(File Photo of a Drawing of Beaver Falls)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) City and state leaders are now attempting to address what is commonly known as a “food desert” in Beaver Falls after the closings of several stores. Beaver Falls City Manager Charles “Mick” Jones and Mayor Kenya Johns as well as State Representative Roman Kozak (R-Beaver) are in discussions related to solve this problem. Beaver Falls residents had access to at least three major grocery stores: City Market on Seventh Avenue, A&P on 24th Street, and Economy Supermarket on Ninth Avenue in the lower end of the city a couple of generations ago. All three of those grocery stores have been closed for at least 20 years, while the Sav-A-Lot (formerly Economy Supermarket and Foodland) recently shut its doors on Ninth Avenue. Jones stated that they are considering appropriate, centrally located sites within the city that would be convenient for residents to walk to retail grocery outlets. According to published reports, Beaver Falls has a significant need for improved grocery access, as parts of the city are officially classified as food deserts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Even though there are major supermarkets in the general vicinity, many of them are located in the Chippewa Township area. This creates a gap of three miles, which makes it difficult for downtown Beaver Falls residents and older residents who lack reliable transportation. Jones noted that he recalls when Beaver Falls hosted several stable grocery store operations and he expressed that one place that was contacted about this situation was Grocery Outlet, which is based in California. However, not all residents of Beaver Falls consider the food situation as dire.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – The U.S. Department of Education building is seen in Washington, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department said Monday it has terminated agreements with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding protections for transgender students, backing away from requirements negotiated by previous administrations that took a different interpretation of civil rights.

The decision removes the federal obligations for the schools to keep up measures such as faculty training on abiding by a students’ preferred name and pronouns and allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

One of the school systems, Delaware Valley School District in rural eastern Pennsylvania, received notice of the change from the Trump administration in February and has since voted to roll back its antidiscrimination protections for transgender students. Another district, Sacramento City Unified, said Monday it “remains committed to the support of our LGBTQ+ students and staff.”

The other affected districts are Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware, Fife School District in Washington, and La Mesa-Spring Valley School District and Taft College in California.

Under the Biden and Obama administrations, the department interpreted Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education, to include protections for transgender and gay students.

The Trump administration has penalized schools that have made efforts to accommodate students based on their gender identity. It has filed lawsuits in California and Minnesota over state policies permitting transgender students to participate in interscholastic sports, and opened civil rights investigations into schools and universities over their policies on transgender students.

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said the action reflects the administration’s efforts to keep transgender students from participating in girls’ and women’s sports teams and accessing shared locker rooms.

“Today, the Trump Administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior Administrations imposed on schools in its relentless pursuit of a radical transgender agenda,” she said in a written statement.

Rescinding civil rights agreements is an unusual step, but one the Trump administration has taken before on education issues. Last year, the Education Department terminated one agreement involving books removed from a school library in Georgia, and another targeting harsh discipline and unequal education opportunities for Native students in the Rapid City Area School District in South Dakota.

The rescission of the agreements would mean a step back from protecting vulnerable students in schools, said Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center.

“This is part of the Trump administration’s assault on education and assault on those who are most vulnerable to experiencing discrimination and harassment, including trans students,” Patel said. “They’ve made their intention very clear in wanting to erase protections for trans people.”

Taft College, a community college in California’s Central Valley, settled a case in 2023 with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights after a student accused faculty of discrimination that included refusing to use the student’s preferred pronouns. The college agreed to faculty training on Title IX and a revision of college policies to clarify that refusal to use a person’s preferred name and pronoun could constitute harassment.

The agreement with Sacramento City Unified School District stemmed from a complaint brought in 2022 by a student after a teacher refused to use preferred pronouns or to place the student, who identified as male, in a boys’ group for a class activity. The 2024 resolution agreement mandated training for employees on civil rights law, sexual harassment and how to handle formal complaints.

Under a settlement the Delaware Valley School District reached with the Obama administration, the district was required to permit students to use bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity.

In February, the Trump administration sent the district a letter saying it was rescinding the settlement. The administration went further, requiring the district to roll back antidiscrimination protections for transgender students.

The school board voted in late March to change its transgender student policies to abide by the Trump administration’s demands.

Since the day he returned to the White House more than a year ago, Trump and his administration have aimed at the rights of transgender people in several ways — and not just in schools.

He has tried to end participation of transgender women and girls in women’s and girls’ sports competitions and has sued states that don’t comply. He’s also blocked transgender and nonbinary people from choosing the sex markers on passports. His administration has also tried to stop those under 19 from receiving gender-affirming medical care.

