Casey to back bill to fund government, not border wall
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania says he’ll vote against a bill reflecting President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding in exchange for temporary protections for some immigrants.
Casey, speaking Wednesday in suburban Harrisburg, said he supports a bill already passed by the Democratic-controlled House to reopen the government through Feb. 8. It doesn’t allow money for a border wall.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scheduled the two votes for Thursday, a day before some 800,000 federal workers could miss a second paycheck.
Casey says the first priority should be reopening the federal government.
He also says Trump should tell the truth about effective border security and that a border wall shouldn’t be confused with border security when most drugs and bad actors get in through ports of entry.

Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen delaying testimony to Congress
By MICHAEL BALSAMO, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, will not testify before a House committee next month as scheduled, his adviser said Wednesday, depriving Democrats for now of a prime opportunity to scrutinize Trump, his links to Russia and payments to buy the silence of a porn star.
Cohen indefinitely delayed his Feb. 7 appearance before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He blamed threats from Trump and the president’s attorney-spokesman, Rudy Giuliani, and cited his own ongoing cooperation in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Cohen adviser Lanny Davis said the decision was made on advice of Cohen’s lawyers.
“This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first,” Davis said in a statement.
The statement did not detail the threats. But Trump and Giuliani have publicly urged the Justice Department to investigate Cohen’s father-in-law, insinuating he was part of some unspecific criminal activity. Trump, for example, told Fox News this month that Cohen “should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that’s the one that people want to look at.”
Asked about the claim of a threat, Trump accused Cohen of lying.
“He’s only been threatened by the truth, and he doesn’t want to do that, probably for me or other of his clients,” Trump said at the White House. “He has other clients also, I assume, and he doesn’t want to tell the truth for me or other of his clients.”
Trump’s fixer-turned-foe is a central figure in Mueller’s investigation into possible coordination between Russia and Trump’s campaign. Cohen also played a pivotal role in buying the silence of a porn actress and a former Playboy Playmate who both alleged they had sex with Trump. The president has denied their claims.
Cohen pleaded guilty last year to campaign finance violations and other offenses connected to the payments. Federal prosecutors have said Trump directed Cohen to make the payments during the campaign.
Newly empowered Democrats wanted to make Cohen the first high-profile witness since they regained control of the House and have promised an aggressive effort to investigate the president. They have pledged to limit their questioning to avoid interfering with any investigations.
It is unclear how long Cohen is seeking to delay his testimony, but Cohen “looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time,” Davis said.
Cohen is scheduled to report to prison on March 6 to begin a three-year sentence.
Democrats have suggested they may subpoena Cohen to compel his testimony.
In a statement, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings, and Rep. Adam Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said they understood the “completely legitimate concerns” Cohen raised about threats. But, they added, it “was never an option” for Cohen not to appear before Congress.
The committee has been in touch with Cohen and offered to work with law enforcement to enhance security measures to protect his family and is in touch with Cohen’s lawyers about when he would testify, they said.
“We will not let the president’s tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities,” the chairmen said in a statement. “This will not stop us from getting to the truth.”
In November, Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. He admitted that he said negotiations over the development of a Trump-branded tower in Moscow had ended in January 2016 but had actually continued until at least June 2016, well into Trump’s presidential campaign. Cohen has said he lied to be consistent with Trump’s “political messaging” and to minimize the public’s understanding of Trump’s ties with Russia.
Republicans, in their questioning at a Cohen hearing, probably would have seized on a disputed BuzzFeed News story that Trump instructed Cohen to lie before Congress.
The special counsel’s office issued a rare public statement after the story ran last week disputing elements of the article. BuzzFeed stands by the story and has asked for clarity from Mueller’s team.
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Associated Press writers Chad Day and Darlene Superville in Washington and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

