(File Photo of Fire Background)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Ambridge, PA) A fire occurred in an Ambridge home on Friday. Firefighters went to Hazel Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. that night and Beaver County dispatch told WTAE that at least two people were treated for smoke inhalation. Ambridge police also were called to help with the fire. It is unclear whether more injuries occurred or if anyone got taken to the hospital. That is all the information that we have at this time, and we will have updates as soon as they are available.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – This undated photo provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows cucumbers recalled for salmonella. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration via AP)

(AP) Nearly four dozen people in 18 states have been sickened in an expanding outbreak of salmonella food poisoning tied to recalled cucumbers sent to restaurants, hospitals, cruise ships and grocery stores, including Target stores, federal health officials said Friday.

At least 16 people have been hospitalized after eating cucumbers produced by Florida-based Bedner Growers and distributed by Fresh Start Produce Sales, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The cucumbers were sold from April 29 through May 19.

The outbreak includes reports of illness from people aboard six different cruise ships that departed from U.S. ports between late March and mid-April, the CDC said. The true number of sick people is likely much higher and the outbreak could affect additional states, officials said.

Several companies have issued recalls for whole cucumbers and cucumbers used in a range of sandwiches, salsas and other foods linked to the outbreak. Target recalled dozens of products, including whole cucumbers, salads and vegetable rolls.

The outbreak was detected during a follow-up inspection in April to a 2024 outbreak that sickened 551 people and led to 155 hospitalizations in 34 states and Washington, D.C. In that outbreak, investigators found salmonella bacteria linked to many of the illnesses in untreated canal water used at farms operated by Bedner Growers and Thomas Produce Company.

As part of the new investigation, FDA officials found salmonella in a sample of Bedner Growers cucumbers at a distribution center in Pennsylvania. That sample matched the strain of salmonella that made people sick. In addition, “multiple other strains” of salmonella were detected that match samples in a government database. CDC officials are working to determine whether additional illnesses in people match those strains.

Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include diarrhea, fever, severe vomiting, dehydration and stomach cramps. Most people who get sick recover within a week. Infections can be severe in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, who may require hospitalization.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Law enforcement officials dress to investigate after an attack on the Peark Street Mall Sunday, June 1, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A man with a makeshift flamethrower yelled “Free Palestine” and hurled an incendiary device into a group that had assembled to raise attention for Israeli hostages in Gaza, law enforcement officials said Sunday. Eight people were injured, some with burns.

The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was booked into the Boulder County jail north of Denver and expected to face charges in connection with the attack the FBI was investigating as a terrorist act. Online records did not immediately show when he would make a court appearance.

The burst of violence at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, a four-block area in downtown Boulder, unfolded against the backdrop of a war between Israel and Hamas that continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States. The attack happened on the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which is marked with the reading of the Torah and barely a week after a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside of a Jewish museum in Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement Monday saying he, his wife and the entire nation of Israel were praying for the full recovery of the people wounded in the “vicious terror attack” in Colorado.

“This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews,” Netanyahu said.

Attack leads to increased security elsewhere

Across the U.S., the New York Police Department said it has upped its presence at religious sites throughout the city for Shavuot.

“Sadly, attacks like this are becoming too common across the country,” said Mark Michalek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office, which encompasses Boulder. “This is an example of how perpetrators of violence continue to threaten communities across the nation.”

The eight victims who were wounded range in age from 52 to 88 and the injuries spanned from serious to minor, officials said.

The attack occurred as people with a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives was concluding their weekly demonstration to raise visibility for the hostages who remain in Gaza. Video from the scene shows a witness shouting, “He’s right there. He’s throwing Molotov cocktails,” as a police officer with his gun drawn advances on a bare-chested suspect who is holding containers in each hand.

Alex Osante of San Diego said he was having lunch on a restaurant patio across the pedestrian mall when he heard the crash of a bottle breaking on the ground, a “boom” sound followed by people yelling and screaming.

In video of the scene captured by Osante, people could be seen pouring water on a woman lying on the ground who Osante said had caught on fire during the attack. A man, who later identified himself as an Israeli visiting Boulder who decided to join the group that day, ran up to Osante on the video asking for some water to help.

