Category: News

Aliquippa Police Chief Speaks Out On Murder Investigation!!!

The ex-fiancé of Rachael DelTondo is going on the record saying he had nothing to do with her shooting death on Mother’s Day in her mom’s Aliquippa driveway. Frank Catroppa tells WPXI-TV the two broke up over a year ago after eight years together. Catroppa says he voluntarily went to the police department when investigators wanted to question him about DelTondo’s murder, adding he has nothing to hide. Investigators are calling the former teacher’s death a crime of passion or jealousy.  MEANWHILE, THE ALIQUIPPA POLICE CHIEF IS SPEAKING OUT ON THE CASE…BUT SAYING VERY LITTLE. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS EXPLAINS…

Mix of Sun And Clouds Today Along With Chance Of Rain Shower

WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, MAY 17TH, 2018

 

TODAY – CLOUDY THIS MORNING WITH PEAKS OF
SUNSHINE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON. SLIGHT
CHANCE OF A RAIN SHOWER. HIGH – 84.

TONIGHT – MOSTLY CLOUDY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF ANOTHER
RAIN SHOWER. LOW NEAR 60.

FRIDAY – OVERCAST WITH SHOWERS AT TIMES. HIGH – 72.

SATURDAY – CLOUDY SKIES DURING THE MORNING HOURS.
FOLLOWED BY THUNDERSTORMS IN THE
AFTERNOON. HIGH NEAR 80.

SUNDAY – SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. REMAINING CLOUDY
DURING THE AFTERNOON. HIGH AGAIN NEAR 80.

70th Anniversary Moments – “The Founding Fathers”. Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka.

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.
Frank Smith around 1950. Photo courtesy of Jeff Snedden/Beaver County Times file photo.

This is the time of year, when 70 years ago, three new entrepreneurs and business partners from Pittsburgh would have been anxious and excited about the start up of their new venture in Beaver County, PA.  That’s because Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka were about one week away from officially putting WBVP on the air.  The staff of WBVP had already been hired, and test broadcasts had already aired late at night to prepare for the sign on, which would occur on Tuesday, May 25, 1948.   One of those early staff members was  Alan Boal.  Boal, who was from Freedom, had met Frank Smith while Smith was the General Manager at WWSW in Pittsburgh.  Boal gave fellow Pitt student, and announcer at WWSW,  Rege Cordic,  a ride to the studio from campus and had the opportunity to meet Smith and discover this wild new world of broadcasting .   Boal was brought aboard to help put WBVP on the air and commented about those test broadcasts conducted on WBVP in the recently published book, now available on Amazon,  Behind The Microphone – The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA.  “(They) kind of broke all of us in. . .  It was mainly just a trial run, with the transmitter and everything.  That’s how we started out”.

Tom Price in 1959. Photo courtesy of Judy Rowse.

About a year earlier, the Federal Communications Commission awarded Frank Smith, along with his partners, Tom Price and Charles Onderka a class C license to broadcast at 1230 kilohertz from a 150 foot tower at 250 watts  located just across the  river from Beaver Falls in Pulaski Township.  As we all are very familiar with now, their new radio station was assigned the call letters of WBVP.   Prior to breathing life into their enterprise in Beaver County, Frank Smith and Tom Price both worked for WWSW, which at the time was found at 1500 A.M., and the studio was located in the Sherwin Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh.  WWSW was owned by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette at the time, so they didn’t have to go far to find the third partner, as Charles Onderka was working in the business office over at the paper division of the company.  According to WBVP Chief Engineer in the 1960’s, Jim Roush, the three partners pooled together around $13,000 to get their new radio station built and on the air.  While thirteen grand would equal around $137,000 nowadays, adjusted for inflation, it was still quite a feat for the three business leaders to buy and develop the 50 acre transmitter property in Pulaski Township, build a transmitter building, put up a tower, and outfit an office and studio in Beaver Falls with furnishings and equipment. The original office and studio location for WBVP was one block south on the same side of Seventh Avenue in Beaver Falls, located in the third floor above the Rio Grill and Kaufmann’s Drug Store back when. The building still exists today and is now the home of Vocelli Pizza and Valley Home Medical Equipment.

Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka were already very successful media executives in

Charles Onderka in 1958. Photo courtesy of Judy Rowse.

Pittsburgh and were already enjoying the fruits of their labor when all three decided to uproot and migrate to Beaver County.  In research conducted for   Behind The Microphone – The History Of Radio In Beaver County, PA. , Judy Rowse, Tom Price’s daughter, reported that prior to moving the family to Beaver, her parents, Tom and Marion Price, had just settled into a brand new home in Mount Lebanon with the rest of the brood.  Frank Smith and his wife Lillian put roots down in Patterson Township.  Charles, and his wife Mary, Onderka, bought a home in Chippewa.

