By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and NICK INGRAM Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The mass shooting that unfolded amid throngs of people at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration appeared to stem from a dispute between several people, authorities said Thursday.
Police Chief Stacey Graves said that the 22 people injured in the shooting ranged between the ages of 8 and 47 years old, half of whom were under the age of 16. A mother of two was also killed.
Three people were detained — including two juveniles — and firearms were recovered during the mayhem, police said. But investigators are calling for witnesses, people with cellphone footage and victims of the violence to call a dedicated hotline.
“We are working to determine the involvement of others. And it should be noted we have recovered several firearms. This incident is still a very active investigation,” Graves said at a news conference.
The shooting outside Union Station occurred despite the presence of more than 800 police officers who were in the building and nearby, including on top of nearby structures, said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended with his wife and mother and ran for safety when the shots rang out. But he doesn’t expect to cancel the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“We have parades all the time. I don’t think they’ll end. Certainly we recognized the public safety challenges and issues that relate to them,” Lucas said.
Throngs had lined the parade route before the shooting, with fans climbing trees and street poles or standing on rooftops for a better view. Players rolled through the crowd on double-decker buses, as DJs and drummers heralded their arrival.
It’s unclear exactly how many people attended the Chief’s Super Bowl parade. When the Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 2015, an estimated 800,000 people had flocked to that victory parade, shattering expectations in a city with a population of about 470,000 and a metropolitan area of about 2 million.
Witnesses described confusion as gunshots began, sounding to some like fireworks.
Some people didn’t run at first but others immediately scrambled for cover. The rally music initially continued playing despite the havoc. And then, within moments of the shooting stopping, some people were walking as if nothing happened.
Gene Hamilton, 61, of Wichita, Kansas, said he found it unnerving that the upbeat rally music continued among the confusion.
“If people are shooting, they should change the music,” he said.
Ashley Coderre, a 36-year-old from Overland Park, Kansas, said she heard two or three shots after walking out of a Panera near Crown Center, a couple blocks from Union Station. She said people were running and yelling.
Then suddenly she said people were walking around like nothing had happened: “We were so confused.”
It is the latest sports celebration in the U.S. to be marred by gun violence, following a shooting that wounded several people last year in Denver after the Nuggets’ NBA championship and gunfire last year at a parking lot near the Texas Rangers’ World Series championship parade.
Social media users posted shocking video of police running through Wednesday’s crowded scene as people scrambled for cover and fled. One video showed someone apparently performing chest compressions on a victim as another person, seemingly writhing in pain, lay on the ground nearby. People screamed in the background.
Another video showed two people chase and tackle a person, holding them down until two police officers arrived. In an interview Thursday with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Trey Filter of Wichita, Kansas, said he saw someone being chased and took action.
“I couldn’t see much. I heard, ‘Get ’em!’ I saw a flash next to me. And I remember I jumped and remember thinking, ‘I hope this is the fool they were talking about,'” he said. “They started yelling that, ‘There’s a gun! There’s a gun!'”
Filter said he and another man kept the person pinned down until officers arrived. “I remember the officers pulling my feet off of him and at that point I was just looking for my wife and kids,” he said.
It was not immediately clear if the person he held down was involved in the shooting, but Filter’s wife, Casey, saw a gun nearby and picked it up.
The woman killed in the shooting was identified by radio station KKFI-FM as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, host of “Taste of Tejano.”
Lopez-Galvan, whose DJ name was “Lisa G,” was an extrovert and devoted mother from a prominent Latino family in the area, said Rosa Izurieta and Martha Ramirez, two childhood friends who worked with her at a staffing company.
“She’s the type of person who would jump in front of a bullet for anybody — that would be Lisa,” Izurieta said.
Kansas City has long struggled with gun violence, and in 2020 it was among nine cities targeted by the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to crack down on violent crime. In 2023, the city matched a record with 182 homicides, most of which involved guns.
Lucas has joined with mayors across the country in calling for new laws to reduce gun violence, including mandating universal background checks.
“We did everything to make this event as safe as possible,” Lucas, a Democrat, said in an interview on KMBC-TV Thursday. “But as long as we have fools who will commit these types of acts, as long as we have their access to firearms with this level of capacity, then we may see incidents like this one.”
The parade and rally were the third in five years after Chiefs’ Super Bowl wins. Lucas said it may be time to reconsider how to handle the next one if they win again, perhaps holding a “vastly smaller event” at Arrowhead Stadium, with fans going through metal detectors.
Lisa Money of Kansas City was trying to gather some confetti near the end of the parade when she heard somebody yell, “Down, down, everybody down!” At first she thought it might be a joke, until she saw the SWAT team jumping over the fence.
“I can’t believe it really happened,” Money said. “Who in their right mind would do something like this?”
University Health spokesperson Leslie Carto said two of the eight gunshot victims brought to the hospital are still in critical condition. One is in stable condition. The other five have been discharged. The hospital also treated four people from the rally who had nongunshot injuries. Three of those patients were discharged, Carto said.
Stephanie Meyer, chief nursing officer for Children’s Mercy Kansas City, said it was treating 12 patients from the rally, including 11 children between the ages of 6 and 15, many of whom suffered gunshot wounds. All were expected to recover, she said.
When asked about the condition of the children, Meyer responded: “Fear. The one word I would use to describe what we saw and how they came to us was fear.”
St. Luke’s Hospital spokesperson Emily Hohenberg said one gunshot victim at the hospital remains in critical condition. Four people who suffered injuries while fleeing the aftermath of the shooting were treated and released.
___
Associated Press writers Scott McFetridge in Des Moines, Iowa; Jim Salter in St. Louis; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

