Police are investigating a car crash today in Ellwood City. Investigators said the crash happened just before 1 p.m. at Country Club Drive and Mercer Road. Emergency dispatchers say at least one person is trapped and a medical helicopter is headed to the scene. We’ll have more details tomorrow morning on AM Beaver County beginning at 6:30 a.m. on 1230 WBVP and 1460 WMBA.
THE CCBC FOUNDATION RECENTLY HONORED STUDENTS’ ARTWORK AT THEIR ANNUAL “EVENING OF THE ARTS”. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO WAS THERE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…
SHOULD SHERIFFS AND DEPUTY SHERIFFS BE ALLOWED TO MAKE ARRESTS WITHOUT WARRANTS? STATE REPRESENTATIVE JIM MARSHALL THINKS SO…AND THAT’S WHY HE’S PROPOSING LEGISLATION THAT WOULD DO JUST THAT. THE HOUSE STATE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE LAST WEEK VOTED TO ADVANCE MARSHALL’S BILL WHICH WOULD GIVE SHERIFFS AND DEPUTY SHERIFFS LIMITED LAW ENFORCEMENT POWERS, ALLOWING THEM TO AID IN COMMUNITY PROTECTION. IN AN INTERVIEW WITH BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWSMAN PAT SEPTAK, MARSHALL SAYS HIS AIM IS NOT TO REPLACE- BUT RATHER ENHANCE- ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ALREADY IN PLACE…
MARSHALL’S BILL ENSURES THAT SHERIFFS AND DEPUTY SHERIFFS CAN ONLY MAKE SUCH ARRESTS WHILE ACTING WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THEIR COUNTY COURT-RELATED DUTIES….
MARSHALL SAYS HE BELIEVES THAT COUNTY SHERIFFS AND DEPUTY SHERIFFS ARE CURRENTLY UNDER-UTILIZED…
MARSHALL WAS ASKED…WHY NOW?
MARSHALL BELIEVES THEY HAVE BI-PARTISAN SUPPORT ON THIS BILL…
MARSHALL BELIEVES HIS BILL WILL GO THE FULL HOUSE FOR CONSIDERATION…POSSIBLY AS SOON AS NEXT WEEK:
HOUSE BILL 466 NOW AWAITS CONSIDERATION BY THE FULL HOUSE OF REPESENTATIVES.
Police say an inmate is facing additional charges after planning to attack a common pleas judge and other Beaver County court officials. Investigators say Timothy Butler was planning an attack from his jail cell for more than two months. Officials say Butler admitted to everything but contends he was never going to follow through on the plan.
A new report is raising environmental concerns over a plan to retire four nuclear power plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The organization “Nuclear Matters” says the closure of the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport would set back regional attempts to cut back on emissions that cause global warming. In all, those plants produced 39-million megawatt-hours of energy last year alone. All four of the plants will close within the next four years.
WEATHER FORECAST FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 24TH, 2018
TODAY – PERIODS OF RAIN. HIGH – 54.
TONIGHT – A STEADY RAIN THIS EVENING. SHOWERS
CONTINUING OVERNIGHT. LOW NEAR 40.
WEDNESDAY – RAIN SHOWERS IN THE MORNING WITH
OVERCAST SKIES LATER IN THE DAY.
HIGH – 56.
Funeral held for pro wrestling great Bruno Sammartino
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Former professional wrestling champion Bruno Sammartino has been laid to rest in Pennsylvania, where he was remembered as one of the sport’s good guys.
Sammartino fled the Nazis from Italy as a child and built a career beating a string of bad guys in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the World Wide Wrestling Federation champion for more than 11 years over two title runs. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
Sammartino was buried on Monday outside Pittsburgh. Mourners, including WWE chairman Vince McMahon, remembered Sammartino’s humility and work ethic, even as he ascended the wrestling ranks. The Rev. John Rushofsky called him “a man of honesty and integrity.”
Sammartino died last week after a two-month hospitalization. He was 82.
Pittsburgh Steelers great Bennie Cunningham passed away Monday morning, April 23, 2018 at the age of 63 at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Cunningham had been fighting cancer and was in the Cleveland Clinic since early January.
