A Beaver Falls woman is dead after a fire last Friday. Maria Amygdalos died in the blaze at her Sixth Avenue home in the College Hill neighborhood. The fire is believed to have started due to careless smoking catching a couch on fire.
Nonunion employees for Beaver County are getting a raise. The salary board approved a three percent raise for the second straight year after going without raises in 2016 and 2017. The raise will cost the county just shy of 400-grand, but some matching funds from the state reduces the impact down to a quarter million dollars. Elected officials’ salaries are not impacted by the raises.
(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
Several county citizens have had their thoughts on the Beaver County EMS’ response (or some say lack thereof) to the chlorine gas fires that took place in Rochester over the course of Friday night and Saturday morning. But according to Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp; the County was only set up to do so much, and rather it was up to each municipality to alert its citizens:
County Commissioner Sandie Egley, who had recently appeared on Teleforum to address the recent complaints regarding the alerts, said on Wednesday that the Board of Commissioners had met with Beaver County Emergency Services to discuss improving the current system so that more citizens can be informed in case of an emergency.
New Brighton Doctor, Jay Funkhouser, passed away yesterday, at Heritage Valley Hospital. Beaver County Radio News Intern, Christina Sainovich, has details…
Ambridge and Old Economy officials are preparing for a year long celebration of the upcoming bicentennial. The celebration is expected to begin in June of 2024, and last a whole year. Beaver County Radio News Intern, Christina Sainovich, has details…
A former Aliquippa woman, Leigh Mercandante, is facing 81 charges, after police found 15 dead cats in her former residence. Aliquippa police went to the house after neighbors had called, complaining of a horrible smell, and uncut grass. The police arrived at the house and immediately called the Beaver County Humane Society who sent employee Celena Kelly as well as shelter manager, Shannon O’Neill, out to investigate. Along with the estimated 15 dead cats, ten adult cats, and two kittens, were taken to the shelter alive, and later euthanized, due to severe medical issues. Mercandante is facing 27 counts each of aggravated cruelty to animals, cruelty to animals, and neglect of animals. As of today, no court date has been announced.
A North Sewickley man, Chad Fryer, is facing a slew of charges after terrorizing his ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend, and daughter. He appeared at his ex’s house, where the daughter was home alone, and proceeded to shout and pound on the door. He then tried to break into the house through the back door. The child called her mother, who told her to call her current boyfriend for help. When he arrived on the scene, he confronted Fryer, and got the child out of the house. Fryer then got in his car and chased them through the woods. Police later picked Fryer up at an unknown location, and is awaiting an August 2nd court date.
Pennsylvania turnpike tolls to rise 6 percent next year
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be going up 6 percent next year for both E-ZPass users and cash customers.
Turnpike officials announced Tuesday that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission had approved the increase slated to start Jan. 5 on all sections and extensions except for three “cashless” toll facilities in western Pennsylvania.
Officials said the increase is needed to meet escalating debt service costs and to maintain aging roads.
Officials said the most common toll for a passenger vehicle next year will increase from $1.40 to $1.50 for E-ZPass customers and from $2.30 to $2.50 for cash customers. The most common tractor-trailer toll will rise from $3.70 to $4.00 for E-ZPass and from $16.30 to $17.30 for cash.
Three western Pennsylvania highways will see increases Oct. 27.
The Latest: Florida paper prints retro Apollo 11 front page
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing (all times local):
1:30 p.m.
The Orlando Sentinel commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch by republishing its front page from 1969 and writing minute-by-minute accounts of launch day.
The headline on July 16, 1969, was simple: Moon, Here We Come.
The newspaper detailed how the day started for astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins as they prepared for launch.
The caption for a rendering of the astronauts read: Pioneers for Man’s Greatest Quest.
On its website, the Sentinel offered readers a look at the morning’s activities, complete with photos of the astronauts, Mission Control and the crowds that gathered along Florida’s Space Coast to watch history.
9:40 a.m.
Thousands of model rockets have been launched in Huntsville, Alabama, 50 years after the Apollo 11 crew blasted off for the moon.
Tuesday’s launch was done by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, which is attempting a world record.
Huntsville, known as Rocket City, was the home of the powerful Saturn V rocket that took Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon.
The simultaneous rocket launch is one of many events planned commemorating the golden anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
9:32 a.m.
Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins has returned to the exact spot where he and two other astronauts flew to the moon 50 years ago.
At NASA’s invitation, Michael Collins spent the golden anniversary Tuesday morning at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. He marked the precise moment — 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969 — that their Saturn V rocket departed on humanity’s first moon landing. Buzz Aldrin was an unexplained no-show. Mission commander Neil Armstrong — who took the first lunar footsteps — died in 2012.
Collins says he wishes Aldrin and Armstrong could have shared the moment Tuesday at the pad. The 88-year-old astronaut was interviewed live on NASA TV.
The event kicks off a week of celebrations marking each day of Apollo 11’s eight-day voyage.
9:15 a.m.
The spacesuit that Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong wore for that one small step on the moon is back on display in mint condition.
