NEW YORK (AP) — Todd Helton thought back to when he was a kid being coached by his father, Jerry, a minor league catcher in the 1960s.

“When I would go 1 for 3 — and it’s a bad day when you’re young — he’d say 1 for 3 gets you into the Hall of Fame,” Helton said.

Helton, Adrián Beltré and Joe Mauer were voted into Cooperstown on Tuesday, feeling elation and relief when they were rewarded with baseball’s highest honor.

Beltré was a no-doubt, first-ballot choice after batting .286 with 477 homers, 1,707 RBIs and 3,166 hits for four teams over 21 seasons. The third baseman appeared on 366 of 385 ballots (95.1%) cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Helton made it on the sixth try, voters taking time to warm to statistics inflated by the thin mile-high air of Denver’s Coors Field over 17 seasons, all with the Colorado Rockies. The first baseman got 307 votes for 79.7% after falling 11 short last year when Scott Rolen was elected. Helton started at 16.5% support in 2019.

“I was the most superstitious guy in the world,” Helton said. “I hadn’t been superstitious in 10 years until today.”

Mauer (293, 76.1%) joined Johnny Bench and Iván Rodríguez as the only first-ballot picks who primarily were catchers and at 40 became the youngest living Hall of Famer. He got 293 votes (76.1%), four more than the 75% needed, after batting .306 with 143 homers and 906 RBIs in 15 years, all with his hometown Minnesota Twins.

“Goes by way too fast,” Mauer said.

Beltré, Mauer and Helton will be inducted on July 21 along with Jim Leyland, elected last month by the contemporary era committee for managers, executives and umpires. There are 273 players among 346 people in the Hall, and just 60 of those players were elected on the first try.

Beltré becomes the fifth Dominican-born Hall of Famer after Juan Marichal, Pedro Martínez, Vladimir Guerrero and David Ortiz.

“I’m proud of the fact that I was able to play for a long time and be able to compete at the highest level,” Beltré said. “I’m honored to be in the Hall of Fame. It’s something that I never even dreamed of.”

Reliever Billy Wagner was five votes short at 284 (73.8%) but up from 68.1% last year. He will appear on the ballot for the 10th and final time in 2025, when Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia are newly eligible.

Gary Sheffield got 246 votes for 63.9% in his final appearance on the BBWAA ballot, up from 55% last year and 11.7% in 2015. He is eligible for consideration by the contemporary baseball player committee, which next meets in December 2025.

Beltré, a four-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner, played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2004), Seattle (2005-09), Boston (2010) and Texas (2011-18). His 2,759 games at third base are second to Brooks Robinson’s 2,870 and his 636 doubles are 11th.

Helton, a five-time All-Star first baseman and the 2000 major league batting champion, hit .345 with 200 homers and 791 RBIs at home and .287 with 142 homers and 547 RBIs on the road.

“Pitchers get hurt — they say you can’t throw in thin air. And then hitters get dinked because they play Colorado,” Helton said. “I’m not embarrassed or anything about my home and road numbers. Going on the road after hitting in Colorado is hard. The ball breaks more and it’s a huge adjustment going through the season.”

Mauer was a six-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and the 2009 AL MVP. An All-Star in six of his first 10 big league seasons and the only catcher to win three batting titles, Mauer moved to first base for his last five years following a concussion on a foul tip off the bat of the New York Mets’ Ike Davis on Aug. 19, 2013, an injury that ended Mauer’s season. Concussion symptoms returned on May 11, 2018, when he had whiplash while diving for a foul ball at Anaheim. He tried to play through it for a week but missed 25 games and retired after the season.

He also had three knee operations.

“I feel effects of some of those things like that,” he said.

Voters included an average of seven names per ballot, up from 5.86 last year, and 24.4% of the voters checked the maximum 10 candidates, an increase from 13.9%. Just 10 eligible voters failed to return ballots.

Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramírez again lagged, hurt by suspensions for performance-enhancing drugs. Rodriguez received 34.8% and Ramírez 32.5%.

Among other first-time candidates, Chase Utley (28.8%) and David Wright (6.2%) will remain on next year’s ballot.

José Bautista, Bartolo Colon, Adrián González, Matt Holliday, Victor Martinez, Brandon Phillips, José Reyes and James Shields all were under 5% and will be dropped.

