Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published July 15, 2024 1:42 P.M.
(Vanport, Pa) PA State Police were dispatched to the Vanport Bridge at 12:30 am Saturday for a rollover car accident. The report stated that the right lane of the bridge was closed until 1:11am when the accident was cleared. The male driver was charged with DUI.
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes throws during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Paul Skenes is set to start the All-Star game, the first time since 1995 that a rookie pitcher has that honor.
It’s been even longer since a Pittsburgh player has been in that spotlight.
The last pitcher from the Pirates to start the All-Star game was Jerry Reuss in 1975, in the middle of a decade when Pittsburgh won two World Series. That’s the second-longest active drought without a pitcher starting the All-Star game. The Chicago Cubs have not had one since Claude Passeau in 1946. (The Miami Marlins have never had the starting pitcher for the National League, but they’ve only been playing since 1993.)
The longest drought in the American League belongs to the Baltimore Orioles, who have not had the All-Star starter since Steve Stone in 1980. Corbin Burnes could potentially be chosen to start this year’s edition, which takes place Tuesday night.
This stellar beginning to Skenes’ career — in 11 starts, he’s 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA — has made his outings must-see TV and brought a bit of buzz to Pittsburgh. The Pirates are 48-48, which puts them in the mix for a wild card. Skenes and outfielder Bryan Reynolds are both All-Stars. The team hasn’t had more than two in a season since 2015, when Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole were both in Pittsburgh.
Now McCutchen is back with the Pirates as his career winds down, and with Skenes, Reynolds and 6-foot-7 shortstop Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh has a chance to turn some heads the rest of the way.
TRIVIA TIME
Name the record 13 different pitchers from the Brooklyn or Los Angeles Dodgers who have started the All-Star game.
A-PLUS OFFENSE, OCCASIONALLY
The Oakland Athletics pummeled Philadelphia 18-3 on Sunday. Although the A’s are 24 games under .500, they’re also responsible for the three highest-scoring games in baseball this year. Oakland also beat Miami 20-4 on May 4 and routed Baltimore 19-8 on July 6.
The A’s have 390 runs so far. Nearly 15% of them were in those three games.
Oakland is also one of just five teams in the majors to be shut out at least 10 times already. The Chicago White Sox are atop that list with 12.
LINE OF THE WEEK
It belongs to Skenes, who pitched seven no-hit innings at Milwaukee on Thursday before being removed after 99 pitches. The Pirates won 1-0. Opponents are batting just .202 against Skenes.
Skenes also had a six-inning start with no hits allowed in May against the Cubs. The Pirates are 8-3 in games he’s started.
COMEBACK OF THE WEEK
The Los Angeles Dodgers could use a break right now. After being swept in a three-game showdown at Philadelphia, the NL West leaders went to Detroit and dropped two of three, giving away ninth-inning leads in both losses. Saturday’s 11-9 defeat was particularly troubling. Los Angeles was up 9-4 in the ninth — its win probability maxed out at 99.5% according to Baseball Savant — before a dramatic rally by the Tigers.
It was still 9-6 with Detroit down to its last out, but then Carson Kelly hit an RBI single and rookie Colt Keith tied it with a two-run homer. Gio Urshela than hit a two-run shot in the 10th to end the game.
TRIVIA ANSWER
Whit Wyatt, Ralph Branca, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres, Sandy Koufax, Andy Messersmith, Don Sutton, Fernando Valenzuela, Hideo Nomo, Brad Penny, Zack Greinke, Hyun Jin Ryu and Clayton Kershaw.
NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Simmons, television’s hyperactive court jester of physical fitness who built a mini-empire in his trademark tank tops and short shorts by urging the overweight to exercise and eat better, died Saturday. He turned 76 on Friday.
Simmons died at his home in Los Angeles, his publicist Tom Estey said in an email to The Associated Press. He gave no further details.
Los Angeles police and fire departments say they responded to a house — whose address the AP has matched with Simmons through public records — where a man was declared dead from natural causes.
Simmons, who had revealed a skin diagnosis in March 2024, had lately dropped out of sight, sparking speculating about his health and well-being. His death was first reported by TMZ.
Simmons was a former 268-pound teen who became a master of many media forms, sharing his hard-won weight-loss tips as host of the Emmy-winning daytime “Richard Simmons Show” and author of best-selling books and the diet plan Deal-A-Meal. He also opened exercise studios and starred exercise videos, including the wildly successful “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” line, which became a cultural phenomenon.
“My food plan and diet are just two words — common sense. With a dash of good humor,” he told The Associated Press in 1982. “I want to help people and make the world a healthier, happy place.”
