Those expecting Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy to flame out any day now will have to keep waiting. According to most political analysts, the former U.S. vice president survived another Democratic debate on Thursday largely unbloodied and unbowed, leaving those on the margins of the race for the party’s 2020 nomination wondering if their time to gain ground on the front-runner is running out. If anything, the third Democratic debate in Houston was notable for how few of the nine other candidates took hard swings at Biden, a marked contrast from earlier debates when his record was more directly challenged. The evening likely left the race fairly much as it was before the debate, with Biden holding a sizeable, but not overwhelming lead over U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. None of the other 17 Democratic presidential candidates seeking the chance to battle Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election have more than 4% support, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Biden seemed more vulnerable than ever coming into the debate, facing persistent questions about his age, verbal slip-ups and performance on the campaign trail. But on Thursday, his resilience and forceful defense of his record as a U.S. senator and No. 2 to former President Barack Obama left wide open the question of who else in the field might rise to shake up the race.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas state representative is being criticized for tweeting he had an assault weapon ready for Democratic president candidate Beto O’Rourke. The tweet by Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain came after O’Rourke pledged during the Democratic debate that “hell yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47” when asked about a mandatory assault weapons buyback he’s endorsed. Twitter later took down Cain’s tweet.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A new analysis found the number of bills introduced and the number of laws passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature has fallen since peaking in the early 1990s. The review of four decades of data by The Philadelphia Inquirer and Spotlight PA found that lawmakers are increasingly introducing resolutions that do not substantively change state law.

THE BEAVER FALLS BUSINESS DISTRICT IS MOURNING THE LOSS OF ONE OF ITS OWN. ‘BUDDY’ MIDDLEMAN – A PROMINENT BUSINESSMAN FROM PATTERSON TOWNSHIP – DIED YESTERDAY AT THE AGE OF 90. BUDDY WAS WAS VERY INFLUENTIAL AND DID A LOT FOR THE COMMUNITY OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DECADES. WE SPOKE WITH HIS SON BOB MIDDLEMAN THIS MORNING…….WHO TOLD US HIS DAD TRULY LOVED BEAVER FALLS…

HE TOLD US WHAT HE’LL MOST THE MOST ABOUT HIS DAD…

 

HE TALKED ABOUT HOW HE’D LIKE HIS DAD TO BE REMEMBERED…

FRIENDS FOR BUDDY MIDDLEMAN WILL BE RECEIVED SUNDAY FROM 10AM UNTIL THE TIME OF THE SERVICE AT 1 PM IN THE HILL AND KUNSELMAN FUNERAL HOME. MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS MAY BE MADE TO CARNEGIE FREE LIBRARY OF BEAVER FALLS.

An employee at a T-Mobile store in Hopewell Township is accused of stealing a woman’s credit card information and selling it to someone else. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has the story…

(Photo of Solicitor Garen Fedeles, explaining the grant amendment and the addition of a driver for the homeless, taken by Sandy Giordano)

THE BEAVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APPROVED 40 RESOLUTIONS AT YESTERDAY’S REGULAR MEETING…AND THEY APPOINTED A VETERANS ADVISORY BOARD. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO WAS THERE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

A MAN WAS SHOT IN ALIQUIPPA OVERNIGHT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

YORK, Pa. (AP) — Authorities have dropped a simple assault charge against a Maryland man who used a dog leash to lead his wife around a Pennsylvania fair because she has late-stage dementia. Court documents show York County District Attorney Dave Sunday found the husband “made an ill-advised decision while attempting to provide his dying wife a trip to the fair.” Walter Wolford had taken his wife to the York County Fair last September. Wolford claimed he used the leash to keep his wife from getting lost.

Political signs were torched in Westmoreland County and police are now looking for the arsonist. The edges of the signs are charred and the grass is burned underneath. The person responsible set fire to two signs and ripped down two more along Route 30 in Hempfield Township. All of the signs belonged to Democratic candidates.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Seedlings from the 9/11 survivor tree will be donated and planted in Pittsburgh as a memorial for a mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue that killed 11 people. The Callery pear tree was nursed to health after being found in the rubble after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It’s now located at the Sept. 11 Memorial. The nonprofit that runs the memorial began to send out seedlings in 2013 to areas affected by violence or disaster.