The Aliquippa VFW will conduct a service at 11 a.m. Monday at the war memorial on Main Street.

———

The Ambridge American Legion and auxiliary will host a Memorial Day service at 11 a.m. Monday in P.J. Caul Park on 11th and Merchant streets.

———

Baden’s parade at 10 a.m. Monday will be staged at Ba’Runi Hotel and Grille on Duss Avenue in Harmony Township. The parade, hosted by American Legion Post 641, will begin at 10:15 a.m. and proceed along State Street to the legion for a memorial service, then to Baden Memorial Library for a second memorial service.

———

The Beaver parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Beaver and Third streets and proceed along Third Street to the Beaver Cemetery, where a memorial program will take place at the chapel.
———

The Beaver Falls parade will begin at 10 a.m. – the parade will travel down Seventh Avenue to 10th Street and conclude at the newly rededicated Lt. Calvin Smith Memorial Veterans Park on 11th and Sixth Avenue for a service.

—

The Conway parade will start at 11:30 a.m. Monday at the municipal building, Second Avenue and Ninth Street – the parade will proceed down Second Avenue to Fowler Street then onto Third Avenue to Conway War Memorial Park for a service.

———

Members of the Keith-Holmes VFW in Coraopolis will perform commemorative services from morning to late afternoon for veterans at 10 cemeteries in the Coraopolis area.

———

At 9 a.m. Monday, Economy’s Memorial Day service will commence with a flag presentation by the fire department and Boy Scout Troop 414 at the Veterans Memorial near the police station at 1000 Kenneth Campbell Way.
———

Ellwood City Memorial Day parade will begin at 10 a.m. Monday off Todd Avenue and will proceed through the borough to Legion Park for a memorial program at 11 a.m. featuring remarks by local veterans and leaders, the borough’s civic chorale and a flag-raising ceremony.

———

The Freedom parade will begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the 500 block of Third Avenue and proceed to the Veterans Memorial, where a ceremony is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Participants include the Freedom Area High School marching band and Cub Scout Pack 444.

———

The Hopewell Township parade, sponsored by VFW Post 8805, starts at 10 a.m. Monday at Hopewell High School, 1215 Longvue Ave. The route follows Maratta Road to Brodhead Road and ends at the memorial at the junior high school, 2354 Brodhead Road.

———

Hookstown Fire Department and American Legion Post 952 will conduct a Memorial Day parade at 11 a.m. Monday beginning at the Free Methodist Church on Main Street and follow Route 168 to the Legion, where a memorial ceremony is planned.

———

Memorial Day in Midland will begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday with a wreath service at Veterans Memorial Pool. Another wreath service will follow at 10 a.m. at the World War I Cenotaph, concluding with a wreath ceremony outside the municipal building on Midland Avenue.

———

Monaca’s parade, hosted by American Legion Post 580, will begin at 10:30 a.m. at 15th Street near St. John the Baptist Catholic Church continuing along Pennsylvania Avenue to War Memorial Park at Sixth Street, where a service is planned.

———

Moon Township will have commemorative services at 10 cemeteries and honor rolls throughout the area.

———

The New Brighton parade will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Third Avenue and 15th Street, and will then proceed on Third Avenue to Sixth Street, where a service is planned at Townsend Memorial Park.
———

The Rochester area’s Memorial Day parade will begin at 10 a.m. Monday along Virginia Avenue and Adams Street to Memorial Park, where a service is planned.

———

The 127th annual parade in Sewickley will begin at 10 a.m. Monday on Broad Street and proceed along Thorn and Beaver streets.

And now it’s time for Beaver County Memories, a daily feature presented by St. Barnabas, where we take a look back at some of the people and events that have been part of Beaver County history.  As we enter the warmer months of springtime, and baseball season is underway, in today’s segment, appropriately enough, we will sit back and tell a few baseball stories, specifically, a few baseball radio announcer stories, that you may or may not have heard before.

