(FIle Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced yesterday that a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 10 years of imprisonment on his conviction of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. Thirty-five-year-old Timothy Bazmore was sentenced and according to information presented to the Court, he was caught in possession of approximately 22 grams of crack cocaine as well as a firearm magazine loaded with several rounds of ammunition. Bazmore was also prohibited under federal law from possessing the ammunition because of his multiple prior felony convictions. Prior to imposing the sentence on Bazmore, United States District Judge W. Scott Hardy stated that the sentence was warranted for a number of reasons, which included Bazmore’s extensive criminal history. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – This April 2, 2021, file photo shows bridges spanning the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh. Republicans in Congress are making the politically brazen bet that it’s more advantageous to oppose President Joe Biden’s ambitious rebuild America agenda than to lend support for the costly $2.3 trillion undertaking for roads, bridges and other infrastructure investments. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Mayor Corey O’Connor recently announced that Pittsburgh has now been awarded over $1.3 million in state grants for three infrastructure and mobility projects which will support intersection planning, pedestrian safety improvements and trail restoration across the city. The grants were awarded to the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure and they come from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The projects target specific areas in the city which includes the Emerald View Trail, the Bloomfield neighborhood and Lincoln Avenue. One of the grants provides a total of $250,800 to rehabilitate a portion of the Emerald View Trail in Mount Washington through the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, and a section of the trail was previously closed following a landslide. The grant will require matching funds from the city, which will bring the total investment in the trail restoration and surrounding mitigation to over $500,000. The city also received a total of $349,098 for the planning and engineering of a major intersection in Bloomfield. This project focuses on the junction of Liberty Avenue, Main Street and the Bloomfield Bridge and it was funded by the DCED Multimodal Transportation Fund which allows the city to study and reenvision the traffic area. The largest of the three grants provides $750,200 for the Lincoln Avenue Multimodal Safety and Accessibility Improvement Project and this funding will support pedestrian safety upgrades along Lincoln Avenue between Atwell Street and Verona Boulevard on the east side of the city. These grants will be presented to the Pittsburgh City Council for approval today.

(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of KDKA Photojournalist Gerome Williams: Caption for Photo: Darden Restaurants announced Tuesday that all 28 of its Bahama Breeze restaurants across the United States will be closing in early April. Fourteen of the restaurants, including one in the Pittsburgh area, will be closed entirely while the 14 others will be repurposed into other Darden brands.)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Robinson Township, PA) Darden Restaurants made an announcement yesterday that all 28 of its Bahama Breeze locations nationwide will be closing. This includes the Caribbean themed restaurant in Robinson Township and that location will permanently close on April 5th, 2026. According to a release from Darden yesterday, fourteen of the Bahama Breeze restaurants, including the Robinson Township location, have been designated for permanent closure. 

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver Cnty Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to officials, a woman is expected to be released from the hospital after they said she was struck by a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus in Oakland on Monday evening. The victim is a 21-year-old student who goes to Carnegie Mellon University and the bus hit her along Fifth Avenue and South Neville Street just after 7 p.m. on Monday after reports of this pedestrian versus vehicle crash. A spokesperson for PRT confirmed that the 58 Greenfield PRT bus was turning left from Neville Street onto Fifth Avenue when it struck the woman. The victim was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. PRT officials stated on Monday night that she was in critical, but stable condition, however; officials expressed yesterday that the woman was expected to be released from the hospital. Officials note that the driver of the bus that hit the woman is being held off from work pending the results of the investigation. 

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver reported via release yesterday that a two-vehicle crash occurred in Hanover Township of Beaver County on the early morning of December 20th, 2025. At 3:30 a.m., the vehicle driven by seventy-three-year-old Betty Johnston of Georgetown, Pennsylvania left Lincoln Highway and hit a tree, which caused debris to fall on the road. Twenty-eight-year-old Travis Pack of Hookstown hit the debris with his vehicle driving in the opposite direction of Johnston. Johnston sustained an injury and Medic Rescue transported her to the hospital to be evaluated for the injury and its unknown severity. Pack was not injured. 

(File Photo of Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Cars)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Chippewa Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver reported via release yesterday that thirty-year-old Steven Hooley of New Brighton was charged after a single-vehicle crash in Chippewa Township on Monday evening. At 5:42 p.m., Hooley was driving on I-376 West and his vehicle drifted off of the road onto the left-handed shoulder which was covered with snow. Hooley eventually hit a cable barrier with his vehicle before he returned to the road and exited at Exit 32 in Chippewa. There were no injuries. 