CANONSBURG, Pa – In preparation for a major pipeline replacement project in May, Columbia Gas crews will be working along a stretch of Route 51 (Coraopolis Road) west of Herbst Road, conducting inspections on public rights-of-way and customer properties, locating and marking underground facilities, and, if necessary, replacing customer service lines, or moving indoor gas meters outside.

Work is expected to begin on Feb. 19, weather permitting, and take place Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Motorists may experience lane restrictions and traffic delays during working hours, and Saturday work also is possible.

All company and contract employees carry photo ID badges identifying them as Columbia Gas employees or contractors. Customers are encouraged to ask for ID before allowing anyone into their home, or they can call 1-888-460-4332 for Columbia Gas employee verification.

Motorists traveling through the Columbia Gas work zone should exercise caution and be prepared for slowed or temporarily stopped traffic during working hours. Motorists encountering Columbia Gas work crews should follow these simple tips:

• Expect the unexpected – Normal speed limits may be reduced; traffic lanes may change; and people may be working on or near the road.
• Slow down – Speeding is one of the major causes of work zone crashes.
• Keep your distance – Keep a safe distance between you and the car ahead of you, and don’t tailgate.
• Pay attention to the signs – Observe the posted signs until you see the one that says you’ve left the work zone.
• Obey road crew flaggers – A flagger has the same authority as a regulatory sign, so you can be cited for disobeying his or her directions.
• Stay alert and minimize distractions – Dedicate your full attention to the roadway and avoid changing radio stations or using cell phones while driving.

Information on Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania’s commitment to safety, including the importance of calling 811 before you dig, home and appliance safety, and steps to take if you smell natural gas can be found at www.ColumbiaGasPA.com/safety.

Representative Robert Matzie speaks with the press. Governor Tom Wolf today joined students, educators and elected officials in the Aliquippa School District in Beaver County to celebrate the administration’s historic $3.7 billion investment in public education over the past eight years. SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 – ALIQUIPPA, PA

Would allow residents to benefit from community solar projects 

HARRISBURG, Feb. 15 – The Pennsylvania House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee heard testimony Wednesday on legislation (H.B. 1842) that would create a community solar program in Pennsylvania, according to the committee’s majority chairman, state Rep. Rob Matzie.

Matzie said agency staff, industry representatives and other stakeholders shared potential benefits – and some concerns – about the bill, which would allow residents who are unable to install their own solar equipment to subscribe to a community-generated solar program. 

“We heard a lot of promising information about what community solar could do for PA in terms of job creation, reduced ratepayer costs, greater energy independence and new revenue sources for landowners like farmers,” Matzie said. “But we also heard concerns regarding ensuring that costs are not shifted to customers who choose not to participate.

