(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Joseph McGettigan III, Pennsylvania senior deputy attorney general arrives at the Centre County Courthouse for the second day of the testimony in the trial of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, Tuesday, June, 12, 2012 in Bellefonte, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Joseph E. McGettigan III, a Pennsylvania prosecutor who obtained criminal convictions against Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and chemical heir John du Pont, has died at age 76.

McGettigan, who lived in the Philadelphia suburb of Media, died on Dec. 31, according to the funeral home Boyd Horrox Givnish Life Celebration Home of East Norriton.

He was a senior deputy attorney general when he served as a lead prosecutor in the trial of Sandusky on child molestation charges in 2012. During the closing argument, McGettigan showed jurors photos of eight of Sandusky’s victims as children, all of whom had taken the stand.

“He molested and abused and hurt these children horribly,” McGettigan said. “He knows he did it, and you know he did it. Find him guilty of everything.” Sandusky was convicted of 45 of 48 counts.

McGettigan was an assistant district attorney in Delaware County when he prosecuted du Pont, who was found guilty of third-degree murder but mentally ill in the death of Olympic gold medal-winning freestyle wrestler David Schultz at du Pont’s palatial estate outside Philadelphia in 1996. Schultz come to live and train at a state-of-the-art training center that du Pont had built on his property.

Du Pont died in a Pennsylvania prison in 2010 at the age of 72. Sandusky, 81, is currently serving a 30- to 60-year sentence in state prison.

McGettigan’s work as prosecutor, which also included a stint in Philadelphia, often involved murder and child molestation cases. More recently he had been a lawyer in private practice, including work on behalf of crime victims.

Survivors include his wife, Gay Warren; his mother, Ruth L. McGettigan; and six siblings.

(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday issued a warrant on Monday for the arrest of a husband and wife who were reportedly stealing from the federal government. Munir Chaudhri and Rachna Anwar are accused of coming to Sam’s Club on Mount Nebo Road to use stolen EBT card funds to buy goods for their businesses on the North Side of Pittsburgh. According to Sunday, the couple used the fraudulent cards 834 times at Sam’s Club, Giant Eagle and Tom Friday’s Market across four years, starting in 2021. Investigators state that the couple used 453 different EBT cards with a total theft of over $178,000.

(File Photo of the Highmark Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Highmark Inc. announced today that a significant enhancement to its health plans, effective January 1st, 2026, ensuring all diagnostic breast studies and breast MRIs will be covered at 100%, without any copay or deductible. This new policy applies to all health plans from Highmark across Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and Delaware, removing financial barriers for breast cancer diagnostics that are essential. 

(File Photo of the PennDOT Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) PennDOT is now encouraging businesses in Pennsylvania to help keep it beautiful through its Sponsor-A-Highway Program. The 2026 tourism season, which includes the NFL Draft, PGA Championship, FIFA World Cup, MLB All-Star Series and America250PA, is expected to bring over 209 million travelers to Pennsylvania, providing an opportunity for even more people to see the businesses sponsoring roadside cleanup along many of the Commonwealth’s most heavily traveled roadways. A website for more information so Pennsylvania businesses can get involved in this program can be found by clicking here.

(Photo Courtesy of KDKA: Caption for Photo: Michael Keaton was in the Strip District for the inaugural induction ceremony at Pittsburgh’s Walk of Fame.)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The Pittsburgh Walk of Fame is now accepting nominations for its second class of inductees. This inaugural walk of fame was revealed on October 20th, 2025 in the Strip District Terminal with the goal of celebrating people with southwestern Pennsylvania ties who have made their mark on America. The inaugural class of ten inductees were: musician George Benson, the late journalist Nelly Bly, the late industrialist Andrew Carnegie, the late environmentalist Rachel Carson, the late baseball legend Roberto Clemente, actor Michael Keaton, the late medical researcher Jonas Salk, the late television icon Fred Rogers, the late artist Andy Warhol, and the late playwright August Wilson.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published January 7, 2026 1:02 A.M.

(Center Township, Pa) Ongoing discussions over needed repairs to the New Horizon School continued Tuesday evening at the Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit meeting.

