WASHINGTON (AP) — The April U.S. jobs report from the Labor Department showed that solid economic growth is still encouraging strong hiring nearly a decade into the recovery from the Great Recession. Employers added a robust 263,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to a five-decade low of 3.6%. Many businesses say they’re struggling to find workers, yet each month they seem to add a substantial number.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The worst toll evader in Pennsylvania is being ordered to pay up. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Jarrett Stiff didn’t pay for trips on the Pennsylvania Turnpike 2,264 times between 2012 and 2017, more than anyone else in the state. The 36-year-old racked up nearly $128,000 in unpaid tolls and subsequent fines. In a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty in April to theft of services, was ordered to pay over $11,500 and was sentenced to five years’ probation.
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Family members say a Pennsylvania couple that had been married for almost 45 years passed away within minutes of each other. Clair “Cos” Vance had made daily visits to a care center where his 70-year-old wife, Jeanne, lived due to mobility and medical issues. As his condition worsened, Jeanne spoke with her 75-year-old husband on the phone. She last spoke to him on the phone minutes before he died Sunday night. Family members found her dead when they went to tell her about her husband’s death.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania State Police is graduating one of its larger classes, and it might be because of an effort to get prospective cadets accustomed beforehand to what 27 weeks of academy training is like. The agency graduated 103 cadets Friday. A spokesman says graduating classes are typically between 90 or 95 cadets. Starting with this class, its recruitment services section invited prospective cadets for a “cadet life tour” a few weeks before they reported to help cadets avoid washing out.
An Aliquippa pastor is marking a special milestone this weekend. 78-year-old Bishop Melvin E. Clark — and Aliquippa’s Church in the Round, the ministry he built in the city’s Plan 11 Extension neighborhood — will celebrate Clark’s 50 years as a church and community leader with services at the church this weekend. The celebration will be capped with a banquet in his honor on Monday. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has the story…
Two men from Georgia are in custody for their role in a multi-state and multi-county crime spree that hit Cranberry Township. Quentavious Price and Xavier Ferguson are accused of targeting mailboxes to steal checks from local businesses. According to police, the two would wash the checks and rewrite them before cashing them; the two were seen taking mail along Route 19 in Cranberry.
A South Beaver Township police officer is recovering after being attacked by a dog this week. It happened Wednesday afternoon as the officer was responding to a call on Cordak Drive. Officer Hannah Shepler had extensive wounds and was severely bitten, according to South Beaver Township’s chief of police speaking with the Beaver County Times. Another officer shot and killed the dog while it was on top of Shepler.
REPORTS OF SOME TEENAGERS CAUSING PROBLEMS AT THE BRADY’S RUN ICE ARENA IN BRIGHTON TOWNSHIP HAVE INSPIRED TALK OF POLICY CHANGES AT THE RINK. OVER THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, PUBLIC SKATES AT THE ICE RINK HAVE SEEN SOME LOITERING AND URULY BEHAVIOR BY TEENS. IT SEEMS THE PROBLEM IS THAT PARENTS ARE DROPPING OFF TEENAGERS FOR PUBLIC SKATE SESSIONS…BUT THE TEENS AREN’T SKATING; THEY’RE JUST HANGING OUT. BEAVER COUNTY COMMISSIONER SANDIE EGLEY SAYS SHE HERSELF HAS WITNESSED DISRUPTIVE CHILDREN AT THE ARENA. COUNTY RECREATION DIRECTOR TIM ISHMAN SAYS THEY’RE GOING TO HAVE TO RE-EVALUATE HOW IT WILL HANDLE LOITERING AT THE ARENA THIS FALL – BEFORE PUBLIC SKATES BEGIN AGAIN.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania state lawmaker protesting a gas pipeline project in her neighborhood is apologizing for saying “Nazis were just doing their jobs too” in response to complaints that demonstrators were preventing workers from doing their jobs. Democratic Rep. Danielle Friel Otten said Thursday on Twitter that her language was insensitive and that she sincerely apologized. She earlier had accused oil-and-gas industry consultants of stirring up outrage and said the fight wasn’t with the workers.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale says there are 245 backlogged rape kits in Pennsylvania that have not been tested. DePasquale says he’s working to get that count down to zero. The Auditor General says the goal for testing should be 15 days, but some of these kits are more than a year old. Since focusing on the issue three years ago, DePasquale says the issue has decreased by 90-percent.