(New Brighton, Pa.) The Borough of New Brighton posted on their Facebook Page on Wednesday  that The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority is repairing a water line in the area of Mercer Avenue and Third Street in the Oak Hill section of New Brighton. During this time, residents and merchants from Dewhirst Avenue to Fourth Street, on the football field side of Oak Hill, will experience limited or no water service.

 

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Another longstanding Pittsburgh building has changed its name.

The newly named Kamin Science Center will replace the moniker of the Carnegie Science Center, which has been the lone name of the North Shore facility since its opening in October 1991. The name change is the result of a $65 million gift to the Science Center from longtime patrons Daniel and Carole Kamin that was made public on Tuesday.

It is one of several Pittsburgh entertainment venues to change names in the last decade, following such changes at Acrisure Stadium, PPG Paints Arena, and the former KeyBank Pavilion.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Sport Clips, a haircut franchise with over 1,800 locations across the United States and Canada, will be opening a location in Chippewa in the near future.

Owner AJ Rodriguez made the announcement on Tuesday that the new store, which will be located at 2580 Constitution Boulevard, “offers our clients the expertise of well-trained stylists in a fun and clean environment where they can enjoy watching sports on TV during their haircut.”

Customers can receive a variety of styles and services, including  the “MVP Experience” that features a precision haircut, massaging shampoo, hot steamed towel, and neck and shoulder treatment.

An official opening date has yet to be announced.

 

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

An Ellwood City woman has been arrested for shoplifting at the Giant Eagle in Franklin Township.

State police received a call Tuesday evening at around 4:26 PM about an act of retail theft at the Giant Eagle located at 289 Route 288. It was at the scene that they learned that 30-year-old Kaitlyn Simmons of Ellwood City had taken two Red Bull energy drinks without paying for them.

Charges were filed against Simmons with the Magisterial District Judge.

BANGKOK (AP) — World shares advanced Wednesday after China’s central bank announced fresh measures to boost its slowing economy and stabilize financial markets.

The announcement late Wednesday pushed Hong Kong’s benchmark up 3.6%. Shares fell in Tokyo but rose in most other major markets. Oil prices advanced.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX gained 1.1% to 16,803.96 and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.6% to 7,429.36. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 7,505.18. The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.4% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%.

The People’s Bank of China said it would cut its reserve ratio requirement by 0.5 percentage points as of Feb. 5, putting an additional 1 trillion yuan ($141 billion) into the economy. Chinese markets have languished in recent weeks, adding to concerns that investors had grown too gloomy as the country’s recovery from the pandemic-related shocks faltered.

Also Wednesday, the vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Wang Jiangjun, called for better protections for investors and for instilling confidence in the potential for gains in the markets, which have faltered in recent months.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 3.6% to 15,899.87, helped by gains in technology companies like e-commerce giant Alibaba, which surged 5.5%.

The Shanghai Composite index recovered from early losses, climbing 1.8% to 2,820.77.

Also Wednesday, Japan reported its exports rose almost 10%, supported by strong demand for machinery, vehicles and semiconductors. For the full year, Japan’s exports grew nearly 3% in 2023 while imports fell 7%, leaving a trade deficit of 9.2 trillion yen, preliminary customs data showed, a sharp drop from the 20.3 trillion yen deficit reported the year before.

But economists are forecasting that the revival in export growth will be short-lived.

“Looking ahead, we expect export growth to slow this year as pent-up foreign demand for Japanese goods eases,” Gabriel Ng of Capital Economics said in a commentary.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.8% to 36,226.48 as investors renewed speculation that the Bank of Japan is edging toward a change in its longstanding lax monetary policies, which have flooded the markets with ample cash.

In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.4%, to 2,469.69. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% higher to 7,519.20.

India’s Sensex lost 0.1%, while the SET in Bangkok advanced 0.2%.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 climbed to another record, gaining 0.3% to 4,864.60 as the earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies gathered pace.

The Nasdaq composite also climbed, up 0.4%. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%, a day after topping 38,000 for the first time.

Earnings season has kicked into gear, and more than 50 companies are scheduled to release results later this week, including Tesla and Intel.

Analysts have forecast companies in the S&P 500 will deliver weaker overall earnings per share than a year earlier, which would be the fourth such decline in the last five quarters, according to FactSet. But stocks have still rallied to records in anticipation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates several times this year.

Such cuts can boost prices for investments while relaxing the pressure on the economy and financial system.

Treasury yields have already eased considerably since the autumn on expectations for coming rate cuts, though critics warn traders may have gone overboard again in forecasting how many cuts will come and how soon the Fed will begin.

