HARRISBURG (AP) — Faculty at Pennsylvania state universities will go without a pay raise this year but see their pay climb at least 12% over the next three years. The four-year contract approved Wednesday covers about 5,000 professors and instructors at 14 schools. Spokesman David Pidgeon of the state System of Higher Education says the raises are expected to cost about $22 million. A similar deal has been reached with about 700 other employees who work in student services. The agreement comes three years after prolonged contract talks between the educators’ association and the state led to a three-day faculty strike.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The county prosecutors’ association in Pennsylvania is giving its members guidelines about informing defendants when police officers on their cases have been shown to be dishonest or biased, or may have committed crimes or engaged in certain types of misconduct at work. The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association released model standards on Wednesday regarding how to handle evidence that could cast doubts about an officer’s trial testimony. The association says the nonbinding guidelines will help prosecutors maintain quality standards during criminal investigations and prosecutions, and protect the rights of victims and defendants.

One person is dead following a crash on I-376 in New Castle, Lawrence County. The crash happened before 6 p.m. when a vehicle went over a 100-foot embankment from the westbound lanes. The cause of the crash has not been determined. The identity of the person killed has not been released.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, DEC. 14TH, 2019

 

TODAY – A MIX OF CLOUDS AND SUN. HIGH – 38.

TONIGHT – PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW – 28.

FRIDAY – OVERCAST. HIGH – 43.

SATURDAY – LIGHT RAIN…MIXING WITH SNOW IN THE
AFTERNOON. HIGH NEAR 40.

SUNDAY – CLOUDY. TEMPS NEARLY STEADY IN THE LOW TO
MID-30‘S.

BREAKING NEWS: A disabled Aliquippa man has been reported missing by police. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has details. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

UNDATED (AP) — An FAA analysis after the first crash of a Boeing 737 Max predicted there would be more disasters without a fix of critical automated flight-control system. Safety officials estimated there could be 15 more crashes of the Max over the next few decades. Yet the Federal Aviation Administration did not ground the plane until a second deadly crash five months later. The disclosure came as the House Transportation Committee questioned the head of the FAA about his agency’s oversight of Boeing and the Max. Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio says the FAA failed to do its job.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has told Congress that he’s concerned that “so many basic and fundamental errors” were made by the FBI as it investigated ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. Michael Horowitz detailed to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday errors and omissions made as the FBI sought to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign aide. Sen. Lindsey Graham is the chairman of the committee and highlighted those problems. The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, seized on the finding that the investigation was not motivated by partisan bias.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf says the answer is “no” to speculation that he’d agree to join a Democratic presidential nominee’s ticket as the pick for vice president. Wolf reiterated that stance when asked during a radio appearance. The 71-year-old Wolf also says he seriously doubts that anybody would ask. Wolf’s name has surfaced because of his 17-percentage point re-election victory last year in a battleground state that is of the utmost importance to Democrats in next year’s presidential election. In 2016’s election, Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential nominee to win Pennsylvania since 1988.

Cursive in our day-to-day lives is dying. But a bill proposed by a New Jersey state representative is hoping to guarantee students still learn how to write and read in cursive. Representative Angela McKnight’s proposal would require that schools add cursive back to the elementary school curriculum. The bill – if passed – would go into effect the following school year. McKnight says she wants to make teaching cursive mandatory in schools because, in her words, it is a vital skill that children will need for the rest of their lives.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

After four years as a unit, and after nearly a decade of backlog, these County Commissioners can boast that things are in place heading into the end of 2019.

This is because the Board of Commissioners, with the assistance of Financial Advisor Corey Trautman, released their proposed budget for 2020 on Wednesday at their regular work session. The total budget is for $213.2 million, with $81.1 of it attributed to the general fund. Outgoing Commissioner Sandie Egley gave praise to Trautman for this accomplishment, citing the issues of administrations past:

 

Commissioner Tony Amadio agreed with Sandie, saying that it feels nice to go into the holiday season with a bit less on the plate to deal with:

 

The 2020 budget will be voted on during the final public meeting of 2019, at 10 AM on Thursday.