LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A group of employees and teachers from a Kentucky middle school who bought a $1 million Powerball winning ticket tucked it in a math text book for safekeeping before claiming the prize this week.

The group of 30 educators, some retired, met at Rector A. Jones Middle School in northern Kentucky near Cincinnati and have been playing the Powerball together for eight years. They call themselves the “Jones 30,” and the members include counselors, administrators, teachers and some retirees from the school, according to a media release from the state lottery.

They’ve been playing the same Powerball numbers since 2019, when they drew them randomly from a hat.

On Saturday, those numbers, 7-38-65-66-68, finally hit. Their ticket matched all five white numbered balls in the drawing, but missed the Powerball, giving them a $1 million prize.

After school ended on Tuesday, the group carpooled to Louisville, about a 90-minute drive, with the winning ticket safely stashed away in a math textbook, page 200.

Arriving at lottery headquarters in Louisville, officials greeted them each with their individual winnings — $24,000 each after taxes.

Kentucky Lottery President Mary Harville handed them the winning checks.

”Kentucky Lottery games create fun for our players, and these winning educators were having the time of their lives,” Harville said in the release.

The group members said they plan to continue playing the lottery. Some plan to invest the money while others will use it for travel or home repairs, the lottery said.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Congressman Chris Deluzio released a statement on the U.S. House’s Passage of Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. In his statement he talked about his support to give a tax break to his constituents who receive payments from Norfolk Southern after last year’s devastating derailment in East Palestine. 

As Saturday marks the one year anniversary of the derailment, Deluzio says “I’m in this fight for as long as it takes to make rail safer and to make sure that folks like us who live near the tracks are not treated like collateral damage in the way of big railroads’ profits”.

Deluzio says his goal is to have a government that supports all the people and not just a specific group of people, and that while progress takes time, the vision is clear and attainable.

“I supported tonight’s tax package because it gives a tax break to my constituents who received payments from Norfolk Southern in the aftermath of last year’s devastating derailment … It’s time to build a government that serves all of us, not just the rich and powerful. I hope we can make more progress toward that vision soon.”

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are holding steadier Thursday following their worst tumble in months.

The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher in morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 113 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher.

A suite of reports suggested the economy remains solid, blasting past earlier expectations for a recession, while pressures on inflation may be easing. Such data could give the Federal Reserve more of the evidence it wants of a slowdown in inflation before it will deliver the cuts to interest rates that investors desire so much. A day earlier, stocks fell sharply after the Fed’s chair warned it doesn’t have enough such evidence yet.

Lower interest rates help all kinds of investments, and they tend to benefit high-growth stocks in particular. Tech stocks recovered some of their sharp tumble a day before, when Alphabet and Microsoft sank despite reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Microsoft rose 2.4% a day after falling 2.7%. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, added 1.3% after tumbling 7.5%

Big Tech stocks are facing very high expectations after they soared much more than the rest of the market last year, carrying the S&P 500 to records recently. Apple, Amazon and Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, will report their latest results after trading ends for the day. They’ll also need to deliver big numbers to justify their big runs higher.

Align Technology, the maker of Invisalign teeth aligners, rose 6.3% after it topped expectations for both profit and revenue in the latest quarter. Merck climbed 2% after likewise reporting profit and revenue that beat analysts’ estimates.

On the losing end of Wall Street, MetLife sank 4.6% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue than Wall Street expected. Analysts pointed to its forecast for 2024, where the insurer put some numbers on challenges it had previously discussed.

Peloton Interactive fell 20.8% after it gave a forecast for upcoming revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations. That was despite it roughly matching forecasts for the latest quarter.

New York Community Bancorp. fell another 11.4% after plunging 37.7% a day before, when it reported a much larger quarterly loss than expected and cut its dividend to build its financial strength. The surprising report caused stocks of other regional banks to tumble, reviving uncomfortable memories of the banking crisis last year that led to the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and others.

New York Community Bancorp. had acquired much of Signature, and analysts say much of its struggles are because of factors related to that. But its losses tied to commercial real estate are a reminder of challenges facing the entire industry. The KBW Nasdaq Regional Bank index fell 3.2%, following Wednesday’s tumble of 6%.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.88% from 3.92% late Wednesday.

