PennDOT District 11 is announcing lane restrictions on Route 51 (Constitution Boulevard) in Bridgewater and Fallston boroughs, and Patterson Township will begin today, April 1st, weather permitting. Single-lane restrictions will occur as needed on Route 51 between the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Bridgewater Borough and Braun Road in Patterson Township weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through early October. Crews from the Duquesne Light Company will conduct distribution system improvement work.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR MONDAY, APRIL 1ST, 2019

 

TODAY – A FEW FLURRIES POSSIBLE THIS MORNING.
OTHERWISE, A MOSTLY SUNNY DAY AND A HIGH
OF 44.

TONIGHT – INCREASING CLOUDINESS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
LOW – 28.

TUESDAY – CLOUDY SKIES. HIGH – 55.

Beaver County Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs – Transportation Subcommittee was instituted to work with other interested entities in the region to maximize our understanding of the planning, funding and construction methods used in Beaver County. Secondly, through the membership of the Chamber we will volunteer within each of the interested organizations that are responsible for transportation improvements to help insure that The Committee has a solid understanding of the process involved to plan, fund and implement transportation improvements within the County.

Efficient transportation systems and modalities are critical to economic prosperity and quality of life. Accordingly, the Chamber:

• Strongly supports public investment to advance projects that will maximize the movement of people and goods in the region;
• Will engage in the planning process for future projects through participation with the Southwest Pennsylvania Planning Commission, PennDOT and the County Planning Department;
• Seeks to identify projects that are important to our mission and advocate for their inclusion and funding;
• Advocates for projects that will allow downstream development anticipated from the Cracker Plant to readily move into Beaver County; and
• Will coordinate with local and regional transportation agencies to ensure that public transportation is available for the current and future workforce.

In order to accomplish these goals, we will be reaching out to the following organizations to partner, plan and lend our memberships expertise:

The Beaver County Partnership is a primary facilitator for economic growth and community development throughout Beaver County. The Partnership aims to facilitate and develop action plans that enhance economic and job growth, quality education, desirable housing, quality of life and good governance by collaborating with others to form true public/private partnerships.

Beaver County Planning Commission is currently updating their State mandated 10-year plan and continues to champion issues that will improve the lives of all that live, work and play in the County. As part of the planning update the Planning Commission is asking these pertinent questions:

What qualities make Beaver County a good place to live, work and invest? What issues keep the County from reaching its full potential? What assets give Beaver County a special edge? How can it capitalize on its strengths and overcome its challenges?

The Beaver County Comprehensive Plan will answer these questions and provide the County with a framework for continued progress. It will promote strategies that are consistent with the Commonwealth’s Keystone Principles, such as “Redevelop First,” and “Restore and Enhance the Environment.” The goal is to provide the County with realistic, achievable steps that build on past successes and create new paths to prosperity.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission is the regional planning agency serving the 10- county Southwestern Pennsylvania region. The official Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), SPC directs the use of state and federal transportation and economic development funds allocated to the region.

Our Transportation department works with our planning partners to develop the region’s Long- Range (20-year) Transportation Plan (updated every four years) and establishment of a Short- Range (4-year) Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) (updated every two years). These activities range from data systems and modeling to special transportation studies to air quality activities

 

PennDOT’s Engineering District 11 (Allegheny/Beaver/Lawrence Counties) is responsible for the state-maintained transportation network in this region. This includes 2,570 total road miles, 1,804 total bridges, and four tunnels. We also work with local governments, elected officials, stakeholders, and the public on keeping people and goods moving safely and efficiently in this region.

The Beaver County Transit Authority (BCTA) meets the needs of Beaver County’s mass transit. The BCTA also offers transportation into Pittsburgh via Route 60, departing from several park and ride lots. For transportation to Pittsburgh area via Route 65 from the southern points of Beaver County mass transportation is available from the Allegheny County Port Authority.

The goals of these agencies are indeed common goals, and are extremely important to a vibrant, well planned, livable County. The Committee commits to understanding the process, volunteering with each partnering organization, and advocating for implementation. The Committee will work diligently with our partners to help plan, advocate and implement the projects that are important to all Chamber members and the region as a whole.

If you are a Chamber member and would like to join this subcommittee, please contact the Chamber Office at 724-775-3944 or info@bcchamber.com.

This important community update is brought to you by Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, 1st Consultants, Strassburger, McKenna, Gutnick & Gefsky, Ambridge Regional Chamber of Commerce, Skerlec Contracting, and NovaCare!