The Intermediate Unit invited Superintendents from all Beaver County school districts to take part in the discussion.

New Horizon, the only Beaver County school for special needs students, had to vacate their Brighton Township building after the discovery of mold.

The mold was initially discovered by staff in a kitchenette area. After a subsequent investigation into the rest of the facilty, mold was found in 64 rooms and other areas. Abspestos was found as well.

SiteLogic is handling the logistics of making the necessary repairs. They previously presented the board with multiple options to correct the issues, with the lowest cost being just over 8 million. They clarified Tuesday night that those were early estimates and the cost has increased due to the number of issues found in the building.

While they intially quoted the full project to be around 20 million dollars, they are now suggesting it can be done at around 15 million or less, depending on factors such as final amounts for bid contracts and the cutting of extra optional work such as adding new rooms, windows, restroom facilites, and dimming LED lights.

The secondary main expense in addition to gutting the walls and fixing the primary mold problem is the HVAC system.

Professionals who inspected the system determined it needed to be fully replaced.

The HVAC system is thought to be the cause of the mold, due to univentilator leaks and non-dehumidifying capabilities.

As the microphone was passed around to Superintendants and representatives of county schools, all of them made it clear that they support fixing New Horizon. Many stated that previous issues they had with the project only had to do with aspects of the project being unclear.

Western Beaver Superintendant Dr. Robert Postupac stated “Western Beaver is fully committed to helping New Horizon”.

New Brighton Superintendant Dr. Joseph Gaurino said “we fully support this, we are anxious to get this going and moving forward”.

Southside: “We have no interest in seeing new horizon close.”

Riverside: “We fully support it and have been committed for over 50 years”.

Midland: “We need to make sure we know we have done everything we can to minimize this problem from coming back”.

Freedom: “legislators need to help. Schools have been funded for football lights, we need money to help this school”.

Central Valley: “We are in full support of the project”.

Beaver: “we appreciate the colloratative nature and hopefully we can get it moving forward”.

Ambridge: “each child deserves a special place, and New horizon is for these children. I wouldn’t think of sending them anywhere else”.

Aliquippa: “we 100% support new horizon”.

Beaver Falls: “we always do what’s best for our kids. Beaver falls is fully committed”.

Hopewell: supports the project and “advocating for clear info about the renovation.”

Midway through the meeting, Beaver County Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp made an unexpected surprise announcement that the Beaver County Commissioners are committing one million dollars to the project.

The County will contribute $250,000 per year over the course of four years.

Camp told Beaver County Radio that the money will come from reserve funds and assured it will not affect taxpayers.

The approximately 40 people in attendance, as well as the board and district representatives applauded Camp following the announcement.

By the end of the nearly 4 hour meeting, all districts seemed to be in agreement of a resolution to pursue a fifteen million dollar loan to fix the school.

A final vote is expected to take place later this month at the next Intermediate Unit meeting.

New Horizon is currently temporarily housing their school in Midland at a cost of around $500,000.

Everyone involved aims to have work start as soon possible, hoping to have the school reopened for the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

(File Photo: Caption for Photo: police car lights at night in city with selective focus and bokeh background blur, Credit for Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images/iStockphoto/z1b)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A man was taken to a hospital after being pinned by a piece of industrial equipment inside a building in the Strip District neighborhood of Pittsburgh just before 9:10 a.m. this morning at the 100 block of 15th Street. Emergency crews found a man who had a heavy machine fall on him when they arrived at the scene. He was reported to be in stable condition. The extent of his injuries was not known immediately. According to a statement from Pittsburgh Public Safety, he was initially unresponsive, but was conscious and alert when he was taken to the hospital.

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Collier Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Pittsburgh reported via release today that twenty-four-year-old Luis Llorens Mendoza of Miami, Florida was charged after causing a three-vehicle crash in Allegheny County on the evening of December 30th, 2025. Llorens Mendoza was driving on I-376 West Penn Lincoln Parkway in Collier Township at 5:12 p.m. and hit the vehicles of eighteen-year-old Sofia Knuaff of Zelienople and twenty-nine-year-old Mitchell Whitaker of Coraopolis. Knauff was the only driver that was injured with a suspected minor injury, but she was not transported.