The Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame announced their Class of 2019 Inductees, which includes WBVP-WMBA Play-by-Play Announcer, Tom Hays. A very excited Frank Sparks interviewed Tom about the big news this morning on Teleforum. Hear the full interview below!
Congratulations to Tom Hays on this recognition of an incredible broadcasting career, from all of us here at Beaver County Radio! We look forward to working with you for many years to come!
Whitey Bulger, Boston gangster, found dead in prison at 89
By DENISE LAVOIE and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — James “Whitey” Bulger, the murderous Boston gangster who benefited from a corrupt relationship with the FBI before spending 16 years as one of America’s most wanted men, died in federal prison. He was 89.
Bulger was found unresponsive Tuesday morning at the U.S. penitentiary in West Virginia where he’d just been transferred, and a medical examiner declared him dead shortly afterward, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Authorities did not immediately release a cause of death but said the FBI was notified and is investigating.
Bulger, the model for Jack Nicholson’s ruthless crime boss in the 2006 Martin Scorsese movie, “The Departed,” led a largely Irish mob that ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets. He also was an FBI informant who ratted on the New England mob, his gang’s main rival, in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top national priority for the FBI.
Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 after his FBI handler, John Connolly Jr., warned him he was about to be indicted. With a $2 million reward on his head, Bulger became one of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” criminals, with a place just below Osama bin Laden.
There was no love lost for Bulger on the Boston streets he once ruled.
Patricia Donahue’s husband, Michael, was killed in 1982 when he offered a ride home to a man allegedly targeted for death by Bulger because he was talking to the FBI. “I’d like to open up a champagne bottle and celebrate,” she told WBZ-TV on Tuesday.
Tom Duffy, a retired state police detective who searched for Bulger and was a consultant on “The Departed,” called word of Bulger’s death “celebratory news.”
When the extent of his crimes and the FBI’s role in overlooking them became public in the late 1990s, Bulger became a source of embarrassment for the FBI. During the years he was a fugitive, the FBI battled a public perception that it had not tried very hard to find him.
After more than 16 years on the run, Bulger was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living in a rent-controlled apartment near the beach with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.
In 2013, he was convicted in the slayings, as well as extortion, and money-laundering after a sensational racketeering trial that included graphic testimony from three former Bulger cohorts: a hit man, a protege and a partner. He was sentenced nearly five years ago to two consecutive life sentences plus five years.
Bulger had just been moved to USP Hazelton, a high-security prison with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. He had been in a prison in Florida before a stopover at a transfer facility in Oklahoma City. Federal Bureau of Prisons officials and his attorney had declined to comment on why he was being moved.
Bulger, nicknamed “Whitey” for his bright platinum hair, grew up in a gritty South Boston housing project and became known as one of the most ruthless gangsters in Boston. His younger brother, William Bulger, became one of the most powerful politicians in Massachusetts, leading the state Senate for 17 years.
In working-class “Southie,” Bulger was known for helping old ladies across the street and giving turkey dinners to his neighbors at Thanksgiving. He had a kind of Robin Hood-like image among some locals, but authorities said he would put a bullet in the brain of anyone who he even suspected of double-crossing him.
“You could go back in the annals of criminal history and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone as diabolical as Bulger,” said Duffy.
“Killing people was his first option. They don’t get any colder than him,” Duffy said after Bulger was finally captured in June 2011.
Bulger was accused of strangling Debra Davis, the 26-year-old girlfriend of his partner, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, and Deborah Hussey, also 26, the daughter of Flemmi’s common-law wife. In both cases, Bulger insisted on pulling out the women’s teeth so they would be difficult to identify, Flemmi testified.
During a search of his Santa Monica apartment, agents found over $800,000 in cash and more than 30 guns, many hidden in holes in the walls. A property manager at the building said Bulger and Greig, who used the names Charles and Carol Gasko, had lived there for 15 years and always paid the rent-controlled rate of $1,145 a month in cash.
They were caught days after the FBI began a new publicity campaign focusing on Greig. The daytime TV announcements showed photos of Greig and noted that she was known to frequent beauty salons and have her teeth cleaned once a month.
A woman from Iceland who knew Bulger and Greig in Santa Monica saw a report on CNN about the latest publicity campaign and called in the tip that led agents to them. The Boston Globe identified the tipster as a former Miss Iceland, a former actress who starred in Noxzema shaving cream commercials in the 1970s.
Greig is still serving her sentence at a federal prison in Minnesota.
Bulger, a physical fitness buff, had been taken to a Boston hospital from his jail cell at least three times, complaining of chest pains, since being brought back to Boston to stand trial.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, and William J. Kole in Boston contributed to this report.