Suspect reemerged after initial attack before being arrested

After the initial attack, Osante said the suspect went behind some bushes and then reemerged and threw a Molotov cocktail but apparently accidentally caught himself on fire as he threw it. The man then took off his shirt and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest before the police arrived. The man dropped to the ground and was arrested without any apparent resistance in the video that Osante filmed.

As people tried to help the woman on the ground, another woman who appeared to be a participant in the event yelled to others out of the camera’s view, defending their cause, saying they don’t talk about the government but just talk about the hostages.

Lynn Segal, 72, was among about 20 people who gathered Sunday. They had finished their march in front of the courthouse when a “rope of fire” shot in front of her and then “two big flares.”

She said the scene quickly turned chaotic as people worked to find water to put out flames and find help.

Segal, who said she is Jewish on her father’s side and has supported the Palestinian cause for more than 40 years, was concerned that she might be accused of helping the suspect because she was wearing a pro-Palestinian shirt.

“There were people who were burning, I wanted to help,” she said. “But I didn’t want to be associated with the perpetrator.”

Authorities say they believe the suspect acted alone

Authorities did not disclose details about Soliman but said they believe that he acted alone and that no other suspect was being sought. No criminal charges were immediately announced but officials said they would move to hold Soliman accountable. He was also injured and was taken to the hospital to be treated, but authorities didn’t elaborate on the nature of his injuries.

FBI leaders immediately declared the attack an act of terrorism and the Justice Department denounced it as a “needless act of violence, which follows recent attacks against Jewish Americans.”

“This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts. We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said in a post on X.

Israel’s war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,000 people in Hamas-run Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas, displaced around 90% of the population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.

The violence comes four years after a shooting rampage at a grocery store in Boulder, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Denver, that killed 10 people. The gunman was sentenced to life in prison for murder after a jury rejected his attempt to avoid prison time by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

Multiple blocks of the pedestrian mall area were evacuated by police. The scene shortly after the attack was tense, as law enforcement agents with a police dog walked through the streets looking for threats and instructed the public to stay clear of the mall.

(File Photo of the Pennsylvania Department of Education Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) According to a recent report, about 45 Pennsylvania counties are experiencing shortfalls of teachers last year ranked as “severe” or “extremely severe.” The report comes from Teach Plus Pennsylvania and #PANeeds Teachers, and Beaver County is one of those counties that is in the severe level. The investigation went into nineteen Beaver County school districts as well as Geneva College, and the report states that in 2024, the teacher supply was “very low.”

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE -A sign is seen outside of Seminole Hospital District offering measles testing, Feb. 21, 2025, in Seminole, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez), File)

(AP) Measles cases inched up slightly in the U.S. this past week, with a new county impacted in Texas and Colorado reporting a new outbreak.

There are 1,088 confirmed measles cases in the U.S., up 42 from last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Texas, where the nation’s biggest outbreak raged during the late winter and spring, reported 10 additional cases this week for a total of 738.

There are three other major outbreaks in North America.

One in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 1,888 cases from mid-October through May 27. Another in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 628 as of Thursday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 1,693 measles cases and three deaths as of Wednesday, according to data from the state health ministry.

Since the outbreak in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma began, two elementary school-aged children in the epicenter in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico have died of measles. All were unvaccinated.

Other states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000. Here’s what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.

How many measles cases are there in Texas?

There are a total of 738 cases across 35 counties, most of them in West Texas, state health officials said Friday.

Throughout the outbreak, 94 people have been hospitalized. McLennan County, which includes the city of Waco, was added to the state’s list of counties with active cases.

State health officials estimated less than 1% of cases — fewer than 10 — are actively infectious. Fifty-six percent of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has had 409 cases since late January — just over 1.7% of the county’s residents.

The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Local health officials said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February; Kennedy said the child was 6.

How many measles cases are there in New Mexico?

New Mexico added one new case on Friday for a total of 79.

Seven people have been hospitalized since the outbreak started. Most of the state’s cases are in Lea County. Sandoval County near Albuquerque has six cases, Eddy County has three, Doña Ana County has two and Chaves and Curry counties have one each.

An unvaccinated adult died of measles-related illness March 6. The person did not seek medical care.

How many cases are there in Oklahoma?

Oklahoma held steady Friday with a total of 14 confirmed and three probable cases.

The state health department is not releasing which counties have cases.

How many cases are there in Colorado?