 

In the early days, after tower construction was completed at the WBVP transmitter site in Pulaski Township in 1948, the vast expanse of flat land surrounding the tower was converted into a baseball field.  Many community based teams played there, sometimes there were several games scheduled back to back that would last an entire day according to neighbors who live nearby. One of those neighbors, Steve Procovich, reported in a discussion in 2016, that one of the games was indeed special.  Though he could not recall the occasion, or who was playing, he did recall that Pittsburgh Pirates play by play radio announcer at the time, Albert “Rosey” Rowswell, announced one of the games. Procovich couldn’t say for sure if Rowsell’s voice was broadcast over WBVP, or if his colorful description was simply amplified for those on site through a public address speaker. Not much verification exists of Rowswell’s visit to call a game in Beaver County, but Procovich remains steadfast in his claim that legendary Pittsburgh Pirates radio announcer Rosey Rowswell called a community baseball game in Beaver County back when.  Most likely in the early fifties, as Rowsell served as the Pirates announcer until his passing in 1955.

 

Speaking of the Pirates, In those early days, The Pittsburgh Pirates hosted contests for young aspiring announcers.  Prominent local historian and author, Kenneth Britten, in a 1990 publication called “Local Radio”, wrote about a senior at Beaver Falls High School who had participated in one of the annual competitions.  “In 1959. Jim Reynolds had just won the yearly Pittsburgh Pirate Sports casting contest and had broadcast a number of Pirate games on KDKA with veterans Bob Prince and Jim Woods. (WBVP General Manager Frank) Smith (then) hired him immediately.  Though no one would realize it (then), Reynolds would (eventually) go on to become the longest hired veteran (up until that point in time) in the station’s history. He would last (over) 28 years at WBVP.  

 

Back then, just as nowadays, Beaver County residents loved their Pittsburgh Pirates, and loved their local radio station, WBVP.  One of the great traditions that the radio station organized every year was when WBVP would co-promote Beaver Falls-New Brighton Night at Forbes Field along with the local town newspaper, The News Tribune. WBVP and WMBA sportscaster and show host Greg Benedetti fondly recalled in 2017 that WBVP executive, Tom Price, and Jim March, Publisher of The News Tribune, worked together on a promotion to take local fans to watch the Pirates.  This became a huge event, and in 1966 those fans reportedly filled up fourteen buses lined up outside of the Brodhead Hotel to go to Pittsburgh to watch their beloved Pirates. Benedetti mused “Tom and Jim stood at attention with a great deal of pride, as if inspecting the troops, as the baseball fans boarded the buses.”

 

And in one more unique baseball story . . . In the late eighties, no sports event was too far or two obscure for WBVP to cover.  In June of 1986, Jimi Miller and Tom Stein loaded up the WBVP radio station van and headed east to Shippensburg State University to broadcast Hopewell High School’s baseball team state championship game which saw Hopewell defeat Montoursville at Grove Stadium that day under the guidance of legendary head coach Joe Colella. The game was memorable for a couple of Reasons.  It was Beaver County’s first high school baseball state championship. Secondly, due to the lack of available press box space, Stein and Miller had to improvise and, according to Stein, drove the radio station van over near the edge of the field. The duo then hooked up some microphones and broadcast equipment, climbed up on the roof of the van so they could see what was going on, and then called the action from that unique vantage point.

 

We hope you enjoyed these few baseball radio announcer stories in today’s edition of Beaver County Memories presented by St. Barnabas. Tune in Everyday to Beaver County Radio for a another memory. You can also view transcripts of this and other archived  Beaver County Memories at Beaver County Radio dot com

A Pittsburgh man faces charges of an assault against his girlfriend in Ambridge last week and driving drunk, according to a criminal complaint filed by borough police.

Robert Pancottini, 51, is charged with simple assault, harassment and drunken driving.