Simmons embraced mass communication to get his message out, even as he eventually became the butt of jokes for his outfits and flamboyant flair. He was a sought-after guest on TV shows led by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Phil Donahue. But David Letterman would prank him and Howard Stern would tease him until he cried. He was mocked in Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Girl” on Broadway in 1993, and Eddie Murphy put on white makeup and dressed like him in “The Nutty Professor,” screaming “I’m a pony!”
Asked if he thought he could motivate people by being silly, Simmons answered, “I think there’s a time to be serious and a time to be silly. It’s knowing when to do it. I try to have a nice combination. Being silly cures depression. It catches people off guard and makes them think. But in between that silliness is a lot of seriousness that makes sense. It’s a different kind of training.”
Simmons’ daytime show was seen on 200 stations in America, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and South America. His first book, “Never Say Diet,” was a smash best-seller.
He was known to counsel the severely obese, including Rosalie Bradford, who held records for being the world’s heaviest woman, and Michael Hebranko, who credited Simmons for helping him lose 700 pounds. Simmons put real people — chubby, balding or non-telegenic — in his exercise videos to make the fitness goals seem reachable.
Throughout his career, Simmons was a reliable critic of fad diets, always emphasizing healthy eating and exercise plans. “There’ll always be some weird thing about eating four grapes before you go to bed, or drinking a special tea, or buying this little bean from El Salvador,” he told the AP in 2005 as the Atkins diet craze swept the country. “If you watch your portions and you have a good attitude and you work out every day you’ll live longer, feel better and look terrific.”
Simmons was a native of New Orleans, a chubby boy named Milton by his parents. (He renamed himself “Richard” around the age of 10 to improve his self-image). He would tell people he ate to excess because he believed his parents liked his older brother more. He was teased by schoolmates and ballooned to almost 200 pounds.
Simmons told the AP his mother watched exercise guru Jack LaLanne’s TV show religiously when he was growing up, but he wasn’t crazy about the fitness fanatic. “I hated him,” Simmons said. “I wasn’t ready for his message because he was fit and he was healthy and he had such a positive attitude, and I was none of those things.”
Simmons went to Italy as a foreign exchange student and ended up doing peanut butter commercials and bacchanalian eating scenes for director Federico Fellini in his film “Fellini Satyricon.” He told the AP: “I was fat, had curly hair. The Italians thought I was hysterical. I was the life of the party.”
His life changed after getting an anonymous letter. “One dark, rainy day I went to my car and found a note. It said, ‘Dear Richard, you’re very funny, but fat people die young. Please don’t die.” He was so stunned that he went on the starvation diet that left him thin but very ill.
After the crash diet he gained back 65 pounds. Eventually, he was able to devise a sensible plan to take off the pounds and keep them off. “I went into the business because I couldn’t find anything I liked,” he said.
When Simmons hadn’t been seen in public for several years, some news outlets speculated that he was being held hostage in his own house. In telephone interviews with “Entertainment Tonight” and the “Today” show, Simmons refuted the claims and told his fans he was enjoying the time by himself. Filmmaker-writer Dan Taberski, one of his regular students, launched a podcast in 2017 called “Missing Richard Simmons.”
In 2022, Simmons broke his six-year silence, with his spokesperson telling the New York Post that the beloved fitness icon was “living the life he has chosen.”
One of the online tributes after Simmons’ passing was from actor-comedian Pauly Shore, who previously developed an unauthorized biopic of Simmons, which Simmons objected to at the time.
“I just got word like everyone else that the beautiful Richard Simmons has passed,” he began in an Instagram post. “I hope you’re at peace and twinkling up in the heavens,” adding “You’re one of a kind, Richard. An amazing life. An amazing story.”
___ Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
___
Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio and Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles.
FILE – Shannen Doherty attends the G-Star Fall 2010 collection, in New York, on Feb. 16, 2010. Doherty, the “Beverly Hills, 90210” star, has died, Saturday, July 13, 2024. She was 53. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shannen Doherty, the “Beverly Hills, 90210” star whose life and career were roiled by illness and tabloid stories, has died at 53.
After years with breast cancer, Doherty died Saturday, according to a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane.
“The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace,” Sloane said Sunday. The news was first reported by People magazine.
Her illness was publicly revealed in a lawsuit filed in 2015 against her former business managers, in which she alleged they mismanaged her money and allowed her health insurance to lapse. She later shared intimate details of her treatment following a single mastectomy. In December 2016, she posted a photo of her first day of radiation, calling the treatment “frightening” for her.
In February 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned and was at Stage 4. She said she came forward because her health conditions could come out in court. The actor had sued insurance giant State Farm after her California home was damaged in a fire in 2018.