AP Investigation: No longer turning a blind eye?
By MIKE SCHNEIDER and TERRY SPENCER Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — When Florida authorities shut down 10 massage spas last month and charged hundreds of men with buying sex, they broke a longstanding pattern of meting out minor charges and punishment for owners, letting patrons off scot-free and turning a mostly blind eye to signs of human trafficking.
An Associated Press review of state records over the past decade shows that while police officers and sheriff’s deputies in Florida have investigated hundreds of individual massage parlors within their own counties for illegal sexual activity, it was usually low-level massage therapists who were arrested, while owners mostly were exempted or charged with misdemeanors resulting in fines and probation. Johns usually were not charged at all.
In stark contrast, the investigation announced last month spanned several jurisdictions between Palm Beach and Orlando and focused heavily on the possibility of widespread human trafficking. Several spa owners, most of them women originally from China, were charged with felony racketeering and money laundering and could face years in prison.
Authorities also charged 300 men accused of being patrons, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former Citigroup President John Havens. Authorities say Kraft was twice recorded on video engaging in and then paying for sex acts at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, located in a shopping center in Jupiter. Both men have denied wrongdoing.
Florida has more than 8,600 licensed massage therapy establishments. It’s difficult to know how many of them sell sex, based on the records. Nationwide, the anti-trafficking advocacy group Polaris estimates there are 9,000 massage establishments with therapists who are trafficked from other places and forced to provide sex acts.
The AP reviewed records from more than 150 Florida Department of Health cases involving massage parlors whose licenses had been revoked, suspended or voluntarily surrendered in the past decade.
Of the spas that lost their licenses, almost 40 percent had massage therapists involved in sexual activity, the AP found. Sex cases were found statewide, in 26 of the state’s 67 counties, with the tourism-heavy Orlando area having the most.
Few of the cases resulted in charges of human trafficking, and those that did ended with only minor punishments.
In 2017, Mi Cha Jones, owner of the Jee Jee spa in Miami Beach, was charged with two felony counts of human trafficking and one felony count of deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution. Jones was sentenced to only two years of probation after pleading guilty to the latter count in 2018.
Nearly five years ago, investigators found clear evidence of prostitution and a potential sign of human trafficking — women living on the premises — at the O Asian Wellness Spa and Massage in Boca Raton. The spa’s owner was facing a minimum of four years and maximum of 35 years in prison, but was sentenced to only nine months in jail and probation after a plea deal. None of the johns who patronized the parlor were charged at all.
In 2013, an inspector found three rooms with beds, clothes, computers, cellphones, desks and a refrigerator full of food at Serenity Massage in Tampa. The owner admitted massage therapists were living there but was ultimately only fined. There was no indication any investigation into human trafficking was ever launched.
Florida Department of Health spokesman Brad Dalton said revoking a spa’s license is the most severe punishment available to the department’s Board of Massage Therapy. “Any action above that would have to come from law enforcement,” Dalton said.
A tougher stance is being championed by Martin County Sheriff William Snyder, whose agency spearheaded the current investigation after receiving a tip from a state health investigator.
“When I saw the videos of the women being used … I began to change my whole thoughts and view of it,” said Snyder, a former state lawmaker who sponsored a 2012 bill that made human trafficking illegal in Florida. He was elected sheriff that same year.
Still, it remains to be seen whether anything will truly change.
No one has yet been charged with human trafficking, something Snyder said can be difficult to prove, especially if women don’t testify against their abusers. He said many of the women fear deportation, even though they could be eligible for a visa if they cooperated. They also fear traffickers will harm their families back home, he said.
And while hundreds of men identified as johns have been accused, Kraft and others have been charged only with misdemeanors that prosecutors have offered to drop if they agree to participate in a diversion program. Jail time for johns, what Snyder sees as the “holistic” answer to stemming human trafficking, looks highly unlikely.
Still, the sheriff says he hopes the national spotlight that has shone on the Kraft case will make other potential clients think twice before risking a visit to an illicit massage parlor.
“I have come to understand that as long as there is a demand, there will be a supply,” he said. “Even if the demand diminishes microscopically and a few women in some forlorn province in China are not enticed to come here under false pretenses and trafficked, it will all be worthwhile.”
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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
Follow Terry Spencer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/terryspen
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This story corrects that Kraft, Havens and many others accused were charged but not arrested. With AP Photo

