Aliquippa City council approved plans  last night for the construction  of  the city’s newest fast food restaurant, Burger King.  Mayor Dwan Walker tells Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano that they plan to start the project in March 2017, and open in August. The site is currently a vacant lot at 2624 Brodhead Road. In other business…Alicia (Hunt) Williams was appointed chairman  of the Vacant Property Blight  Committee. She said in a recent interview she wants to get rid of the blight in her home town. Zoning and code enforcement officer Mike Demcak  said he wants a training session for the persons to be chosen for the blight committee’s 8 zones so they know what we are looking for.  He said the training will include how to document blight in each of the zones.  City Administrator Sam Gill praised Demcak and Police Captain Ryan Pudik  for all their work on the Blight and Vacant property Review Committee ordinance. , and also the The International Property Maintenance Code Ordinance. Council meets in regular session on Wednesday, September 7 at 7 p.m.

The final quarter of the budget year begins today and Beaver County has a projected deficit of 2 point nine million dollars.  According to Beaver County Radio’s Greg Benedetti, that figure was disclosed yesterday by budget director Ricardo Luckow during the commissioner’s regular weekly work session.  Luckow said the year began with a 15.3-million-dollar deficit, not the 17-million originally reported. Budget cuts totaling 3 point nine million and the refinancing of some county bonds substantially reduced the deficit.

Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano reports the following news out of Aliquippa:

ALIQUIPPA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IS HOSTING MEET THE TEACHER NIGHT FROM 5:30-7:15 p.m. tonight.  Elementary principal A’Fraca T. Shepard invites all parents to attend the event.

The monthly free breakfast for veterand hosted by Aliquippa Diversity Council and the Uncommon Grounds Cafe scheduled for Saturday has been cancelled.

Final cleanup of rubble leftover from the demolition of Aliquippa’s Lindy’s after bricks fell from the building located at  Kiehl St and Franklin Ave. in September 2014 is underway, according to Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano. Lindy’s was a popular restaurant and convenience store for several years before closing. The eyesore materialized after Unis Demolition  owner Ralph Unis said he wasn’t paid in full for emergency cleanup by property owner JoAnn Mike. Debris began to build up as people dumped unwanted items at the site, and Unis was issued several citations by the city code enforcement officer Mike Demcak, the last one in July. Police Captain Ryan Pudik  worked with Mike Demcak, zoning and and code enforcement office,r  for the city on the ordinance.  Pudik said in a phone interview  Unis has been cited many times, not just for the Lindy’s site; one property at  Wykes and Davis St., and three at Grove and Griffith Streets. Neither property has been cleared, he said . The city has eight zones and a blight committee is being formed, and applications for the positions are in the city’s hands for review. Alicia (Hunt ) Williams , a former city resident, moved back home from California and is assisting the city, because she said there needed to be something done about blight in her hometown. The city has 800 vacant properties, and efforts to remove the blight are underway.

A sixth-grade Ambridge girls’ basketball coach is accused of raping teenage girls. 50-year-old Ralph Ruprecht of Freedom, a husband and father of three girls, was grabbed by police Friday, accused of committing deviant sexual acts with teenage girls in an apartment in a Strip District building. Police say he groomed eight to ten girls and lured them to the Strip District apartment for sex, where they were allegedly raped and sexually assaulted by as many as eight men. This reportedly went on “for years”. Ruprecht is facing 16 counts, including rape. He was arraigned on the charges Saturday morning and was taken to the Allegheny County Jail after failing to post $200,000 bond.