Colorado has seen a total of seven measles cases in 2025 and one outbreak with three related cases, which the state health department announced Thursday.

All three cases appear to stem from an international flight that landed at Denver International Airport in mid-May. Two people with confirmed cases live in Arapahoe County, near Denver — one unvaccinated child under the age of 5 and an unrelated vaccinated adult. The other person was an out-of-state traveler who was infectious on the flight and stayed at a hotel near the airport. State health officials said Thursday there is no evidence of further spread.

The other counties with cases in 2025 are Pueblo, Jefferson and Archuleta counties with one each and Denver with two.

How many cases are there in Kansas?

Kansas has a total of 64 cases across 11 counties in the southwestern part of the state, with two hospitalizations. All but five of the cases are connected, and most of the cases are in Gray County.

How many cases are there in Michigan?

Michigan has a steady eight confirmed cases of measles, with an outbreak of four connected cases in Montcalm County in the western part of the state that health officials say is tied to the Ontario outbreak.

How many cases are there in Montana?

Montana has 13 measles cases as of Thursday. Ten are in Gallatin County, which is where the first cases showed up — Montana’s first in 35 years.

Flathead County has two cases and Hill County has one case.

Health officials said there is potential for community transmission in Hill County. There are outbreaks in neighboring North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

How many cases are there in North Dakota?

North Dakota, which hadn’t seen measles since 2011, is up to 29 cases as of Thursday. Two of the people have been hospitalized, and all of the people with confirmed cases were not vaccinated.

There are 13 cases in Williams County in western North Dakota on the Montana border. On the eastern side of the state on the Minnesota border, there are eight cases in Grand Forks County and seven cases in Cass County. Burke County, in northwest North Dakota on the border of Saskatchewan, Canada, has one case.

How many cases are there in Ohio?

Ohio remained steady for a second week at 34 measles cases and one hospitalization, according to the Ohio Department of Health. That count includes only Ohio residents.

The state has two outbreaks: Ashtabula County near Cleveland has 16 cases, and Knox County in east-central Ohio has 20 — 14 among Ohio residents and the rest among visitors.

Allen, Cuyahoga, Holmes and Defiance counties have one case each.

How many cases are there in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania remains steady at 15 cases overall in 2025 as of Thursday, including international travel-related cases in Montgomery County and one in Philadelphia.

An outbreak of eight measles cases in Erie County in far northwest Pennsylvania has remained steady since it began in mid-April.

How many cases are there in Tennessee?

Tennessee has had six measles cases since early May, but no change since. Health department spokesman Bill Christian said all cases are the middle part of the state, and that “at least three of these cases are linked to each other” but declined to specify further. The state also did not say whether the cases were linked to other outbreaks or when Tennessee’s outbreak started.

Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?

Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. The CDC says more than twice as many measles have come from outside of the U.S. compared to May of last year, and most of those are in unvaccinated Americans returning home. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.

What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine?

The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.

Getting another MMR shot as an adult is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.

People who have documentation that they had measles are immune, and those born before 1957 generally don’t need the shots because so many children got measles back then that they have “presumptive immunity.”

Measles has a harder time spreading through communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — due to “herd immunity.” But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.

What are the symptoms of measles?

Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.

The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.

Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.

How can you treat measles?

There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.

 

(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of the New Sewickley Township Police Department)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Bucyrus, OH) According to New Sewickley Township Police Chief Gregory Carney, several people are facing criminal charges due to their involvement in the incident of a missing Beaver County teenager. New Sewickley Township police were searching for seventeen-year-old Isabella Phillips, who was safely found in Ohio on Saturday at the home of an unidentified suspect. That person was arrested after police concluded that the person picked up Phillips after traveling to Pennsylvania. According to a release from the New Sewickley Township Police Department, Phillips was last seen on the 500 block of Glen Eden Road before she went missing.

(File Photo of Police Lights)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Independence Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver report that a eighteen-year-old from Aliquippa caused a single-vehicle crash in Independence Township on Thursday. Gavin Price hit a tree because he did not complete a curve on 164 Parrish Road before he escaped the scene. According to police, the primary violation for Price is for driving under the influence and unsafe driving. However, police are conducting an ongoing investigation for this incident.