He was Pittsburgh’s first-round pick in 1976 out of Clemson.
Cunningham played tight end for the Steelers for 10 seasons, starting 80 games and catching 20 touchdown passes. He was a member of the back-to-back Super Bowl champion teams in 1978-79.
He was named to the Steelers’ All-Time Team in 2007 for the franchise’s 75th anniversary.
Waffle House slaying suspect arrested after massive manhunt
By SHEILA BURKE, Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The mentally unstable gunman suspected of opening fire at a Waffle House restaurant in the middle of the night was arrested not far from his apartment Monday after hiding from police for more than a day following the attack that killed four people, authorities said.
Authorities had mounted a massive manhunt for 29-year-old Travis Reinking, after the Sunday morning attacks, in which a gunman clad only in a jacket used an AR-15 rifle to kill four and injure others.
Metropolitan Nashville Police announced Monday on Twitter that he was taken into custody not far from his apartment.
A detective from the department’s specialized investigations division’s narcotics unit spotted Reinking in a wood area near a construction site, Lt. Carlos Lara told news reporters.
He said construction workers told officers a person matching the suspect’s description walked through the area and into woods. When confronted, the suspect lay down on the ground, and officers cuffed him, Lara said.
He said Reinking carried a black backpack that held a silver semi-automatic weapon and .45-caliber ammunition. Detectives cut the backpack off of the suspect, he said.
Police spokesman Don Aaron said Reinking requested a lawyer, was taken to a hospital and would later be booked on four counts of criminal homicide.
Reinking, described as a white man with brown hair, opened fire with an AR-15 in the Waffle House parking lot and then stormed the restaurant shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday, police say. Four people were killed and four others were injured before a quick-thinking customer wrestled the assault weapon away, preventing more bloodshed. Reinking then disappeared, police said.
Police say about 20 people were in the Waffle House at the time of the shootings. They included people of different races and ethnicities, but the four people killed were minorities_three black and one Hispanic.
It’s not clear why Reinking opened fire on restaurant patrons, though he may have “mental issues,” Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said earlier.
Police said Reinking stole a BMW days before the attack. The car was quickly recovered, but authorities did not immediately link it to Reinking.
Meanwhile, authorities in Illinois shared past reports suggesting multiple red flags about a disturbed young man with paranoid delusions.
In May 2016, Reinking told deputies from Tazewell County, Illinois, that music superstar Taylor Swift was stalking him and hacking his phone, and that his family was also involved, according to a report released Sunday.
Reinking agreed to go to a local hospital for an evaluation after repeatedly resisting the request, the sheriff’s report said.
Another sheriff’s report said Reinking barged into a community pool in Tremont, Illinois, last June, and jumped into the water wearing a pink woman’s coat over his underwear. Investigators believed he had an AR-15 rifle in his car trunk, but it was never displayed. No charges were filed.
Last July, Reinking was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after he entered a restricted area near the White House and refused to leave, saying he wanted to meet President Donald Trump. Reinking was not armed at the time, but at the FBI’s request, state police in Illinois revoked his state firearms card and seized four guns from him, authorities said.
The AR-15 used in the shootings was among the firearms seized.
In August, Reinking told police he wanted to file a report about 20 to 30 people tapping into his computer and phone and people “barking like dogs” outside his residence, according to a report.
“There’s certainly evidence that there’s some sort of mental health issues involved,” Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston said. But he said deputies returned the guns to Reinking’s father on the promise that he would “keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis.”
Reinking’s father “has now acknowledged giving them back” to his son, Aaron said. A federal official says the father could face charges for returning guns.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special Agent Marcus Watson said at a news conference Monday that Jeffrey Reinking’s act of returning the guns to his son is “potentially a violation of federal law.”
Phone calls to a number listed for the father, Jeffrey Reinking, went unanswered.
It is not clear why Reinking moved recently from Morton, Illinois, and if it had anything to do with being near Swift, who has a home in Nashville. Police say he worked in construction for a while.
