One person was taken to the hospital following a crash in Greene Township this morning. The crash happened shortly after 5:30 a.m. along Route 30 in Greene Township. A medical helicopter was brought in to transport the injured person to the hospital. The cause of the crash has not been determined.
WEATHER FORECAST FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 4TH, 2018
TODAY – CLOUDY THIS MORNING WITH PEEKS OF
SUNSHINE THIS AFTERNOON. HIGH – 46.
TONIGHT – RAIN. LOW – 36.
SATURDAY – CHANCE OF A MORNING SHOWER…GIVING
WAY TO MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES FOR THE
AFTERNOON. HIGH – 47.
SUNDAY – SOME MORNING CLOUDS…FOLLOWED BY
AFTERNOON SUNSHINE. HIGH NEAR 40.
Aliquippa native Ty Law has been named as an NFL Hall of Fame Finalist. Also of local interest former Pittsburgh Steelers Alan Faneca made the cut. They will be joined by First-time eligibles Tony Gonzalez, Ed Reed and Champ Bailey . Others on the list include Steve Atwater, Tony Boselli, Isaac Bruce, Don Coryell, Tom Flores, Steve Hutchinson, Edgerrin James, John Lynch, Kevin Mawae (mah-WY’) and Richard Seymour.
Also being considered for induction are senior committee nominee former safety Johnny Robinson , ex-Cowboys GM Gil Brandt and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen.
A maximum of eight new members can be elected, five from the modern-era group.
Law was a standout athlete at Aliquippa high school. His performance earned him a scholarship to the University of Michigan where he stared from 1992-1994. Law entered the NFL draft in 1995 and was drafted 23rd overall by the New England Patriots. Law’s NFL Career lasted for 15 seasons. He played for the Patriots, the Jets twice, the Chiefs, and the Broncos. Law win three Super Bowl titles with the Patriots And is a member of the Pats Hall of Fame.
The big topic on ‘Ask The Commissioners’ this morning was the 2019 budget, which the commissioners adopted last week. The budget was balanced without a tax increase, but the decision wasn’t unanimous. Commissioner Sandie Egley voted against the $210 million budget, as she did its draft earlier this month…and this morning, she explained why:
We’re in the black again in this budget. Egley and Amadio were both asked to talk about that the key factors that made it so that we could operate in the black this year….
Amadio says the county has been able to end each year with a surplus…
The budget included a deferment of $1 million of the county’s subsidy to the Community College of Beaver County. Both Amadio and Egley were asked where that idea came from…
Commissioner Dan Camp was unable to attend ‘Ask The Commissioners’ due to a an appointment.
The budget includes estimations for wage and health-care increases for six of the county’s nine collective-bargaining units. Those negotiations are ongoing and won’t be settled until next year.
There are more than 64-hundred confirmed flu cases across Pennsylvania already this season. The state Department of Health is calling the problem widespread, with confirmed cases in 66 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. The Midstate has about one-thousand confirmed cases itself.
State police investigated fewer crashes but made more drunken-driving arrests over the extended New Year’s weekend compared with last year’s holiday. According to a press release, 406 people statewide were arrested for driving under the influence over the four-day holiday enforcement period of Saturday to Tuesday. That’s an increase of 284 DUI arrests from the holiday weekend last year, which was three days long. Troop D, which includes Beaver, Lawrence, Butler and Mercer counties made 31 DUI arrests and reported 28 crashes.
An Ambridge couple is facing charges after a fight late last month. Chad Price and Rachelle Gruber were charged after the December 26th fight at a home in the first block of Economy Village. Police say they found Price with a bloodied face and Gruber holding their two-year-old son. Price told police Gruber came home drunk and out of control, punching him in the face several times. Gruber told police all the fighting happened while she was holding the child.
AN AMBRIDGE HOUSE FIRE HAS BEEN RULED ACCIDENTAL….AS WE HEAR IN THIS REPORT FROM BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…
WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 3RD, 2019
TODAY – MORNING CLOUDS…THEN SUNSHINE FOR THE
AFTERNOON. HIGH NEAR 40.
TONIGHT – A CLEAR SKY. LOW NEAR 30.
FRIDAY – MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH – 48.
SATURDAY – SOME CLOUDS IN THE MORNING WILL GIVE
WAY TO MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES FOR THE
AFTERNOON. HIGH – 48.
