(File Photo of Police Lights)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Chippewa Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver report that an unidentified driver caused a single-vehicle crash in Chippewa Township on Saturday. According to police, that person hydroplaned on I-376 West during a rain storm when passing a truck tractor. The driver also lost control of the vehicle that was involved in the crash and hit a guide rail. That person was given a warning for the incident.
(File Photo: Source for Photo: President Donald Trump speaks at U.S. Steel Corporation’s Mon Valley Works-Irvin plant, Friday, May 30, 2025, in West Mifflin, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order paving the way for a Nippon Steel investment in U.S. Steel, so long as the Japanese company complies with a “national security agreement” submitted by the federal government.
Trump’s order didn’t detail the terms of the national security agreement.
But the iconic American steelmaker and Nippon Steel said in a joint statement that the agreement stipulates that approximately $11 billion in new investments will be made by 2028 and includes giving the U.S. government a “ golden share ” — essentially veto power to ensure the country’s national security interests are protected against cutbacks in steel production.
“We thank President Trump and his Administration for their bold leadership and strong support for our historic partnership,” the two companies said. “This partnership will bring a massive investment that will support our communities and families for generations to come. We look forward to putting our commitments into action to make American steelmaking and manufacturing great again.”
The companies have completed a U.S. Department of Justice review and received all necessary regulatory approvals, the statement said.
“The partnership is expected to be finalized promptly,” the statement said.
U.S. Steel rose $2.66, or 5%, to $54.85 in afterhours trading Friday. Nippon Steel’s original bid to buy the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel in late 2023 had been valued at $55 per share.
The companies offered few details on how the golden share would work, what other provisions are in the national security agreement and how specifically the $11 billion would be spent.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said the order “ensures U.S. Steel will remain in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and be safeguarded as a critical element of America’s national and economic security.”
James Brower, a Morrison Foerster lawyer who represents clients in national security-related matters, said such agreements with the government typically are not disclosed to the public, particularly by the government.
They can become public, but it’s almost always disclosed by a party in the transaction, such as a company — like U.S. Steel — that is publicly held, Brower said.
The mechanics of how a golden share would work will depend on the national security agreement, but in such agreements it isn’t unusual to give the government approval rights over specific activities, Brower said.
U.S. Steel made no filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
Nippon Steel originally offered nearly $15 billion to purchase U.S. Steel in an acquisition that had been delayed on national security concerns starting during Joe Biden’s presidency.
As it sought to win over American officials, Nippon Steel gradually increased the amount of money it was pledging to invest into U.S. Steel. American officials now value the transaction at $28 billion, including the purchase bid and a new electric arc furnace — a more modern steel mill that melts down scrap — that they say Nippon Steel will build in the U.S. after 2028.
Nippon Steel had pledged to maintain U.S. Steel’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, put U.S. Steel under a board with a majority of American citizens and keep plants operating.
It also said it would protect the interests of U.S. Steel in trade matters and it wouldn’t import steel slabs that would compete with U.S. Steel’s blast furnaces in Pennsylvania and Indiana.
Trump opposed the purchase while campaigning for the White House, and using his authority Biden blocked the transaction on his way out of the White House. But Trump expressed openness to working out an arrangement once he returned to the White House in January.
Trump said Thursday that he would as president have “total control” of what U.S. Steel did as part of the investment.
Trump said then that the deal would preserve “51% ownership by Americans,” although Nippon Steel has never backed off its stated intention of buying and controlling U.S. Steel as a wholly owned subsidiary.
“We have a golden share, which I control,” Trump said.
Trump added that he was “a little concerned” about what presidents other than him would do with their golden share, “but that gives you total control.”
The proposed merger had been under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, during the Trump and Biden administrations.
The order signed Friday by Trump said the CFIUS review provided “credible evidence” that Nippon Steel “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,” but such risks might be “adequately mitigated” by approving the proposed national security agreement.
The order doesn’t detail the perceived national security risk and only provides a timeline for the national security agreement. The White House declined to provide details on the terms of the agreement.
The order said the draft agreement was submitted to U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel on Friday. The two companies must successfully execute the agreement as decided by the Treasury Department and other federal agencies that are part CFIUS by the closing date of the transaction.
Trump reserves the authority to issue further actions regarding the investment as part of the order he signed on Friday.