It sank after one report showed that slightly more workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected. While no one wants workers to lose their jobs, the number is still low relative to history. And Wall Street wants to see a cooldown in the job market, which could keep a lid on inflationary pressures.

A separate report offered similar encouragement for traders. It said U.S. workers were much more productive in the last three months of 2023 than expected, producing more stuff per hour worked. Strong growth in productivity could allow workers to get bigger raises in pay without adding more pressure on inflation.

“If companies can generate strong productivity growth, they will be able to control costs and protect margins without sacrificing talent in an environment of still-elevated wages and fading pricing power,” said EY Chief Economist Gregory Daco.

Data released later in the morning suggested the U.S. manufacturing industry is improving after struggling for more than a year under the weight of high interest rates. Manufacturing activity shrank for a 15th straight month in January, but not by as much as economists expected. Growth in new orders is helping to boost the industry, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

Potentially concerning, though, was that prices for raw materials increased in January following eight months of decreases.

Traders are increasingly betting the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates in May, after pushing back expectations from March. Whenever it does begin, it would mark a sharp turnaround after the Fed hiked its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001 in hopes of getting inflation under control.

High interest rates intentionally slow the economy, and they undercut prices for investments.

In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 added 0.2% after the Bank of England said it’s keeping its main interest rate at a near 16-year high as inflation in Britain unexpectedly rose to 4% in December.

Indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

With the anniversary of the globally infamous train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, local residents and U.S. Citizens alike are wondering what is happening and what is going to happen.

In an exclusive press conference yesterday with news reporters and other government department heads, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke about the answers to those questions.

“We’ve done our part with the DOT,” Buttigieg stated. “We are pressing industry to do their part. Congress needs to act as well, and any Congressional leader of any party who is serious about railroad safety, should support funding for railroad safety inspections and inspectors, and should support the Railway Safety Act that can help make railroading safe across America.”

Buttigieg said that the passing of the Railway Safety Act of 2023–which was introduced last March–“would increase the authority of my department to assess tough penalties against railroads for safety violations, it would require better detectors, it would expand the list of hazardous materials that qualify for certain safety precautions…and more.”

Despite what Buttigieg states are measures that would not only help East Palestine, but all areas where trains are present, the Railway Safety Act has yet to be passed.

“It should not be the case that, one year after that derailment, we are still waiting for Congress to act.”

Secretary Buttigieg made no mention of when his boss, President Joe Biden, will be making his official stop in East Palestine that was announced by the White House on Wednesday.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
(Additional writing provided by BCR Intern Isaiah Wise)
(Photo provided courtesy of Pennsylvania Crimestoppers)

The Center Township Police Department is teaming up with the Pennsylvania Crimestoppers regarding a homicide that took place January 29th, 2001 about a male lying on the road on Temple Road in Center Township.

Police arrived at the scene and found a male dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Upon investigating, it was learned that Marvin Charles Steals was the 27-year old victim involved in the homicide.

Investigators learned Steals was involved in some verbal altercation that ended with another man pulling out a gun. On the night of the murder, Steals was at a local bar in Aliquippa where he was last seen entering a vehicle with two males. 

There are no further updates regarding the incident about the death of Steals. Any persons with information regarding this incident are asked to contact the PSP Beaver Station at 724-773-7400 or anonymously contact the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers Toll Free at 1-800-4PA-TIPS.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

A Connoquenessing woman has been sentenced to 51 months in prison for filing false tax returns and wire fraud.

58-year-old Constance Stobert was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court following an investigation that showed that Stobert knowingly embezzled over $500,000 in false tax returns between 2016 and 2019.

She also was found to have stolen over $1.6 million dollars in assets from Mechanical Operations Company, where she had worked as a controller from 1994 until 2021. The money stolen from MOC was used to make personal credit card payments and to withdraw cash at casino ATMs in Las Vegas and Pittsburgh.

The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab.

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Authorities have urged two western Pennsylvania homeowners to evacuate their residences due to a nearby landslide.

