ATLANTA (AP) — Dexter Scott King, who dedicated much of his life to shepherding the civil rights legacy of his parents, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, died Monday after battling prostate cancer. He was 62.

The King Center in Atlanta, which Dexter King served as chairman, said the younger son of the civil rights icon died at his home in Malibu, California. His wife, Leah Weber King, said in a statement that he died “peacefully in his sleep.”

“The sudden shock is devastating,” Martin Luther King III, the older brother of Dexter King, said in a statement. “It is hard to have the right words at a moment like this. We ask for your prayers at this time for the entire King family.”

The third of the Kings’ four children, Dexter King was named for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father served as a pastor when the Montgomery bus boycott launched him to national prominence in the wake of the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks.

Dexter King was just 7 years old when his father was assassinated in April 1968 while supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee.

“He turned that pain into activism, however, and dedicated his life to advancing the dream Martin and Coretta Scott King had for their children” and others, the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement. He said Dexter King “left us far too soon.”

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, said he prayed with the King family Monday and extended “my deepest condolences, strength, and solidarity to them during this time of remembrance and grief.”

Dexter King described the impact his father’s killing had on his childhood, and the rest of his life, in a 2004 memoir, “Growing Up King.”

“Ever since I was seven, I’ve felt I must be formal,” he wrote, adding: “Formality, seriousness, certitude — all these are difficult poses to maintain, even if you’re a person with perfect equilibrium, with all the drama life throws at you.”

As an adult, Dexter King bore such a striking resemblance to his famous father that he was cast to portray him in a 2002 TV move about Parks starring Angela Bassett.

He also worked to protect the King family’s intellectual property. In addition to serving as chairman of the King Center, he was also president of the King estate.

Dexter King and his siblings, who shared control of the family estate, didn’t always agree on how to uphold their parents’ legacy.

In one particularly bitter disagreement, the siblings ended up in court after Dexter King and his brother in 2014 sought to sell the Nobel Peace Prize their father was awarded in 1964 along with the civil rights leader’s traveling Bible used by President Barack Obama for his second inauguration. Bernice King said she found the notion unthinkable.

The King siblings settled the dispute in 2016 after former President Jimmy Carter served as a mediator. The items were turned over to the brothers, but other terms of the settlement were kept confidential.

Decades earlier, Dexter King made headlines when he publicly declared that he believed James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty in 1969 to murdering his father, was innocent. They met in 1997 at a Nashville prison amid an unsuccessful push by King family members to have Ray stand trial, hoping the case would reveal evidence of a broader conspiracy.

When Ray said during their prison meeting that he wasn’t the killer, Dexter King replied: “I believe you and my family believes you.” But Ray never got a trial. He died from liver failure the following year.

Dexter King is survived by his wife as well as his older brother, Martin Luther King III; his younger sister, the Rev. Bernice A. King; and a teenage niece, Yolanda Renee King.

Coretta Scott King died in 2006, followed by the Kings’ oldest child, Yolanda Denise King, in 2007.

“Words cannot express the heart break I feel from losing another sibling,” Bernice King said in a statement.

A memorial service will be announced later, the King Center said. The family planned a news conference Tuesday in Atlanta.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — The official’s arm went up to signal a penalty, so the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled goalie Tristan Jarry for an extra attacker.

While circling back to set up a rush, Evgeni Malkin mishandled a pass from Kris Letang and the puck trickled across the goal line.

Long before that, Arizona’s Lawson Crouse took a puck off the head.

Crouse was credited with the bizarre goal in the third period, Connor Ingram stopped 25 shots and the Coyotes ended an 11-game losing streak to the Penguins with a 5-2 win on Monday night.

“He took it off his head and about three minutes later, ended up with a goal, so all good,” said Arizona’s Jason Zucker, who had a goal and an assist.

Leading 3-2, the Coyotes spoiled a power play with a hooking call on Zucker early in the third period. With Jarry off the ice, the Penguins hoped to tie the game with an extra attacker before the penalty started.

