Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published June 23, 2023 12:22 P.M.

(Aliquippa, PA) Board members voted 6-1 Wednesday night to adopt the 2023-24 budget with president Tina Price -Genes voting no. Board members Leon Seaburn  and Tor Durham Flannigan absent.

HARRISBURG – Seeking to improve the availability of critical care to sexual assault victims, the Pennsylvania Senate unanimously approved Sen. Elder Vogel, Jr.’s (R-47) Senate Bill 414 by a vote of 50-0.

This legislation would expand the existing Penn State University SAFE-T Program; allow hospitals to establish individual Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs at their facility; and require the Department of Health to publish a comprehensive list of each SANE care-providing hospital on its website by county.

“Pennsylvania is seeing an extreme shortage in SANEs within its healthcare facilities and this shortage greatly impacts the ability for these facilities to ensure sexual assault survivors are treated in a thorough and efficient manner,” said Vogel. “My bill is designed to alleviate some of the issues these survivors are being faced with after already enduring such a violent experience.”

According to Penn State’s SAFE-T System, when survivors try to seek help at a hospital with limited or no trained SANE teams, there is a likely hood of either being turned away to another hospital or the risk of receiving inappropriate or substandard care which could result in forensic evidence being of poor quality or lost all together which can potentially cause secondary victimization.

Vogel added, “Research has shown that trauma-informed, person-centered care delivered by SANEs results in improved psychological well-being of sexual assault survivors; increased quality of medical care; and positive impacts on prosecutorial outcomes pertaining to sexual assault survivors. I want to thank my colleagues for their support of this vital piece of legislation.”

Senate Bill 414 now goes to the House for consideration.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PA Turnpike) are recognizing National Pollinator Week with updates on pollinator plantings around the state.

Roadside pollinator plantings, led by PennDOT, PA Turnpike and other partner organizations are taking place around Pennsylvania. PennDOT has overseen more than 40 acres of pilot pollinator plantings with an additional 25 acres of habitat in progress. Areas targeted for pollinator-specific plantings are continually monitored by maintenance teams for the presence of invasive species and weeds as well as healthy growth and pollinator activity.

In addition to plantings, PennDOT seed mixture updates took effect earlier this year. Seed mix updates removed notable non-native and invasive plants and added pollinator-friendly plants such as black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta), ox-eye sunflowers (Heliopsis helianthoides) and common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).

“The degradation and loss of pollinator habitats is a risk to those affected species as well as pollinator dependent crops across the state,” said PennDOT Executive Deputy Secretary Cheryl Moon-Sirianni. “We invite every Pennsylvanian to join us in their own gardens, or with PennDOT through the Adopt and Beautify program.”

The PA Turnpike has piloted five pollinator habitats across the state. Within those locations there are 19 different plots for a total of over 10 acres which utilize a variety of seed mixes and management practices. These plots include many of PennDOT’s seed mixes of 16 different native plants. The seeds include an array of native wildflowers like lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), mint plants like anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), herbaceous perennials like milkweed species (Asclepias sp.) and wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), as well as the flowering plant foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis).

“Pollinator habitats provide an array of colors and fragrance,” said PA Turnpike CEO Mark Compton. “But more importantly these natural gardens, comprised of native plants, promote, protect and preserve pollinating animals.”

PennDOT’s Pollinator Habitat Plan, adopted in 2019, is operated in partnership with other federal and state agencies, private and community organizations, to create naturalized gardens and meadows planted with pollinator-friendly plant species at designated sites. Highway rights-of-way have been recognized nationally as lands that have potential to provide habitats for pollinators and support corridor connectivity for pollinators.

In November 2022, Act 112 established the Pollinator Habitat Program Fund to be supported in-part by purchases of the new Pollinator license plate PennDOT announced earlier this year. The fund will create naturalized gardens and meadows planted with pollinator-friendly species of flowering plants specifically for bees, butterflies, beetles, and other insects which may have been adversely affected by the loss of their native habitat. Sixty-five percent of the proceeds from the license plate will be deposited into the Pollinator Habitat Program Fund.

The Pollinator license plate is now available for passenger cars or trucks with a registered gross weight of not more than 14,000 pounds. Applicants for the Pollinator license plate must submit a completed Form MV-911, “Application for Special Fund Registration Plate.” More information, including eligibility requirements and image of license plates, is available on the Registration Plates page on PennDOT’s Driver and Vehicle Services website.

National Pollinator Week is recognized internationally during the last full week in June as an opportunity to spread awareness about the importance of pollinator species to the eco-system and promote native pollinator gardens.

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation, increased pesticide use and introduced diseases are threatening pollinators around the world. Native pollinator-positive plants are a critical link in Pennsylvania’s eco-system providing habitat for pollinators like butterflies, bees and hummingbirds to support crops and local biodiversity.

If you’re interested in taking part in Pollinator Week, please consider planting native pollinator-friendly plants. Additionally, interested citizens can apply to the PennDOT Adopt and Beautify and Keystone Pollinator Habitat programs to get involved locally.

To learn more about the PA Turnpike’s pollinator gardens and other sustainable initiatives click here: Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Releases 2022 Sustainability Report (paturnpike.com)

Subscribe to statewide PennDOT news and traffic alerts at www.penndot.gov/news or choose a region under “Regional Offices.” Information about the state’s infrastructure and results the department is delivering for Pennsylvanians can be found at www.penndot.gov/results. Find PennDOT’s planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.

