(Photos taken by Sandy Giordano)

THE VIETNAM VETERANS CHAPTER 862 HAVE RENAMED AN ALIQUIPPA STREET IN HONOR OF THE MIA’S THAT NEVER RETURNED HOME. SANDY GIORDANO WAS THERE FOR THE CEREMONY…

(Photos of Stacey Alexander and Dr. Peter M. Carbone were taken by Sandy Giordano)

THE ALIQUIPPA SCHOOL BOARD HAS NAMED ITS NEW HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AND ASSISTANT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO WAS AT LAST NIGHT’S BOARD MEETING…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR TUESDAY, JULY 30TH, 2019

 

TODAY – SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY BOTH
MORNING AND AFTERNOON. HIGH NEAR 80.

TONIGHT – SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. LOW – 66.

WEDNESDAY – SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH AROUND 80.

6-year-old drowns in pool at home on North Carolina coast
NAGS HEAD, N.C. (AP) — Police say a 6-year-old boy from Pennsylvania has drowned in a swimming pool at a home on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
According to Nags Head police, emergency responders went to a home on South Virginia Dare Trail at around 5:25 p.m. on Sunday. A statement from police says family members performed CPR on the boy after he was found unresponsive in the pool, but he was pronounced dead at Outer Banks Hospital.
A news release says the incident is under investigation. Police have not released any identities.

New rules for 2nd debate: No 1-word answers or show of hands
By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Raise your hand if you can think of some different ways CNN will approach the second Democratic presidential debate, which will unfold over two nights in Detroit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
That’s a hint. CNN pledges not to ask questions that require a show of hands by the politicians and will not ask them to confine answers to a one-word “yes” or “no.” NBC News moderator Chuck Todd tried both of these last month for the first debate for the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
“Invariably a question can be open for interpretation,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s Washington bureau chief. “Trying to simplify a question into a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer can be confusing and may not always be fair.”
Dana Bash, Don Lemon and Jake Tapper will moderate the two-hour debates, which begin at 8 p.m. ET both nights. With tougher rules governing participation in the third debate in September, it will be the last time so many candidates — 20 of them — will have the debate spotlight.
Obviously important for the candidates, it will also be a big showcase for CNN. A July 18 CNN special that unveiled the candidate lineups for each debate night was widely panned, though the network defended it as an important show of transparency. Feist and his team have been putting debates and town halls together since 2003, so they bring experience to the table.
It’s unlikely the CNN debate will reach the viewership levels of the June opener (15.3 million for the first night, 18.1 million for the second) because NBC showed it on both cable and broadcast outlets and because late July is prime vacation time.
Feist said CNN has long resisted “show of hands” questions, so that promise is not related to Todd’s experience. One tack that CNN has been trying for its town halls, but may be new to a larger debate audience, is to print moderators’ questions on the bottom of the screen so viewers can see if the candidates are ducking.
“When a candidate is asked a question, sometimes the candidate chooses to answer a different question,” Feist said.
This may help CNN to keep its questions short, sharp and focused, said Frank Sesno, head of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs and author of “Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors.”
Sesno, a former Washington bureau chief for CNN, said he believes having three moderators is preferable to five, which NBC had, because it helps candidates and viewers focus. Tapper has some experience with one of these large events; he moderated a September 2015 GOP presidential debate with 11 candidates onstage.
CNN plans to stick with certain topics long enough that multiple candidates will have a chance to address them, Feist said.
Candidates will have the chance to introduce themselves with opening statements and wrap things up with closing arguments. (NBC allowed only closing statements.) Once again, candidates will be allowed 60 seconds to answer a question, with 30 seconds of response time.
That’s the idea, at least. The reality can be much more nuanced. Sometimes the limit is strictly enforced, sometimes not. The most memorable exchange of the first debate — Kamala Harris challenging Joe Biden on busing — happened because producers allowed the moment to unfold despite the rules.
“When a debate actually breaks out in the debate, you just let it go,” said Mark Lukasiewicz, dean of Hofstra University’s School of Communication and a former NBC News executive. “You let it go until it runs out of gas.”
That doesn’t mean anarchy should rule. Jennifer Rubin, a columnist for The Washington Post, suggested turning off everyone’s microphone until the person answering the question has finished speaking. CNN warned that candidates who frequently interrupt will be punished by having their time in the spotlight reduced.
“We’re trying to strike a balance between having the candidates join in a conversation, and help the viewers by not having the candidates all talk at the same time,” Feist said.

