Category: News

Lots Of Sunshine Expected Over Next Couple Of Days!

WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, AUGUST 23RD, 2018

 

TODAY – SUNNY. HIGH – 78.

TONIGHT – A CLEAR SKY. LOW – 54.

FRIDAY – MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH – 81.

SATURDAY – CLOUDY SKIES. A STRAY SHOWER OR
THUNDERSTORM IS POSSIBLE. HIGH NEAR 80.

SUNDAY – SUNSHINE AND CLOUDS MIXED. A SHOWER OR
THUNDERSTORM STILL A POSSIBILITY. HIGH – 85.

70th Anniversary Moments – Joe Grazan

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.​

Many of the earlier personalities that were hired on at WBVP were colorful characters. Joe Grazan was no exception. Grazan was brought aboard shortly after the radio station went on the air in 1948.  Grazan hosted many different shows and was a popular announcer from the early days of WBVP.  Ken Brittten wrote about Joe Grazan’s role at WBVP in the recently published book , Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA.   Britten writes: “Joe Grazan was also added to the staff and did the afternoon “Music Beat” program in addition to ‘Ranch BVP’, one of the earliest country western shows in the tri-state district.”  

Bill Day is the current C.E.O. at Saint Barnabas Health System, but worked with Joe Grazan at WBVP in the mid to late 1950’s.  The following is another excerpt from from Behind The Microphone, The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA.  “According to Bill Day,  Grazan was quite a character, who also held down a sales position at Montgomery Ward’s Department Store located near the station on Seventh Avenue in Beaver Falls.  Reportedly, Grazan would run down the stairs and up the street to the store showroom and try to sell an appliance or two, and then try and sprint back to the station, about a block away, before the song he was playing ended.  Day added that this practice didn’t last long once management caught on. Day chuckled as he reminisced about another occasion when Grazan was promoting a dance to be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Brodhead Hotel in Beaver Falls. As often happens in the world of broadcasting when things are done quickly, sometimes preparation before going on the air was slightly overlooked. Grazan fell victim to this practice and stumbled over his words, transposing them, so to speak. According to Day, in a broadcast that probably happened in the late 50’s on WBVP,  Grazan proudly announced that there was going to be a big dance “At The Bald Head Broad Room in Beaver Falls.”

Back in the day, Billboard Magazine would publish a section that included news and announcements from radio stations from all over the United States.  Periodically, station news from WBVP would appear in the weekly publication.   A Billboard Magazine issue from July 9, 1955 included a story about activities at WBVP that read:  “Hillbillie  talent from WBVP , Beaver Falls, PA,  was featured nightly at the week long Beaver County Exposition held in Beaver Falls.  WBVP’s Deejays, ‘Albuquerque Al Hallaman’ and ‘Jolly Joe Grazan’, handled the emcee duties, with the show line up including Roy Ziegler and his Range Riders, Skip Sommerville and his Blue Sky Mountaineers and the Valley Boys.”

From the stories that still circulate today, Grazan was a delightful handful for station management.  He was a creative, high energy individual who seemed to push the envelope on occasion, but is still very fondly remembered for his days at WBVP.​

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Abbey Carpet and Floor,  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing,  Aliquippa Giant Eagle, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Auto Mall, Beaver Valley Sheet Metal, Castlebrook Development, The Community College Of Beaver County,  Farmers Building and Savings Bank, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican food, The Health Huts, Kitchen City, Laughlin Insurance Agency,  Rochester Manor and Villa and Young’s Jewelry and Coins

DNC says it thwarted hacking attempt on its voter database

DNC says it thwarted hacking attempt on its voter database
By BILL BARROW, Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — The Democratic National Committee said Wednesday that it has thwarted a hacking attempt on its database holding information on tens of millions of voters across the country.
A party official said DNC contractors notified the party Tuesday of an apparent hacking attempt. The committee notified federal law enforcement. The official said no information was compromised and added that it’s unclear which third party had attempted the hack.
Bob Lord, the DNC’s chief security officer, briefed the leaders of state parties on the attempt at a party gathering Wednesday morning in Chicago. The DNC distributes the voter file to state parties for Democratic candidates to use the information to target voters during campaigns.
“This attempt is further proof that there are constant threats as we head into midterm elections and we must remain vigilant in order to prevent future attacks,” Lord said in a statement. He said President Donald Trump isn’t doing enough to protect American democracy.
“We can’t do this alone,” he said. “We need the administration to take more aggressive steps to protect our voting systems.”
The FBI declined to comment.
The hacking attempt comes as Democrats gather for their summer meeting. The party’s cybersecurity has been an issue since the 2016 presidential election, when hackers identified as Russian by U.S. intelligence agencies compromised DNC servers and publicly revealed internal communications that exploited divisions between Bernie Sanders’ and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns as the two candidates vied for the Democratic presidential nomination. Hackers also accessed the email accounts of Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, and systematically released the contents throughout the fall campaign.
In Tuesday’s incident, a scanning tool deployed by the San Francisco security company Lookout detected a masquerading website designed to harvest the passwords of users of the login page of NGP VAN, a technology provider used by the Democrats and other liberal-leaning political organizations, the company said in a statement.
Lookout investigated and notified the company hosting the website, DigitalOcean, which took it down within hours, and Lookout’s vice president of security intelligence, Mike Murray, reached out to the DNC and NGP VAN to begin the investigation, the company said.
Murray, incidentally, was a tech volunteer in 2016, when he helped the Democratic leadership fight off hacking attempts later determined by U.S. investigators to be from Russian military agents.
NGP VAN was one target of the 2016 Russian hacking onslaught against Democratic political staffers, according to data provided to The Associated Press last year by cybersecurity firm Secureworks
Trump, a Republican, has mocked the DNC’s cybersecurity and cast doubt on intelligence findings that Russia was involved.
___
Associated Press writers Frank Bajak in Boston and Mike Balsamo in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic now just North Catholic after Cardinals name removed!!!

