(Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to a release from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, this May is National Electrical Safety Month. The company is urging Pennsylvanians to stay safe after three deaths have recently occurred from incidents related to the Western Pennsylvania storms that occurred in April of this year. According to that same release from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, here are some electrical safety tips you can follow during this month, recommended by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and national experts:

• Always assume any downed wire is live. Stay at least 35 feet away and keep others back.
• Never touch or move a downed line — not even with non-metal objects.
• Do not drive over downed wires or through water or debris that may hide them.
• If a wire falls on your car, stay inside. Call 911 and wait for emergency responders.
• If fire forces you to exit a vehicle, jump clear with feet together and shuffle away without lifting your feet.
• Call 9-1-1 if you see someone who is in direct or indirect contact with the downed line, but do not touch the person.
• Report all downed wires to your electric utility immediately and call 9-1-1 to report safety hazards.

Safety Tips Recommended by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission:

Outdoor Electrical Safety

• Call 8-1-1 before digging to mark underground lines — it’s free and lifesaving.
• Use care with ladders and long tools near overhead lines.
• Keep kites, drones, and balloons away from utility wires.
• Never run extension cords through water or snow.

Indoor & Battery Safety

• Unplug unused appliances to reduce fire risk.
• Use child-safe outlet covers to prevent shocks.
• Use only certified lithium-ion batteries and chargers.
• Never leave charging batteries unattended or in hot areas.

 

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published May 22, 2025 8:10 P.M.

(New Brighton, Pa) A crash occured on 16th Street in New Brighton near the intersection with third Avenue shortly before 7pm Thursday. A female driver crashed into a parked vehicle and fled from the scene. Officers have identified the suspect and responders were working to clean up the scene as of 8pm.

MIDLAND — Beaver Falls, Hopewell and Mars Area high schools won Best Musical honors in the annual Henry Mancini Musical Theatre Awards.

Beaver Falls’ Kash Stevenson won Best Actor honors, with Bella McKivigan of Freeport garnering Best Actress honors.

Held at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center on May 18, the Mancini Awards honor achievement in high school musicals by Beaver, Butler, Lawrence and Mercer county schools.

The winners:

Best Musical Budget 1: Beaver Falls.
Best Musical Budget 2: Hopewell.
Best Musical Budget 3: Mars.

Best Actor: Kash Stevenson, Beaver Falls, for “Tuck Everlasting.” Jesse Tuck
Best Actress: Bella McKivigan, Freeport, “Les Miserables.”
Best Supporting Actor: Jacob Franks, Freeport.
Best Supporting Actress: Faith Aguirre, Ambridge.

Best Choreography Execution Budget 1: Beaver Falls.
Best Choreography Execution Budget 2: Slippery Rock High, “Shrek the Musical.”
Best Choreography Execution Budget 3: Mars Area, “Peter Pan.”
Best Costume Design Budget 1: Beaver Falls.
Best Costume Design Budget 2: Hopewell, “Anastasia.”
Best Costume Design Budget 3: New Castle, Something Rotten.”
Best Crew/ Technical Execution Budget 1: North Catholic, “The Addams Family.”
Best Crew/ Technical Execution Budget 2: Hopewell.
Best Crew/ Technical Execution Budget 3: Mars.
Best Ensemble Budget 1: Freeport.
Best Ensemble Budget 2: Slippery Rock.
Best Ensemble Budget 3 Knoch, “Catch Me If You Can.”
Best Lighting Design Budget 1: Western Beaver Jr./Sr. High, “Into the Woods.”
Best Lighting Design Budget 2: Riverside High, “Mame.”
Best Lighting Design Budget 3: Mars.
Best Scenic Design Budget 1 Western Beaver.
Best Scenic Design Budget 2 Riverside.
Best Scenic Design Budget 3 Knoch.
Best Student Orchestra Knoch.
Best Musical Budget 1 Beaver Falls.
Best Musical Budget 2 Hopewell.
Best Musical Budget 3 Mars.
Special Judge Award Rochester Area High School.
Outstanding Student Artist: Kelsey Miller, Knoch.

SEWICKLEY — The latest Tom Cruise “Mission Impossible” thriller joins the eagerly awaited family film “Lilo & Stitch” at the Lindsay Theater this holiday weekend.

The Sewickley theater’s director of communications, Josh Axelrod, phoned into the Beaver County Radio Morning Show on Thursday to discuss the Memorial Day weekend movie schedule and other big films headed to The Lindsay this summer including “F1,” starring Brad Pitt as a Formula One race car driver who comes out of retirement to mentor a young driver.

Listen to the interview here:

Part Two here:

 

(File Photo of the National Weather Service logo)  

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Unionville, PA) According to the National Weather Service, the storms on Wednesday included a tornado that blew the roof off of a building in Center Township of Butler County. The salt shed there was seen getting damaged in a video from the Unionville Fire Department. The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado Wednesday even though they were going to investigate damage today. The Pittsburgh region this year has had six previous tornadoes before this one occurred. 

(File Photo of a Gavel) 

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A Pittsburgh-area veteran, Brandon Rumbaugh, now has charges against him after allegedly raping a thirteen-year-old female. According to court paperwork, the investigation into Rumbaugh started on May 5th from a ChildLine report that the female was sexually assaulted several times by a thirty-four-year-old man. The charges against Rumbaugh include indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault, sexual assault and rape. 

(File Photo of the UPMC logo)  

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News 

(Pittsburgh, PA) A financial report states an employee at UPMC who was paid the most in 2024 retired in 2021, a couple of years before getting paid that much money. The former CEO of UPMC, Jeffrey Romoff had a fiscal amount of $12.1 million paid by UPMC that concluded in July, according to tax records. A 2024 report confirms that over $1 million was earned by 59 employees at UPMC. Romoff retired from UPMC in July of 2021. 

(File Photo of the Duquesne Light Company logo) 

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Fox Chapel, PA) A Pennsylvania lawmaker had a public hearing on Wednesday to address the storms that occurred in Western Pennsylvania that caused power outages on April 29th, 2025. Representative Mandy Steele called the meeting “After the Storm: Preparing for the Future,” which had testimonies from representatives from Duquesne Light and West Penn Power. These people are addressing concerns and applying lessons so they can prepare for when these next storms occur. 

(File Photo of the Beaver Area School District logo) 

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News 

(Beaver, PA) Beaver Area High School senior Elias Kazas is about to graduate despite getting a diagnosis for cancer on the stem of his brain when he was twelve years old. Kazas went through some treatment at St. Jude’s Hospital and 1,134 chemotherapy doses. After the treatment caused damage to his kidney and liver, he got forced to stop treatment. Kazas came back to play basketball and received the John Challis Memorial Award this year. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – A sign with the company’s logo stands outside a Rite Aid store in Salem, N.H., on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

 Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) As Rite-Aid continues to struggle with bankruptcy, the Rite-Aid stores in Aliquippa and Beaver will be closing after a recent filing on May 16th, 2025 that confirmed the closures. It is not determined yet what will happen to the Rite-Aid stores in Ambridge, Beaver Falls, Conway, Midland and New Brighton. However, closures will be occurring in the future at the Rite Aid stores in Coraopolis, Cranberry Township, Sewickley and the Pittsburgh International Airport.