Dozens of people turned out to speak at the Blackhawk School Board meeting last night. The big topics of the evening were proposed teacher layoffs and the future of an elementary school building. There were hundreds of people in attendance at the Blackhawk High School gym. The meeting lasted more than four hours. The board was scheduled to vote on laying off teachers, athletic coaches and custodians. However, they decided to postpone the vote on teacher furloughs until the next meeting, scheduled for May 20th. The other plan on the agenda was to end a contract to renovate Northwestern Primary School, where work has already begun. The board took a vote and decided to keep that contract and go on with the construction.

A Cranberry Township woman died early this morning in a crash that shut down part of Interstate 79. The crash happened around 12:30 a.m. in the northbound lanes, near mile marker 75. State police say 55-year-old Jacqueline Maloney swerved to miss a deer on the road and lost control. Her SUV hit a guardrail, overturned and Maloney was ejected from the vehicle. She was not wearing a seatbelt. Police say Maloney was in the middle of the roadway when she was run over by another vehicle. That vehicle did not stop at the scene. Crews closed the northbound lanes between the Wexford and Warrendale exits to investigate. The northbound lanes reopened to traffic around 3:00 this morning. If you have any information on the other vehicle involved, call state police at (412) 787-2000.

The Beaver County Commissioners have entered into agreement with the Nottingham Group, LLC to provide an audit and investigation into the sale of Friendship Ridge. Beaver County Commissioners Chairwoman Sandie Egley tells Beaver County Radio’s Greg Benedetti that the purpose of the audit and investigation is to determine if the county still owes money to the new owners…or if the new owners owe the county. In other business, the county is receiving from the state department of aging more than 3-million-seven-hundred-thousand dollars for senior services, beginning July 1st and running through 2021 for a total windfall of nearly 19-million dollars.

Beaver County employees are back inside the courthouse this afternoon after an evacuation was ordered earlier this morning due to an activated fire alarm. Commissioners Chief of Staff Joe Weidner tells Beaver County Radio newsman Pat Septak that a light fixture began smoking at around 10:45 a.m., and that’s why the courthouse was evacuated. But he says it was not a big deal and that firefighters gave the all-clear about 30 minutes later and all employees were allowed back inside the building.