Disaster happened instead and the Coyotes rolled from there to end a losing streak to Pittsburgh that dated back to 2017.

Juuso Valimaki, Alex Kerfoot and Nick Bjugstad also scored for Arizona.

“I’ve only seen videos of it happen somewhere, but never been in the game,” Kerfoot said. “That was wild for sure.”

The gaffe marred Sidney Crosby’s 577th career goal, which tied him with Mark Recchi for 21st place on the NHL’s all-time goals list.

Lars Eller also scored and Jarry had 22 saves for the Penguins, who gave up a two-goal lead in a loss to Vegas Saturday night.

“It just seemed like when we did get some traction in the game, we get the second goal, for example, and we got some juice, but then we get one up a minute later,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s demoralizing.”

The Coyotes jumped on Nashville with two goals by Clayton Keller in a 3-2 win Saturday night.

Arizona was sharp early against Pittsburgh.

Zucker scored 2 1/2 minutes in on a slick one-handed pass from Logan Cooley and Ingram stuffed Crosby on a breakaway midway through the first period.

The Penguins tied it early in the second period when a shot by Eller from the left circle trickled between Ingram’s pads.

Valimaki put Arizona back up midway through the period, taking a pass from Keller and beating Jarry over his stick shoulder from the slot.

Crosby tied it late in the period with No. 577, angling his stick to redirect a pass from Erik Karlsson and beat Ingram from a tough angle. Karlsson extended his points streak to nine games (one goal, nine assists).

Kerfoot scored 90 seconds later, jamming a puck past Jarry after it squirted out from behind the goal. Crouse scored on Malkin’s fumble and Bjugstad made it 5-2 with a charging wrister past Jarry’s glove.

“We played well, we got chances, but in the end there that goalie just played well,” Penguins left wing Jake Guentzel said. “Sometimes you’ve just got to tip your cap.”

UP NEXT

Penguins: Host Florida on Friday night.

Coyotes: At Florida on Wednesday night.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published January 22, 2024 11:21 P.M.

(Rochester, Pa) The Rochester Area School Board met Tuesday evening for a voting session. Two school board members voiced their frustrations with new school security protocols. Superintendent Jane Bovalino relayed that fobs given to personnel are programmed to give access during specified times depending on the role of the person in the district.

The School Police Officer noted that the security system of using fobs and lanyards helps identify approved individuals in the building. Board member Dale Daman voiced his concerns that with a security guard and lanyards being used, that the fob isn’t necessary. “I don’t see any one of us that is going to breach this school”. Another board member, Thomas Daman stated that he has had difficulties gaining access to the building with his fob. He said under the constitution, he should be able to gain access to the building anytime as an elected board member. “We’re board members, and we’re locked out of our own school”, “I’m for the children”, he said adding that he should be able to check on the classes to ensure the teachers are properly teaching and that proper education is being provided. “Our security program? It’s your security program”, he said to the superintendent.

“Our first order of business is to protect the children in this building”, “there is a security protocol for a reason”, responded Board Vice President Jocelyn N. Haskins. It was also stated that those who work or serve in the district can still obtain access to the school during non-approved times by going through security. The two board members in disagreement relayed that they shouldn’t have to walk to the other side of the building to get in. Dale Damon left the meeting during the discussion.

Also, during the session, the board voted to approve the termination of Van Norman from supplemental contracts for basketball and football effective immediately. The board approved Todd Weischedel to serve as the 2nd Assistant baseball coach for the 2023-2024 school year. Also approved was the resignation of Isaac Dixon from the supplemental position of football conditioning, with Dan O’ Brian serving as his replacement.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Eleven schools were chosen to participate in District 11 for PennDOT’s “Paint The Plow” campaign contest, and two schools were chosen to have the best designs for snowplows they painted upon.