Trump’s battle with ‘Obamacare’ moves to the courts
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — After losing in Congress, President Donald Trump is counting on the courts to kill off “Obamacare.” But some cases are going against him, and time is not on his side as he tries to score a big win for his re-election campaign.
Two federal judges in Washington, D.C., this past week blocked parts of Trump’s health care agenda: work requirements for some low-income people on Medicaid, and new small business health plans that don’t have to provide full benefits required by the Affordable Care Act.
But in the biggest case, a federal judge in Texas ruled last December that the ACA is unconstitutional and should be struck down in its entirety. That ruling is now on appeal. At the urging of the White House, the Justice Department said this past week it will support the Texas judge’s position and argue that all of “Obamacare” must go.
A problem for Trump is that the litigation could take months to resolve — or longer — and there’s no guarantee he’ll get the outcomes he wants before the 2020 election.
“Was this a good week for the Trump administration? No,” said economist Gail Wilensky, who headed up Medicare under former Republican President George H.W. Bush. “But this is the beginning of a series of judicial challenges.”
It’s early innings in the court cases, and “the clock is going to run out,” said Timothy Jost, a retired law professor who has followed the Obama health law since its inception.
“By the time these cases get through the courts there simply isn’t going to be time for the administration to straighten out any messes that get created, much less get a comprehensive plan through Congress,” added Jost, who supports the ACA.
In the Texas case, Trump could lose by winning.
If former President Barack Obama’s health law is struck down entirely, Congress would face an impossible task: pass a comprehensive health overhaul to replace it that both Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump can agree to. The failed attempt to repeal “Obamacare” in 2017 proved to be toxic for congressional Republicans in last year’s midterm elections and they are in no mood to repeat it.
“The ACA now is nine years old and it would be incredibly disruptive to uproot the whole thing,” said Thomas Barker, an attorney with the law firm Foley Hoag, who served as a top lawyer at the federal Health and Human Services department under former Republican President George W. Bush. “It seems to me that you can resolve this issue more narrowly than by striking down the ACA.”
Trump seems unfazed by the potential risks.
“Right now, it’s losing in court,” he asserted Friday, referring to the Texas case against “Obamacare.”
The case “probably ends up in the Supreme Court,” Trump continued. “But we’re doing something that is going to be much less expensive than Obamacare for the people … and we’re going to have (protections for) pre-existing conditions and will have a much lower deductible. So, and I’ve been saying that, the Republicans are going to end up being the party of health care.”
There’s no sign that his administration has a comprehensive health care plan, and there doesn’t seem to be a consensus among Republicans in Congress.
A common thread in the various health care cases is that they involve lower-court rulings for now, and there’s no telling how they may ultimately be decided. Here’s a status check on major lawsuits:
— “Obamacare” Repeal
U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, ruled that when Congress repealed the ACA’s fines for being uninsured, it knocked the constitutional foundation out from under the entire law. His ruling is being appealed by attorneys general from Democratic-led states to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The challenge to the ACA was filed by officials from Texas and other GOP-led states. It’s now fully supported by the Trump administration, which earlier had argued that only the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions and its limits on how much insurers could charge older, sicker customers were constitutionally tainted. All sides expect the case to go to the Supreme Court, which has twice before upheld the ACA.
— Medicaid Work Requirements
U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., last week blocked Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas approved by the Trump administration. The judge questioned whether the requirements were compatible with Medicaid’s central purpose of providing “medical assistance” to low-income people. He found that administration officials failed to account for coverage losses and other potential harm, and sent the Health and Human Services Department back to the drawing board.
The Trump administration says it will continue to approve state requests for work requirements, but has not indicated if it will appeal.
— Small Business Health Plans
U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates last week struck down the administration’s health plans for small business and sole proprietors, which allowed less generous benefits than required by the ACA. Bates found that administration regulations creating the plans were “clearly an end-run” around the Obama health law and also ran afoul of other federal laws governing employee benefits.
The administration said it disagrees but hasn’t formally announced an appeal.
Also facing challenges in courts around the country are an administration regulation that bars federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions and a rule that allows employers with religious and moral objections to opt out of offering free birth control to women workers as a preventive care service.