Stakes rising for 2020 Dems ahead of 2nd presidential debate
By SARA BURNETT Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Democrats gathering in Detroit for a pivotal presidential debate will have to decide, once again, how to respond to President Donald Trump while presenting their own vision for the country.
Candidates are sure to use the high-profile setting on Tuesday and Wednesday to blast Trump’s recent string of racist and incendiary tweets and comments, first about four congresswomen and more recently about Baltimore, a racially diverse U.S. city that, like Detroit, has faced challenges. But they’ll also be under pressure to provide specifics about how they would improve the lives of Americans by lowering the cost of health care or protecting jobs at a time when the economy is showing signs of sputtering.
The second debate of the Democratic primary has higher stakes for a historically large field of more than 20 candidates, 10 of whom will face off each night. For several candidates, the debates will likely offer a last chance to be considered a serious contender for the party’s nomination. Tougher rules set by the Democratic National Committee are expected to winnow the race. To qualify for the next debates in September, candidates must raise money from more donors and hit higher polling thresholds — a bar more than half of the candidates are at risk of missing.
“Everything’s at stake,” said Jill Alper, a Democratic strategist who has worked on seven presidential campaigns. She had simple and direct advice for the White House hopefuls confronting questions about Trump: “protest and pivot” — and “pivot quickly” — to what they can offer American families.
The two leading progressives in the field, Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, will be at center stage on Tuesday. Warren’s campaign has gained ground in recent weeks, partially at the expense of Sanders. The debate could offer a high-profile chance for Warren to prove to Sanders’ supporters that she’s worthy of their consideration.
The night will also provide a contrast with more moderate candidates, such as South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, poised to offer themselves as alternatives to the liberals.
Also on stage will be former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has repeatedly said Sanders’ brand of democratic socialism is bad for the party and the country, as well as Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, author Marianne Williamson and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who joined the race after the other candidates and did not qualify for last month’s debate in Miami.
Wednesday will provide a rematch between former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris, who went after Biden during the June debate for not supporting federal busing orders as a means of desegregation when he was in the U.S. Senate in the 1970s, prefacing her comments by saying, “I do not believe you are a racist.”
Biden defended his record but appeared caught off guard by the exchange, a shaky response that could give voters pause about his ability to go toe-to-toe with Trump on a debate stage or otherwise in a general election, said Michigan-based pollster Bernie Porn.
“Biden needs to do better,” he said.
Several candidates have been putting out policy proposals ahead of the debate, likely as a way to get out in front of rivals’ criticism.
Harris, who says she supports Sanders’ plan for “Medicare for All,” released a proposal Monday that stopped short of the proposal he and other more liberal candidates are backing. She said she envisions a role for private insurers — which Sanders’ plan does not — and she would slow the transition to 10 years rather than four.
While Sanders won’t be on stage with Harris, other advocates of the plan will be, and could take her to task for not going far enough. Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, attacked from another direction, saying that she has been inconsistent and that her plan would undo the Affordable Care Act approved under President Barack Obama and force a large tax increase on middle-class families.
Warren on Monday rolled out a trade policy that would propose nine preconditions for U.S. trading partners to meet to participate in agreements, including an end to fossil-fuel subsidies. She did not rule out tariffs, echoing some of the rhetoric Trump used in 2016 as he wooed working-class voters in places like Michigan.
Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said the intramural fight among Democrats is necessary to get a battle-tested nominee who is ready to face Trump on all topics, including race. But he said it’s important for Democrats not to let the president off the hook for his racial rhetoric and policies, noting, “The Trump factor is always present.” He said Trump’s latest comments blasting Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and his Baltimore-area district underscore voters’ unease with Trump in the White House.
“People argue over whether we are beating up the ultimate nominee, but if we don’t, Trump will,” Simmons said. “People are testing each other. How you stand up under pressure is part of what the judgment is of who’s the best candidate.”
The Trump campaign and Michigan Republicans also were readying for the 2020 election, meeting in Lansing for what they said was part of a nationwide effort to train thousands of volunteers. Michigan GOP Chairwoman Laura Cox said they were starting earlier than in past election cycles.
___
Associated Press writers Errin Haines Whack in Philadelphia and David Eggert in Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report.