Ambridge police said they were sent to the Rite Aid on Merchant Street at about 9 p.m. May 16 and found a woman walking across the street from the store who had “several fresh wounds” on her face. She was “visibly shaken,” police said, and told them that Pancottini had pulled her hair and punched her in the face earlier.

Another officer had confronted Pancottini, who was “swaying back and forth” and unable to stand. Pancottini allegedly told police that his girlfriend was injured in a fall.

Pancottini was arrested for drunken driving. Police said his blood-alcohol level was 0.169 percent, more than double the 0.08 percent threshold.

Pancottini has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 28 in Beaver County Court.

THE BEAVER COUNTY ELECTION BOARD IS NULLIFYING AN ABSENTEE VOTE. JOE PUCCI, A DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR AMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL, SUBMITTED AN ABSENTEE BALLOT AND THEN SHOWED UP TO THE POLLS ON TUESDAY. UNDER PA LAW, ANYONE WHO CAN VOTE IN PERSON IS REQUIRED TO DO SO. PUCCI DID NOT RECIEVE ENOUGH VOTES TO MOVE ON TO THE GENERAL ELECTION THIS FALL.

Aldi is recalling The Bakers Corner All Purpose Flour because of possible E. coli contamination. The 5-pound bags of flour should either be discarded or returned to the store for a refund, the company said in a statement.

The flour, made by Archer Daniels Midland, was in 11 states including New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

People with questions can call the ADM Milling Co. Customer Service at 800-422-1688 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. central time, the company said.

The Beaver County Times’ Scott Tady reporting that a new Netflix series by the director and executive producer of the hit show “Stranger Things” titled “I Am Not OK With This” will film scenes in Beaver this June.

Beaver Borough Manager Dan Madgar met with a representative of the series who said producers were looking to film along Bank Street – which is the same neighborhood where parts of the 2000 movie “The Wonder Boys” with Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire were filmed.

“I Am Not OK With This” is looking for background actors to portray high school and college-aged students, football players, fans, basketball players and prom attendees for scenes shot throughout the Pittsburgh area. They are also looking for cars no older than model year 2000 and adults to portray town citizens.

If you are interested email extras casting at tvextraspgh@gmail.com – or visit movieextraspittsburgh.com.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal lawsuit filed Friday asks a judge to block an Alabama law that outlaws almost all abortions, the most far-reaching attempt by a conservative state to seek new restrictions on the procedure.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed the lawsuit on behalf of abortion providers seeking to overturn the Alabama law that would make performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison for the abortion provider. The only exception would be when the woman’s health is at serious risk.

The law is set to take effect in November unless blocked by a judge.

The lawsuit notes that supporters of the law have acknowledged it is unconstitutional under current Supreme Court precedent.

Supporters of the Alabama law have said they expected a lawsuit and expected to initially lose in court, but they hope the appeal could eventually land before the U.S. Supreme Court.

After a 1 year hiatus Hopewell Township will once again hold a Memorial Day parade on Monday. The township did not hold one in 2018 for the first time in over 70 years. Our Sandy Giordano has the story. Click play to listen.

An Aliquippa man is facing drug charges. Our Sandy Giordano has the report. Click play to listen…

THE NEW CASTLE POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS ARE INVESTIGATING A HOUSE FIRE THIS MORNING. ACCORDING TO INVESTIGATORS NO ONE WAS AT THE EAST CLAYTON STREET RESIDENCE WHEN THE FIRE BROKE OUT AROUND 1 AM, HOWEVER, THERE WERE ANIMALS TRAPPED IN THE HOME, AND NOT ALL SURVIVED. THE HUMANE SOCIETY AND LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTERS HAVE AGREED TO CARE FOR THE REMAINING ANIMALS. ONE RESPONDING FIREFIGHTER BROKE HIS LEG FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS, AND WILL NEED SURGERY. REPORTS SAY THE HOUSE IS NOT SALVAGEABLE.