(Credit for Photo: Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of Allegheny Health Network)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Jefferson Hills, PA) Allegheny Health Network (AHN) recently announced a $50,000 charitable sponsorship from PNC Bank in support of the Healthy Food Center at AHN Jefferson Hospital to address food insecurity and improve health outcomes across Pittsburgh’s South Hills and the Mon Valley. The Healthy Food Center’s pantry space will now be known as the PNC Pantry in recognition of the investment. The support of PNC ensures that patients and families experiencing food insecurity have continued access to nutritious foods tailored to their medical and dietary needs. Since opening in September of 2020 as part of AHN’s Center for Inclusion Health, the Jefferson Hospital Healthy Food Center has served as a critical resource which connects health care and nutrition through AHN’s food-as-medicine approach. In addition to supporting food inventory, this investment comes at a time of growing access to Healthy Food Center services. AHN is also expanding referral pathways through Physician Partners of Western PA, which is a clinically integrated network (CIN) of physician practices affiliated with the health system that broadens the number of providers who can connect patients directly to nutrition support services. This expansion will significantly increase the reach of the healthy Food Center to enable more patients across the Jefferson region and surrounding communities to receive referrals and ongoing support. Since its opening, Jefferson’s Healthy Food Center has delivered measurable impact for patients and families facing food insecurity, which including providing nearly 122,000 meals. The center recorded 1,235 patient visits and provided over 29,000 meals while offering nutrition education, healthy cooking guidance, and connections to community resources in 2025 alone. AHN operates multiple Healthy Food Centers across Western Pennsylvania as part of the broader commitment that it has to addressing social determinants of health. Patients receive personalized nutrition guidance and groceries aligned with their health conditions through physician referrals, which helps to reduce barriers to care beyond the clinical setting.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Yuengling Black and Tan cans are stacked in the warehouse of the D.G. Yuengling & Son Brewery Mill Creek plant on Tuesday, July 21, 2020. (Lindsey Shuey/Republican-Herald via AP)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Lehigh, PA) State Representative Ana T. Tiburcio, (D-Lehigh), recently introduced a bill in Harrisburg to make it easier for small Pennsylvania craft breweries to get up and running. She is co-sponsoring the bill with Reps. Rob Matzie, (D-Beaver), Steve Samuelson, (D-Northampton) and Dan Deasy, (D-Allegheny). The malt beverage tax credit program allows breweries that invest in their facility or equipment to claim a tax credit that is equal to the amount of capital expenditures they incurred, up to a maximum of $200,000. These tax credits can currently be carried forward for just three years and credits may not be sold to other Pennsylvania breweries. This legislation from Tiburcio would extend the carry forward period of the malt beverage tax credit to five years and let tax credit recipients sell their credits to other Pennsylvania breweries. That bill will be referred to the House Liquor Control Committee for consideration.

(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Hershey, PA) Forty-three-year-old Carrie Sortor and sixty-one-year-old Stephen Wilson, both of Lititz, Pennsylvania, were charged on Sunday by Derry Township Police with one count each of a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of children after police expressed that their seventeen-month-old child went through a wooden barrier perimeter fence and put a hand in a metal fence of the wolf enclosure at ZooAmerica in Hershey on Saturday. The area was restricted and police stated in a news release that evidence showed they both walked about twenty-five to thirty feet away from the child to a seating area with benches and appeared to be paying attention to their cellphones. The child suffered minor injuries in the incident because according to a statement from the zoo, a wolf approached “and made contact with the child’s hand,” and the wolf’s response “is consistent with natural animal behavior, and was not a sign of aggression.”

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Allegheny County, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Pittsburgh reported via release today that fifty-seven-year-old Monique Brada of Cranberry Township was not charged after causing a single-vehicle crash in Allegheny County on March 20th, 2026. Brada was driving on I-79 North in Marshall Township when a rock rolled onto the road from a rocky bank which was along the north-bound travel lanes. She did not stop in time before hitting it with her vehicle at 6:28 p.m. There were no reported injuries.

(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Posted on Facebook on April 6th, 2026)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Fayette County, PA) Laurel Caverns in Fayette County was unveiled yesterday as Pennsylvania’s newest state park. The unique trait about this park is that it is the state’s first underground state park. It boasts 4 miles of cave passages, as well as over 400 acres aboveground. The park also adjoins thousands of acres of Forbes State Forest and State Game Lands 138, and its nearby other Laurel Highlands attractions like Ohiopyle and Nemacolin. It will open on Wednesday, April 22nd.

(File Photo of a City of Aliquippa Police Department Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) The Aliquippa Police Department was dispatched at approximately 7:18 p.m. yesterday to the area of the 300 block of Superior Avenue, Valley Terrace C Building, for a report of shots fired. When officers arrived, they conducted a thorough canvass of the area. Multiple shell casings were located in front of the Valley Terrace B Building during the investigation. No injuries have been reported in connection with this incident. The investigation into it is still ongoing and anyone with information related to it should call the Aliquippa Police Department at 724-378-8000. 

(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of Curtis Walsh, Beaver County Radio)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) The largest part of the barge that broke free from a construction site on the Beaver River is still stuck on the dam near the Eastvale Bridge in Beaver Falls. A smaller piece broke free yesterday morning and is now stuck on top of the dam near the Beaver Falls – New Brighton Bridge, on the New Brighton side of the river. The barge initially got stuck on Thursday and according to the PA Turnpike, one of its contractors, Fay S&B, has been developing a plan for how to remove the barges from the river.  The Turnpike noted that the Beaver Falls Municipal Authority is in charge of the dam structure and will assess any potential damage after the barges are removed.