At least 52 dead in Brazil prison riot; 16 decapitated
By DIANE JEANTET Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — At least 52 prisoners were killed by other inmates during clashes between organized crime groups at the Altamira prison in northern Brazil on Monday, according to prison officials.
Para state prison authorities said 16 of the victims were decapitated while others were asphyxiated.
The count of victims potentially could rise when authorities have searched all areas involved, state prisons chief Jarbas Vasconcelos said at a news conference.
Prison authorities said a fight erupted around 7 a.m., between the Rio de Janeiro-based Comando Vermelho and another group, Comando Classe A.
“Leaders of the (Comando Classe A) set fire to a cell belonging to one of the prison’s pavilions, where members of the (Comando Vermelho) were located,” the statement read.
Vasconcelos said the fire had spread rapidly, with inmates held in old container units that had been adapted for the prison while another building is under construction.
The fire prevented police forces from entering the building for about five hours, he said.
Two prison staff members were held hostage, but eventually released.
“It was a targeted attack. The aim was to show that it was a settling of accounts between the two groups, not a protest or rebellion against the prison system,” Vasconcelos said.
Authorities have not found any firearms following the riot, only makeshift knives.
Prison authorities said they were still trying to determine who were the leaders behind Monday’s attack, and those men will be transferred to federal prisons.
President Jair Bolsonaro was elected on the promise of curbing widespread violence in Brazil, including in the country’s often overcrowded, out-of-control prisons.
State authorities deny the facility was overcrowded. But The Associated Press obtained a July 2019 report from the National Justice Council that it says was filed by a local judge in charge of the facility, showing that the prison had 343 detainees for a maximum capacity of 163.
He described the state of the prison in the city of Altamira as “terrible.”
In many of Brazil’s prisons, badly outnumbered guards struggle to retain power over an ever-growing population of inmates who are able to run criminal activities from behind bars.
The killings echoed those of 55 inmates who died in a series of riots in May in several prisons in the neighboring state of Amazonas.
In early 2017, more than 120 inmates died in prisons across several northern states when rival gangs clashed over control of drug-trafficking routes in the region. The violence lasted several weeks, spreading to various states.
Prison authorities said they had not received any prior intelligence reports of an upcoming attack.

Fire chief faults utility in shopping center blaze
PENN HILLS, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania fire chief is faulting a utility company’s response to a shopping center fire near Pittsburgh that destroyed several businesses and injured a number of firefighters.
Chief Bill Jeffcoats of the Penn Hills fire department said Peoples Natural Gas didn’t get gas service shut off for about five hours after the blaze at Churchill Center was reported at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “There’s no amount of water we could put on the fire when it’s fed by natural gas.”
Utility spokesman Barry Kukovich said two of the three lines were shut down quickly but the third was harder to locate and shutting it off was delayed due to the emergency equipment and the “significant amount of water” used to fight the fire.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is criticizing Al Sharpton, a prominent defender of Rep. Elijah Cummings. Over the weekend, Trump lashed out at Cummings, a prominent black congressman, calling his Baltimore-area, majority-black district a “rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” On Monday, Trump also tweeted against Sharpton, a prominent African American media figure who was in Baltimore to hold a press conference condemning Trump. Sharpton responded by calling Trump a bigot.

GILROY, Calif. (AP) — Police say the shooter who attacked a California festival used an assault-type rifle and opened fire on three local police officers who immediately responded. Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee says even though the handgun-equipped officers were outgunned, the officers were able quickly fatally shoot the gunman. The shooting on the closing day of the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival killed a boy, a teenage girl and a young man.