(File Photo: Source for Photo: Brooklyn Park Police Lieutenant Hjelm sets up a perimeter with police tape near the scene of a shooting in Brooklyn Park, Minn. on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
(AP) The assassination of a Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband and the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife at their homes are just the latest addition to a long and unsettling roll call of political violence in the United States.
The list, in the past two months alone: the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, the firebombing of a Colorado march calling for the release of Israeli hostages, and the firebombing of the official residence of Pennsylvania’s governor — on a Jewish holiday while he and his family were inside.
And here’s just a sampling of some other attacks before that — the killing of a health care executive on the streets of New York late last year, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in small-town Pennsylvania during his presidential campaign last year, the 2022 attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by a believer in right-wing conspiracy theories, and the 2017 shooting by a liberal gunman at a GOP practice for the congressional softball game.
“We’ve entered into this especially scary time in the country where it feels the sort of norms and rhetoric and rules that would tamp down on violence have been lifted,” said Matt Dallek, a political scientist at George Washington University who studies extremism. “A lot of people are receiving signals from the culture.”
Politics have also driven large-scale massacres. Gunmen who killed 11 worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, 23 shoppers at a heavily Latino Walmart in El Paso in 2019 and 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022 each cited the conspiracy theory that a secret cabal of Jews were trying to replace white people with people of color. That has become a staple on parts of the right who support Trump’s push to limit immigration.
The Anti-Defamation League found that from 2022 through 2024, all of the 61 political killings in the United States were committed by right-wing extremists. That changed on the first day of 2025, when a Texas man flying the flag of the Islamic State group killed 14 people by driving his truck through a crowded New Orleans street before being fatally shot by police.
“You’re seeing acts of violence from all different ideologies,” said Jacob Ware, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who researches terrorism. “It feels more random and chaotic and more frequent.”
The United States has a long and grim history of political violence, from presidential assassinations dating back to the killing of President Abraham Lincoln, lynching and violence aimed at Black people in the South, the 1954 shooting inside Congress by four Puerto Rican nationalists. Experts say the past few years, however, have most likely reached a level not seen since the tumultuous days of the 1960s and 1970s, when icons like Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated.
Ware noted that the most recent surge comes after the new Trump administration has shuttered units that focus on investigating white supremacist extremism and pushed federal law enforcement to spend less time on anti-terrorism and more on detaining people who are in the country illegally.
“We’re at the point, after these six weeks, where we have to ask about how effectively the Trump administration is combating terrorism,” Ware said.
Of course, one of Trump’s first acts in office was to pardon those involved in the largest act of domestic political violence this century — the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, intended to prevent Congress from certifying Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Those pardons broadcast a signal to would-be extremists on either side of the political debate, Dallek said: “They sent a very strong message that violence, as long as you’re a Trump supporter, will be permitted and may be rewarded.”
Often, those who engage in political violence don’t have clearly defined ideologies that easily map onto the country’s partisan divides. A man who died after he detonated a car bomb outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic last month left writings urging people not to procreate and expressed what the FBI called “nihilistic ideations.”
But, like clockwork, each political attack seems to inspire partisans to find evidence the attacker is on the other side. Little was known about the man police identified as a suspect in the Minnesota attacks, 57-year-old Vance Boelter. Authorities say they found a list of other apparent targets that included other Democratic officials, abortion clinics and abortion rights advocates, as well as flyers for the day’s anti-Trump parades.
Conservatives online seized on the flyers — and the fact that Boetler had apparently once been appointed to a state workforce development board by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz — to claim the suspect must be a liberal. “The far left is murderously violent,” billionaire Elon Musk posted on his social media site, X.
It was reminiscent of the fallout from the attack on Paul Pelosi, the former House speaker’s then-82-year-old husband, who was seriously injured by a man wielding a hammer. Right-wing figures theorized the assailant was a secret lover rather than what authorities said he was: a believer in pro-Trump conspiracy theories who broke into the Pelosi home echoing Jan. 6 rioters who broke into the Capitol by saying: “Where is Nancy?!”
On Saturday, Nancy Pelosi posted a statement on X decrying the Minnesota attack. “All of us must remember that it’s not only the act of violence, but also the reaction to it, that can normalize it,” she wrote.
