And now it’s time for the Business Minute report…brought to you by…Minuteman Press:

Two Beaver County school districts have received grants totaling 50-thousand dollars that will help match school ciricula to workforce needs. Funding from the PDE in the amount of $50,000 will allow teachers from Freedom and Hopewell to visit area businesses so they can shape classroom instruction to fit its latest skills demanded by area employers, State Representative Rob Matzie announced this week. He said the funding, $25,000 each to the districts will advance career readiness for Beaver County students seeking jobs in high-demand fields. The funding will help provide a successful path from the classroom to the workplace by allowing teachers to learn what skills employers need and to supplement their teaching in a way that equips students to hit the ground running.

The Beaver County Board of Commissioners approved an agreement between the county and Tyler Technologies for the reassessment of all real property consisting of approximately 96,000 parcels within the county. Reassessment commences on January 9,2020. The cost, to be funded by the county is $6,422,349.00. Twenty nine resolutions, including the reassessment one were unanimously approved by the commissioners.

IKEA is agreeing to pay $46 million to the parents of a 2-year-old boy who died of injuries suffered when a 70-pound recalled dresser tipped over onto him. The family’s lawyers disclosed the agreement Monday. Jozef Dudek died in 2017 of his injuries, and his parents sued the Swedish home furnishings company in a Philadelphia court in 2018. The Dudeks accused IKEA of knowing that its Malm dressers posed a tip-over hazard and that they had injured or killed a number of children, but that the company had failed to warn consumers that the dressers shouldn’t be used without being anchored to a wall.

The new jobs report just come out this morning. Brandon McConahay reports….

…and U.S. stocks edged higher in early trading on today but lost some of their momentum from a record-setting rally a day earlier as investors digested a weak jobs report. Technology and health care stocks rose. Chipmaker Nvidia and Intuitive Surgical, a surgical device maker, were among the earlier winners. Banks fell broadly. Energy stocks slid along with declining oil prices. The government reported that employers added 145,000 jobs in December, short of forecasts. The benchmark S&P 500 index was up 0.2%. Bond prices rose, sending yields slightly lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.83%. And that’s today’s Business Minute report, brought to you by Minuteman Press.

UPDATE: The 43rd annual Beaver County Maple Syrup Festival will be hosted this year by PUSH Beaver County in coordination with the Beaver County Conservation District. Regis Collins – the Director of Community Development for PUSH Beaver County – tells Beaver County Radio newsman Pat Septak that  the goal is for his organization to eventually take over the event completely…

Collins has confirmed that the festival will be held – as usual – at Brady’s Run Park..

Collins says festival-goers shouldn’t notice anything different this year…

Collins says the goal is to’ keep the festival going without missing a beat…

Collins was asked where the funding will come from for this year’s festival…

Collins says because they’re getting such a late start on the festival this year, volunteers will be more needed than ever before…

Collins says with the dates for this year’s festival right around the corner, they’re pleading for people to volunteer their time and get involved…

The Maple Syrup Festival will be held at Brady’s Run Park on Saturday and Sunday, April 4th and 5th from 8:30 to 4:30 each day.

(Photo of Alex Scott, who was hired as street superintendent, was taken by Sandy Giordano).

Aliquippa’s new Street Superintendent has some words of advice for city residents this winter season. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has details…

 

UNDATED (AP) — Comedian Bill Cosby is appealing a court decision last month that upheld his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. The brief filed Thursday with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court focuses on four key trial issues. They include the judge’s decision to let five other accusers testify and to send Cosby to trial despite a prosecutor’s earlier promise not to charge him. The 82-year-old Cosby is serving a three- to 10-year prison term at a maximum-security state prison near Philadelphia. He calls the encounter consensual. But a jury in April 2018 convicted him on all three felony counts in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

(Photos of Mayor Walker swearing in Councilman Art Piroli, Jr., who was re-elected, and Denise Taylor, who was elected to her first official term as controller, taken by Sandy Giordano).

All of Aliquippa’s newly elected officials have been sworn in…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 FRIDAY, JANUARY 10TH, 2020

 

TODAY – CLOUDY WITH PERIODS OF RAIN.
A THUNDERSTORM POSSIBLE. HIGH – 51.

TONIGHT – RAIN SHOWERS THIS EVENING WITH OVERCAST
SKIES OVERNIGHT. LOW AROUND 50.

SATURDAY – RAIN SHOWERS IN THE MORNING WITH
OVERCAST SKIES LATER IN THE DAY. NEAR
RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES. HIGH – 67.

SUNDAY – SOME MORNING CLOUDS FOLLOWED BY SOME
AFTERNOON SUNSHINE. A MORNING HIGH OF 51
WITH TEMPS FALLING TO NEAR 40.

UPDATE: We have been able to confirm with PUSH Beaver County that the festival will be held on April 4-5, 2020. They are still working to make final arrangements with the county for the festival to remain in Bradys Run Park. Stay tune to Beaver County Radio for more updates tomorrow morning including an interview with both PUSH Beaver County officials and the Conservation District.

BREAKING NEWS: Beaver County Radio News has learned that there will be a Maple Syrup Festival this year after all.  Newsman Pat Septak spoke with Georgia Miller of the Beaver County Conservation District by phone just moments ago and she confirmed  that there will be a Maple Syrup Festival this year, and that it will done in conjunction between the District and PUSH Beaver County…but she also confirmed  that PUSH Beaver County has agreed to take over the annual event entirely sometime down the road. A date for the event has not yet been announced. She says details will be forthcoming. Stay tuned.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. officials say it was “highly likely” that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board. President Donald Trump is suggesting he believes Iran was responsible. He is dismissing Iranian claims that it was a mechanical issue that brought down the plane. The officials, citing U.S. intelligence, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over a U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida security guard is in jail after authorities say he threatened to kill President Donald Trump as retaliation for the U.S. military killing an Iranian general. The Secret Service says Chauncy Lump posted a live video on Facebook last week where he stated “he killed my leader and I have to kill” Trump. Agents say Lump periodically displayed a semi-automatic rifle while wearing white cream on his face and a towel wrapped on his head like a turban. Lump told agents he was joking.  He was being held Thursday on $100,000 bail on charges of threatening the president.