Jackson, Nicks enter hall with encouragement for women
By DAVID BAUDER AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Stevie Nicks, who became the first woman inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Janet Jackson, the latest member of the Jackson clan to enter the hall, called for other women to join them in music immortality on a night they were honored with five all-male British bands.
Jackson issued her challenge just before leaving the stage of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” she said, “in 2020, induct more women.”
Neither Jackson or Nicks were around at the end of the evening when another Brit, Ian Hunter, led an all-star jam at the end to “All the Young Dudes.” The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs was the only woman onstage.
During the five-hour ceremony, Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music thanked multiple bass players and album cover designers, the Cure’s Robert Smith proudly wore his mascara and red lipstick a month shy of his 60th birthday and two of Radiohead’s five members showed up for trophies.
During Def Leppard’s induction, Rick Allen was moved to tears by the audience’s standing ovation when singer Joe Elliott recalled the drummer’s perseverance following a 1985 accident that cost him an arm.
Jackson followed her brothers Michael and the Jackson 5 as inductees. She said she wanted to go to college and become a lawyer growing up, but her late father Joe had other ideas for her.
“As the youngest in my family, I was determined to make it on my own,” she said. “I was determined to stand on my own two feet. But never in a million years did I expect to follow in their footsteps.”
She encouraged Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, producers of her breakthrough “Control” album and most of her vast catalog, to stand in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for recognition, as well as booster Questlove. She thanked Dick Clark of “American Bandstand” and Don Cornelius of “Soul Train,” along with her choreographers including Paula Abdul.
There was some potential for awkward vibes Friday, since the event was being filmed to air on HBO on April 27. HBO angered the Jackson family this winter for showing the documentary “Leaving Neverland,” about two men who alleged Michael Jackson abused them when they were boys. Jackson never mentioned Michael specifically in her remarks but thanked her brothers, and he was shown on screen with the rest of the family.
Jackson was inducted by an enthusiastic Janelle Monae, whose black hat and black leather recalled some of her hero’s past stage looks. She said Jackson had been her phone’s screen-saver for years as a reminder to be focused and fearless in how she approached art.
Nicks was the night’s first induction. She is already a member of the hall as a member of Fleetwood Mac, but only the first woman to join 22 men — including all four Beatles members — to have been honored twice by the rock hall for the different stages of their career.
Nicks offered women a blueprint for success, telling them her trepidation in first recording a solo album while a member of Fleetwood Mac and encouraging others to match her feat.
“I know there is somebody out there who will be able to do it,” she said, promising to talk often of how she built her solo career. “What I am doing is opening up the door for other women.”
During her four-song set, she brought onstage a cape she bought in 1983 to prove to her “very frugal” late mother that it was still in good shape, and worth its $3,000 price tag. Don Henley joined her to sing “Leather and Lace,” while Harry Styles filled in for the late Tom Petty on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”
David Byrne inducted Radiohead, noting he was flattered the band named itself after one of his songs. He said their album “Kid A” was the one that really hooked him, and he was impressed Radiohead could be experimental in both their music and how they conduct business.
“They’re creative and smart in both areas, which was kind of a rare combination for artists, not just now but anytime,” he said.
With only drummer Philip Selway and guitarist Ed O’Brien on hand, Radiohead didn’t perform; there was a question of whether any of them would show up given the group’s past ambivalence about the hall. But both men spoke highly of the honor.
“This is such a beautifully surreal evening for us,” said O’Brien. “It’s a big (expletive) deal and it feels like it. … I wish the others could be here because they would be feeling it.”
The Cure’s Smith has been a constant in a band of shifting personnel, and he stood onstage for induction Friday with 11 past and current members. Despite their goth look, the Cure has a legacy of pop hits, and performed three of them at Barclays, “I Will Always Love You,” ”Just Like Heaven” and “Boys Don’t Cry.”
Visibly nervous, Smith called his induction a “very nice surprise” and shyly acknowledged the crowd’s cheers.
“It’s been a fantastic thing, it really has,” he said. “We love you, too.”
His inductee, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, recalled ridiculing the rock hall in past years because he couldn’t believe the Cure wasn’t in. When he got the call that the band was in, he said “I was never so happy eating my words as I was that day.”
Def Leppard sold tons of records, back when musicians used to do that, with a heavy metal sound sheened to pop perfection on songs like “Photograph” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” They performed them in a set that climaxed the annual ceremony.
Singer Joe Elliott stressed the band’s working-class roots, thanking his parents and recalling how his father gave them 150 pounds to make their first recording in 1978.
Besides Allen’s accident, the band survived the 1991 death of guitarist Steve Clark. Elliott said there always seemed to be a looming sense of tragedy around the corner for the band, but “we wouldn’t let it in.”
“If alcoholism, car crashes and cancer couldn’t kill us, the ’90s had no (expletive) chance,” said Elliott, referring to his band mates as the closest thing to brothers that an only child could have.
Roxy Music, led by the stylish Ferry, performed a five-song set that included hits “Love is the Drug,” ”More Than This” and “Avalon.” (Brian Eno didn’t show for the event).
Simon LeBon and John Taylor of Duran Duran inducted them, with Taylor saying that hearing Roxy Music in concert at age 14 showed him what he wanted to do with his life.
“Without Roxy Music, there really would be no Duran Duran,” he said.
The soft-spoken Ferry thanked everyone from a succession of bass players to album cover designers. “We’d like to thank everyone for this unexpected honor,” he said.
The Zombies, from rock ‘n’ roll’s original British invasion, were the veterans of the night. They made it despite being passed over in the past, but were gracious in their thanks of the rock hall. They performed hits “Time of the Season,” ”Tell Her No” and “She’s Not There.”
Zombies lead singer Rod Argent noted that the group had been eligible for the hall for 30 years but the honor had eluded them.
“To have finally passed the winning post this time — fantastic!”