(File Photo of Congressman Chris Deluzio)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Carnegie, PA) Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) announced yesterday that fifteen Western Pennsylvania fire departments are receiving a total of nearly $3.6 million in federal grant funding to support their public safety work. Many of these grant awards were successful following Congressman Deluzio’s office’s direct advocacy for this funding to come to Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided this funding via the Department of Homeland Security’s Fiscal Year 2025 Assistance to Firefighters (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs. 

A total of $3,594,533.98 in federal funding is coming to fifteen fire departments in the 17th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.

The majority of this funding awards will help thirteen Western Pennsylvania fire departments by critical equipment, emergency vehicles, protective gear, training, and other resources through the AFG program.

Two other departments will receive close to $1 million to support their firefighter recruitment and retention efforts that are through the SAFER program. 

According to a release from Deluzio’s office, the full list of grant awardees is as follows:

Assistance to Firefighters Grant recipients 

1. Brighton Township Volunteer Fire Department – $877,695.23 

1. Community Ambulance Service (Franklin) – $191,013.63 

1. West Deer Township Volunteer Fire Co. No. 3 – $65,723.80 

1. Citizens Hose Co. (Natrona Heights) – $95,238.09 

1. Harrison Hills Volunteer Fire Co. (Natrona Heights) – $30,923.80 

1. Borough of New Brighton – $869,416.95 

1. Oakmont Borough – $197,476.19 

1. Reserve Volunteer Fire Dept. – $35,571.42 

1. Bellevue Borough – $91,428.57 

1. Edgewood Volunteer Fire Dept. – $59,771.42 

1. Seville Volunteer Fire Co (Ross) – $54,772.72 

1. Neptune Fire Co. No. 1 (Richland) – $29,852.38 

1. Southern Allegheny Valley Emergency Services (Sharpsburg) – $17,638.90 

Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant recipients 

1. West View Volunteer Fire Dept. – $550,010.88 

1. Berkeley Hills Fire Co. (Ross) – $428,000 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pope Leo XIV thanks the faithful during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will need no further treatment for lung cancer after tests confirmed the disease was localized, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Leo, 71, had part of one lung removed last week in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate. The surgery confirmed he had adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer. Leo was discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic on Saturday, four days after surgery, and said he would gradually resume his activities.

The pope’s personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, and his surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, said the final tests on tissue removed during the surgery confirmed the diagnosis and that the cancer had not spread.

“A subsequent oncology assessment confirmed that no further treatment is necessary,” the doctors said in a statement.

The pope had the lower section, or lobe, of his right lung removed to try to ensure that all the cancer was removed.

Additional treatment is offered for patients whose cancer has spread, such as into the lymph nodes, or who have certain other signs that their cancer might be particularly aggressive. Surgery often can be enough when tumors are caught very early, such as when someone has an X-ray or other scan that shows a spot long before it’s large or causing symptoms.

The pope appears to have had one of those “incidental findings,” a nodule in his lung spotted during another exam.

In an interview with Vatican News on Saturday, Margaritora, the chief thoracic surgeon at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, confirmed that the nodule was found by chance during routine abdominal examinations, and that the pope had not been experiencing any symptoms.

“The statements suggest that this is a stage I lung cancer for which surgery is highly effective and expected to be curative,” said Dr. Stephen Liu, a lung cancer expert at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. He said the lack of further treatment suggests a relatively small cancer, and that it had not spread to lymph nodes.

The pope carried on business while in the hospital, including a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has appeared strong in two public appearances at the Vatican since his surgery: the traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square and Wednesday’s longer audience in the square, greeting the faithful from around the world.

“Thank you! Thank you for the support of your prayers,” Leo said during the audience.

His next major engagement is an ambitious Nov. 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

Margaritora told Vatican News that there was “no clinical reason” to prevent the trip, which includes a dozen flights, two helicopter rides and high altitude stops.

The pope had revealed that a nodule would be surgically removed during the traditional Sunday blessing on Oct. 11, in an unusually transparent disclosure broadcast on live television that broke the tradition of secrecy surrounding papal health issues.

(File Photo of the Top of a School Bus)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Ambridge, PA) State Representative Rob Matzie announced yesterday that grant funding of nearly $620,000 from the state Department of Education will bolster literacy skills for elementary school students in the Central Valley and Freedom Area school districts.

According to Matzie, this funding, which includes $415,405 to Central Valley School District for the Center Grange Primary and Todd Lane Elementary schools, and $204,160 to the Freedom Area School District for the Freedom Area Elementary School, will give students a stronger start in an essential core curriculum subject. 

The funding comes from the Pennsylvania Structured Literacy Grant program and this program provides funding to help school districts implement the state of Pennsylvania’s structured literacy legislation.

These grants may be used for buying materials, obtaining assessments for screening, developing both plans and literacy systems that are sustainable, and strengthening collaboration districtwide.

(File Photo of a Police Siren Light)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Cranberry Township, PA) The Mars Area School District investigated new threats yesterday. 

Administration notified families and staff of “threatening statements” written on a bathroom wall at Mars Area Elementary School in a letter sent just after 4 p.m. that day.

Administration worked with security to investigate these threats and determined that an elementary student had written them. 

The letter does not mention any actions that the school would take against the student. 

This comes a week after a bomb threat was found written on a bathroom wall in Mars Area High School, which resulted in an arrest the next day as well as security at the school that was heightened. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: App logos for Facebook, left, and X, formerly known as Twitter, are seen on a mobile phone in Los Angeles, Saturday, March 16, 2024. The Supreme Court is taking up a dispute Monday, March 18, between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics like COVID-19 and election security. The case involves posts on Facebook, X and other media platforms. (AP Photo/Paula Ulichney)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) The Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill yesterday which implements a “bell-to-bell” ban on students using cellphones in schools. 