The three men ran the company like a giant extended family and held celebration picnics for the whole staff every year on May 25th to mark the anniversary of the first radio broadcast on WBVP. The tradition continues this year as WBVP will celebrate the Occasion with a 70th Anniversary Gala at the Grand Ball Room of the  Brodhead Hotel in Beaver Falls with current and past employees, spouses and special invited guests, that includes entertainment from The Jaggerz and a keynote address from from retired broadcasting magnate and Allegheny County politician, Jim Roddey.

Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka operated WBVP for 19 years as the first owners, selling it to Hall Communications in 1967.

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Abbey Carpet and Floor,  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing,  Aliquippa Giant Eagle, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Auto Mall, Beaver Valley Sheet Metal, Castlebrook Development, The Community College Of Beaver County,  Farmers Building and Savings Bank, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican food, The Health Huts, Kitchen City, Laughlin Insurance Agency,  Rochester Manor and Villa and Young’s Jewelry and Coins.

Owner of popular Pittsburgh restaurant arrested on sex assault charges

Owner of popular restaurant arrested on sex assault charges
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Police have arrested the owner of a popular Pittsburgh restaurant on charges he broke into a woman’s home and sexually assaulted her.
A criminal complaint says the victim and her friends were at a bar Monday night when Adnan Hilton Pehlivan bought them drinks and made small talk.
The victim tells police she went home and fell asleep. She says she awoke to find Pehlivan sexually assaulting her. She says she fought him off and he punched her to get away.
She says didn’t give Pehlivan her address.
Pehlivan was charged Tuesday with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of an unconscious person, burglary and sexual assault.
He’s the owner of Istanbul Sofra, a top-ranked Mediterranean restaurant.
No attorney information is available. Pehlivan remains in the Allegheny County Jail. A person who answered the phone at the restaurant couldn’t comment Wednesday.

Governor Wolf spends time with new ticket mate picked by party voters!!

Wolf spends time with new ticket mate picked by party voters
By MARK SCOLFORO and MARC LEVY, Associated Press
MANCHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s governor is getting to know his new running mate better, a day after Democrats voted to replace the incumbent lieutenant governor with the mayor of an economically struggling steel mill town who has tattooed his arm with the dates of murders in his town.
Gov. Tom Wolf had lunch near his home Wednesday with his new ticket mate, Braddock Mayor John Fetterman.
Fetterman says he sees his role as doing what he can to help re-elect Wolf.
Fetterman beat four others for the nomination. Incumbent Lt. Gov. Mike Stack finished fourth out of five .
Governors and lieutenant governors run for the nomination separately, and Wolf did not have a close relationship with Stack.
Wolf launched an investigation last year into the treatment of state employees by Stack and his wife.
The Republican candidate is state Sen. Scott Wagner, who also is from York.
___
This story has been corrected to say Fetterman beat four others, not three, and Stack finished fourth, not last.