The Latest: Trump doing ‘alternative’ event to House speech
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address (all times local):
3:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he will do an “alternative” event since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has blocked him from giving his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress while the government remains partially shut down.
Trump at the White House Wednesday said the cancellation was a “disgrace.” He did not detail his next move, saying: “We will be announcing what we’re doing.”
The California Democrat told Trump in a letter Wednesday the Democratic-controlled House won’t pass the required measure for him to give the nationally televised speech from the House floor on Tuesday.
Trump said he was planning a “really important speech” and called Pelosi’s move a “great blotch on the country that we all love.” He argued Pelosi was blocking him because she doesn’t want to hear “the truth” about border security.
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3:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he is not surprised about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi officially postponing his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress until the government is fully reopened.
Trump says Democrats have become “radicalized” and “don’t want to see crime stopped, which we could very easily do on the southern border.”
Trump was asked about Pelosi’s action during a health care event at the White House and as the government shutdown extended into a second month.
The president said: “This will go on for a while. Ultimately the American people will have their way because they want to see no crime.”
The stalemate over funding a U.S.-Mexico border wall has produced the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.
Trump wants to deliver the speech Tuesday as planned.
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2:50 p.m.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is officially postponing President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address until the government is fully reopened.
The California Democrat told Trump in a letter Wednesday the Democratic-controlled House won’t pass the required measure for him to give the nationally televised speech from the House floor.
Pelosi acted just hours after Trump notified her that he was planning to deliver the speech next Tuesday in line with her original invitation.
Pelosi’s moves have left the White House scrambling to devise an alternative plan for the speech, which is one of the president’s top opportunities to lay out his agenda to the public.
Pelosi said “I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.”
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12:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he is planning to deliver his State of the Union address next week in front of a joint session of Congress — despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s request that he delay.
Trump issued a letter to Pelosi on Wednesday. In it he dismisses her suggestion the speech should be postponed or delivered in writing due to security issues related to the partial government shutdown. Declaring there are “no security concerns,” Trump says he will fulfill his “Constitutional duty.”
Trump adds that it would be “so very sad” for the country if the address is not given as planned on Jan. 29.
Pelosi last week cited the impact of the ongoing shutdown on the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the agencies were prepared to support the speech.
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12:20 p.m.
The White House is proceeding with plans for President Donald Trump to deliver his State of the Union speech in front of a joint session of Congress on Tuesday without knowing whether Democrats will let him have that stage.
Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, even as officials continued to work on a backup plan to have the president speak somewhere else.
The White House emailed the House sergeant-at-arms asking to schedule a walk-through in anticipation of the speech, according to a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the planning publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The move is the latest in a game of brinkmanship between Trump and the House speaker as they remain locked in an increasingly personal standoff over Trump’s demand for border wall money that has forced a partial government shutdown that is now in its second month.
The president cannot speak in front of a joint session of Congress without both chambers’ explicit permission.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pelosi tells Trump the House won’t authorize State of the Union address in the chamber ‘until government has opened’

The Best of Beaver County is easy to discover; it’s right on your radio!   Tune in this and every Thursday from 11 to 11:30 am  for “the Best of Beaver County”, a new show on WBVP and WMBA presented by St. Barnabas. The show will be  hosted by Jim Roddey and is dedicated to shining light on the great things going on right here in your neighborhood, and the people that are making it happen.  This Thursday, enjoy conversation and insight with Todd DePastino, Ph.D in American History and Executive Director of Veterans Breakfast Club and Larry Googins,  President of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 862. Chapter 862 is  one of the largest in the nation. 

You can also watch a live video stream of the show on the WBVP-WMBA Facebook page, plus the radio broadcast will be replayed each week from 11:30 am to Noon on Beaver County Radio.  

 

 

 

THE BEAVER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS CHAIRMAN IS SEEKING THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION TO PURSUE A SECOND TERM. DAN CAMP WAS A POLITICAL NEWCOMER WHEN HE WAS ELECTED TO HIS FIRST TERM IN 2015. CAMP WAS NAMED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD IN MARCH OF 2017 AS PART OF A COUNTY GOVERNMENT SHAKE-UP.

ELLWOOD CITY MEDICAL CENTER OFFICIALS ISSUED CHECKS TO ITS WORKERS SEVERAL TIMES, EVEN THOUGH THEY KNEW THERE WERE INSUFFICIENT FUNDS IN THE HOSPITAL’S ACCCOUNT TO COVER THEM. THAT’S ACCORDING TO A REPORT FROM THE LAWRENCE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE. AN INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING INTO THE HOSPITAL’S FINANCES.

It was only 15 minutes–perhaps so everyone could enjoy the “nice” weather we had outside–but there were still a couple of important nuggets from the Commissioners’ Work Session on Wednesday.

First off, County Solicitor Garen Fedeles spoke briefly about the current situation involving the reassessment appeal:

 

The County is turning over the appeal to the PA Supreme Court after losing the latest appeal against property reassessment back in late December.

Meanwhile, several county agencies and organizations that requested funding for the new year are still awaiting their money. Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp spoke toward the end of the meeting about the process involving those funds:

 

The Commissioners will hold their public meeting on Thursday, January 24, at 10:00 AM.

BCTA IS LOOKING TO PURCHASE PROPERTY NEXT TO THE CENTER TOWNSHIP MCDONALD’S. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

McCarl’s Incorporated in Beaver Falls has new owners. The Beaver Falls industrial construction and mechanical services company was purchased by its CEO Ken Burk and CFO Chris Boston. The business dates back to 1946 and was purchased from Allentown-based Talen Energy.