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

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A surgical team at AHN Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh recently completed the region’s first robotic-assisted kidney transplant for a recipient.

This procedure was performed in April by Jennifer Carpenter, MD, transplant surgeon and director of the living donor kidney transplant program at Allegheny Health Network and it used the daVinci® Surgical System. Sarah Skeba, PA-C assisted Dr. Carpenter.

This marks the first time that the technology has been used to assist in the implantation of a donor kidney into a recipient even though Allegheny Health Network has routinely performed robotic nephrectomies, or kidney removal, from living donors since 2018.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: In this image provided by NBCUniversal, Savannah Guthrie, right, her mom Nancy speak, Wednesday, April 17, 2019, in New York. (Nathan Congleton/NBCUniversal via AP)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pima County, AZ) A man from Hawthorne, California has now pleaded guilty to sending a fake ransom note to the family of Nancy Guthrie, a resident of Arizona and the eighty-four-year-old mother of “TODAY” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.   

According to the United States District Attorney’s Office, forty-two-year-old Derrick Callella entered a guilty plea on Thursday as part of an agreement as he faced federal charges for sending a ransom demand across state lines and using a telecommunications device to threaten or harass.  

Callella admitted in court that he had used drugs four days prior, but he denied being under the influence of drugs during proceedings when asked by the judge. September 10th, 2026 is the scheduled date of his sentencing. 

A report from KVOA confirms that he received five years of probation. 

KOLD-TV confirmed in a report that the FBI stated Callella texted two of Guthrie’s family members — Nancy Guthrie’s oldest daughter, Annie, and her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni — on February 4th. Callella allegedly made a nine-second call to a Guthrie family member. 

According to court documents, one of Callella’s messages read, “Did you get the bitcoin were (sic) waiting on our end for the transaction,” The suspect also reportedly sent the message using a VOIP phone line. 

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos warned that individuals who send fraudulent notes in this case will be held accountable in response to this guilty plea.

Nancy Guthrie went missing after she did not attend a virtual church service on the morning of February 1st and was last seen on January 31st having dinner with her family. 

No arrests have been made in connection with the 84-year-old woman’s disappearance and investigators have not released information about any suspects or persons of interest in the case.

However, authorities released doorbell camera footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Arizona earlier this year.

That footage shows a masked man at the door of her house and he appears to be tampering with the camera. 

(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Police)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Schuylkill County, PA) Thirty-three-year-old Michael Bon of Brockton, Massachusetts, has now been charged with homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter after a Pennsylvania State Police trooper was hit and killed on Wednesday by a vehicle.

According to the criminal complaint, Bon was driving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County when he rear-ended another tractor-trailer. The second vehicle was being inspected by Trooper Michael Pahira, Jr. at around 7 a.m. and Pahira was pinned underneath.

Both vehicles caught fire, and even though nearby construction workers pulled Pahira out, he was taken to the hospital, where he later died because of his injuries.

Pahira was forty-four years old and was assigned to Pennsylvania State Police’s Troop L’s Frackville station for nearly twenty years. 

Bon was arraigned, and police note that a bail for him was set at $700,000.

(File Photo of the Duquesne Light Company Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) Duquesne Light Company paid it forward to a local community after nearly 1,500 customers in the New Brighton and Beaver Falls area lost power on June 30th because of what the company described as a “cable issue.” 

Duquesne Light recently made a $5,000 donation to The Salvation Army of Beaver Falls, which is open Tuesday through Friday. This donation will support its food pantry and the donation was made a week after the incident occurred.  

DLC also noted that there will be a food distribution event at Big Beaver Middle School from 10:30 a.m. to noon on July 25th. 

(File Photo of the Sandcastle Waterpark Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(West Homestead, PA) A new chaperone policy will be implemented starting this week at Sandcastle Waterpark. 

General Manager Richard Spicuzza announced this policy yesterday and it will go into effect on Friday. 

Guests that are 15 years old and younger are now required to be with an adult who is aged 21 or older while they are at the park.  

Spicuzza confirmed that the change at Sandcastle was caused by positive feedback coming from the guests of the park. 

A chaperone can look after six guests who are teenagers that are 15 years old or younger. They need to be present at the park at all times when the teenagers visit, but it is not a requirement for them to accompany the teenagers at all times. 

Spicuzza is also the general manager of Kennywood Park, which implemented the same policy last month because of reports of possible gatherings that were unauthorized. 

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Washington County, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Pittsburgh reported that twenty-four-year-old Samantha Withers of Hookstown was charged for tailgating after a two-vehicle crash occurred in Washington County yesterday. She and forty-eight-year-old Adam Warren of Toronto, Ohio were driving  on US Highway 22 West in a construction zone in Hanover Township at 4:05 p.m. Withers was unable to stop her vehicle in time before it hit the vehicle of Warren. Warren was transported to the Weirton Medical Center because of a possible injury and there were no other injuries as a result of this crash. 

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(New Sewickley Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Gibsonia reported yesterday that thirty-four-year-old Ann Breia Kelly of Rankin was charged after a two-vehicle crash occurred in New Sewickley Township on June 22nd. Kelly was driving on I-76 East at 1:45 p.m. and side-swiped the vehicle driven by fifty-five-year-old Larry White of Tarentum. Kelly entered into the right lane with her vehicle when White was trying to negotiate a left-hand curve in that lane. Kelly was transported to UPMC Passavant Hospital because of an injury with an unknown severity and there were no other injuries as a result of this crash. 

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Big Beaver Borough, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Gibsonia reported yesterday that no charges were filed after a two-vehicle crash occurred in Big Beaver Borough on June 24th. Fifty-six-year-old Randal Jarrett of East Liverpool, Ohio was driving on I-76 West near Foxwood Road at 7:05 a.m. when the vehicle drive shaft of his MAC Truck broke and fell from the truck. Sixty-one-year-old Richard Beacom, Jr. of Russellton was driving behind Jarrett. Beacom punctured the fuel take of his vehicle after he ran over the drive shaft with his vehicle. There were no reported injuries. 

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Cars)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Cranberry Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Gibsonia reported yesterday that twenty-year-old Hannah Davis of Ellwood City was cited after a two-vehicle crash occurred in Cranberry Township on Wednesday. She and twenty-two-year-old Matthew Jackson II of Wampum were preparing to merge their vehicles onto an acceleration ramp going to I-76 West at 5:14 p.m. Davis rear-ended the vehicle of Jackson after Jackson braked. There were no reported injuries. 

(File Photo of a Pennsylvania State Trooper Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(New Sewickley Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Gibsonia reported yesterday that no charges were filed after a two-vehicle crash occurred in New Sewickley Township on Thursday. An unidentified driver was driving their semi-truck on I-76 West on the Pennsylvania Turnpike at 6:22 a.m. That semi-truck hit the mirror of the vehicle driven by sixty-three-year-old David Novak of Cheswick and kept going. There were no reported injuries.