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.

WEATHER FOREAST FOR WEDNESDAY, JAN. 23RD, 2019

 

TODAY – CLOUDY WITH PERIODS OF RAIN. HIGH – 48.

TONIGHT – EVENING RAIN FOLLOWED BY A MIX OF RAIN
AND SNOW OVERNIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATION
LESS THAN AN INCH. LOW AROUND 30.

THURSDAY – MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH SNOW SHOWERS
AROUND IN THE MORNING. HIGH – 33.

High court lets military implement transgender restrictions
By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration can go ahead with its plan to restrict military service by transgender men and women while court challenges continue, the Supreme Court said Tuesday.
The high court split 5-4 in allowing the plan to take effect, with the court’s five conservatives greenlighting it and its four liberal members saying they would not have. The order from the court was brief and procedural, with no elaboration from the justices.
The court’s decision clears the way for the Pentagon to bar enlistment by people who have undergone a gender transition. It will also allow the administration to require that military personnel serve as members of their biological gender unless they began a gender transition under less restrictive Obama administration rules.
The Trump administration has sought for more than a year to change the Obama-era rules and had urged the justices to take up cases about its transgender troop policy immediately, but the court declined for now.
Those cases will continue to move through lower courts and could eventually reach the Supreme Court again. The fact that five justices were willing to allow the policy to take effect for now, however, makes it more likely the Trump administration’s policy will ultimately be upheld.
Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the department was pleased with the court’s decision.
“The Department of Defense has the authority to create and implement personnel policies it has determined are necessary to best defend our nation,” she said, adding that lower court rulings had forced the military to “maintain a prior policy that poses a risk to military effectiveness and lethality.”
Groups that sued over the Trump administration’s policy said they ultimately hoped to win their lawsuits against the policy. Jennifer Levi, an attorney for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, said in a statement that the “Trump administration’s cruel obsession with ridding our military of dedicated and capable service members because they happen to be transgender defies reason and cannot survive legal review.”
Until a few years ago service members could be discharged from the military for being transgender. That changed under the Obama administration. The military announced in 2016 that transgender people already serving in the military would be allowed to serve openly. And the military set July 1, 2017, as the date when transgender individuals would be allowed to enlist.
But after President Donald Trump took office, the administration delayed the enlistment date, saying the issue needed further study. And in late July 2017 the president tweeted that the government would not allow “Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” He later directed the military to return to its policy before the Obama administration changes.
Groups representing transgender individuals sued, and the Trump administration lost early rounds in those cases, with courts issuing nationwide injunctions barring the administration from altering course. It was those injunctions that the Supreme Court put on hold Tuesday, allowing the Trump administration’s policy to take effect.
The Trump administration’s revised policy on transgender troops dates to March 2018. The policy generally bars transgender people from serving unless they do so “in their biological sex” and do not seek to undergo a gender transition. But it has an exception for transgender troops who relied on the Obama-era rules to begin the process of changing their gender.
Those individuals, who have been diagnosed with “gender dysphoria,” a discomfort with their birth gender, can continue to serve after transitioning. The military has said that over 900 men and women had received that diagnosis. A 2016 survey estimated that about 1 percent of active duty service members, about 9,000 men and women, identify as transgender.
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Associated Press reporter Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.