California parents of 10 kids rescued from abuse in custody

California parents of 10 kids rescued from abuse in custody
By JONATHAN J. COOPER and JANIE HAR, Associated Press
FAIRFIELD, Calif. (AP) — The parents of 10 children rescued from what California authorities call yearslong abuse are both in jail after their mother was taken into custody Wednesday and her bail set at nearly $500,000 to reflect the seriousness of the charges.
Prosecutors charged Ina Rogers, 31, in Solano Superior Court with nine counts of felony child abuse, saying she caused the children to be in a situation likely to produce great bodily injury and death. Rogers did not enter a plea, but has previously denied allegations her children were harmed.
Her husband, Jonathan Allen, faces multiple charges of torture and felony child abuse. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in Solano County Jail on $5.2 million bail.
Judge William J. Pendergast agreed with the deputy district attorney’s request to set bail at $495,000, saying Rogers “may not be a danger to the public at large, but these charges make clear she is a danger to the children.”
Allen also denies the allegations. An attorney who represented Rogers in court Wednesday declined to comment after the hearing.
It’s unclear whether any California government agencies had an opportunity to intervene sooner or knew of the turmoil in the household.
Solano County court records show that Allen was charged with four felonies in 2011, including corporal injury, assault with a firearm and criminal threats in a case involving his wife, identified by her initials, I.R.
Prosecutors alleged Allen used a .22 caliber revolver in some of the crimes.
He pleaded no contest to corporal injury as part of a deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced to 180 days and three years of probation. Prosecutors dropped the other charges.
Rogers told reporters that she had one prior interaction with child welfare officials when her mother “had mentioned something” that prompted a home visit. Officials took pictures of the children and interviewed them individually, she said.
“Nothing was founded, my kids were placed back with me,” she said.
Solano County’s Child Welfare Services department officials did not respond to requests for details about the visit or other interactions they may have had with members of the household.
Rogers says she home-schooled the children, but the two-story Fairfield, California home was not registered as a private school and neither were three prior addresses where the family lived in Fairfield and Vallejo, according to the California Department of Education.
California law requires children to be enrolled in public school unless they meet specific exemptions, such as documented attendance at a private school. Parents who teach their own children are required to register with the state, but the state does not approve, monitor or inspect them.
The Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District had no record that the students attended any school in the district, said Tim Goree, a district spokesman.
Sheriff’s officials and prosecutors say the children were rescued from a filthy house March 31 and had suffered puncture wounds, burns, bruising and injuries consistent with being shot with a pellet gun. Sharon Henry, the county’s chief deputy district attorney, said they were tortured “for sadistic purposes.”
Police responding to a missing juvenile report found a home filled with rotted food and human and animal waste, Fairfield Lt. Greg Hurlbut said. Police removed the children, ages 4 months to 12 years, and arrested Rogers on suspicion of neglect. She was released after posting $10,000 bail.
Stories about the alleged abuse came out gradually in interviews with the children over the past six weeks and eight of the children told professionals about incidents dating back several years, authorities said.
On Wednesday, Solano County deputy district attorney Veronica Juarez condemned Rogers.
“Instead of taking care of them, she has abused them, if not assisting her husband in torture,” she said.
Rogers was taken into custody after the hearing. Her court-appointed attorney, Barry Newman, declined comment.
Allen, 29, was arrested Friday and faces seven counts of torture and nine counts of felony child abuse. Allen denied the allegations in an interview with KCRA-TV on Tuesday, declaring “I am not an animal.”
At least one person suspected abuse: The children’s maternal grandmother. She called Allen a monster.
“He would take the baby and slap it in the face and put duct tape on the baby’s mouth to make it shut up,” Wanda Rogers told KNTV in San Francisco.
Fairfield is a suburb about 46 miles (74 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.
___
Har reported from San Francisco.

California building explosion investigated as intentional

California building explosion investigated as intentional
By MICHAEL BALSAMO, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An explosion that rocked a Southern California medical building, killing the owner of a day spa and seriously injuring two patrons, is being investigated as a crime after federal officials found remnants of an explosive device inside the spa, officials said Wednesday.
The explosion occurred Tuesday in Aliso Viejo, about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) south of Los Angeles. It blew siding off the walls, exposing insulation and framing and shattering windows at the two-story building.
“At this point, we do not believe this was an accident,” said Paul Delacourt, special agent in charge of the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles. “Our working theory is that this explosion was caused by a device.”
Pieces of the device found at the scene were being sent to the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, to be analyzed, he said.
Delacourt said investigators were still working to determine a motive and figure out exactly how the device was brought to the spa. He would not say whether the woman killed had been specifically targeted.
Two officials told The Associated Press that investigators believe the blast was caused by an explosive package that was specifically targeting the office where the explosion occurred. One of the officials said one of the victims was believed to be the target.
The officials were briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes says the formal identification of the body was continuing but authorities believe it is that of Ildiko Krajnyak (IL-di-koh KRY-nyak), a licensed cosmetologist.
The two patrons who were injured were undergoing surgery Wednesday and expected to survive. A third victim was treated for smoke inhalation.
Sheriff’s investigators and federal agents were executing three search warrants on Wednesday, but no arrests have been made in the case, Delacourt said.
Bomb technicians and investigators from the sheriff’s department, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were sifting through debris left at the blast site.

Commissioners Continue Search For Budget Director

Beaver County Commissioners chairman Dan Camp said commissioners will interview an applicant for financial administrator on Thursday. According to Camp, the applicant has government and CPA experience.

Camp says several persons have applied for the position that became open when Ricardo Luckow was fired. However, Camp says not all of the applicants are qualified. Camp says the qualified applicants are still in the process of being interviewed.

In another matter, Solicitor Garen Fedeles said he and Camp met with employees of Bradys Run Ice Arena to addresss complaints about dirty locker rooms,  broken fixtures, and bad ice. Fedeles says the employees have submitted a correction list to be reviewed by commissioners to correct the complained upon issues.

BREAKING NEWS: Mixed Bag Of Topics At Commissioners Work Session

BREAKING NEWS: WITH A MIXED BAG OF TOPICS AT A SHORT WORK SESSION MEETING TODAY, THE BEAVER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS HEARD FROM SEVERAL PEOPLE. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO’S GREG BENEDETTI WAS THERE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Greg’s report…

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