Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to stop publishing 2 days a week
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has announced it will stop publishing the newspaper two days a week.
According to a letter sent to the newspaper’s employee union Wednesday, the newspaper is shrinking its printing schedule as part of a plan to become a digital news organization.
The change will go into effect Aug. 25. Officials have not specified which days will be cut.
Senior Human Resources Manager Linda Guest says in the letter, “the nature of our operations will change substantially.”
The owners of the 232-year-old paper, Ohio-based Block Communications, have not responded to requests for comment.

Officials: Tornado touched down in western Pennsylvania
HEMPFIELD, Pa. (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in western Pennsylvania, but no injuries were reported.
The agency’s office in Pittsburgh confirmed Thursday that a tornado touched down around 8 p.m. Wednesday in Westmoreland County.
But they say further determination of strength and path length won’t be disclosed until their ongoing survey of damage in at least three rural towns is completed. It wasn’t clear when that would happen.
Residents report that they barely had time to seek shelter when the fast-moving storm hit. They say numerous trees were snapped or uprooted, while some homes and roofs had what appeared to be minor damage.

Multiple people shot at Maryland newspaper, suspect arrested
By BRIAN WITTE
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Multiple people were shot Thursday at a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, and police said a suspect was in custody.
A reporter at The Capital Gazette tweeted that a single individual fired into the newsroom and shot multiple employees. Phil Davis, who covers business and politics for the newspaper, tweeted that the gunman fired through the glass door to the office.
“A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead,” he tweeted. Officials declined to officially confirm if anyone was killed.
He added, “There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.”
Anne Arundel County Police Department spokesman Marc Limansky said officers were searching the building.
Another police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said at a news conference, “We did have an active shooter situation inside that building. Again we do have injuries. I can’t give the extent of those injuries at this point.” He said officers must look for other dangers, such as bombs and other shooters.
Arminta Plater, a spokeswoman for a hospital near the newspaper, said two patients had arrived there but she did not know their conditions.
On TV reports, people could be seen leaving the building with their hands up, as police urged them to depart through a parking lot and officers converged.
A gas station employee near the shooting scene described a flood of police activity in the area as he sat tight inside his still-open workplace.
In a phone interview, Carlos Wallace, who works just down the street from the newspaper’s offices, estimated that “dozens of dozens” of law enforcement vehicles and ambulances had raced toward the scene with sirens blaring.
“The road is blocked off real good. It’s like dozens of dozens of emergency vehicles, police cars of all types, explosive vehicles, battering ram vehicles, all kinds of stuff,” Wallace said at about 3:50 p.m. Thursday.
The newspaper is part of Capital Gazette Communications, which also publishes the Maryland Gazette and CapitalGazette.com. It is part of the Baltimore Sun Media Group.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a statement saying he was “absolutely devastated” at the tragedy. Officials said President Donald Trump had been briefed on it. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Waters told reporters, “our thoughts and prayers are with all that are affected.”

Shootings reported at newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Multiple people have been shot at a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Baltimore Sun, which owns The Capital newspaper in Annapolis says a reporter told them of the shooting Thursday afternoon.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was responding to reports of the shooting.
Anne Arundel County Police Department spokesman Marc Limansky said officers are searching the building where the shooting was reported. He said the situation is “active and ongoing.”
On TV reports, people could be seen leaving the building with their hands up, as police officers urged them to depart through a parking lot and officers converged on the building.
Lt. Ryan Frashure, another spokesman for Anne Arundel County police, said on WJLA that officers are “doing everything to get people out safe.” He said they must look for other dangers, such as bombs and other shooters.

Chippewa police are still investigating a hit-and-run of a cyclist Monday morning on Darlington Road. With more on this story, here is Beaver County Radio News intern Malik Garrett. Click on ‘play’ to hear Malik’s report…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, JUNE 28TH, 2018

TODAY – CLOUDY THIS MORNING WITH PEEKS OF
SUNSHINE THIS AFTERNOON. SLIGHT CHANCE OF
A RAIN SHOWER. HIGH – 82.

TONIGHT – A CLEAR SKY. LOW – 61.

FRIDAY – HAZY, HOT AND HUMID. HIGH NEAR 90.

SATURDAY – HAZY, HOT AND HUMID. HIGH – 93.

SUNDAY – HAZY, HOT AND HUMID. HIGH – 95.

Lawmakers leave state Capitol for summer with bills dangling
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Of all the bills that stalled this week in Pennsylvania’s Capitol, perhaps the most remarkable is the derailing of a measure designed to force people with a domestic violence conviction or restraining order against them to forfeit their firearms more quickly.
Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-Bucks, said she had never left the Capitol with tears of anger in her eyes until Monday. That was after House Republican leaders ended the session for the summer amid growing questions over provisions of her bill, tanking a floor vote until at least September.
On Sunday evening, a Pennsylvania-based gun rights group, Firearms Owners Against Crime, emailed lawmakers to announce its fresh opposition, citing various provisions of the bill in a letter that Quinn said was full of inaccuracies.
“There were a lot of things in the letter that are just not true,” Quinn said. “It was a well-timed letter to disrupt the voting process on the last day of session for the summer.”
House Republican leaders ended the session without giving Quinn time to settle questions about the bill and get it to a floor vote.
All bills die when the two-year legislative session ends Nov. 30, and both chambers are expected to schedule nine to 12 session days in September and October.
Other bills left hanging when lawmakers left for the summer include measures to amend the state constitution to shrink the number of seats in the House of Representatives and to create a citizens’ commission to draw legislative and congressional district boundaries.
Lawmakers say the Department of State told them July 6 is the deadline to approve a redistricting measure to meet constitutional guidelines if a commission is to be operating by 2022’s elections. That’s when states must redraw boundaries to adjust for decade-long population shifts identified in the census.
But House Republican support for a redistricting commission is shaky, while Democrats oppose a Senate-passed measure that includes provisions to change how appellate judges are elected and potentially undo the state Supreme Court’s Democratic majority.
The Senate left without voting on legislation that passed the House in April to prohibit abortions in Pennsylvania when the sole reason is that the fetus has or may have Down syndrome. The bill was championed by House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny.
Meanwhile, the House did not take up Senate-passed legislation to combat sex trafficking or increase criminal penalties for hazing, a measure inspired by the death last year of a Penn State pledge after a night of heavy drinking.
Anti-domestic violence advocates have worked on the provisions in Quinn’s bill for four years and, in March, it passed the Senate unanimously, spurred in part by February’s Parkland, Florida, high school shooting that killed 17 people.
Law enforcement groups broadly supported it and Firearms Owners Against Crime and the National Rifle Association had dropped their opposition to the Senate’s bill after winning 11th-hour changes to it.
But it underwent a series of changes in the House last week after three months awaiting a committee vote. Kim Stolfer of Firearms Owners Against Crime viewed at least one of those changes as backtracking on a provision to which he had agreed in the Senate’s version.
Stolfer insisted he had not spread inaccuracies about the bill, but said he and his group’s lawyers had had to scramble to keep up with last week’s series of changes.
The process was confusing and chaotic and, in the end, his lawyers believed the bill was packed with poorly written and conflicting provisions, Stolfer said.
“We’re not the bad guys here, and we’re being painted as that,” Stolfer said. “And that’s not fair.”
House Majority Whip Brian Cutler, R-Lancaster, said the bill remains viable for the House’s fall session, although it will require finding out anew how much support the bill has.