“I have no idea how long I’m going to be on the chemo for. … That’s not something that I can predict, it’s not something my doctors can predict. And it’s scary, it’s like a big wake-up call,” Doherty said on a late June episode of her podcast “Let’s Be Clear,” adding that a recent change in the shape of her cancer cells meant there were new treatment protocols for her to try. “For the first time in a couple months probably, I feel hopeful because there are so many more protocols now, whereas before I was hopeful — but I was still getting prepared.”
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Doherty moved to Los Angeles with her family at age 7 and, within a few years, became an actor.
“It was completely my decision,” she told The Associated Press in a 1994 interview. “My parents never pushed me into anything. They support me. It really wouldn’t matter if I was a professional soccer player — they’d still be as supportive and loving.”
As a child star, she worked steadily in such TV series as “Little House on the Prairie,” in which she played Jenny Wilder. She detoured as a teenager to the big screen in “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (1985) and “Heathers.”
In 1990, the doe-eyed, dark-haired actor won her breakout role as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teenage melodrama set in posh Beverly Hills. She and Jason Priestley’s Brandon, Brenda’s twin brother, were fish-out-of-water Midwesterners.
But Doherty’s fame came with media scrutiny and accounts of outbursts, drinking and impulsiveness — the latter most notably after a very brief marriage to actor George Hamilton’s son, Ashley. Doherty’s second marriage, in 2002, was to Rick Salomon and was annulled within a year. In 2011, Doherty married photographer Kurt Iswarienko. She filed for divorce in April 2023.
She left “Beverly Hills, 90210” at the end of its fourth season in 1994 (the show aired until 2000), reportedly removed by Spelling because of conflicts with her co-stars and chronic lateness.
But in her 1994 AP interview, Doherty described her life as peaceful.
“It must be, if you pick up the Enquirer and find the only thing they can write about me is that I installed a pay phone next to my house and was seen at Stroud’s (a discount bed-and-bath chain) buying $1,400 worth of bed linens and wouldn’t go to an expensive store,” she said. “It must be calm if they’re pulling that stuff out of their heads.”
Three years later, in 1997, Doherty was sentenced to anger-management counseling by a Beverly Hills Municipal Court judge after she allegedly smashed a beer bottle onto a man’s windshield during a quarrel. After a 2001 drunken driving arrest, she pleaded no contest and was ordered to serve five days in a work-release program.
Doherty reunited with Spelling when he cast her in 1998 as Prue Halliwell in “Charmed.” In an AP interview that year, the actor expressed regrets about her past.
“I did bring a lot of it on myself,” Doherty said. “I don’t think I can point fingers and say, ‘Oh, YOU’RE to blame.’ And I don’t do that with myself, either. Because I was just growing up.”
Her personality was “grotesquely misconstrued” by the media, Doherty added.
Spelling said at the time that their relationship was never as bad as some made it seem.
“We had a few bumps along the road, but golly, who doesn’t?” said Spelling, who died in 2006. “Everything Shannen did was blown out of proportion by the rag sheets.”
Doherty starred with Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano in “Charmed” from 1998-2001, at which point her character was replaced by one played by Rose McGowan. Doherty appeared in the “90210” sequel series seven years later and competed on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2010. She also worked on the third “Beverly Hills, 90210” reboot, “BH90210,” a meta send-up that reunited most of the original cast and aired for one season in 2019.
She also appeared in a tribute episode of “Riverdale” dedicated to that show’s star — and her late “Beverly Hills, 90210” on-screen love interest — Luke Perry.
Doherty struggled to recapture her “Beverly Hills, 90210” star status, but worked in big-screen films including “Mallrats” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and in such TV movies as “A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story,” in which she played the “Gone with the Wind” author. A nadir was “Blindfold: Acts of Obsession,” an erotic thriller opposite Judd Nelson.
Doherty’s lawsuit against her ex-business managers was settled in 2016. She was open about the toll that cancer was taking. She posted photos that showed the baldness that followed treatment and, in an August 2016 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” shared her fears.
“The unknown is always the scariest part,” she said. “Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work?” she said. “Pain is manageable, you know living without a breast is manageable, it’s the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love.”
Doherty advocated for cancer awareness and care, and spoke to the AP in 2021 about how spending years with the disease affected her life and sense of optimism.
“When you get something like cancer, your tolerance for drama is zero. I don’t like people wasting my time. I don’t like negativity,” she said. “It’s odd because I think if you look back, you’re like, ‘Oh, gosh, it’s so much drama around her,’ but I don’t think I was necessarily into the drama. I just think if we took young 18-year-old Shannen, 19-year-old Shannen, and we took her and planted her like right now, I would be a nerd and nobody would be writing about me.”
