(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company’s new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Josh Shapiro warned Wednesday that the Medicaid cuts Congress is considering would mean billions of dollars in lost federal aid to Pennsylvania, hundreds of thousands of people losing access to the health insurance program and more struggling rural hospitals shutting their doors.

Shapiro, a Democrat who is considered a potential White House contender in 2028, said that if the cuts are made, the state would be unable to make up that amount of lost federal aid.

“I just need to stress: there is no back-filling at the state level,” Shapiro told WILK-FM radio in Wilkes-Barre. “There are no dollars available at the state level to make up for these cuts at the federal level. So if they cut someone off Medicaid, they’re off. We will not be able to fix that for them.”

Besides hundreds of thousands of people losing access to Medicaid in Pennsylvania, billions of dollars in funding cuts would accelerate the shuttering of rural hospitals “which are teetering on the brink of closure,” Shapiro said.

Pennsylvania is already facing a thorny situation with Medicaid costs.

Shapiro’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 seeks $2.5 billion more for Medicaid after budget-makers belatedly realized that the people remaining on Medicaid rolls after the COVID-19 pandemic are sicker than anticipated — and costlier to care for.

The governor does have a cushion of about $10.5 billion in reserve, thanks to federal COVID-19 relief and inflation-juiced tax collections over the past few years.

His administration is also trying to reduce the fast-rising amount Pennsylvania pays for popular GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound, as are a number of other states.

Medicaid is a federal-state partnership that helps pay for the health care of low-income people of any age and long-term nursing care. There are 72 million enrollees nationwide, including 3 million in Pennsylvania, or almost one in four Pennsylvanians. Its annual cost is approaching $1 trillion, including about $50 billion in Pennsylvania.

The precise contours of forthcoming cuts to Medicaid are being hammered out in the Republican-controlled U.S. House as part of a bill package that includes tax breaks of more than $5 trillion and sizable reductions in food stamps and programs to fight climate change.

As part of it, Republicans are proposing cuts of nearly $800 billion over the decade to Medicaid.

Estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office show that at least 7.6 million people could lose health insurance with the Medicaid cuts.

Republicans say they are trying to make Medicaid work better by rooting out waste and inefficiencies. Shapiro disputed that, saying voting to cut Medicaid spending is “voting to cut their constituents off from lifesaving health care access.”

(File Photo of Gavel)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Canadian man who drove the getaway truck in the biggest gold theft in Canadian history has pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge after he sneaked into the United States, where he was caught trying to smuggle out 65 guns, authorities said Wednesday.

Durante King-Mclean faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court in Pennsylvania, authorities said. King-Mclean, who was arrested in 2023, had been facing six illegal weapons charges before he pleaded guilty to one of the charges.

King-Mclean’s lawyer did not immediately comment.

At least 10 people have been charged by Canadian and U.S. authorities in connection with the guns and the heist of a cargo container from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport two years ago.

In the stolen cargo container were 6,600 gold bars worth more than 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.5 million) and CA$2.5 million ($1.8 million) in foreign currencies, authorities said.

Police said the 6,600 gold bars were melted down in a Toronto jewelry store and sold, and the proceeds used to purchase the firearms in the U.S.

King-Mclean, of Ontario, was the truck driver who picked up the gold from the airport cargo terminal, authorities say.

King-Mclean sneaked illegally into the United States and had been staying in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, until he rented the vehicle and drove north toward Canada with the illegal handguns, authorities said.

He was arrested in Pennsylvania five months after the heist following a traffic stop with the 65 illegal firearms that were destined to be smuggled into Canada, authorities said. King-Mclean tried to flee Pennsylvania State Police troopers after they discovered the firearms — each concealed in a sock — in his rental car, authorities said.

Two of the firearms were fully automatic, 11 were stolen and one had an obliterated serial number, authorities said.

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) On Monday, May 19th, new lanes for busses will be put in Downtown Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Regional Transit will have an installation of these bus lanes along the corridor of University Line. The project is five phases that will start Monday and will go through the morning of Wednesday, May 28th. According to Pittsburgh Regional Transit, the work depends on the weather. According to Pittsburgh Regional Transit, here are the phases, dates and locations of the project:

Phase 1:

Liberty Avenue from Fifth Avenue to Sixth Avenue, weather permitting Monday, May 19th at 8 p.m.

General Traffic Changes:

• The contractor will maintain general traffic on Liberty Avenue.
• Sixth Avenue between Liberty Avenue and Wood Street will be closed.

Buses will not stop at:

• Liberty and Sixth Avenue (K&L Gates)
• Sixth and Smithfield (Trinity Cathedral)

Phase 2:

Sixth Avenue, Grant Street to Centre Avenue, weather permitting, Tuesday, May 20th, with detours being placed at 7 a.m. that day

General Traffic Changes:

• The outbound travel lane adjacent to Mellon Green will be closed.
• The contractor will maintain two-directional traffic.