Police say Reinking drove into the Waffle House parking lot in his gold Chevy Silverado pickup early Sunday and sat there for about four minutes before opening fire outside the restaurant.
The victims fatally shot in the parking have been identified as Taurean Sanderlin, 29, of Goodlettsville, and Joe Perez, 20, of Nashville. Sanderlin was an employee at the restaurant.
One of the fatally wounded inside was DeEbony Groves, a 21-year student at Nashville’s Belmont University. She was remembered as an exceptional student who made the Dean’s list, and a tenacious basketball player.
Akilah Dasilva was also killed inside the restaurant. The 23-year-old from Antioch was a rap artist and music video producer.
He was at the restaurant with his girlfriend, 21-year-old Tia Waggoner, the paper reported. Waggoner was wounded and is being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dasilva’s family said she underwent surgery and doctors were trying to save her leg.
Police say Sharita Henderson, 24, of Antioch, was wounded and is being treated at VUMC.
Also wounded was James Shaw Jr., a 29-year-old restaurant patron who burned his hand grabbing the hot muzzle of the assault weapon as he wrestled the gun away. A Nashville native who works as a wireless technician for AT&T, Shaw said he was no hero — despite being hailed as one by Nashville Mayor David Briley.
Shaw said he pounced on the suspect out of self-preservation, after making up his mind that “he was going to have to work to kill me.”
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Associated Press writers John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Ed White in Detroit; and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Wolf pushes to end gun-show exception to background checks
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday asked the Legislature to pass a measure expanding background checks on firearms in Pennsylvania and end an exception for shotguns, sporting rifles and semi-automatic rifles that are sold at gun shows.
The Democratic governor appeared at a news conference in his Capitol office with officials from the Pennsylvania State Police supporting his call for action as lawmakers consider firearms-related measures in the wake of February’s Parkland, Florida, high school shooting that killed 17 people.
In a news conference with Pennsylvania State Police officials, Wolf called for the passage of “commonsense” gun safety laws “so that we can give back the fundamental expectation of safety, a fundamental right to all Pennsylvanians so we can prevent further needless violence.”
The Republican-controlled Legislature has long resisted gun-control measures and appears unlikely to expand background checks or ban certain devices, such as assault-style weapons or bump stocks, despite the governor’s support.
Those bills have languished in committee without action, despite bipartisan support.
“Universal background checks are one of the best ways we can keep weapons out of the hands of threatening individuals,” Wolf said.
Currently, background checks cover all sales of handguns, except for transfers within families.
The Senate last month unanimously passed a bill to force people with a domestic violence ruling against them to more quickly forfeit their firearms. Gun-rights groups dropped their opposition after negotiating last-minute changes to the bill, and Wolf on Monday renewed his call for the House to pass it and send it to his desk.
“I’m ready to sign this bill,” Wolf said. “I’m ready to do my part in ensuring that we are doing all we can to close dangerous loopholes and protect victims of domestic abuse.”
The House is eyeing similar measures, including one that would create an “extreme risk protection order” that allows a law enforcement officer, a family member or a household member to petition a judge to order the immediate, if temporary seizure of someone’s firearms.
The petition would have to be accompanied by allegations that the person represents a danger of suicide or “extreme bodily injury” to another person.
Under the Senate’s domestic violence bill, defendants in final protection-from-abuse cases would have to hand over their guns in 24 hours. Current law leaves forfeiture to a judge’s discretion, and the bill’s backers say judges order the forfeiture of firearms in 14 percent of protection-from-abuse cases.
In addition, people convicted of a domestic violence crime would have 48 hours to give up their firearms.
Under current law, people convicted of domestic violence have 60 days, although a person charged with a domestic violence crime typically loses their firearms well before a conviction, either as a condition of bail or of a temporary restraining order, defense lawyers say.
Another provision would narrow the definition of who may keep the firearms of someone who is convicted of a domestic violence crime or who is the subject of a restraining order.
Under current law, that person can give their guns to a relative, friend or neighbor, as long as they don’t live in the same home. The bill would remove that provision and limit custodians to a law enforcement agency, a federally licensed firearms dealer or a lawyer.