“Having an all-energy portfolio that isn’t reliant on a single source is important for PA’s energy independence and for ensuring that we continue to export energy now and in the decades to come. But, as with all legislation we review, our committee is going to act deliberately and carefully, getting a dialogue moving and ensuring that any legislation we advance is crafted to protect PA consumers.”

(Photo courtesy of Rep. Deluzio’s Office)

CARNEGIE, PA — Yesterday, Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) visited the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Moon Township to learn about their work to protect his constituents’ lives and property in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, as well as in 35 counties in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and Northern West Virginia. The NWS is under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is under the umbrella of the United States Department of Commerce. Congressman Deluzio took the opportunity to highlight ways that his constituents can be safe, prepared, and weather ready.

“Western Pennsylvania can get slippy and snowy, and we experience all kinds of extreme weather, so I want to thank our first responders for all they do to help the public during major weather events,” said Rep. Deluzio. “It’s my job, and the job of the National Weather Service here in Western PA, to inform people on what’s coming our way and to help them be prepared. This winter, I urge Western Pennsylvanians to be weather ready: that means check the forecast, store three days of water and food, modify plans or equipment for safety as necessary, and make an emergency plan for your household.”

“Our region experiences many types of hazardous weather, including winter storms, river flooding, thunderstorms and tornadoes,” said Jeff Craven, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service forecast office in Pittsburgh. “Western Pennsylvanians can increase their resilience to extreme weather through a few simple steps: prepare in advance, check the forecast at weather.gov, and modify plans when necessary to prioritize safety. The National Weather Service is on duty to support local public safety decisions 24/7, 365 days per year, and we thank Representative Deluzio for visiting our office to amplify the importance of weather preparedness.

(File Photo)

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) and U.S. Representatives Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17) and Summer Lee (D-PA-12) announced that Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is receiving $5,300,000 in new infrastructure funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Airport Terminal Program, created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“As Pittsburgh International Airport continues to grow, improving the passenger experience is critical,” said Senator Casey. “This funding not only gets passengers where they’re going faster but helps secure PIT’s role as a gateway to Southwestern Pennsylvania’s future economic success.”  

“I am proud to join with Senator Casey and my colleagues to announce this multimillion-dollar grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Pittsburgh International Airport,” said Senator Fetterman. “This funding is another great example of how the Biden administration is delivering wins for Pennsylvania infrastructure and the economy of our Commonwealth.”

 “Thrilled that the Infrastructure Law is delivering even more for folks in Western Pennsylvania,” said Rep. Deluzio. “This $5.3 million investment from the Airport Terminal Program will help make the new landside terminal building at Pittsburgh International Airport a reality—improving customer service and boosting our local economy.”

 “Two weeks ago, when Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to Pittsburgh to talk about the investment we brought home to fix the I-376 Eastern Parkway, we made our case for additional funding for Pittsburgh’s airport modernization,” said Rep. Summer Lee (PA-12). “I am glad that, just two weeks later, we were able to secure $5 million to build improvements to our airport. This funding will not just create more good union jobs, but will lead to a more connected, thriving region.”

The funding for Pittsburgh International Airport will be used to fund a component of the construction of a new 700,000 square foot landside terminal which will improve passenger experience by reducing the proximity between ticketing, security, and gates by half a mile and improve Pittsburgh International Airport’s ability to secure additional flights, including nonstop.

(File Photo)

Story by Sandy Giordano, Beaver County Radio News

(Ambridge, Pa.) Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano is reporting that the Ambridge Borough Council has approved Bronder Technical Services, inc. to perform the Merchant Street streetscape project in the borough that will begin at 8th Street and end at 12th St. Cost of the bid is $3,785, 168.94.

In other business Park benches and picnic tables for Henning Park will be purchased from Barco Products , Six picnic tables and 6 park benches  will cost $8,000.00 plus shipping.

A keycode agreement with the Beaver County Humane Society was also approved to allow access 24 hours a day as needed by the police department.

Council’s work session is Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at 6:30 p.m.

