WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare’s new prescription drug plan finder has a glitch that can steer unwitting seniors to coverage that costs much more than they need to pay. The online system automatically displays the plan with the lowest monthly premium. But because of out-of-pocket costs like copays, that’s not necessarily the least expensive plan. The difference can amount to hundreds of dollars. Medicare says it chose to display the premium prominently because it’s a number that consumers understand.

BREAKING NEWS: The Beaver County Commissioners adopted 67 resolutions at its regular meeting at the courthouse this morning. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano was there. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

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Aliquippa Council has approved several motions at its meeting last night. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano was there. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

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The Senate has passed and sent to the House a bill to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $9.50 an hour in two years. As Don Rooney reports, supporters are happy but say the bill doesn’t go far enough…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Senate is passing a bill to outlaw abortions because of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, although it faces a veto on Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk. The Republican-controlled Senate passed it, 27-22, Wednesday afternoon, six months after the bill passed the GOP-controlled House. Similar legislation died in the Senate last year. North Dakota has a broader law in effect, but federal courts have blocked them in several other states, including Arkansas, Ohio and Missouri.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Legislature is closer to settling a yearslong battle over lifting criminal and civil statutes for child sexual abuse crimes. The Republican-controlled state Senate on Wednesday night rejected efforts to lift time limits in state law that bar now-adult victims of child sexual abuse from suing their abusers and institutions that may have covered it up. Instead, the Senate approved a bill beginning the process of seeking to amend Pennsylvania’s Constitution to allow such lawsuits.

This week the department of health is reminding you to be safe with antibiotics.  Beaver County radio news intern Alex D’Itri has the report…

A debt collector is helping a local school district collect lunch debt. Since September, the debt at the Ellwood City Area School District has risen to $8,200.
The superintendent says letters are being sent to families notifying them about the debt and financial assistance. If nothing is done, then a debt collector will step in. The district says, no matter what, every student is served breakfast and lunch.

ELIZABETH, Pa. (AP) — A former police chief in Elizabeth who admitted stealing thousands of small bags of heroin and fentanyl from his department’s evidence room is not going to prison. A judge on Wednesday sentenced former 43-year-old Timothy Butler to about four years of probation and 325 hours of community service. He resigned from the Elizabeth Borough department last December after the theft was discovered. Authorities say Butler became addicted after he was prescribed Vicodin for neck and back pain.

Police say a 20-year-old man was injured in a logging accident on a rural New Sewickley farm. The man – a worker whose name has not yet been released – was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital with life-threatening injuries after a large tree fell and pinned him to the ground. He and another person were cutting down trees in the area. Paramedics and police – with help from the owner of Wallace City Farms – rescued the man. But his status is not being released this morning.