The 76-pound suit had been out of view and needed to be rehabbed before it was put on display Tuesday at the Air and Space Museum in Washington. On hand for the unveiling were Vice President Mike Pence, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine and Armstrong’s son, Rick.
A fundraising campaign took just five days to raise the $500,000 needed for the restoration.
Calling Armstrong a hero, Pence said “the American people express their gratitude by preserving this symbol of courage.”
The Apollo 11 crew of Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins launched to the moon 50 years ago Tuesday. Armstrong died in 2012.
4:30 a.m.
Apollo 11’s astronauts are returning to the exact spot from where they flew to the moon 50 years ago.
NASA has invited Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Tuesday. They will mark the precise moment — 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969 — that their Saturn V rocket departed on humanity’s first moon landing. Mission commander Neil Armstrong — who took the first lunar footsteps — died in 2012.
It kicks off eight days of golden anniversary celebrations for each day of Apollo 11’s voyage.
Also Tuesday morning, 5,000 model rockets are set to launch simultaneously at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. At the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, Armstrong’s newly restored spacesuit goes on display.
The Latest: McConnell says Trump ‘is not a racist’
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s racist tweets about four Democratic lawmakers of color (all times local):
2:25 p.m.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says President Donald Trump is “not a racist” after Trump tweeted over the weekend that four congresswomen of color should return to their native countries. All of the congresswomen are American citizens.
McConnell said at a news conference Tuesday that political rhetoric has gotten “way, way overheated across the political spectrum.” He pointed to Democratic comments, saying “we’ve seen the far left throw accusations of racism at everyone.”
He also took a mild swipe at Trump, saying everyone “from the president to the speaker to the freshmen members of the House” should take a lesson from the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who said he attacked ideas, not people.
Pressed by reporters as to whether he thought the president is a racist, McConnell said: “the president is not a racist.”
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2:15 p.m.
Ben Carson is standing by President Donald Trump amid an ongoing uproar over Trump’s tweets urging four Democratic congresswomen of color to return to their countries that have been widely labeled racist.
Carson, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the only black member of Trump’s Cabinet, praised the president publicly at a Tuesday Cabinet meeting.
He’s thanking Trump for his “incredible courage,” ”stamina and resilience from unwithering criticism, unfair criticism all the time.”
Carson is also asking whether people would “rather have a non-politician” in office “whose speech is unfiltered who gets a lot of stuff done or somebody with a silver tongue who gets nothing done.”
And he says he believes that “God is using” Trump.
Trump has defended his comments, insisting they “were NOT Racist.”
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12:15 p.m.
A Senate Republican who is likely to face a competitive reelection race next year says he disagrees with President Donald Trump’s racist tweets that suggested four House women of color “go back” to where they came from.
Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner was asked Denver-area KOA NewsRadio early Tuesday about Trump’s tweets and replied: “I disagree with the president. I wouldn’t have sent these tweets.”
Gardner has a complicated history with Trump but has endorsed the president’s reelection bid. Hillary Clinton won Colorado by 5 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s tweets and remarks have put Republicans on the defensive as they defend their Senate majority. All four of the Democratic women are American citizens elected to Congress last year.
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11:35 a.m.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats are offended by what President Donald Trump he has said “about our sisters.”
That’s what the California Democrat has told colleagues at a closed-door meeting. Their gathering came hours before a planned House vote condemning Trump’s “racist” tweets saying four congresswomen of color should return to their native countries. In fact, all are American.
Pelosi says the House resolution is about “who we are as a people” and recognizes “the unacceptability of what his goals were.”
Republican leaders oppose the resolution.
Pelosi’s defense of the congresswomen came as she and the four freshmen have feuded over their opposition to bipartisan border legislation the four felt left the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants too unconstrained.
Pelosi’s remarks were recounted by an aide who attended the session and who spoke on condition of anonymity because the aide wasn’t authorized to speak on the record.
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10:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump says his tweets telling four female Democratic lawmakers of color to “go back” to the broken countries from which they came were “NOT Racist.”
Trump sought to defend himself Tuesday, a day after saying he wasn’t concerned that critics considered the tweets to be racist. Trump tweeted Tuesday: “Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!”
Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib are U.S. citizens, and three were born in the U.S. They say Trump made “xenophobic bigoted remarks.”
Trump also criticized plans by the House to vote on a resolution condemning his comments. He called Tuesday’s expected vote on the resolution a “Democrat con game” and said Republicans “should not show ‘weakness’ and fall into their trap.”
Trump says the vote should instead be on the language used by the congresswomen.
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12:05 a.m.
House Democrats are planning a vote on a resolution that condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments about four congresswomen of color.
The proposed measure says Trump’s words “have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”
A defiant Trump followed his weekend tweets about the women going back to their “broken” countries with remarks Monday that they should get out of the U.S. “right now.” All are American citizens and three native-born.
Trump also shrugged off the criticism his remarks have drawn, saying that many people agree with him and “love it.”
A rumble of discontent surfaced from some Republicans — but notably not from the party’s congressional leaders.
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney called Trump’s remarks “destructive, demeaning, and disunifying.”