The first step for work on the new landside terminal for Pittsburgh International Airport, is now in motion, as the architectural firms set to design and engineer the terminal were officially approved this past weekend. Beaver County Radio News Intern, Kaisha Jantsch, has the story…

Click ‘play’ below to hear the report.

A Beaver County couple was taken to the hospital following a motorcycle accident Friday afternoon in Muddy Creek Township. State Police in Butler County report 50 year old Troy Green of Monaca was traveling on Route 19 when he lost control of his motorcycle and fell over. Green was flown to UPMC Presbyterian hospital. A passenger, 59 year old Debra Green, was taken by ambulance, also to UPMC Presby for treatment.

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING A RASH OF CAR BREAK-INS IN THE TOWNSHIP. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

THE PENNDOT WORKERS MEMORIAL MAKES ITS WAY TO BEAVER COUNTY THIS WEEK. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS INTERN KAISHA JANTSCH HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Kaisha’s report…

State Police in Beaver County report a Darlington man was killed in a motorcycle crash Friday night. According to police, the accident took place on Taggart Road when 61 year old Kenneth Pander crashed into a tree. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The investigation into the crash is continuing.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR MONDAY, JULY 23RD, 2018

TODAY – SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.
HIGH – 85.

TONIGHT – PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES. A SHOWER OR
THUNDERSTORM IS POSSIBLE. LOW AROUND 70.

TUESDAY – MORE THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY. HIGH – 82.

Former Penn St women’s hoops coach Rene Portland dies at 65
By The Associated Press
Rene Portland, who built Penn State into a women’s basketball powerhouse during a 27-year tenure, has died after a three-year fight with cancer.
She was 65. D’Anjolell Memorial Home of Broomall in Pennsylvania confirmed her death Sunday.
Portland coached the Lady Lions’ first All-Americans, achieved their first No. 1 ranking and reached their first Final Four. Of her 693 wins, 606 came as coach of the Lady Lions.
“The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association membership, board and staff mourn the passing of past president Rene Portland,” WBCA executive director Danielle M. Donehew said in a statement. “Rene was a pioneer of our game in the modern era. As a player on the legendary ‘Mighty Macs’ teams of Immaculata College in the early 1970s, she helped establish a standard of excellence to which national championship teams since have aspired.
“As head coach at Penn State, she was recognized by her peers as a WBCA National Coach of the Year in 1991 and 2004. And as our association’s president during the 1989-90 academic year, she united the WBCA community of coaches to pressure the University of Oklahoma administration into reversing its decision to discontinue its women’s basketball program. Rene’s contributions to our sport as a player and as a coach will never be forgotten.”
With dazzling point guard Helen Darling and stellar center Andrea Garner, Penn State reached the 2000 Final Four in Philadelphia, upsetting Iowa State and Louisiana Tech before falling to eventual-champion Connecticut in the national semifinals.
Late in her career, Portland also faced accusations she discriminated against players whom she perceived to be gay, with a former player suing Portland and the school in 2005.
An internal school investigation led to a one-game suspension and $10,000 fine though Portland disputed the findings. The lawsuit was settled confidentially.
She resigned as coach of Penn State in 2007.
Portland was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame last November. “Rene fought a courageous and determined fight against her cancer,” former Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said.
“She will be remembered as someone who gave her life to her family, her teams and her women. As a player, she was a fierce competitor at Immaculata and she carried that trait into her coaching career. She was a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother and friend who will be missed.”
Portland took over a successful program, and the Lady Lions finished 19-9 in 1981 in her first season. The next year, Penn State finished 24-6 and received an invitation to the first NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
The Lady Lions emerged as a national power in 1985, reaching the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament behind Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Kahadeejah Herbert and freshman point guard Suzie McConnell, who would go on to be an All-American and Olympic gold-medalist.
On Jan. 3, 1991, a Penn State team led by Susan Robinson beat top-ranked Virginia and Dawn Staley on the road, 73-71, and four days later the Lady Lions had their first No. 1 ranking.
The Lady Lions went into the NCAA tournament with a No. 1 ranking and a 29-1 record that year, but after getting a bye in the first round, Penn State was upset in the second round by James Madison.
Penn State again received a No. 1 ranking in 1994, but was denied a trip to the Final Four when it was beaten in the Midwest Regional final by Alabama.
That was Penn State’s second season in the Big Ten, a conference the Lady Lions would dominate almost from the beginning. The Lady Lions won three regular-season and two conference tournament titles.
The same year Penn State reached its first Final Four, Portland signed perhaps the best scorer in school history in Montoursville native Kelly Mazzante. In 2001, Mazzante became the first freshman ever to lead the Big Ten in scoring, and as a sophomore Mazzante was a second-team All-American by The Associated Press.
Respected by her peers, Portland is a past president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and was one of 10 women’s coaches asked to help the NBA develop its first women’s professional league, the WNBA, in 1997. That same year, she coached the U.S. national junior team to its first-ever gold medal at the World Championships.
Portland’s pedigree stretched back to Immaculata College “Mighty Macs” — one of the first dynasties in women’s college basketball — where she played on three Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national championship teams in 1972, ’73 and ’74, before the NCAA recognized women’s sports.
A year after graduating from Immaculata, Portland was named head coach at St. Joseph’s, leading her first team to a 23-5 record and the AIAW national tournament. Portland spent two seasons at St. Joseph’s and two at Colorado, racking up an 87-29 record and leading all four teams into postseason play. One of her star players at St. Joe’s was future Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw.
In 1980, Portland was hired by Joe Paterno to succeed Pat Meiser as head coach at Penn State — the only head coach Paterno hired during his tenure as Penn State’s athletics director.
“At the time, I thought she was right for Penn State, and I feel good about it,” Paterno said 22 years later.
“She’s done a great job, and she does it the way I think we want it done at Penn State. Her kids go to school, they graduate, they handle themselves well and they play well.”
Portland is survived by her husband John; daughters Christine, who played for Portland at Penn State, and DeLisa and sons John Jr. and Stephen. Portland also had seven grandchildren.
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AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg contributed to this story.