(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) A man from Los Angeles, California pleaded guilty to both being involved in a drug operation and mailing cocaine to Beaver County. According to the Department of Justice, thirty-three-year-old Jose Angel Sanchez entered a guilty plea on Thursday. A 2022 investigation into Sanchez confirms that he mailed 2 kilograms of cocaine to Aliquippa, which then went to West Virginia for a co-defendant, Christopher Salgado. The sentencing for Sanchez will be on October 2nd. Sanchez could get a maximum of no less than ten years and up to a life sentence in jail, an up to $10 million fine, or both, provided by the law.

 

(File Photo of Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Badge)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver report that a shotgun was stolen by an unidentified suspect at the Hookstown VFD Gunbash on Saturday. According to police, the stolen shotgun was reported as a Black and wooden Armscor Rock Island armory, RSS, 20 inch, 12 gauge with the serial number, R568506. If you have any other information about the gun, please call 724-773-7400. 

By Scott Tady

PITTSBURGH — George Strait threw no curves Saturday, the “King of Country Music” just delivered straight-up honkytonking music for a full throng at Acrisure Stadium.

With no fanfare, the house lights dropped at 9:10 p.m., as Strait got down to business with “Twang,” the first of his nearly 30 song selections that set an immediate tone, where pedal steel swoops and bendy guitar from Strait’s Ace in The Hole Band would pave the way for a night of real-deal country

“Check Yes Or No” came next, the first of many former No. 1 singles from the 73-year-old Texan dressed in flannel and denim like he just put in a hard day’s work at “Yellowstone’s” Dutton Ranch.

A mixed-age crowd related to the let’s-live-for-today fun of “Here For A Good Time,” one of many songs to spark one of Strait’s endearingly lopsided smiles, with the left part of the lip raised a little higher.

The tone grew more serious for “Weight of The Badge,” where the video screens behind the stage showed a dozen or so photos of Pittsburgh Police officers, while Strait talked briefly and sang about the importance and sacrifices of police officers. Beaver Valley concertgoers traveling home on Route 65 after the concert got to see police in action, at a DUI checkpoint in Bellevue that stopped motorists headed both directions.

A little later in the night, Strait welcomed on stage a combat-wounded veteran from western Pennsylvania who has become one of the approximately 120 such vets to receive a free home through Strait’s partnership with the Military Warriors Support Foundation. The Steel City crowd chanted “USA, USA, USA.”

Strait thanked First Responders, too, before the western-swing rave-up “The Fireman,” which lyrically is about the exploits of a ladies’ man.

Stalwart opening act Chris Stapleton strolled back out on stage in unassuming fashion, joining Strait for a tasty trio of “Cowboys Like Us,” “You Don’t Know What You’re Missing” and “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame,” that latter mid-tempo song featuring Stapleton on acoustic guitar.

Strait’s voice remained strong as the set moved on to a cover of Waylon Jennings’ famed “Lukenbach Texas,” 2019’s breezy, bouncy “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar,” and Strait’s beachy 2024 single “MIA Down in MIA.”

Saying he’s often asked which of his recordings he’s loves the best, Strait provided the answer, as he sailed into a lovely “Amarillo by Morning.”

The perfect choice, but anyone rooting for “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” only had to wait four songs later to hear that one in an encore that stretched past 11 p.m.

A far cry from the fire- and pyro-laden concert of new country stars Post Malone and Jelly Roll two nights earlier at PNC Park, Strait, regaled his fans with a largely no-frills night of well-written, expertly performed and traditional Texas country.

Long live The King.

Stapleton was a solid pick as chief support act. Explaining early that his banter would be limited so he could squeeze in as many songs as possible, Stapleton and his accomplished band supplied 82-minutes of country-rock gusto.

Stapleton’s guitar string shredding excelled on “Second One to Know,” while many songs brought a soul-drenched seasoning complete with vocal harmonies from his wife Morgane Stapleton.

“Outlaw State of Mind” was an utter jam, with harmonica, tambourine and keyboards slapped with an an open palm. Stapleton did a fine live debut of “Bad As I Used to Be.”

A guy in the upper deck at the back of the stadium proposed during “You Should Probably Leave” (curious choice.) “Did she say ‘Yes?'” Stapleton asked, with audience cheers affirming a yes.

“Tennessee Whiskey” brought Stapleton’s powerhouse, and likewise no-frills set to a smooth and smoking finish.