In other trading Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 48 cents to $74.85 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up 39 cents on Tuesday.

Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 38 cents to $79.93 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar slipped to 147.54 Japanese yen from 148.38 yen. The euro rose to $1.0901 from $1.0855.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published January 23, 2024 8:35 P.M.

(Beaver Falls, Pa) The Beaver Falls City Council met Tuesday evening for thier second meeting of January. The council heard a presentation by Bobby Lincoln of Dusquense Light regarding electric vehicle charging stations. The City is eligible for grants and assistance in funding if they decide to bring chargers into the community.

The proposed location for the chargers is 4 spots in the community parking lot located next to Vocelli Pizza on 7th Avenue. Dusquene Light would take care of the costs associated with running power to the chargers. Lincoln says the city could let the chargers be free for public use or charge a fee for using them.

The chargers would enable vehicles to drive roughly 30 to 50 miles on an hour charge. The city will have future discussions before making a descision.

Council heard from the new owner of the former Stray Cat Studio building at 507 7th Avenue. Seth Whitted plans on bringing local artists together to paint a mural on the side of the building. Council did not have any objections to the project.

Also during the meeting, the city accepted the resignation of Aaron Baer from the City of Beaver Falls Police Department. Two Cadets, Devin Lewis and Gabriel Morales were hired as civilian jailers. Jerry Ford was approved to serve as Civil Service Board Alternate.

The Council will meet again on Febuary 13th.

NEW YORK (AP) — After a tumultuous movie year marred by strikes and work stoppages, the Academy Awards showered nominations Tuesday on Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic, “Oppenheimer,” which came away with a leading 13 nominations.

Nolan’s three-hour opus, viewed as the best picture frontrunner, received nods for best picture; Nolan’s direction; acting nominations for Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt; and multiple honors for the sweeping craft of the J. Robert Oppenheimer drama.

Reached by phone Tuesday morning in Los Angeles, Emma Thomas, Nolan’s wife and producing partner, said she woke up to a flurry of congratulatory messages and then roused Nolan with the news.

“Don’t take it as being blase,” Nolan told The Associated Press, laughing. “We just didn’t want to jinx anything.”

Though Nolan is regarded as the big-canvas auteur of his era, he’s never won an Academy Award, nor have any of his films won best picture. This, though, could be his year. Reflecting on the rarity of his film’s success — a lengthy drama dense with talk and the convulsions of history that nevertheless grossed nearly $1 billion — Nolan called Oppenheimer “one of the great American stories.”

“I grew up loving Hollywood movie and believing studio filmmaking can take on anything,” said Nolan. “Seeing audiences respond to that this summer was incredibly thrilling and getting this kind of recognition from the academy, I don’t know what to say, really. It certainly confirms our faith in what studio filmmaking can be.”

The year’s biggest hit, “Barbie,” came away with a nominations haul slightly less than its partner in Barbenheimer mania. Greta Gerwig’s feminist comedy, with more than $1.4 billion in ticket sales, was nominated for eight awards, including best picture; Ryan Gosling for best supporting actor; and two best-song candidates in “What Was I Made For” and “I’m Just Ken.”

Gerwig was surprisingly left out of the best director field. She was nominated for best director in 2018 for her solo directorial debut, “Lady Bird.” At the time, Gerwig was just the fifth woman nominated for the award. Since then, Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”) have won best director. Before those wins, Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker,” in 2010) was the only woman to win the Oscar’s top filmmaking honor.

Both Yorgos Lanthimos’ Frankenstein riff “Poor Things” and Martin Scorsese’s Osage epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” were also widely celebrated, with 11 and 10 nods apiece.

Lily Gladstone, star of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” became the first Native American nominated for best actress. For the 10th time, Scorsese was nominated for best director. Leonardo DiCaprio, though, was left out of best actor. The late Robbie Robertson, who died in August, also became the first Indigenous person nominated for best score.

“I only wish that Robbie Robertson had lived to see his work recognized — our many years of friendship and Robbie’s growing consciousness of his own Native heritage played a crucial role in my desire to get this film onscreen,” Scorsese said in a statement.

“Poor Things,” a dark Victorian era fantasy about Bella Baxter’s sexual awakening, received nominations for Lanthimos’ direction, Emma Stone’s leading performance, Mark Ruffalo’s supporting performance and widespread nods for the old-school craft of its fantastical design.