Trump had mocked the Pelosis after the 2022 attack, but on Saturday he joined in the official bipartisan condemnation of the Minnesota shootings, calling them “horrific violence.” The president has, however, consistently broken new ground with his bellicose rhetoric towards his political opponents, whom he routinely calls “sick” and “evil,” and has talked repeatedly about how violence is needed to quell protests.
The Minnesota attack occurred after Trump took the extraordinary step of mobilizing the military to try to control protests against his administration’s immigration operations in Los Angeles during the past week, when he pledged to “HIT” disrespectful protesters and warned of a “migrant invasion” of the city.
Dallek said Trump has been “both a victim and an accelerant” of the charged, dehumanizing political rhetoric that is flooding the country.
“It feels as if the extremists are in the saddle,” he said, “and the extremists are the ones driving our rhetoric and politics.”
(File Photo: Source for Photo: This photo made available by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office shows Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, as he was arrested late Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
BELLE PLAINE, Minn. (AP) — The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another crawled to officers in surrender Sunday after they located him in the woods near his home, bringing an end to a massive, nearly two-day search that put the entire state on edge.
Vance Boelter was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder. He is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.
Authorities say he also shot Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. They were injured at their residence about 9 miles (about 15 kilometers) away.
“One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,” Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference after Boelter’s arrest.
The search for Boelter was the “largest manhunt in the state’s history,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. It began when Brooklyn Park officers went to check on Hortman’s home and saw her husband gunned down before the shooter fled.
Authorities on Sunday located a vehicle Boelter was using abandoned in rural Sibley County, where he lived, and a police officer reported that he believed he saw Boelter running into the woods, Bruley said. Police set up a large perimeter and called in 20 different tactical teams, divvying up the area and searching for him.
During the search, police said they received information confirming someone was in the woods and searched for hours, using a helicopter and officers on foot, until they found Boelter. He surrendered to police, crawling out to officers in the woods before he was handcuffed and taken into custody in a field, authorities said.
Jail records show Boelter was booked into the Hennepin County Jail at 1:02 a.m. Central Time Monday and include two mug shots, one from the front and one from the side, of Boelter wearing an orange prison shirt.
Drew Evans, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said the violence likely would’ve continued had Brooklyn Park offices not checked on Hortman’s home, causing Boelter to flee.
The Hoffmans were attacked first at their home in Champin early Saturday. A criminal complaint unsealed after Boelter’s arrest indicated their adult daughter called 911 just after 2 a.m. to say a masked person had come to the door and shot her parents.
After police in nearby Brooklyn Park learned that a lawmaker had been shot, they sent patrol officers to check on the Hortmans’ home.
Brooklyn Park police officers arrived just in time to see Boelter shoot Mark Hortman through the open door of the home, the complaint says. It says they exchanged gunfire with Boelter, who fled inside the home before escaping the scene. Melissa Hortman was found dead inside, the complaint said.
Authorities said Boelter posed as a police officer, even allegedly altering a vehicle to make it look like a police car.
Authorities did not give a motive as they announced Boelter’s arrest.
A list of about 70 names was found in writings recovered from the fake police vehicle that was left at the crime scene, said two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation. The writings and list of names included prominent state and federal lawmakers and community leaders, along with abortion rights advocates and information about healthcare facilities, according to the officials.
A Minnesota official told AP lawmakers who had been outspoken in favor of abortion rights were on the list. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Boelter is a former political appointee who served on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman, records show, though it was not clear if or how well they knew each other.
Around 6 a.m. Saturday, Boelter texted friends to apologize for his actions, though he didn’t say what he had done.
“I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way,” he wrote in messages viewed by AP.
The shootings come as political leaders nationwide have been attacked, harassed and intimidated amid deep political divisions. Lawmakers said they were disturbed by the attacks as Twin Cities residents mourned.
“This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences,” Walz said Sunday.
On Sunday evening, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar shared a statement from Yvette Hoffman expressing appreciation for the outpouring of public support.
“John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,” Yvette Hoffman said in a text that Klobuchar posted on social media. “He took 9 bullet hits. I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive. We are gutted and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark.”
Brightly colored flowers and small American flags were placed Sunday on the gray marbled stone of the Minnesota State Capitol along with a photo of the Hortmans. People scrawled messages on small notes including, “You were our leader through the hardest of times. Rest in Power.”
Pam Stein came with flowers and kneeled by the memorial. An emotional Stein called Hortman an “absolute powerhouse” and “the real unsung hero of Minnesota government.”