SUNDAY – PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH – 44.
Trump meets Dems, says shutdown ‘could be a long time’
By ZEKE MILLER and LISA MASCARO, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday the partial government shutdown will last “as long as it takes” as closures entered a 12th day over his demands for billions of dollars from Congress to build a border wall with Mexico.
“Could be a long time or could be quickly,” Trump said during lengthy comments at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, his first public appearance of the new year.
The president said his Homeland Security officials will “make a plea” for the border wall during a briefing for congressional leaders later Wednesday at the White House.
But Trump also rejected his own administration’s offer to accept $2.5 billion for the wall. That offer was made when Vice President Mike Pence and other top officials met with Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer at the start of the shutdown. Instead, Trump repeatedly pushed for the $5.6 billion he has demanded.
Trump made his case ahead of the afternoon session with Democratic and Republican leaders about the migrants arriving at the border in recent days. He said the current border is “like a sieve” and noted the tear gas “flying” overnight to deter arrivals. He called the border “very tough” at keeping immigrants out.
“If they knew they couldn’t come through, they wouldn’t even start,” Trump said at the meeting, joined by Cabinet secretaries and top advisers, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
The meeting came as the shutdown dragged through its second week, closing some parks and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees without pay.
Trump complained that he had been “lonely” at the White House during the holiday break, having skipped his getaway to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. He claimed his only companions were the “machine gunners,” referring to security personnel, and “they don’t wave, they don’t smile.” He also criticized Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, for visiting Hawaii.
At the Capitol on Wednesday, Pelosi said she hoped Republicans and the White House “are hearing what we have offered” to end the shutdown.
So far, the administration has rejected a proposal from Democrats to re-open government without money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump contended the Democrats see the shutdown fight as “an election point” as he celebrated his own first two years in office. He promised “six more years of great success.”
The partial government shutdown began on Dec. 22. Funding for the wall has been the sticking point in passing funding bills for several government departments.
The Wednesday afternoon briefing with the congressional leaders is taking place the day before Democrats are to assume control of the House and end the Republican monopoly on government.
The session will be held in the high-security Situation Room at the White House, which is typically used to handle sensitive information. The location means the conversation will not be televised, unlike the volatile sitdown during which Democratic leaders talked back to Trump last month.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the top incoming House Republicans — Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana — planned to attend, according to aides. The departing House speaker, Paul Ryan, was not expected.
Pelosi, who is expected to become speaker on Thursday, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer planned to attend. Pelosi said Tuesday that Democrats would take action to “end the Trump Shutdown” by passing legislation Thursday to reopen government.
“We are giving the Republicans the opportunity to take yes for an answer,” she wrote in a letter to colleagues. “Senate Republicans have already supported this legislation, and if they reject it now, they will be fully complicit in chaos and destruction of the President’s third shutdown of his term.”
The White House invitation came after House Democrats released their plan to re-open the government without approving money for a border wall. They planned to pass them as soon as the new Congress convenes Thursday.
Trump spent the weekend saying Democrats should return to Washington to negotiate, firing off Twitter taunts. Aides suggested there would not necessarily be a traditional wall as Trump has repeatedly insisted since his presidential campaign, but he contradicted them.
On Tuesday morning, after tweeting a New Year’s message to “EVERYONE INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA,” Trump tweeted: “The Democrats, much as I suspected, have allocated no money for a new Wall. So imaginative! The problem is, without a Wall there can be no real Border Security.”
But he seemed to shift tactics later in the day, appealing to Pelosi. “Let’s make a deal?” he tweeted.
Whether the Republican-led Senate would consider the Democratic funding bills — or if Trump would sign either into law — was unclear. McConnell spokesman Donald Stewart said Senate Republicans would not take action without Trump’s backing.
Even if only symbolic, passage of the bills in the House would put fresh pressure on the president. At the same time, administration officials said Trump was in no rush for a resolution to the impasse, believing he has public opinion and his base on his side.
The Democratic package to end the shutdown would include one bill to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels — with $1.3 billion for border security, far less than Trump has said he wants for the wall — through Feb. 8 as talks continued.
It would also include another measure to fund the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by the partial shutdown. That measure would provide money through the remainder of the fiscal year, to Sept. 30.
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Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman, Kevin Freking and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.