Phase 3:

Sixth Avenue, Wood Street to Grant Street, Wednesday, May 21st at 7 a.m.

General Traffic Changes:

• Sixth Avenue between Liberty Avenue and Grant Street will become a bus-only lane in the eastbound direction, restricting outbound vehicle access.
• General traffic will only be able to travel westbound (inbound) on Sixth Avenue between Grant Street and Wood Street

Buses will not stop at:

• Sixth Avenue & Smithfield Street (Trinity Cathedral)

Phase 4:

Fifth Avenue, Grant Street to Liberty Avenue, Tuesday May 27th, detours will be put in locations at 7 a.m., work at 8 p.m. that day, weather permitting

General Traffic Changes:

• The westbound (inbound) section of Fifth Avenue between Grant Street and Market Street will become a bus lane.
• General traffic will travel eastbound (outbound) on Fifth Avenue between Market Street and Grant Street.
• Vehicles will share a single lane with buses on Fifth Avenue between Market Street and Liberty Avenue.

Buses will not stop at:

• Fifth at William Penn Place
• Fifth Avenue at Smithfield Street
• Fifth Avenue at Wood Street (Goddard School)
• Fifth Avenue opposite McMasters Way

Phase 5:

Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue to Grant Street, Wednesday, May 28th, detours will be put in locations at 7 a.m., work at 8 p.m. that day, weather permitting

General Traffic Changes:

• The westbound (inbound) section of Fifth Avenue between Grant Street and Market Street will become a bus lane.
• The westbound (inbound) section of Fifth Avenue between Market Street and Liberty Avenue will have general traffic and buses.
• General traffic will travel eastbound (outbound) on Fifth Avenue between Market Street and Grant Street.

Buses will not stop at:

• Fifth at Smithfield
• Fifth at Wood
• Fifth at William Penn Place
• Fifth Avenue opposite McMasters Way (Goddard School)

 

 

ZELIENOPLE — They’ve garnered 150 million streams, opened shows for musical superstars, and earned awards and Grand ol’ Opry stage time.

The members of Six One Five Collective have achieved much, and now are on the road together, touring the U.S. including a May 24 concert at The Strand Theater in Zelienople.

Six One Five Collective’s new single “Doozies,” a boot-tapping, laugh-out-loud look at the pitfalls of dating, and the optimism that persists, is being played by radio stations coast-to-coast, including Beaver County Radio (95.7-WMBA and 99.3-WBVP.)

Band members Nicole Witt, Aaron Goodvin and Michael Logen spoke with Beaver County Radio Morning Show host Scott Tady on a recent broadcast you can hear right here:

They talked about “Doozies,” their song “Kindness,” featured on Season 21 of TV’s “American Idol,” and The Strand show, for which tickets cost $25 and $35, available at thestrandtheater.org.

Six One Five Collective biography

Rounded out by Sarah Darling, a 98-time Grand Ole Opry performer who has toured the world with five full-length albums, multiple singles including a #1 on the UK Country charts and 11 million video views, Six One Five Collective members have individually or collectively opened for Jon Pardi, Lee Brice, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Old Dominion, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, India. Arie, John Legend, The Marshall Tucker Band and Carly Pearce.

Band member Goodvin is a double platinum-selling artist with two #1’s and 6 Top 10 hits in Canada as well as a Juno Awards “Album of the Year” nomination and songs recorded by Luke Bryan, Pardi and Cole Swindell.

Logen, of central Pennsylvania, is a Grammy nominated, platinum-selling singer-songwriter for commercial and sync cuts including multiple placements on “Nashville,” “Suits,” “Parenthood,” “One Tree Hill,” and “The Fosters.”

Witt has recorded with George Strait, Lee Brice, Rodney Atkins and Terri Clark and won the IBMA Song of the Year for Balsam Range’s “Trains I Missed.”

 

 

(File Photo of Road Work Ahead Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(New Seiwckley Township, PA) PennDOT District 11 announced that beginning Wednesday, May 14th weather permitting, single-lane restrictions in New Sewickley Township will occur. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day through Friday, May 16th, single-lane alternating traffic will be in various locations on Freedom Crider Road between Park Quarry Road and Wolf Run Road. Flaggers will help drivers through the zone of work and crews will be doing punch list work on the drainage system.

(Photo of Paul Esser Courtesy of the New Sewickley Township Police Department)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News (Updated at 8:30 A.M.)