School drops archbishop’s name amid sex abuse report fallout
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Roman Catholic high school will shed the name of Washington’s archbishop after he was cited in a sweeping grand jury report as having allowed priests accused of sexually abusing children to be reassigned or reinstated while he was Pittsburgh’s bishop.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh said Wednesday that Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl made the request to remove his name from Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School, and that school and diocese officials accepted it.
The sign out front of the suburban Pittsburgh school was discovered vandalized Monday, with red spray paint obscuring Wuerl’s name as some Catholics called for his resignation or ouster, and a petition circulated to remove his name from the high school.
The 77-year-old Wuerl has defended himself, saying he acted to protect children, promptly investigate allegations and strengthen policies as understanding of child abuse evolved. He has said he will not resign.
In its statement, the Pittsburgh Diocese cited what it said was Wuerl’s Aug. 16 letter: “In light of the circumstances today and lest we in any way detract from the purpose of Catholic education … I respectfully ask you to remove my name from it. In this way, there should be no distraction from the great success of the school and, most importantly, the reason for the school — the students.”
Wuerl was Pittsburgh’s bishop from 1988 through 2006.
In one case cited in the grand jury report released Aug. 14, Wuerl — acting on a doctor’s recommendation — enabled priest William O’Malley to return to active ministry as a canonical consultant in 1998 despite allegations of abuse lodged against him in the past and his own admission that he was sexually interested in adolescents.
In his appointment letter, Wuerl wrote, “At the same time I welcome you back to priestly ministry following your leave of absence for personal reasons. Your willingness to serve in this capacity and to be of assistance … is a sign of your dedication and priestly zeal,” the grand jury report said.
Years later, according to the report, six more people alleged that they had been sexually assaulted by O’Malley, in some cases after he had been reinstated.
In another case, Wuerl returned a priest to active ministry in 1995, despite having received multiple complaints that the priest, George Zirwas, had molested boys in the late 1980s.
The Pittsburgh Diocese said “today, we would have handled the Zirwas case much differently” and pulled him from ministry, reported an allegation to law enforcement and presented information to an internal diocese board.
The move is part of the growing fallout from a grand jury report that accused a succession of church leaders of covering up the abuse of more than 1,000 children or teenagers by some 300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania since the 1940s. The bulk of the cases cited in the report came before the early 2000s, the grand jury said, because most of the internal documents turned over by the dioceses concerned those cases.
On Monday, the University of Scranton, a Roman Catholic university in Pennsylvania, announced plans to remove the names of three bishops named in the report from campus buildings, saying it is acting in solidarity with victims of child sexual abuse.
Two weeks before the report was released, the Harrisburg Diocese said it would hold past church leadership accountable for the sexual abuse of children by priests and strip the names of bishops going back 70 years from church properties.
Meanwhile, the pastor of a southwestern Pennsylvania parish became at least the third Catholic clergy member in the state to be investigated independently of the grand jury report as hundreds of calls pour into dioceses and the state attorney general’s hotline following the report’s release.
The local diocese said Wednesday it removed a monsignor from ministry after it received what it calls a credible allegation of the sexual abuse of a minor.
The allegation dates back to an incident almost 20 years old and was quickly relayed to authorities, the diocese said.

Amadio Returns As Commissioners Discuss Finances

Commissioner Tony Amadio returned to the court house after being confined to his home after back surgery. Amadio is still in recovery and has not been released from doctor’s care. Commissioners received an eight page report from acting financial administrator Corey Trautman of Susquehanna Accounting and Consulting of Harrisburg. Trautman had no specifics on the 2019 budget but at this point, says the county is on line to end the year without a deficit. Trautman says Susquehanna has worked roughly half of the 40 thousand dollars contracted for county financial work.

Commissioners chairman Dan Camp says the county had 90 thousand to spend on financial work. That’s the amount leftover from the terminated contract of Ricardo Luckow. Camp acknowledged Susquehanna may be paid more than the original agreement.

Trautman still projects October 19 as the target date to complete the 2019 budget. September 14 is the deadline for meeting with department heads. At present, Trautman doesn’t know how much cash on hand the county has although commissioner Sandie Egley pegged that figure at 21 million.

Commissioners will meet in special session at 6 pm Thursday in the second floor juror’s lounge to present the state funded PFM report to citizens and answer their qcuestions.

BREAKING NEWS: Beaver County Commissioner Amadio Returns To Work!!

BREAKING NEWS: THE BEAVER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MET IN REGULAR WORK SESSION TODAY…AND HEARD A REPORT FROM THEIR ACTING FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATOR….AND AN OLD FACE RETURNED TO WORK. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO’S GREG BENEDETTI WAS THERE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Greg’s report…

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