The slide in the Sonoma Ridge development in Allegheny County’s Moon Township closed part of a road two weeks ago, and since then another road has also been affected, officials said.

Township engineers evaluated the area and urged occupants of two homes reportedly 20 feet away from the slide to leave by Wednesday. Township Supervisor Jim Vitale told WPXI-TV that officials “just feel it’s safer to go because the ground is still moving,”

Steve Cowan of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said officials are working with the township and the homeowners association to decide the best way to stabilize the slope.

Allegheny County has a history of landslides due to its geography and topography, and a 2001 state geological survey listed slides as a significant hazard throughout much of southwestern Pennsylvania, according to a county task force.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — New data from automatic voter registration at Pennsylvania driver’s license centers shows that sign-ups have grown, remain almost evenly divided between the political parties and do not significantly favor one party over another in the presidential battleground state.

The latest data, published Wednesday by Pennsylvania’s elections office, tallies just over four months of new voter registrations since Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the change in September to make it easier for people to register and for counties to manage voter rolls.

It shows about a 45% increase in sign-ups at driver’s license centers compared with those during a similar period two years ago.

It also shows little change in the partisan mix of those registering under the new system, despite accusations by Donald Trump that Democrats would use it to “steal Pennsylvania.”

If anything, the new automatic voter registration system — which is the subject of a lawsuit by Republican lawmakers — has favored the GOP.

Of about 47,300 new voter registrations, 35% chose independent or a third party, 34% opted for Republican and 31% went with Democratic, according to the data. By comparison, during a similar period two years ago, there were about 32,500 new voter registrations, with a breakdown of 35.5% Democratic, 34% independent or a third party and 30.5% Republican.

The state didn’t start publishing the data until recently.

Democrats have a slight registration advantage overall in Pennsylvania, with about 45% of voters to 40% for Republicans, according to state statistics. However, the party’s margin has been shrinking steadily over the past decade.

States began enacting automatic voter registration in 2015, and versions of it have now spread to 24 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most of those are left-leaning, but they also include Republican-controlled Alaska, Georgia and West Virginia.

Under Pennsylvania’s new system, when people go to a driver’s license center to obtain or renew a license, the computers there generate a prompt that says they will be registered to vote “unless you decline to register.”

Previously users were asked if they wanted to register and had to affirmatively check a box saying “yes.”

States have been required to offer voter registration at driver’s license centers since Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act in 1993.

However, Republicans warned that automatic registration in Pennsylvania would lead to illegal voting. Last week a group of conservative state lawmakers sued in federal court to block it, saying the governor didn’t have the authority to enact it without legislative approval.

Shapiro’s administration has said it had full legal authority under existing state law and already had protections in place to prevent noncitizens or those under age 18 from being offered registration.

Other states that adopted automatic registration, including Republican-controlled Georgia, have reported an increase in registrations and no problems with noncitizens signing up.

Taylor Swift kisses Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after an AFC Championship NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in Baltimore. The Kansas City Chiefs won 17-10. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Superstar Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, have become the focus of a raft of false claims and political conspiracy theories on social media this week as the team advances to the Super Bowl on Feb. 11. Baseless posts range from allegations that Swift has played a part in Pentagon psychological operations to the idea that she and Kelce, a two-time Super Bowl champion, are key assets in a secret plot to help President Joe Biden get reelected in 2024, and that the Chiefs’ success was rigged as part of the plan

FILE – Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain looks at Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari after getting pole in the qualifying session for the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China, Saturday, April 11, 2015. Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has been linked with a shock move from Mercedes to Ferrari next year.
(AP Photo/Toru Takahashi, File)

Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is linked with a shock move from Mercedes to Ferrari next year. Sky Sports News says Hamilton will leave Mercedes after the 2024 season and replace Carlos Sainz Jr. at Ferrari. It didn’t cite any sources. The Daily Mail says the deal will go through while motorsport.com says negotiations are at an advanced stage and could be concluded this week. When contacted by The Associated Press, Mercedes and Ferrari declined to comment on if Hamilton will join Ferrari. The move would surprise many F1 observers because the 39-year-old British driver signed a new two-year deal last summer until 2025. It remains unclear whether the deal contained an escape clause.