FILE – In this Feb. 24, 2019, file photo, containers of Roundup are displayed on a store shelf in San Francisco. The Bayer Corporation has spent more than $10 billion to settle lawsuits that claim the popular weed killer Roundup causes cancer. But a single verdict in Philadelphia this year has topped $2 billion and thousands of cases are still to come. Bayer calls the recent verdict “excessive” and insists Roundup is safe. However, it has reformulated the consumer version to remove a pesticide called glyphosate. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — When a Philadelphia jury awarded $2.25 billion in damages this year in a case that linked Roundup to a cable technician’s blood cancer, the verdict became the largest yet in the long-running litigation over the popular Monsanto weed killer.
Corporate parent Bayer had set aside more than $10 billion in 2020 to settle about 125,000 cases, many consolidated in California. And it won a string of nine individual lawsuits that started going to trial in 2021. But the tide changed last year when juries began handing down nine- and 10-figure awards to plaintiffs who had developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“They try to show that non-Hodgkin lymphoma is just something that happens randomly,” said lawyer Tom Kline, who represented the Philadelphia plaintiff with co-counsel Jason Itkin. “(But) the arc of the scientific literature has turned against Monsanto in the past seven years.”
Thousands of cases remain, including one under way in Delaware over a South Carolina groundskeeper’s cancer death. Bayer insists the weed killer is safe, but has reformulated the version sold to consumers to remove the pesticide known as glyphosate.
“Bayer will continue to try cases based on the overwhelming weight of science and the assessments of leading health and scientific regulators worldwide, including E.P.A., that support the safety and non-carcinogenicity of Roundup,” the Berlin-based company said in a statement, referring to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Kline argued that Bayer ignored known health risks from glyphosate to keep Roundup on the market, failing to even warn consumers to wear gloves and protective clothing when they used it. He and Itkin obtained a $175 million verdict in another Roundup case in Philadelphia last fall.
Their latest client, John McKivison, told jurors in January that he used the product for 20 years — at a former warehouse job, on a deer food patch he tended at his home near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and at the church and Little League where he volunteered. He said he mixed the concentrated version of Roundup into a spray bottle, which sometimes led to spills that soaked his skin.
McKivison’s cancer is in remission but he said he fears a relapse and at 49 spends his days “worrying, wondering and waiting.”
The jury awarded him $250 million in actual damages, then penciled in an additional “2 billion dollars” for punitive damages, the verdict slip shows. The jury foreman, a college librarian, declined to comment while other Roundup cases are still playing out.
Bayer, in a 174-page post-trial motion filed this month, called the jury award “excessive” and the ground rules in Philadelphia courts unfair. The company, for instance, said there was no evidence McKivison had suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in actual losses.
And the company continues to challenge the central claim that glyphosate causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma, pointing to studies that say it occurs at the same rate in Roundup users as the general population.
The Roundup lawsuits took off after a branch of the World Health Organization raised concerns about glyphosate in 2015, calling it “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
The EPA meanwhile says it does not pose an “unreasonable risk.” A U.S. appeals court in California has ordered the agency to review that 2020 finding, while Bayer hopes to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court that the EPA’s stamp of approval should invalidate the state court claims.
Bayer meanwhile hopes to reduce the McKivison award, noting that judges have slashed three other large verdicts. A $2 billion verdict awarded to a California couple who both got cancer was reduced to about $87 million. A $289 million verdict in the first Roundup trial was cut to $78 million and then about $20 million.
Bayer, in the post-trial motion, said the McKivison judge allowed “improper and abusive cross-examinations” and let their opponents make “the gruesome and false statement that the plaintiff is under a ‘death sentence.'”
Large jury awards in Philadelphia are nothing new and the city has the dubious distinction of often topping a list of ” judicial hellholes ” by the ATR Foundation, a tort reform group.
However, Kline said the city jury pool is changing along with its demographics as more young professionals settle there. He said half of the 12 jurors had attended college and a few, including the foreman, had graduate degrees. Ten of them had to agree Roundup was more likely than not a cause of McKivison’s cancer to find Bayer liable.
“We’re confident that the verdict is sound,” Kline said.
Bayer bought St. Louis-based Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018, only to see its share price tumble in the years since.

(File photo)

(Brighton Twp.) Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro will be a guest on ‘Live Mic” with Mike Romigh at 8:40 AM Thursday, February 15, 2024. Governor Shapiro will be discussing the budget, East Palestine, Marijuanna laws, raising the minimum wage, erasing medical debt, and whatever else comes up.

The interview will be on 99.3 FM, 1230 WBVP, and streaming online via our apps and website.