(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Badge)
(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)
(Aliquippa, PA) A male juvenile was shot in the leg in Aliquippa on Sunday afternoon. Aliquippa Police responded to 662 Franklin Avenue. According to the police report, the juvenile needed immediate medical attention even though his injury was not life-threatening. Pennsylvania State Police are taking over the investigation of the incident and anyone that has any information is asked to call 724-773-7400.
Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published June 14, 2025 9:50 P.M.
(Beaver, Pa) A large “No Kings” rally was held outside of the Beaver Courthouse on Flag Day Saturday afternoon.
Hundreds of rally goers lined the Main Street of Beaver in front of the Courthouse accepting friendly honks and waves of passing cars while others gathered on the courthouse steps as guest speakers took the microphone.
Beaver County Radio witnessed no violence and the rally was peaceful.
At one point, a supporter stopped his vehicle on the street briefly, getting out to cheer and acknowledge the crowd. The traffic stopping incident lasted roughly 30 seconds.
At another time, motorcycles displaying flags drove by with middle finger hand gestures to participants.
Most signs being held up by attendees were messages of protecting democracy.
A group of roughly 20-30 President Donald Trump supporters gathered across the street and were waving Trump flags during the duration of the event.
A downpour of rain shortly before 2pm caused some participants to disperse, while hundreds of others stuck around to the scheduled end time at approximately 2:30pm.
Beaver Police and the County Sheriff’s Department were in observing distance during the entire demonstration. Beaver County Radio did not witness the police engaging with anyone who attended.
Following the rally, organizers told Beaver County Radio that estimated attendance was between 1000 to 1500 people. They also confirmed it was an incident free day.
The local rally was organized by the Beaver County Young Democrats.
VIDEO:
Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published June 13, 2025 11:15 A.M.
(Aliquippa, Pa) The Aliquippa School District 2025-26 budget is $33,284,307 from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, according to Paul Sroka, Business Manager for the school district. Real estate tax millage on buildings will be 7.04 mills, a decrease from 7.73 mills in the preliminary budget. Millage on land will be 42.14 mills.
AMBRIDGE, June 12 – New grants totaling $925,000 from the Pennsylvania Housing and Finance Agency will help more Beaver County residents find secure, permanent housing and provide existing homeowners the resources they need to stay safe in their homes, state Rep. Rob Matzie announced today.
Matzie, who is chairman of the House Majority Caucus, said eight grants – funded by Marcellus Shale Impact Fees and Realty Transfer Taxes – will support Beaver County and local nonprofit programs to bolster housing opportunities and resources for homeowners.
“Safe, reliable housing isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity and a critical connection to job opportunities, a stable family environment, and access to the network of support that goes with being part of a community,” Matzie said. “Securing this funding will help more people break free of the chronic risk of homelessness, help new prospective homeowners become more financially savvy and allow homeowners to make needed modifications and repairs so they can stay safe at home.”
Matzie said the funding includes:
HARRISBURG – Sen. Elder Vogel, Jr. (R-47) announced $2.48 million will be awarded to several Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) applicants in Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties.
“The PHARE Fund is a vital funding source that helps our organizations and local government entities improve our local infrastructure; offer informational and educational opportunities related to housing; and better assist vulnerable communities,” said Vogel. “As someone who has fought hard to enhance this fund, I am pleased to see so many community projects benefit from it.”
Beaver County
The County of Beaver was awarded $100,000 for its Home Modification Program which be used to help provide home modifications for households with mobility and/or safety challenges; and $100,000 to go toward its Rental/Utility Assistance program.
The Cornerstone of Beaver County was awarded $100,000 to go toward operations for its Men’s Shelter.
The Women’s Center of Beaver County was awarded $100,000 to go towards its Homeless Prevention for Survivors of Violence project which includes the provision of intensive case management and support for vulnerable individuals and families living in emergency shelter who are at risk of becoming chronically homeless and the provision of direct financial assistance, such as rent and utility assistance, to eliminate barriers to obtaining safe, stable housing.
The Salvation Army was awarded $150,000 for its Beaver County Housing Homelessness Assistance Program, specifically assist Beaver County households in obtaining and maintaining permanent housing, including those currently involved in ESG, RRH, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing programs. Additionally, it will allow them to engage landlords to help address the lack of affordable housing options in the county.