The 10 films nominated for best picture were: “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Holdovers,” “Maestro,” “American Fiction,” “Past Lives,” “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest.”

That group, which mirrored the Producers Guild Awards nominees, went much as expected and, as critics noted, a remarkably strong collection of films. For the first time, three of the best picture nominees were directed by women: “Past Lives” by Celine Song; “Anatomy of a Fall” by Justine Triet, who was also nominated for best director; and Gerwig’s “Barbie.”

But surprises abounded in other categories.

The best actor category had been seen one of the most competitive. In the end, the nominees were Murphy, Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”) and Colman Domingo (“Rustin”). Domingo’s nomination, for his performance as civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, made him just the second openly gay man to be nominated for playing a gay character, following Ian McKellen for the 1998 film “Gods and Monsters.”

“American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson’s insightful drama about a frustrated novelist, had an especially good day, collecting five nominations. That included a nod for Sterling K. Brown for best supporting actor. Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) rounded out that category with Downey Jr., Gosling and Ruffalo.

Best actress was also closely contested. Along with Gladstone and Stone, the nominees were Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”), Annette Bening (“Nyad”) and Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”). That left out Margot Robbie, the star of “Barbie,” and Fantasia Barrino from “The Color Purple.”

In supporting actress, the frontrunner Da’Vine Joy Randolph of “The Holdovers” continued her march to her first Oscar. She was joined by Blunt, Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”), Jodie Foster (“Nyad”) and America Ferrera (“Barbie”).

Though “The Color Purple” had set out with larger Oscar hopes, Brooks ended up the film’s sole nominee.

“I’m very humbled by it all, because I know, as we all know, you can’t do these things by yourself. That’s not how it works,” Brooks said by Zoom from New Zealand where she’s shooting a movie. “I thought it was huge shoes to fill just come in after Miss Oprah Winfrey. But now I feel like I’m doing this for the team Color Purple, you know?”

Lead nominees “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” “Poor Things” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” made for a maximalist quartet of Oscar heavyweights. Nolan’s sprawling biopic. Gerwig’s near-musical. Scorsese’s pitch-black Western. Lanthimos’ sumptuously designed fantasy. Each utilized a wide spectrum of cinematic tools to tell big, often disturbing big-screen stories. And each — even Apple’s biggest-budgeted movie yet, “Killers of the Flower Moon” — had robust theatrical releases that saved streaming for months later.

The Associated Press notched its first Oscar nomination in the news organization’s 178-year history with “20 Days in Mariupol,” Mstyslav Chernov’s harrowing chronicle of the besieged Ukrainian city and of the last international journalists left there after the Russia invasion. It was nominated for best documentary, along with “Four Daughters,” “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “The Eternal Memory” and “To Kill a Tiger.”

“20 Days” is a joint production between The Associated Press and PBS’ “Frontline.”

The nominees for best international film were: “Society of the Snow,” (Spain); “The Zone of Interest,” (United Kingdom); “The Teachers’ Lounge” (Germany); “Io Capitano” (Italy) and “Perfect Days” (Japan).

The best-picture collection of films — all of which played in theaters for at least a month, including Netflix’s “Maestro” — reflected the industry’s rebalancing after years of experimentation during the pandemic. Netflix came away with the most nominations of any studio with 18, but industry consensus has, for now, turned back to believing cinemas play a vital role in the rollout of most movies. Apple and Amazon, which in 2022 acquired MGM, have each made theatrical a priority.

In heaping nominations on “Oppenheimer,” Oscar voters are poised to do something they haven’t done in a long time: Hand its top award to a big-budget blockbuster. Granted “Oppenheimer” isn’t your average big-screen spectacle, but the academy has for years favored smaller films for best picture, movies like “CODA,” “Nomadland” and last year’s winner, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Ben Affleck’s 2012 film “Argo” was the last best picture winner to surpass $100 million domestically. “Oppenheimer” grossed $326.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, and nearly $1 billion globally.

Historically, blockbusters have helped fueled Oscar ratings. Through the pile-up of award shows (an after-effect of last year’s strikes) could be detrimental to the Academy Awards, the Barbenheimer presence could help lift the March 10 telecast on ABC. Jimmy Kimmel is returning as host, with the ceremony moved up to 7 p.m. EST.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is hanging near its record heights Tuesday as earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies gets going.

The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 144 points, or 0.4%, a day after topping 38,000 for the first time. The Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher as of 1:25 p.m. Eastern time.