Freedom Area High School in Beaver County won the “Judges’ Pick”, determined by a judging panel comprised of PennDOT representatives. The judges made their selection based on several criteria including theme incorporation, originality, and overall appearance.

The Western PA School For The Deaf in Allegheny County was chosen as the “Fan Favorite” by online voters, for their display based on the 2024 chosen theme of “seat belts are always in season”.

Photos of all the plows designed for this year’s contest can be viewed on the PennDOT’s Paint the Plow website.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is rising again Monday to build on its all-time high reached last week.

The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 132 points, or 0.4%, as of 12:46 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% higher.

Macy’s climbed 3.7% after the retailer said it rejected a buyout offer from two investment companies, in part because it didn’t offer “compelling value.” SolarEdge Technologies rose 4.1% after it said it would cut 16% of its workforce, and NuStar Energy jumped 18.1% after Sunoco said it would buy the pipeline and storage company in a deal valued at $7.3 billion, including debt.

They helped offset a 21.8% drop for Archer Daniels Midland, which put its chief financial officer on leave. After getting a document request from U.S. regulators, it said it’s investigating some of its accounting practices. ADM also said it expects to report profit for the full year of 2023 that’s below what analysts were forecasting.

This upcoming week will have a rush of companies reporting their results for the last three months of 2023, with roughly 70 companies from the S&P 500 on the calendar. They include American Airlines, Intel, Procter & Gamble and Tesla.

Analysts are expecting companies in the S&P 500 to report an overall dip in earnings for the fourth quarter, down nearly 2% from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they’re right, it would be the fourth quarter in the last five where profits have fallen.

After the initial week of earnings reporting season, companies that have been topping analysts’ forecasts for profits and revenue have been getting smaller bumps to their stock prices than usual, according to strategists at Bank of America.

Companies that fall short of expectations, meanwhile, have seen their stock prices get punished more than usual. It all points to “a higher bar after a big rally,” Savita Subramanian and Ohsung Kwon wrote in a BofA Global Research report.

That big rally, which carried the S&P 500 to a record for the first time in two years, came largely on hopes that a cooldown in inflation will allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times this year. It would be a sharp turnaround from the last two years, when the Fed jacked its main interest rate drastically higher in hopes of slowing the economy enough to grind down high inflation.

Some stronger-than-expected reports on the economy recently have forced traders to push out their forecasts for when the Fed will begin cutting rates. They overall see a less than 42% probability that it could begin in March, down from more than 80% a week ago, according to data from CME Group.

But the expectation is still for the Fed to cut rates more this year than the three times it’s indicated.

Some upcoming reports on the economy could shift those expectations further. On Thursday, the government will give its first estimate for how strongly the economy grew during the last three months of 2023.

Economists expect it to show the economy is still growing, but at a slower pace than during the summer. That’s exactly what the Federal Reserve wants to see, because too strong of an economy would keep upward pressure on inflation.

On Friday, the government will release the latest reading for the inflation gauge that the Fed prefers to use. Economists expect it to show inflation held steady at 2.6% in December from a month earlier.

Treasury yields have eased significantly since October on expectations for coming rate cuts. That in turn has relaxed the pressure considerably on the stock market and helped it to rip higher. Yields dipped further on Monday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.09% from 4.13% late Friday and from 5% in October.

The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to move more on expectations for action by the Fed, slipped to 4.36% from 4.39%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes tumbled in China as worries continue about the strength of the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy. Stocks fell 2.3% in Hong Kong to bring their loss for the young year to date to 12.2%. Stocks also tumbled 2.7% in Shanghai.

China’s commercial banks kept their loan prime rate unchanged Monday. That disappointed investors hoping for strong moves to juice China’s economy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 did better, rising 1.6% with expectations that the Bank of Japan will keep its interest rates ultra-low following its two-day meeting that began Monday.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published January 22, 2024 11:40 A.M.