Harbor Point Housing, Inc. was awarded $200,000 for part 2 of the Sheridan Rehabilitation Project which would rehab the six remaining apartments in the Beaver Falls apartment building; rehab the common areas; a new HVAC system and the outside walkway; and by re-point and repaint the east side of the building.
Housing Opportunities of Beaver County was awarded $200,000 for its Restoring Communities: Housing, Workforce, and Opportunities, specifically training underserved young adults in construction and including the rehabilitation of one duplex and one single-family home in Aliquippa.
Butler County
The County of Butler was awarded $80,000 for its First Time Home Buyer Down Payment Closing Cost Assistance Program which will match a first-time homebuyer dollar for dollar toward their closing costs or downpayment of a new home in the county up to $5,000.
Lawrence County
The Lawrence County Department of Planning and Community Development was awarded $200,000 for its Countywide Housing Rehabilitation and Blight Removal Program.
The Redevelopment Authority of Lawrence County was awarded $400,000 for the Countywide Housing Rehabilitation and Blight Removal Program.
Joint County
NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania was awarded $150,000 to offer expanded and enhanced homeownership counseling education. Specifically, they will offer pre-purchase counseling and education to buyers at all stages of purchase readiness and will expand post-purchase counseling and education services, providing support for those experiencing mortgage delinquency, default and foreclosure as well as serving stable homeowners seeking to maintain, improve, or renovate their properties. This will benefit Allegheny and Beaver counties.
The Housing Opportunities of Beaver County was awarded $100,000 for its Housing Opportunity Fund: Emergency Repair Track grants program which is a targeted initiative to stabilize and preserve homeownership in Beaver and Lawrence counties.
Mercer County Housing Authority was awarded $500,000 for its Veterans Housing Development Center project which will provide 10 units of affordable housing – six transitional and four long-term rentals, for homeless and at-risk veterans in Mercer and Lawrence Counties.
Catapult Greater Pittsburgh was awarded $100,000 to growing and maintaining black generational housing equity in Allegheny County. Specifically, they will provide low- and moderate-income new homebuyers and existing low-income homeowners with comprehensive trauma-informed financial education. With a specific focus on the Revitalizing Neighborhoods and Increasing Homeownership initiative, the Organization has access to RNIH to Beaver County. They will also grow its Equity Protection Division which includes a Tangled Title Clinic and Home Repair program for existing low-income homeowners.
PITTSBURGH (Jun. 12, 2024) — Vitalant and the Pittsburgh Pirates will mark 29 years of partnership by hosting a three-day blood drive at PNC Park June 24-26 and additional life-saving events throughout Western Pennsylvania.
All donors who give with Vitalant at a designated Pittsburgh Pirates Blood Drive location will receive a voucher redeemable for two tickets to a 2025 Pirates home game (Sunday through Thursday).* Donors will also receive a $10 Vitalant Rewards Gift Card and entry into a drawing for one of two $10,000 gift cards.*
Last year’s Pirates Blood Drives collected more than 900 units of blood, helping patients at hospitals throughout the region, like UPMC and AHN. Summer is one of the most challenging times to maintain a reliable blood supply, as schools are on break, many people travel, and regular routines change.
All blood types are needed, especially type O, the most transfused blood type. O-negative is what emergency room personnel reach for when there is no time to determine a patient’s blood type.
29th Annual Pittsburgh Pirates Blood Drives
| Tuesday, Jun. 24, 2025
10 a.m. – 6 p.m. PNC Park, Press Conference Room 115 Federal St. Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Blood Drive Code: UET31 |
Wednesday, Jun. 25
10 a.m. – 6 p.m. PNC Park, Press Conference Room 115 Federal St. Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Blood Drive Code: UET31
|
Thursday, Jun. 26
10 a.m. – 6 p.m. PNC Park, Press Conference Room 115 Federal St. Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Blood Drive Code: UET31
|
Every donation helps ensure blood is on the shelves when patients need it,” said a Vitalant communications manager, Maya Santana. “These drives highlight the strength of the Pittsburgh community and the impact we can make when we act together.”
Vitalant is encouraging fans and the community to donate at the Pittsburgh Pirates Blood Drives. To beat the line and view other participating locations, schedule your appointment today at vitalant.org/pirates, on the Vitalant app, or by calling 877-25-VITAL (877-258-4825).