Flu activity is on the rise again in Pennsylvania. Department of Health officials say they’ve noted about six-thousand new flu cases in each of the last three weeks statewide. So far, 56 adults and one child have died because of the flu this season.

THE HOPEWELL SCHOOL BOARD HAS HIRED A NEW PIMS COORDINATOR AND ACCOUNTANT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

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Beaver County’s coroner says he is running for reelection. David Gabauer announced Tuesday he wants to remain on the job after winning in 2015. The Chippewa Township man says he’s optimistic voters will select him again.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

The Commissioners’ final work session for February featured several different aspects; most of them focused on the local departments rather than legal or political issues.

First was Parks & Recreation head Tim Ishman, who spoke extensively about branching out the promoting of Beaver County in its tourism attractions through television commercials that would air in several far-off locations in Ohio and West Virginia:

 

However, according to Commissioner Sandie Egley, Ishman was “putting the cart before the horse”, and not acknowledging the lack of tourism pamphlets in welcome areas and rest stops along Pennsylvania’s western border:

 

An even more startling revelation came about a half-hour later during the work session, when it was learned that the information about several potential retirees in the County’s different departments was lacking, and the interest in filling these positions was lacking even further. Such a revelation was familiar to Waste Management director Holly Vogt, who aired out her grievances about being short-staffed:

 

Commissioner Egley shared Vogt’s concern about short-staffing and a lack of interest, adding a slight note about the shifting conditions among the Board of Commissioners:

 

Egley herself had recently announced that she is seeking the position of Beaver County Treasurer in the November election. Both Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp and Commissioner Tony Amadio have announced their plans to run for re-election.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker is proposing a ten percent tax on violent video games to help fund safety measures at public schools. The House Finance Committee is considering a bill from Representative Christopher Quinn to provide additional funding for schools to implement safety measures to protect students and teachers. Quinn believes that a contributing factor to the rise in shootings and other violent acts in American schools is material that children see in video games. The bill is being co-sponsored by two other legislators.

Pennsylvania is about to start issuing driver licenses that allow holders to board commercial airliners and enter certain secure federal facilities when federal Real ID standards take effect in Pennsylvania next year. The state Department of Transportation plans to issue the so-called Real IDs starting Friday. Those who want one must bring proof of current address, a Social Security card and proof of identity, such as a passport or birth certificate, to a driver license center.

The East Rochester- Monaca Bridge, reopened late Monday after  the power lines   went down due to Sunday’s winds in our area.  A PennDot spokeswoman  confirmed the reopening this morning.

Duquesne Light said this morning that a crew from Alabama  Power has come in to assist with outages in our area resulting from Sunday’s high winds..  There are still 306 outages reported in Beaver County, that includes poles and wires., according to the report.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27TH, 2019

 

TODAY – CLOUDY THIS MORNING. A FEW SHOWERS
DEVELOPING DURING THE AFTERNOON. HIGH – 45.

TONIGHT – CLOUDY WITH SHOWERS OF RAIN AND WET
SNOW THIS EVENING. LOW NEAR 20.

THURSDAY – MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGH – 36.

Casey adds backing to $15 minimum wage bill in US Senate
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said Tuesday that he is adding his support to legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, joining the party’s growing chorus at the state and federal level ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The bill Casey is joining is already backed by 30 fellow Democrats. It is written by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and backed by five other Democratic senators who, like the politically independent Sanders, are seeking the party’s nomination to run for president.
Casey acknowledged that winning passage in the Republican-controlled Senate is a tall order, but that it is important to build support for it now if a Democrat is elected president in 2020.
“I would not be a candidate during 2020 running for Senate or Congress not supporting this because I think it’s popular across the board,” Casey said. “Not only do people know the data on wages, they’ve lived these lives of very little wage growth and I think it’s the No. 1 economic challenge that we have.”
In the Democrat-controlled U.S. House, similar legislation is sponsored by 198 Democrats, including eight of nine Pennsylvania Democrats.
The bill is widely embraced by labor unions and other groups aligned with the Democratic Party. Previously, Casey had authored legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 and to index it to the annual change in median wages.
The “Raise the Wage Act” that Casey will co-sponsor would also index future annual increases in the federal minimum wage to median wage growth and gradually raise the $2.13 minimum for tipped workers to the full federal minimum wage.
Five states — Illinois, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts and New York, as well as the District of Columbia — have put their minimum wages on a path to reach $15 an hour.
Pennsylvania, however, is one of 20 states that remain at the $7.25 minimum. In recent weeks, Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, introduced similar $15 minimum wage legislation, although it faces long odds in the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.
A top state Republican lawmaker, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, said Monday that Wolf’s $15 proposal is not reasonable or worth discussing.
However, Corman, R-Centre, suggested there is enough Senate Republican support for a more modest increase to bring a bill to the floor, although Corman would not define what he views as a reasonable increase.