President Donald Trump has touted the creation of an office to help victims of crimes committed by immigrants. But most of the people calling the Trump administration hotline aren’t calling to get information. They are calling to report their neighbors, colleagues or strangers who they suspect are in the country illegally. Barbara Gonzalez runs the office and is trying to get the word out that the office is there to help people, not rat them out.

Pope Francis has for the first time publicly acknowledged the scandal of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns and says he committed to doing more to fight the problem. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Francis said: “Should we do something more? Yes. Is there the will? Yes. But it’s a path that we have already begun.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says a federal subpoena seeking documents from Donald Trump’s inaugural committee is part of “a hysteria” over the fact that he’s president. Sanders said Tuesday on CNN that there’s “so much hatred out there” that people will “look for anything” while trying to “create problems” to tie to the Republican president.

Among House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s State of the Union guests are the Planned Parenthood president, active-duty transgender service members and chef Jose Andres. Andres heads a charity that began in 2010 to feed earthquake survivors in Haiti and that offered free food and coffee to furloughed workers during the partial government shutdown.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s new budget proposal requests hundreds of millions of dollars more for Pennsylvania’s schools, as well as a sprinkling of money for new voting machines and new programs to improve skills training and the state’s agricultural sector. Wolf released the $34.1 billion budget plan Tuesday to a joint session of the Legislature. Wolf is seeking authorization for $1.9 billion in new spending, or nearly 6 percent more.

Trump guests include freed drug offender, bullied student
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman freed from federal prison after President Donald Trump cut short her life sentence for drug offenses and a Delaware boy allegedly bullied because his last name is Trump headline a varied group of 13 guests who will sit with first lady Melania Trump for the State of the Union address.
Alice Marie Johnson, 63, served more than two decades of a life sentence without parole before Trump commuted her sentence last year. Johnson’s case had been championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, who personally lobbied Trump in the Oval Office.
Delaware’s Brandywine School District said last year that steps had been taken to support Joshua Trump, a middle-school student who reportedly had been bullied for years because he shares the president’s last name.
Guests the White House invites to the State of the Union typically serve to help put a face on policies the president will promote in the nationally televised address.
Johnson’s case spotlights legislation Trump signed into law last year to address concerns about the criminal justice system, including giving judges more discretion in sentencing some drug offenders. Bullying prevention is a key element of an initiative Mrs. Trump named “Be Best.”
Other guests will represent Trump’s opposition to illegal immigration, his push to halt human trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border, efforts to stem the deadly opioid addiction epidemic and his economic policies.
The remaining guests are:
— Debra Bissell, Heather Armstrong and Madison Armstrong, the daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter, respectively, of a Reno, Nevada, couple allegedly killed in their home last month by a person illegally in the U.S.
— Matthew Charles, a Tennessee man who was among the first prisoners released under the First Step criminal justice legislation Trump signed in December.
— Grace Eline, a 9-year-old brain cancer survivor.
— Ashley Evans, a former opioid addict nearing one year and one month of sobriety who hopes to be reunited with her daughter full-time.
— Elvin Hernandez, a special agent with the Homeland Security Department’s human trafficking unit.
— Roy James, plant manager of a lumber facility in Vicksburg, Mississippi, that the White House says was reopened under provisions in Trump’s tax cut legislation.
— Timothy Matson, a Pittsburgh police officer and SWAT team member who was shot multiple times while responding to the deadly October 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue. Eleven people were killed.
— Judah Samet, a Holocaust survivor and member of the Tree of Life Synagogue.
— Tom Wibberley, father of Navy seaman Craig Wibberley, who was killed in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
Johnson was convicted in 1996 on eight criminal counts related to a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking ring. Federal courts, including the Supreme Court, rejected her appeals. Her requests for clemency had been rejected by President Barack Obama, who during eight years in office commuted the sentences of hundreds of federal inmates convicted of drug crimes.
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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

The annual Beaver County Chamber of Commerce State of the County breakfast happened this morning at the Fez in Hopewell township. Introductory comments were offered by Beaver County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jack Manning. The meeting included addresses by the three county commissioners. County Commission Chairman Dan Camp pointed to the new casino development happening in Northern Beaver County as the key development that happened in 2018. Tony Amadio echoed Camp’s comments about the casino project, using the word “Jackpot” to describe the fortune of securing such s big project for the county. Amadio touched on the success achieved during his last term in office, with the announcement of the Shell Chemical Cracker plant coming to Beaver County happening at the beginning of the current four year segment, and the casino project just recently announced toward the latter part. Sandie Egley championed her work in helping improve the county’s finances, and implementing new procedures in the courthouse to improve efficiency. One of the big concerns discussed by all three commissioners at this morning’s meeting was the unfunded state mandate to update the county voting machines, estimated to cost around 3 million dollars. Beaver County Radio Sponored the event that was attended by around 200 people.

NATIONAL MOLDING PLANT IN HARMONY TOWNSHIP IS RELOCATING…RESULTING IN THE LOSS OF DOZENS OF JOBS. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf will pitch the first budget proposal of his second term to lawmakers, and the Democrat can be expected to seek another big, new chunk of money for education. Wolf’s budget address to a joint legislative session is scheduled for Tuesday morning. His plan is expected to exceed $33 billion for the fiscal year starting July 1 and he’s hinted that he’ll continue to seek more from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5TH, 2019

TODAY – AREAS OF PATCHY FOG THIS MORNING. MORNING
HIGH OF 53 WITH TEMPS FALLING TO NEAR 40.

TONIGHT – CLOUDY SKIES WITH A FEW SHOWERS AFTER
MIDNIGHT. LOW – 33.

WEDNESDAY – PERIODS OF RAIN. HIGH – 54.