State regulators have ordered Energy Transfer LP – the operator of the Revolution Pipeline that exploded near Monaca last month – to stop all work on that pipeline because of subsequent environmental violations. The state DEP issued an order on Monday to the pipeline company (which is based in Texas), alleging that its construction practices are failing to control erosion and soil movement and have impacted several streams in the area. The company must stop all activities, temporarily stabilize its work sites and submit a series of plans before it can continue with its work to get the pipeline back up and running again.
BREAKING NEWS: There were restrictions on the Pennsylvania Turnpike after a construction truck hit an overpass this morning. The crash happened between Cranberry Township and Beaver Valley exits in the area of Freedom Road. There were no reports of injuries. The restrictions were lifted shortly after 5:30 this morning.
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BREAKING NEWS: POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING AFTER A BODY WAS DISCOVERED IN THE OHIO RIVER IN INDUSTRY. THE BODY WAS DISCOVERED SHORTLY AFTER 9:30 THIS MORNING NEAR THE MONTGOMERY LOCK. NO OTHER DETAILS HAVE BEEN RELEASED.
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Wish you could be rewarded for your costume creativity? Now you can! Enter the first ever “Best Costume of the County Contest”, sponsored by Beaver County Radio and The John Dunn Agency! There will be two lucky winners. Read the official rules and prizes below:
1) You must “like” the WBVP-WMBA Facebook page and “like” The John Dunn Agency Inc Facebook Page to be eligible!
2) Comment on this post with a photo of your costume entry or email your entry to TaylorN@beavercountyradio.com by the end of Halloween Night, October 31. Please include a caption!
3) Voting will take place starting Thursday in a photo album on the WBVP-WMBA Facebook Page. The photo with the most likes will win the “Facebook Community Winner” prize! You may like multiple photos. Voting is open through Sunday! Once the album is up, be sure to share your photo and encourage your friends and family to vote for your entry! WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED MONDAY!
The Facebook Community Winner will receive a $100 Gift Certificate to Una Bella Beauty and Wellness Studio!
The WBVP-WMBA Staff will choose their own “Beaver County Radio Favorite”- who will receive a free trip to the Beaver Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop $5 Candy Buffet AND a gift certificate for a box of dipped chocolates from Edible Arrangements in Beaver, PA! HAVE FUN!!!
ALL LANES ON ROUTE 51 IN CHIPPEWA ARE BACK OPEN THIS MORNING. THEY WERE CLOSED EARLIER THIS MORNING NEAR TOWN SQUARE PLAZA AFTER A CHILD WAS HIT BY A CAR NEAR THE GIANT EAGLE THERE. BEAVER COUNTY 9-1-1 TELLS BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWSMAN PAT SEPTAK THAT THE CHILD WAS TAKEN TO CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IN PITTSBURGH. NO WORD YET ON THE EXTENT OF INJURIES TO THE VICTIM.
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WEATHER FORECAST FOR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 2018
TODAY – PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH – 56.
TONIGHT – CLOUDS DEVELOPING OVERNIGHT. LOW – 47.
HALLOWEEN – A FEW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING….
BECOMING A STEADY LIGHT RAIN LATER IN
THE DAY. HIGH – 62.
Aliquippa — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Ambridge — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Baden — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Beaver — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Beaver Falls — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Big Beaver — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Bridgewater — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Brighton Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Center Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Chippewa Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Conway — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Darlington — October 31, 6 pm to 7:30 pm
Darlington Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Daugherty Township — October 31, 6 pm to 7:30 pm
East Rochester — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Eastvale — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Economy — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Ellwood City — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Fallston — October 31, 6 pm to 7:30 pm
Franklin Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Freedom — October 31, 6 pm to 7:30 pm
Georgetown — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Greene Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Harmony Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Hanover Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Homewood — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Hookstown — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Hopewell Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Independence Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Industry — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Koppel — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Marion Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Midland — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Monaca — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
New Brighton — October 31, 6 pm to 7:30 pm
New Sewickley Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
North Fayette Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
North Sewickley Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Ohioville — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Patterson Heights — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Patterson Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Potter Township — October 31, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Pulaski Township — October 31, 6 pm to 7:30 pm
Raccoon Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Rochester — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Rochester Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Shippingport — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
South Beaver Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
South Heights — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Vanport Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
West Mayfield — October 31, 6 pm to 7:30 pm
White Township — October 31, 6 pm to 8 pm
Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s weekly press conference that is usually held at 12 noon on Tuesday’s will be held at a special time of 1 pm Tuesday October 30, 2018. Tune into Beaver County Radio 1230 WBVP and 1460 WMBA for Live coverage of the press conference. Yankee Trader will be on right after the press conference.