during the summer driving season, but that will likely not be the case this year due to the impact of COVID-19 on demand and crude oil prices.

At the end of Friday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by $1.87 cents to settle at $29.43 per barrel. Crude prices increased last week amid growing market optimism that crude demand continues to rebound as more states re-open and demand for gasoline has grown in recent weeks.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 78 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members.  News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Rescue crews in western Pennsylvania are searching for a man who fell into the Ohio River while fishing near Pittsburgh over the weekend. Ohio Township police said 23-year-old Kenneth Robinson had been fishing with three friends from a boat dock on Neville Island when he fell into the water Saturday night. Swift water rescue crews and search dogs have been taking part along with township police and emergency medical personnel.

Ken Osmond, Eddie Haskell on ‘Leave It to Beaver,’ dies
By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ken Osmond, who played the two-faced teenage scoundrel Eddie Haskell on TV’s “Leave it to Beaver,” has died. Osmond’s family says he died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 76. A child actor from Glendale, California, Osmond in 1957 landed the role of Eddie, the scheming teen on the classic family sitcom that ran until 1963. Tony Dow, who played Eddie’s best friend Wally Cleaver on the show, says Osmond created a character that will last forever. Osmond gave up acting and become a police officer before reviving the Eddie role in 1980s revivals of “Leave It to Beaver.”

At a press conference at their Beaver barracks on Monday morning, Pennsylvania State Police provided further details in regard to the homicide and subsequent arrest that took place this weekend in Aliquippa. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has further details:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At a press conference late Monday morning, Governor Tom Wolf gave praise to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, more widely known as PEMA, for their efforts during the pandemic:

 

(Audio Courtesy Commonwealth Media Services)

Department of Health Provides Update on COVID-19, 822 Positives Bring Statewide Total to 63,056

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Health today confirmed as of 12:00 a.m., May 18, that there are 822 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 63,056. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have cases of COVID-19.

There are 4,505 total deaths attributed to COVID-19, an increase of 87 new deaths. County-specific information and a statewide map are available here.

“As counties move from red to yellow, we need all Pennsylvanians to continue to follow the social distancing and mitigation efforts in place,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “We must continue to protect our most vulnerable Pennsylvanians, which includes our seniors, those with underlying health issues, our healthcare workers and our first responders. I am proud of the work that Pennsylvanians have done so far, but we cannot stop now, we must continue to take the necessary steps to protect ourselves from COVID-19.”

Locally in Beaver County we are at 533 positive cases of COVID-19, up 16 from yesterday. 2,781 people have tested Negative and the county is at 83 deaths.

There are 277,553 patients who have tested negative to date. Of the patients who have tested positive to date the age breakdown is as follows:

• Nearly 1% are ages 0-4;
• Nearly 1% are ages 5-12;
• Nearly 2% are ages 13-18;
• Nearly 6% are ages 19-24;
• Nearly 37% are ages 25-49;
• Nearly 26% are ages 50-64; and
• Nearly 29% are ages 65 or older.

Most of the patients hospitalized are ages 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred in patients 65 or older. More data is available here.

In nursing and personal care homes, there are 13,626 resident cases of COVID-19, and 2,111 cases among employees, for a total of 15,737 at 561 distinct facilities in 44 counties. Out of our total deaths, 3,086 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities. A county breakdown can be found here.

Approximately 4,479 of our total cases are in health care workers.

VALENCIA, Pa. (AP) — Police say a second woman has died of injuries stemming from the crash of a car into a convenience store in western Pennsylvania over the weekend. Officer Conrad Pfeifer of the Middlesex Township police department says 36-year-old Patricia Collins, who was a back seat passenger, was pronounced dead shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday at UPMC Presbyterian. Thirty-nine-year-old Kimberly Young, the front seat passenger, died at the scene of the crash into the Co’Go’s early Sunday. The 37-year-old driver was taken to UPMC Mercy in Pittsburgh with injuries described as moderate. Police say alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the crash.

Florida Keys will reopen to visitors June 1 amid pandemic
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Keys will reopen to tourists on June 1, more than two months after the island chain closed to visitors to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. The Monroe County Emergency Management said Sunday that checkpoints that barred visitors from coming into the Florida Keys will be removed next month. The statement says hotels and other lodging establishments will also be allowed to reopen at 50% occupancy. Businesses must implement sanitation stations and follow the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s cleaning guidelines for COVID-19. The Florida Keys have been closed to non-visitors since March 22.

Tropical Storm Arthur crawls closer to North Carolina coast
MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Arthur is crawling closer to the North Carolina coast, amid threats of some minor flooding and rough seas as the system moves off the Southeast seaboard. Arthur formed Saturday off Florida, marking the sixth straight year a named storm has developed before the official June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season.The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a tropical storm warning for North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Sunday. At 2 a.m. EDT Monday, the storm’s center was located about 185 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Arthur had top sustained winds of 45 mph as it moved north-northeast.

MIAMI (AP) — Life-threatening surf and rip currents will spread along U.S. East coast beaches in the days ahead as Tropical Storm Arthur kicks up ocean swells offshore, the National Hurricane Center warned on Monday.
It’s another early start for the Atlantic hurricane season: Arthur formed Saturday in waters off Florida, marking the sixth straight year that a named storm has developed before June 1.
The Hurricane Center said Arthur is expected to move near or just east of the coast of North Carolina, where up to 5 inches of rain was expected in spots Monday before turning away from the East Coast Tuesday.
At 5 a.m. EDT, the storm’s center was located about 85 miles (135 kilometers) south-southwest of Morehead City, North Carolina. Arthur had top sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving to the north-northeast at 14 mph (22 kph).
A tropical storm warning was issued for parts of North Carolina’s coast, from Surf City to Duck, including Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, and heavy rainfall is expected for much of the eastern part of the state, said Michael Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Newport, North Carolina.
“But the main threat that we’re really trying to get out there is that there is enhanced risk for dangerous rip currents both today and tomorrow. So, any folks who want to try to go to the beach and get in the water, we have a high risk out for most of our beaches,” Lee said.
The weather service said eastern North Carolina should prepare for some localized flooding and dangerous marine conditions along the coast.
“Minor inundation from storm surge is possible for very low-lying areas adjacent to the ocean, sounds, and rivers, with overwash of dunes and flooding of properties and roadways possible for locations where dune structures are weak,” mainly north of Cape Lookout, the weather service said.
While there may be a component of warming waters and climate change in other pre-June storms, Arthur is more of a subtropical storm system than a traditional named storm and its water is cooler than what’s usually needed for storm formation, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
A lot of these out-of-season storms are weak fleeting ones that meteorologists can see now because of satellites and better technology and would have been missed in earlier times, Klotzbach said.
Local forecasters in the Bahamas said showers have lingered over the islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco, which are still struggling to recover after being hit by a Category 5 hurricane last year. Patients are being cared for in tents in Grand Bahama after Hurricane Dorian damaged the island’s hospital.
___
Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.