(New Sewickley Township, PA) According to a release from the New Sewickley Township Police Department, they requested the public’s assistance
in locating 72-year-old Paul Esser of New Sewickley Township who went missing. He has now been found. Esser did not have a car currently at that time and May 9th, 2025 was the last time he was seen before he went missing. Esser also started walking away from a New Castle hospital, UPMC Jameson Hospital before he went missing. People with information about the disappearance of Esser were asked to contact 724-774-2473 or 724-775-0881.

(File Photo of the Penn State Beaver logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(State College, PA) Penn State Beaver and four other Penn State campuses are not on the list of twelve Penn State campuses that were planned to close after a recommendation from their school board Tuesday. According to a proposal from the Penn State school board, campuses in DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, and York would close after the 2026-2027 spring semester. The decision about closures has not yet been made and an executive session will be held on Thursday.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Chester County, Pa., election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa., Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) The primary election in Pennsylvania is on May 20th and the Shapiro administration is reminding residents about a resource website before the voting begins. Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt confirmed that the website vote.pa.gov is a tool that you can use for purposes like making sure of your registration for voting. Schmidt also noted you can find a place for polls, learn about county voting systems by a video, and return and finish a mail ballot on that website. 

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – A few Democrats appear on the House floor for the swearing in of Rep. Roni Green, D-Philadelphia, March 16, 2020. (Joe Hermitt/The Patriot-News via AP, file)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania voters would get more than a week of early voting and county election officials would have more time to start processing mail-in ballots under an election law proposal that advanced out of the state House on Tuesday by a single vote, with all Republicans opposed.

The wide-ranging bill sponsored by Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, addresses an array of election-related matters, including rules for ballot drop boxes, electronic lists of registered voters for election workers to consult, in-person early voting and voter registration.

It passed on a vote of 102 to 101 and was sent to the Republican majority state Senate, adding a potent political issue to the mix as lawmakers and the governor head into the homestretch of the annual state budget season’s dealmaking.

“This bill will make sure we have less ambiguities in the law,” McClinton said in an interview before the vote. “It also accounts for the changes in how voters want to cast their ballot by providing options for early voting, increased access to ballot drop boxes and allowing them to correct small errors on mail-in ballots.”

Its prospects in the Republican majority state Senate are unclear. The communications director for the GOP caucus released a statement saying simply that the House-passed bill will be reviewed by a committee.

It would require counties to pay their elections officials at least $175 per election and change the rules for recounts and contested elections. Every county would have to have at least two ballot drop boxes to return mail-in ballots, with more in larger counties.

In-person early voting would start 11 days before an election and end the Sunday before the election. All counties would have at least one in-person early voting site, and larger counties would have to add one for every 100,000 registered voters.

The early in-person voting proposal would replace a clumsy and time-consuming alternative that led to hourslong lines and claims of disenfranchisement last fall in the nation’s biggest presidential battleground state. That alternative allows voters to go to their election office, register for a mail-in ballot, fill it out on the spot and hand it in. Some county election offices found themselves swamped and unprepared for the influx.

Establishing rules for drop boxes would settle a gray area in state law that led to partisan court battles over whether drop boxes were legal and, if so, what sort of security measures are required. Democratic-controlled counties have embraced the use of drop boxes for mail-in voters, while Republican-controlled counties have generally eschewed them as illegal.

Under the bill, the state would provide $2 million for the Department of State to identify electronic poll books that are compatible with other election software. The state would borrow up to $60 million more to help counties purchase them. Electronic poll books — with lists of eligible, registered voters for election workers to use — would replace paper poll lists with a digital system.

Voters using mail-in ballots would no longer have to provide an accurate, handwritten date on the return envelope, a requirement that has spawned years of litigation. But the voter would still have to sign the envelope for their ballot to count. Household members and others close to a voter would be permitted to return their mail-in ballots — current law requires most voters to return their own ballots.

County workers could begin to process mail-in ballots a week before the election, taking ballots out of envelopes and scanning them if the scanner is able to scan the ballot without tabulating or recording the vote until Election Day. Many counties have long hoped for more time to begin to process the ballots in advance as a way to lessen the Election Day workload.

Asked if Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro supports McClinton’s proposal, his press secretary, Manuel Bonder, said the governor wants to improve the safety and security of elections “while enfranchising voters” and that his team “will continue working with both legislative chambers toward bipartisan reforms that protect our democratic process for all eligible Pennsylvanians.”

 

(File Photo of the Pittsburgh International Airport logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to officials on Tuesday, the new terminal at the Pittsburgh International Airport is ninety percent done. The project of $1.5 billion which is scheduled to open later this year started in July of 2021. There will be a landslide terminal and a baggage system that is new, bigger parking garages and a tunnel to connect the airside and landslide terminals. There will also be automated return for bins on a twelve-lane security checkpoint and over twenty concessions.