An arrest has been made in a November hit-and-run that killed a man in Industry. The accident on Route 68 killed 25-year-old Brandon Bixler, who was walking home in the early morning hours of Nov. 27. His body was found by someone who was driving home from work, according to police. Police have arrested 62-year-old William Aeschbacher. According to a criminal complaint, Aeschbacher admitted to striking a dark object, but told police he didn’t know what it was. He told investigators he circled back around and saw it was a person, but instead of stopping or calling police, he drove home and didn’t tell anyone. Aeschbacher is charged with accident involving death. Charges of tampering with evidence and obstruction are pending. He allegedly told police he was having physical and emotional issues regarding the crash, but didn’t tell anyone what happened. He’s due in court in January.
The Beaver County Commissioners today gave unanimous final approval to the 2017 budget that is in excess of 2-hundred-twenty million dollars, according to Beaver County Radio’s Greg Benedetti. With the budget comes a 3-point-eight mill tax increase. The budget approval ends a three month process of compiling the budget. The real estate tax increase is the first tax hike since 2009. The Commissioners also approved a five-dollar fee for motor vehicle registration by a 2-1 vote with Tony Amadio voting against. John L. Walker was hired as juvenile court master at a salary of 66-thousand-7-hundred-73 dollars…and Paul W. Burlingame, Jr. was hired as mental health review officer at a salary of 65-thousand-3 hundred dollars.
The Christmas holiday continues at the Beaver County Courthouse today. Offices are closed. Regular business resumes at 8:30 am Wednesday.
The American Red Cross says blood donations are critically short this time of year and three blood drives are scheduled this week in Beaver County. The first blood drive is scheduled from 11 am to 4:30 pm today at Heritage Valley Beaver Education Center, 1000 Dutch Ridge Road in Brighton Township. Tomorrow there will be a blood drive from 1:30 to 7 pm at the Monaca Turners, 1700 Old Brodhead Road in Center Township. Thursday’s blood drive will be from 1 to 6:30 pm at Christian Assembly Church, 6241 Tuscarawas Road in Ohioville. Blood donors can make an appointment by visiting redcross.org or calling 1-800-Red-Cross.
A limited number of tickets for the Steelers’ first playoff game will go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Date of the game will not be determined until Sunday. The Steelers will play either the Kansas City Chiefs or Miami Dolphins. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or by calling ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000.
This holiday season, fights have broken out at shopping malls around the country, sending post holiday shoppers scrambling for the exits. No one was seriously injured in the mall melees Monday night. Police in neighboring Ohio say a disturbance at an upscale mall just outside of Cleveland appears to have been loosely organized on social media. Similar fights were reported in malls in New York, Texas, Colorado and elsewhere. No reports on any problems at Beaver Valley Mall.
A pioneering astronomer who helped find powerful evidence of dark matter has died. Vera Rubin was 88. Allan Rubin said yesterday his mother died of natural causes on Sunday night. He said the Philadelphia native had been living in the Princeton, New Jersey area.
Today is the day after Christmas, and a holiday. Government offices are closed. The Beaver County Courthouse will be closed today and tomorrow. Banks are closed and so is the post office. There will be no mail delivery today.