(File Photo of State Representative Rob Matzie)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) State Rep. Rob Matzie issued the following statement in response to Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2026-2027 budget address in Harrisburg yesterday: “The governor’s address was a positive first step in the budget process. The proposed budget plan would deliver needed investments to our public schools, our workforce, and initiatives to make life more affordable for Beaver County residents – all without adding any new taxes. To continue leveling the playing field for all public school students – regardless of ZIP code – the new budget would invest more than $500 million in additional equity funding that would provide block grants to historically underfunded districts. The new plan would also increase funding for basic and special education by $50 million each. Our Beaver County schools would see across-the-board increases to help our students thrive. To strengthen our workforce and create more jobs, the plan would increase funding for career and technical education and vocational rehabilitation, childcare recruitment and retention, and teacher professional development and stipends. Housing costs take the largest chunk out of a family’s budget, so having access to safe, affordable housing is key to financial stability. To increase the availability of affordable housing, the proposed budget would create a $1 billion critical infrastructure fund that would issue bonds for new housing and infrastructure projects. The proposed plan would also continue investments in programs such as the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, to help put more money back into people’s pockets, and it would enact the Lightning Plan, to lower energy prices. To be sure, no spending plan is perfect, and any budget requires balancing competing needs. But the proposed budget promises to keep us moving in the right direction because it invests in our greatest resource – our people – and adds no new taxes. To me, that’s a solid bet.”

(File Photo of State Representative Roman Kozak)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) State Rep. Roman Kozak (R-Beaver) issued this statement following Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2026-2027 budget address in Harrisburg yesterday: “In a 90-minute marathon of a speech before the General Assembly today, Gov. Josh Shapiro laid out a budget plan that would spend more than 53 billion of your taxpayer dollars. This is an extra $2.7 billion of spending on top of the $2.3 billion increase from last year’s budget, which drained our general fund reserves. The governor will need to raid the Rainy Day Fund for over $4.5 billion. That’s almost 60% of our emergency reserves and creates a structural deficit that can only be funded by future tax increases. This isn’t just irresponsible; it’s dangerous and it’s completely unsustainable. The governor continues to demand to spend more money than we have, and he expects you, the taxpayer, to make up the difference. At a time when the affordability of housing, gas and groceries is under the microscope, he wants you to send more of your money to pay for expanded government in Harrisburg. We cannot be fooled by accounting gimmicks and tricks. This plan proves Gov. Shapiro isn’t serious about the financial sustainability of our Commonwealth. This is more about a national campaign for future aspirations. He’s proving he’s out of touch with the challenges we face, and it’s the taxpayers of Pennsylvania who will suffer for it.”

Kozak will also be Frank Sparks’ guest on Beaver County Radio’s Driving in the Fast Lane today at 11:10 a.m. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro arrives to deliver his budget address for the 2025-26 fiscal year to a joint session of the state House and Senate at the Capitol, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro delivered his fourth budget address at the State Capitol in Harrisburg today, which is for 2026-2027. On November 12th, 2025, Shapiro signed key budget bills that ended an impasse that started on June 30th, 2025, which was when the Pennsylvania state budget was due last year. The proposal of $53 billion includes funding for initiatives like legalization of cannabis and increases of minimum wage, along with hundreds of millions of dollars for education.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – University of Pennsylvania signage is seen in Philadelphia, May 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) TIME Magazine has recently ranked three colleges in Pennsylvania in a study among the world’s 100 best universities for academic performance, economic impact and global engagement. TIME Magazine and the firm Statista R performed this study on Wednesday. The University of Pennsylvania, which is the state’s only Ivy League school, appeared 10th on this list that sought to measure how well institutions of higher learning set up students for success after they have earned their diplomas. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh was ranked 38th on that list, while Penn State University had the 81st spot.  The top four colleges on this list in that order were the University of Oxford, Yale University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study leaned the most heavily on academic metrics, when it looked at how much the schools spend per student, faculty-to-student ratios and the number of top researchers and Nobel Prize laureates at each institution. The analysis also considered the alma maters of leading business executives and how many international students were enrolled in each school to capture economic impact and global engagement.