(File Photo of the United States Senate Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to Senator Devlin Robinson, legislation to protect Pennsylvania seniors from losing access to life-sustaining prescription medications passed the state Senate. Robinson supported Senate Bill 731, which would keep the practice of getting rid of adjustments for cost-of-living in Social Security going. The PACE and PACENET programs will also have income eligibility calculated and give prescriptions that are low cost to those aged 65 or older.

(File Photo of the Primanti Bros. Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to a spokesperson from Primanti Bros. on Wednesday, the Primanti Bros. on Penn Avenue in the Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh has closed. The spokesperson confirmed that there was an ending lease for this restaurant and the company did not renew it. Primanti Bros. has 24 of its 42 locations in Western Pennsylvania.

(File Photo of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Pennsylvania poker players who play online now can play with people in five other states. State officials have approved combining pools for players in Pennsylvania with players in Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada and West Virginia. Since Governor Josh Shapiro allowed this change in April, games in multiple states already started through BetMGM and World Series of Poker.

(File Photo of someone driving while texting)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Today is when Paul Miller’s Law goes into effect in Pennsylvania. This law prohibits people from using mobile devices while driving. People also cannot use items like their phones when they are at a stop that is momentary, when they are at a red light or when they are at a delay of traffic. However, if hands-free technology is in their car, phones can connect to the car to be used. The law is named after Paul Miller, who was killed in 2010 because of a distracted driver. 

(File Photo of a Dollar Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) According to a report from the Pennsylvania Lottery on Monday, an unidentified Beaver County person has recently won $1.35 million from the Jackpot Spectacular online game. Jackpot Spectacular is a game in which multiple states have progressive jackpots that can be connected and can be won at any time. The player won the money from playing the game on either a device that is mobile, a computer or a tablet.

(File Photo of State Representative Rob Matzie)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to a release from State Representative Rob Matzie’s office, a strong bipartisan majority of the Pennsylvania House passed Matzie’s bill to ban speculative ticketing yesterday. House Bill 463 has a statement that aims to get rid of a practice that resellers of tickets list tickets for events for sale before they have those tickets with them. Matzie believes speculative ticketing does not help small businesses and venues because of lost revenue and public credibility.

(File Photo of Point Park University Graphic Photo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to an announcement last Wednesday from Point Park University, the college is teaming up with Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School for education purposes. The collaboration is for high school juniors and seniors, who can get a maximum enrollment of two courses for college during the semester in the fall. If the students have good academic standards, they can have potential enrollment of up to three college courses instead of just two. 

(File Photo of Shell Polymers Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Monaca, PA) According to a Facebook post from Shell Polymers Monaca, yesterday at around 2:20 p.m., the company observed smoke from a furnace unit. Notifications went to local and state agencies about this incident. Air quality and any potential impacts offsite will be monitored by the mobilization of a third-party company. Shell is trying to primarily focus on the environmental protection in their community as well as the health and safety of all people.

(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Acting U.S. Attorney Troy Revetti announced yesterday that a resident of New Castle got seventy months in jail for conspiring to distribute fentanyl and fluorofentanyl. Thirty-eight-year-old Kailin Stewart got the sentence after pleading guilty to this crime before between May of 2021 and October of 2022. Stewart was on state parole in 2022 for a homicide conviction and wanted to commit trafficking of a mixture of fentanyl and flourofentanyl of between 70 and 100 grams.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference regarding the shooting at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pa. on Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday, saying the agency, under President Donald Trump, had illegally cut off funding to it through a program designed to distribute more than $1 billion in aid to states to purchase food from farms for schools, child care centers, and food banks.

The lawsuit in federal court, announced by Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, comes three months after the USDA advised states that it was ending the pandemic-era assistance program because it no longer reflected agency priorities.

“I don’t get what the hell their priorities are if not feeding people and taking care of our farmers,” Shapiro said at a news conference at a food bank warehouse in Philadelphia.

The USDA declined comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Harrisburg, asks the court to reverse the USDA’s decision to end the reimbursement program.

Shapiro’s administration, in the lawsuit, said the USDA’s termination of the contract was illegal, saying the USDA didn’t explain why it no longer reflected agency priorities and that the contract didn’t expressly allow the USDA to terminate it for those reasons.

Shapiro said he was confident that Pennsylvania would win the lawsuit.

“A deal is a deal,” Shapiro told the news conference. “They made a deal with our farmers … they made a deal with Pennsylvania and they illegally broke it.”

The loss to Pennsylvania is $13 million under a three-year contract, money that the state planned to use to buy food from farms to stock food banks. States also use the money to buy food from farms for school nutrition programs and child care centers. Purchases include commodities such as cheese, eggs, meat, fruits and vegetables.

The department, under then-President Joe Biden, announced a second round of funding through the program last year.