OKLAHOMA, Pa. (AP) — Fire has destroyed an unoccupied historic hotel in western Pennsylvania. The Belvedere Hotel collapsed early Wednesday as flames consumed the structure that was built in 1905 on Route 66 across from a railroad stop in Westmoreland County. The 28-room hotel was declared unsafe in 2017. Officials are saying the fire is suspicious because no one was living in the building and utilities were turned off.
WEATHER FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 24TH, 2019
TODAY – MOSTLY SUNNY THIS MORNING. INCREASING
CLOUDS WITH SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON.
HIGH – 77.
TONIGHT – MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW – 55.
THURSDAY – MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES. HIGH – 81.
The Pittsburgh International Airport has just opened a brand new, state of the art, sensory room. This room will be available to the special needs population, and their families. Beaver County Radio News Intern, Christina Sainovich, has the story…
Pictures taken by: Christina Sainovich
The West Nile Virus has found its way into Beaver County, infecting mosquitoes across the entire state of Pennsylvania. The Beaver County Conservation District is doing everything they can to prevent the further spread of the virus. Beaver County Radio News Intern, Christina Sainovich, has more on the story…
(Beaver Falls, Pa.) Crystal Mc Fadden, Pittsburgh Veteran Employment Program Manager for C.A.S.Y. stopped by Teleforum with Frank Sparks in the 10 o’clock hour on Tuesdy July 23, 2019. Crystal talked with Frank about The non-profit C.A.S.Y. and how they help transitioning service members, under and un-employed veterans, guard and reserve members and their spouses find meaningful employment matches at livable wage opportunities through no-cost career readiness services and gap skills training. Crystal said that CASY’s primary clients are transitioning Veterans and Veteran’s who were prior military.
Frank and Crystal discussed the many other non-profits that she works with that also help get the word out about CASY. She mentioned that she attends alot of the Veteran’s Breakfast Club meetings and that Todd DePastino taught her that she needed to share her story just like the other veteran’s that attend and that helped her put a lot into perspective. Crystal said that they offer a wide variety of services to help veterans and their spouses find careers and that the CASY program has helped place over 50,000 people nationwide. If you would like more information on CASY you can e-mail Crystal at cmcmcfadden@casy.us . You can also go on their website at http://casy.us/ and you can also check out their Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/CASY4Vets
You can watch a replay of the interview as it streamd live on the Beaver County Radio Facebook Page by pressing the play button below…
Turns out so-called “meth gators” aren’t a thing after all.
A police department in Tennessee caused quite the stir on social media last week when it posted a warning asking residents to stop flushing drugs down their toilets and sinks because of fears that it could create meth gators.
Now the police are saying the Facebook post wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.
The department’s police chief says he took calls “from professionals fearing we actually had a meth-influenced gator in our custody.”
So the Loretto Police Department emphasizes that the meth gator was a humorous illustration used to highlight the dangers of flushing drugs and other substances down your toilet… The meth-gator is not real.
The department is now trying to turn the confusion over its joke into something positive. It soon plans on selling T-shirts featuring the meth-gator meme to raise money for charity.
WASHINGTON (AP) — About 3.1 million people would lose food stamp benefits under the Trump administration’s proposal to tighten automatic eligibility requirements for the food stamp program.
The Agriculture Department said Tuesday that the rule would close “a loophole” that enables people receiving only minimal benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to be eligible automatically for food stamps without undergoing further checks on their income or assets.
“For too long, this loophole has been used to effectively bypass important eligibility guidelines. Too often, states have misused this flexibility without restraint,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement.
The proposed rule is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to cut back on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or SNAP, the official name of the food stamp program. It also has proposed to tighten work requirements for those who receive federal food assistance.
USDA estimates that 1.7 million households — 3.1 million people — “will not otherwise meet SNAP’s income and asset eligibility prerequisites under the proposed rule.” That would result in a net savings of about $9.4 billion over five years.
An unpublished version of the proposed rule acknowledges the impact, saying it “may also negatively impact food security and reduce the savings rates among those individuals who do not meet the income and resource eligibility requirements for SNAP or the substantial and ongoing requirements for expanded categorical eligibility.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., called the proposal “yet another attempt by this administration to circumvent Congress” and that the effect would be to “take food away from families, prevent children from getting school meals, and make it harder for states to administer food assistance.”
Congress has rejected previous, similar attempts to change the expanded automatic eligibility provisions, most recently during the farm bill debate in 2018.
About 36 million people participated in SNAP in April 2019, down from more than 38 million a year earlier.
Under current law, states may automatically make people eligible for food stamps, if they meet income and other requirements for TANF. USDA says 43 states have expanded that to include households that it says “barely participate” in TANF. The provision is called “expanded categorical eligibility.”
USDA said the policy has resulted in people receiving food stamps who don’t need it and wouldn’t qualify under regular program rules.
Ellen Vollinger, legal director of the Food Research & Action Center, said the proposal was troubling and that the government should “put attention on how to help more people, not undercut supports for them and make their struggle against hunger even harder.”
She said the department didn’t seem to address a resulting loss of school meals, which she said the Congressional Budget Office included in its analyses of previous, similar proposals. “It’s another hit on hunger,” she said.
Under the proposal, to qualify for automatic eligibility, people would have to get at least $50 a month in benefits from TANF for a minimum of six months.
Perdue said the change is necessary for “preventing abuse of a critical safety net system so those who need food assistance the most are the only ones who receive it.”
The rule, expected to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, is open for public comment for 60 days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The immigration enforcement operation touted by President Donald Trump that targeted some 2,000 people resulted in 35 arrests. Trump billed the operation as a major show of force in an effort to “deport millions” of people in the country illegally as the number of Central American families crossing the southern border has skyrocketed. It was canceled once and then rescheduled; Trump announced the day it would begin.
RESIDENTS OF HEIGHTS ROAD LAST NIGHT ADDRESSED THE HOPWELL TOWNSHIP COMMISSIONERS ABOUT THE FLOODING OF THAT ROADWAY. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click no ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…
WE HAVE AN UPDATE NOW ON THAT HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP WATER LINE BREAK. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…