(Center Township, Pa) Roxeen Parrish,49, of 847 Monaca Rd., Center Township is lodged in the Beaver County Jail on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, and subject to other physical contact. According to the criminal complaint, she stabbed Timothy Wotisky in the left side of his back with a green hook style knife just after midnight on Monday, January 22, 2024. Parrish’s bond was set at $200,000, according to the criminal complaint.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Republican running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania is escalating criticism of Democrats over the Israel-Hamas war and has traveled to the Israel-Gaza border to make the case that the Biden administration hasn’t backed Israel strongly enough since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

The criticism by GOP candidate David McCormick reflects the delicate political challenge facing both President Joe Biden and incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in a state Democrats can’t afford to lose in 2024.

Biden, who is seeking a second term as president, has been criticized from the left for being too pro-Israel in his response to its war on Hamas and for not doing enough to address the burgeoning humanitarian crisis among Palestinians in Gaza.

McCormick’s attacks echo those voiced on the GOP’s presidential campaign trail where candidates have portrayed Biden’s policy on Iran — a key financial backer of Hamas — as too weak to frighten what the U.S. calls the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

McCormick said the U.S. should impose sanctions to cut off Iran’s oil sales and mount a more muscular response to attacks on U.S. targets in the Middle East to restore an order upended by what he called Biden administration mistakes going back to an incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“The key to America’s role in the world is peace through strength,” McCormick said in an interview Thursday. “And so I think what we’re seeing is the failure of deterrence. I think what we’re seeing is a belief, across the world, among our adversaries, that America’s a little flat-footed. America’s weak.”

Neither Casey nor McCormick are likely to face serious opposition in Pennsylvania’s April 23 primary before facing off against each other in November’s general election.

McCormick’s focus on the issue comes as a barrage of U.S., coalition and militant attacks in the Middle East are compounding U.S. fears that Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza could expand.

The Biden administration’s support for Israel has been complicated politically in other states the president is counting on in his reelection bid. In Michigan, for example, Democrats worry that losing support among the state’s large Arab-American population over the war could damage their prospects. Michigan also has an open Senate seat on the ballot this year.

Pennsylvania and Michigan, along with Wisconsin, are indispensable parts of a “ blue wall ” of Rust Belt states that helped Biden defeat former President Donald Trump in 2020 after Trump won those states in 2016.

In the Senate, Democrats maintain a narrow majority, one that became more perilous late last year with the retirement of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. That makes Casey’s seat even more pivotal to his party’s efforts to maintain control of the chamber.

McCormick’s effort to highlight his support for Israel is unique thus far in this year’s high-profile Senate contests, and it could become a test case for Republicans in fall general election contests.

McCormick hopes to peel off not only swing voters in Pennsylvania, but also members of the state’s relatively large Jewish community who vote predominantly Democratic — but could make a difference in a close election.

Even though the war has divided both Democrats and Jews, taking votes from Casey poses a formidable challenge. The incumbent senator is well-regarded by Pennsylvania’s Jewish community and has been a reliable ally in Congress for Israel and its fight against Hamas.

Vowing solidarity with Israel, McCormick took a two-day trip to Israel where he visited a kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas and met with government officials, hostage families and survivors of the Oct. 7 attacks.

McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, told reporters that the fight against Hamas is between “the West versus evil.” He followed the trip with a media blitz and a letter to what his campaign said were tens of thousands of “persuadable” voters in Pennsylvania.

In the letter, McCormick quotes an orthodox rabbi known for his outreach to secular Jews and the Jewish scholar Hillel.

“Israel needs America’s firm and unequivocal support,” McCormick wrote. “Hamas must be destroyed. The lesson of October 7 is clear — the Middle East respects strength and that is why Israel must win. America’s mission must be to help Israel win. It’s that simple.”

McCormick did not mention Casey in the two-page letter. But he separately accused Casey and Biden of “appeasement” of Iran, going back to what he called the “original sin” of Casey’s support for the Iran nuclear deal under President Barack Obama in 2015 that critics say gave Iran the cash it needed to fund terror.