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Lynn Elber, a longtime television writer, retired from The Associated Press in 2022. AP journalists Alicia Rancilio and Mallika Sen contributed reporting.
Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published July 15, 2024 12:37 P.M.
(Aliquippa, Pa) Aliquippa Police and paramedics responded to a Boundary Street home on November 4,2023 for an unresponsive four month old infant. After all life saving efforts were rendered the infant was transported to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. Tests showed the child tested positive for cocaine and cocaine metabolites.
Rachel Dlubac, the child’s mother, faces a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child.
The incident occurred 10/30/2023, police and medics were dispatched at noon. The child died on November 4, 2023. The mother hasn’t been taken into custody yet.
Any information on Dlubac’s whereabouts can be reported to Aliquippa Police.
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(File Photo of Rochester Flag Park in Rochester, Pa)
Harrisburg, PA – Today, in accordance with the United States flag code, Governor Josh Shapiro ordered United States and Commonwealth flags on all Commonwealth facilities, public buildings, and grounds across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to fly at half-staff immediately today, Sunday, July 14, 2024, to recognize the tragedy that occurred at a rally for former President Trump in Butler County last evening and in honor of Corey Comperatore, a Butler County husband and father who was killed while attending the event. The Governor also extends the prayers of all Pennsylvanians to the two Pennsylvanians who remain in critical condition and their families.
The flags shall be lowered to half-staff until sunset on the date of interment, which has not yet been announced.
All Pennsylvanians are invited to participate in this tribute.
(File Photo)
(Story by Beaver County Radio General Manager Frank Sparks)
(Beaver County, Pa.)- After the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Butler County Beaver County Radio reach out to our three local Pennsylvania State Representatives to get their reaction.
Rep. Jim Marshall who is a Republican that represents the 14th District in the county said via text message:
Yesterday’s assassination attempt resulted in a tragic loss of innocent life. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone impacted.
Rep. Josh Kail who is a Republican that represents the 15th District in the county said via text message:
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, President Trump, and all the great Patriots who attended Saturday’s event.
President Trump was the victim of an attempted assassination, an attendee of his rally was murdered, and others critically injured.
This attack on our democracy is utterly unacceptable and must be uniformly condemned.
Americans deserve to know how this happened, and I have confidence that we will get answers in the coming days.”
Rep. Rob Matzie who is a Democrat that represents the 16th District in the county said via text message:
“I’m deeply saddened by the attempt on former President Trump’s life, and genuinely relieved that he is ok.
I’m equally saddened for those that have been killed or that are fighting for their lives. My prayers go out to them and their families.
In addition, my most sincere appreciation goes out to federal, state, county and local law enforcement who did their best to protect the former President and to neutralize the threat as quickly as possible. As horrific as it was, without their brave and swift response, it could have been far worse.
I unconditionally condemn political violence in any way, shape, or form. We simply don’t act this way in our country. We settle our disagreements at the ballot box. That is a large part of what makes us Americans.
It’s far past the time to lower the temperature in our political discourse. It has never been my style to use inflammatory rhetoric, and never will be. I’d encourage all candidates for public office, regardless of party or ideology, to do the same.”
Butler, PA – The Pennsylvania State Police today released the names of the three attendees shot during the attempted assassination of former President Trump at yesterday’s rally in Butler County.
The deceased victim was identified as Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, PA. The second victim has been identified as 57-year-old David Dutch, of New Kensington, PA, who is currently listed in stable condition. The third victim was identified as 74-year-old James Copenhaver, of Moon Township, PA. He is also listed in stable condition.
“These victims and their families are certainly in our thoughts today,” said Colonel Christopher Paris, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner. “The Pennsylvania State Police continue to work tirelessly alongside our federal, state and local partners as this investigation continues.”
Governor Shapiro ordered United States and Commonwealth flags on all Commonwealth facilities, public buildings, and grounds across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to fly at half-staff immediately in honor of Corey Comperatore. The Governor also extends the prayers of all Pennsylvanians to the two Pennsylvanians who remain hospitalized and their families.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is helped off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The Associated Press
(Butler County, Pa.) Donald Trump’s campaign says he’s “fine” after what law enforcement officials are treating as an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Officials say the man who opened fire was a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania. In a social media post, Trump says he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” The former president was quickly whisked from the stage, his ear covered in blood. Officials say the suspected gunman and at least one attendee are dead, while two spectators were critically injured. President Joe Biden and political leaders of all stripes are condemning the attack. Says Biden: “There’s no place in America for this type of violence. It’s sick.”
networking opportunities at local Beaver County breweries. 
Our Beaver County Brewery Trilogy Afterhour kicks off in August!
August 08 at Bullseye Brewing