Gunman in LA supermarket standoff arrested for murder
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and MICHAEL BALSAMO, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who shot his grandmother and wounded another woman before leading police on a chase, crashing his car and running into a busy supermarket where he held dozens of people hostage in a tense standoff has been arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities said Sunday.
Gene Evin Atkins, 28, was being held Sunday morning on $2 million bail, according to Officer Drake Madison, a Los Angeles police spokesman. It wasn’t clear if he had an attorney and a message left at a number listed for Atkins in public records wasn’t immediately returned.
A woman was shot and killed when Atkins ran into the Trader Joe’s supermarket in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake section on Saturday, but no hostages were seriously hurt before the man handcuffed himself and surrendered about three hours later, police said.
Authorities have not identified the slain woman or confirmed if her death sparked the arrest on a murder charge.
Atkins’ grandmother was hospitalized in critical condition after the shooting and police had no update on her condition Sunday.
Authorities said Atkins shot his grandmother seven times and injured another woman, who he forced into a car, at a South Los Angeles home around 1:30 p.m., police said. Officers tracked the car, gave chase and exchanged gunfire with the man, who crashed into a pole outside the supermarket and then ran inside, they said. The unidentified woman, who suffered a graze wound earlier, was taken out of the car by police.
Frightened customers and workers dove for cover as police bullets fired at the man shattered the store’s glass doors.
Some people inside the supermarket climbed out windows, and others barricaded themselves in rooms as scores of police officers and firefighters and 18 ambulances converged on the scene and prepared for mass casualties.
Heavily armed officers in riot gear stood along the side of the store and used mirrors to look inside as hostage negotiators tried to coax the man into freeing his 40 to 50 hostages and surrendering.
At around 6:30 p.m., Atkins agreed to handcuff himself and walked out the front door, surrounded by four of the hostages. He was immediately taken into custody.
Mayor Eric Garcetti congratulated police and firefighters for their work and mourned the loss of life at the Trader Joe’s, where he and his wife regularly shopped when they lived in the neighborhood.
“The heroism that was shown today was second to none, and the teams that were able to respond, secure the perimeter and engage in conversation with the suspect no doubt saved lives today,” he said.
Among those who survived the harrowing afternoon was 91-year-old Don Kohles, who lives in the neighborhood and was walking into the supermarket when he saw “two police cars coming like a bat out of hell” and the man crashed into the pole.
The driver got out, and police started firing at him as he ran toward the supermarket. Kohles hurried inside, and he and others took cover as the man ran in.
“Those bullets went right over the back of me as he was running right down the main aisle,” Kohles said.
Christian Dunlop, a real estate agent and actor who lives nearby and frequents the Trader Joe’s, was on a corner near the store when he saw four people run out. One person, an employee, was dragging an injured woman by the hands.
“She appeared lifeless,” Dunlop said.
He then saw five employees hang out a second-floor window and drop to the ground and around 15 others run to safety from the back of the store. Among them was a police officer carrying a small child, he said.
Police Chief Michel Moore said the gunman made a “series of demands” during the standoff but crisis negotiators believed they could persuade him to surrender peacefully.
Officers had tracked the car using a stolen-vehicle tracking system and tried to stop the man in Hollywood, but he refused to pull over, Moore said. During the chase, the man fired at officers, shooting out the back window of his car.
Outside the store, the man exchanged gunfire with police again and that’s when the woman was shot and killed, Moore said. It was unclear if she died from police gunfire or was killed by the gunman.
Fire officials said six people, ranging in age from 12 to 81, were taken to the hospital. None had been shot, and all were in fair condition.
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Associated Press writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.