The bipartisan bill passed in a vote of 47-3, after it passed in the House last week by a vote of 141-62. 

This bill requires schools in the state to adopt policies prohibiting student cellphone use during the school day.  

It also allows school districts to set their own policies and it applies to career and technical schools, charter schools and cyber charter schools, intermediate units, private schools and school districts.  

This bill now goes to Governor Josh Shapiro to sign into law. 

(File Photo of a Road Work Ahead Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Allegheny County, PA) PennDOT District 11 announced that drilling work along I-79 in Marshall Township and Franklin Park Borough in Allegheny County will begin on Monday, October 26th, weather permitting. 

From 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. weekdays, as needed, through mid-November, drilling work requiring single-lane restrictions will occur in both directions of I-79 between the I-79/I-279 split and the Mingo Road overpass.

Crews from ECS Limited will conduct this work. 

(File Photo of State Representative Rob Matzie)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) The Pennsylvania House passed Senate Bill 1328 yesterday, which is companion legislation to State Representative Rob Matzie’s bill that would mandate the availability of automated external defibrillators at utility and electrical linework job sites in Pennsylvania. 

According to Matzie, he introduced his companion bill with State Representative Jason Ortitay to address a major gap in the law and ensure that workers on some of the highest-risk job sites have access to lifesaving medical equipment. 

Senate Bill 1328 would require that all utility and electrical worksites, as well as their contractors or subcontractors, would have at least one automated external defibrillator and at least two employees that are trained in AED and CPR use present at each worksite. 

(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of the City of Beaver Falls Fire Department, Posted on Facebook on October 21st, 2026)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) Firefighters responded at 10 p.m. on Tuesday to multiple reports of a fully involved vehicle fire in Beaver Falls.

They arrived and found a single vehicle with the passenger compartment well-involved with no exposures.

A bumper line was stretched and it extinguished the fire.

The cause of this fire is suspicious and that cause is under investigation by the City of Beaver Falls Fire Department. 

(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced yesterday that eight residents of southwest Pennsylvania have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of violating federal drug laws. 

 The eight-count Indictment against them follows a 15-month Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) investigation into a drug trafficking organization and the defendants are charged with conspiring to distribute, possessing with intent to distribute, and/or distributing various quantities of cocaine during the period between June 1st, 2025, and September 1st, 2026.  

The Indictment was unsealed following the arrests of seven of the defendants yesterday morning. 

Authorities identified those charged as forty-five-year-old Terrance Bonner, fifty-nine-year-old Martin Langford, fifty-three-year-old Roddell Smalls, forty-five-year-old Maurice Tinsley, forty-seven-year-old Justin Rumble, forty-five-year-old Oscar Stokes, and forty-seven-year-old Rashawdi Pugh. 

Pugh is from Aliquippa, Tinsley is from Bellevue, Stokes is from Uniontown, and the rest of them are from Pittsburgh.  

The law provides for a maximum total sentence of not less than 10 years and up to life in prison, a fine of up to $10 million, or both for the conspiracy charge. 

The law provides for a maximum total sentence of not less than five years and up to 40 years in prison, a fine of up to $5 million, or both for 500 grams or more of cocaine, or up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $1 million, or both for a quantity of cocaine for the possession charges. 

(File Photo of the Beaver County Courthouse)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver, PA) Several topics were discussed at today’s Beaver County Commissioners’ work session at the County Courthouse.

County Commissioner Jack Manning had a special announcement during the Commissioners’ report of the session.

Manning let the audience of the session know that Charles “Mick” Jones will be the new assistant director of veterans affairs at around the end of 2026.

Jones will be leaving his position as the city manager of Beaver Falls before he goes into his new role, and Manning stated: “We (the Board of County Commissioners) couldn’t be more pleased to have someone with the skill set and the commitment to veterans than Mick.”

Commissioner Tony Amadio also talked in the commssioners’ report of the session about how he and Commissioner Manning went to Beaver Falls Middle School yesterday and looked at an after-school program there that grants that the Board of Commissioners supported funded.

Amadio confirmed that this program gave kids a place to go after the school day is over to learn and play because some kids do not have that place to go to after school.

The times for this program is from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and activities that the kids are doing is accomplishing their homework, getting tutored, working with Neighborhood North Museum of Play with items like 3D Printing, a cooking program and a theater program.

Manning affirmed that Beaver Falls Middle School is the only school in the county that has this kind of program for kids that volunteer for it.

County Solicitor Garen Fedeles noted during the solicitors’ report of the session that there are close to 100 assessment appeals that have been filed for 2026.

Fedeles stated that there are twenty-five resolutions for tomorrow, and one of them is a new software (website) for the County Elections Bureau.

During the part of the session for other business, County Director of Elections Colin Sisk presented some new features of this.

This is specfically how it displays the results on election night.

Sisk noted that this feature was traditionally uploaded in PDF files about every twenty to thirty minutes.

The company that is assisting the county in this is SOE Software and when it is complete, viewers can see things like a precinct map for every contest.

Sisk said that these features “should be live on the county website by the end of the week.”

Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp also noted that the Board of Commissioners are working with the County Coroner to address the remains that are at a facility at the St. Barnabas Building from the Wampum Mushroom Mines.

Specifically, those parties are working with Beaver Cemetery to get a mausoleum to have those remains be placed there.

The goal of County Coroner David Gabauer is to have the process of having those remains moved to Beaver Cemetery by January of 2027.