3M tumbled 11.4% after the maker of Post-it notes and Command strips gave a forecast for earnings this upcoming year that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Johnson & Johnson was another weight on the market and fell 1.3% after reporting weaker profit for the latest quarter than expected.

They helped overshadow a 4.5% climb for Procter & Gamble, which posted stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company behind Charmin and Olay benefited from price hikes for is products, and it raised its forecast for profit for this full fiscal year.

United Airlines flew 7.2% higher after it also reported stronger profit for the last three months of 2023 than analysts expected. It made more in revenue from customers in both basic economy and premium seats, though it warned it may lose money in the first three months of this year because of the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.

Earnings season is kicking into gear, and more than a dozen companies in the S&P 500 reported their latest quarterly results Tuesday morning. More than 50 are scheduled to follow up later this week, including Tesla and Intel.

Among Tuesday’s headliners was Verizon Communications, which rose 5.7% after beating analysts’ profit estimates. General Electric also topped expectations, but its stock slipped 0.1% after it gave a forecast for profit this quarter that fell short of analysts’ forecasts. Homebuilder D.R. Horton sank 9.6% after reporting weaker profit than expected.

Expectations are relatively low for companies’ profits at the end of 2023. Analysts have forecast companies in the S&P 500 will deliver weaker overall earnings per share than a year earlier, which would be the fourth such decline in the last five quarters, according to FactSet.

Stocks have nevertheless rallied to records, and the S&P 500 returned to an all-time high last week for the first time in two years. Much of that is because of expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times this year after hiking them dramatically the last two years.

Such cuts can boost prices for investments while relaxing the pressure on the economy and financial system. The Federal Reserve itself has said it may cut rates three times this year as inflation cools, which would allow the central bank to loosen its leash on the economy.

Treasury yields have already eased significantly since the autumn on expectations for coming rate cuts, though critics warn traders may have gone overboard again in forecasting how many cuts will come and how soon the Fed will begin.

Yields were mixed in the bond market Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.15% from 4.11% late Monday, though it remains well below its 5% level during October.

The “everything rally” that began late last year on hopes for a pivot by the Fed likely caused mutual-fund managers to scramble to boost their ownership of stocks to keep up. Even when stocks took a mini-breather at the start of 2024, investors seemed to “remain little concerned with downside risk,” according to strategists at Barclays led by Venu Krishna. That could leave “less room for fundamental upside from here.”

In stock markets abroad, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.6% to recover some of its sharp losses for the year so far on hopes that Chinese authorities may make moves to shore up markets. The Hang Seng is still down nearly 10% so far in the young year on worries about a weak recovery for the world’s second-largest economy.

In Japan, one of the world’s best performers for the year so far slipped even though the Bank of Japan kept its interest-rate policies at ultra-easy levels. The Nikkei 225 dipped 0.1% after analysts took comments by a bank official as hints that hikes to rates may be coming this year.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania State Police is working to recover access to online records of how it handled evidence, state officials said, blaming the loss of the records on a mistake during routine server maintenance

The same mistake also affected the State Employees Retirement System, which said online users temporarily lost access to a member services system this month.

State officials downplayed the effect on the agencies.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Office of Administration blamed “human error” by a state employee who was performing routine server maintenance on Jan. 3. It did not elaborate, but said it was reviewing and updating internal information technology processes to prevent it from happening again.

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg/Pennlive.com first reported the matter.

Lost were records contained in a pair of applications that the state police use to manage evidence submissions and log evidence into police labs for testing, officials said.

The Office of Administration said the physical evidence remains secure and was never endangered. The state police said the agency has recovered some of the records and is operating on a temporary system to track and receive evidence.

County prosecutors were notified of the missing records nearly two weeks ago.

Dauphin County’s district attorney, Fran Chardo, told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg/Pennlive.com that his office keeps paper records of the data it stores on the state’s server. Cumberland County’s district attorney, Sean McCormick, said the county has its own forensic lab.

The retirement system said no pension data has been lost, although the agency earlier this month notified account users that it could not provide access to an online system that provides members with an up-to-date, albeit unofficial, snapshot of their benefit data.

Agency staff brought that service back online Jan. 16, although users had to verify their identity and create a new four-digit personal identification number, the agency said.

Users also lost pension calculations they had saved in their online member services account while some smaller agencies were told to re-enter any partially entered or unposted batches of personnel and payroll data, the agency said.