Casey countered that he has fought for years to back Israel in its fight against Hamas and that the Iran nuclear deal had been working — until Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement.

“That’s the type of reckless policy my opponent supports,” Casey said in a statement.

On policy, Casey’s and McCormick’s positions on Israel have a lot in common.

They both support military aid to Israel, backing Israel’s mission to destroy Hamas and putting aside allegations of Israeli war crimes, saying they are convinced Israel has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties.

Both have slammed the savagery of the Hamas attack, and accused it of using civilians as human shields. Arab nations that publicly criticize Israel’s counterattack on Gaza privately tell their Israeli, U.S. and European counterparts that they want Hamas gone, Casey said on CBS News’ podcast “The Takeout.”

“They’re all saying, ‘please take out Hamas,’” Casey said.

Casey has not joined some of his Democratic colleagues in calling for a ceasefire, putting conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel or criticizing Israel for a bombing campaign that the the Hamas-controlled government says has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians. He also has not echoed Biden administration unease over the scale of Israel’s military operation.

Casey, running for a fourth-term, is endorsed by the fundraising powerhouse, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and the former chairman of a Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Middle East has visited Israel six times over his 17-year Senate career.

In recent days and weeks, Casey visited a Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh, attended the “March for Israel” on Washington’s National Mall and spoke at a synagogue in Philadelphia to denounce antisemitism.

For McCormick, foreign policy is a strength of his and a cornerstone of his campaign, something of a rarity in the current era. The decorated Army veteran held senior posts in the administration of President George W. Bush, including deputy national security adviser for international economic policy, and served on a defense policy board under Trump.

Republicans see Pennsylvania as a battleground state with a significant enough Jewish population — around 400,000, by their estimate — to swing an election decided by tens of thousands of votes.

For Jewish voters, Israel is not the only issue they care about, but it is a higher priority after the attack by Hamas, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Allentown.

Jewish voters typically vote overwhelmingly Democratic, and Democrats right now are trying to balance their interest in protecting Israel with that of younger voters, who have been sympathetic to Palestinians, he said.

“That’s something, of course, Democrats have to address in keeping their coalition together,” Borick said. “Jewish voters have been one of their most loyal supporter groups. Although not a gigantic segment of the population, it’s nonetheless crucial given the nature of tight elections in Pennsylvania.”

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Five firefighters were injured, two by falling through a roof, while battling a blaze at three buildings in a Pittsburgh neighborhood over the weekend, authorities said.

Fire crews were called just before 9:30 a.m. Saturday to the Homewood neighborhood where the fire started in one home and spread to two adjacent buildings that contained apartments.

Authorities said two firefighters fell through the roof of one of the homes while battling the flames. The roofs of at least two of the houses collapsed. All five injured firefighters were taken to hospitals with injuries said not to be life-threatening, officials said.

Matt Brown, chief of Allegheny County Emergency Services, said fire crews were hampered by temperatures in the teens and winds up to 20 mph. The cold froze one truck’s water pumps and tanks and also froze the closest fire hydrant, and a ladder on one truck also wasn’t working properly due to the cold, he said.

At one point, firefighters used a chainsaw to cut away a second-floor wall to reach the flames inside one of the apartment buildings.

Brown said nearly 100 firefighters, many of them volunteers from surrounding communities, responded to the fire, which was declared under control at about 1 p.m. Saturday. The county fire marshal’s office will investigate the cause.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
[Last Updated 8:56 AM, 1/22/24]

An individual was taken to the hospital early this morning following an alleged stabbing in Center Township.

Initial reports state that the incident took place at an apartment building on the 800 block of Monaca Road. 

Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano reports that a criminal complaint has been filed with District Judge Joseph Schafer.

Center Township police have not provided any more details at this time, including no update on the condition of the victim or any pending arrests. Beaver County Radio News is working on finding out more information.