FILE – Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Amid the rising numbers of teachers leaving the field in Pennsylvania, a measure that would give student teachers a stipend while they’re in the classroom for their degree passed the state House of Representatives on Thursday. The legislation seeks to remove the barriers for prospective teachers, as their work in the classroom currently goes unpaid as they finish their education. The program would award student teachers in Pennsylvania a minimum grant of $10,000. It now goes on to the state Senate.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials say firefighters who responded to February’s fiery train derailment in Ohio struggled to immediately identify the hazardous chemicals the train was hauling due to poor communication from the railroad. The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a rare field hearing in East Palestine on the Norfolk Southern derailment. The fire chiefs whose departments were first on scene said Thursday that firefighters need more hazardous materials training. Officials involved in the response defended their decision to release toxic vinyl chloride from five tank cars and burn it because they believed it was their only option to keep them from exploding.

(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)

Aliquippa Police and firefighters were called to the scene of an accident at Route 51 and Sheffield Avenue Wednesday afternoon, according to Beaver County 9-1-1. 

The accident occurred at approximately 3:30 p.m. Two persons were transported to the hospital for evaluation due to head and neck injuries. 

No other information was available.

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A federal judge in Delaware has ordered West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to provide information about his finances to attorneys for a Pennsylvania coal exporter who have sued to collect $1.9 million owed by Justice and one of his coal companies.

Justice, who is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in West Virginia, has refused to respond to information requests from Xcoal Energy & Resources, which is trying to collect the balance of a judgment of more than $10 million against Justice and Southern Coal Corp.

Attorneys for Justice have argued that Xcoal is seeking sensitive financial information that media organizations and political opponents could try to obtain and use against him as he tries to unseat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin — a potential matchup that could determine control of the U.S. Senate. They also contend that an existing protective order entered in the lawsuit nearly five years ago is insufficient in the context of “one of the most politically charged elections in our nation’s history.”

In an order issued Tuesday, Judge Leonard Stark rejected those arguments, saying Justice waived his opportunity to object to Xcoal’s information requests or to seek additional confidentiality measures by not responding in a timely manner.

“More importantly, Governor Justice’s objections lack merit,” Stark said. “He identifies no authority for his contention that he should not have to provide discovery … because he is a declared candidate for political office.”

Stark also said Justice has provided no evidence to suggest that the existing order protecting confidential information in the lawsuit is insufficient, or that electronic records he provides could be hacked.

“Finally, as Xcoal correctly points out, Governor Justice ‘ignores the most obvious solution to his purported concerns – instead of continuing to flout his obligations to Xcoal, Governor Justice could simply pay the remaining judgment amount of $1,917,222.32, plus post-judgment interest,’” Stark noted.

The judge gave Justice until July 5 to answer Xcoal’s information requests and provide all responsive documents.

Attorneys for Xcoal, meanwhile, argued that their requests for Justice’s financial information are all the more critical given media reports about the financial problems that have beset him and his businesses in recent years.

“It is critical that Xcoal be afforded its rightful opportunity to immediately locate assets and recover the remaining amount due, as there is a substantial risk that such assets may be liquidated in the very near future,” they wrote in a court filing last week.

Justice’s companies have been frequently targeted in lawsuits over unpaid bills. In Delaware, Xcoal sued the coal magnate and two of his companies, Roanoke, Virginia-based Bluestone Energy Sales Corp. and Southern Coal Corp., in 2018, alleging that they failed to fulfill an agreement to deliver hundreds of thousands of tons of coal for shipment overseas. Xcoal and Bluestone entered into an agreement in 2017 under which Bluestone would supply Xcoal with 720,000 net tons of metallurgical grade coal from a mine in Bishop, West Virginia. Southern Coal and Justice guaranteed the payment and performance obligations of Bluestone, a pass-through entity with no assets.

In 2021, Stark ruled that Xcoal was entitled to more than $6.8 million in damages from Justice and Southern Coal. The amount was later increased to more than $10 million to account for interest and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Xcoal later collected $8.1 million from a surety bond obtained by the defendants while they unsuccessfully appealed Stark’s ruling, but the balance remains unpaid.

(AP) Henrik Lundqvist had posters of Mike Vernon and Tom Barrasso on a wall in his bedroom when he was growing up in Sweden hoping to play in the NHL.

Decades later, they are going into the Hockey Hall of Fame together this November as part of a goaltender-heavy class of 2023.

Lundqvist was elected Wednesday in his first year of eligibility and Vernon and Barrasso after lengthy waits to get the call, making nearly half the inductees guys who keep the puck out of the net for a living.

“Of course as a kid when you grow up, you look at the goalies that are playing well and how they play the game and how they compete and that’s how you get inspired,” Lundqvist said. “Thinking about players in the Hall of Fame, it’s such a big inspiration to me, why I started playing hockey.”

Former NHL forward Pierre Turgeon and Canadian women’s hockey star Caroline Ouellette were the other players chosen by the 18-person selection committee. Stanley Cup-winning coach Ken Hitchcock and late executive Pierre Lacroix were picked to be inducted in the builder category.

Lundqvist, elected in his first year of eligibility, backstopped Sweden to an Olympic gold medal in 2006 and led the New York Rangers to the playoffs in 11 of 12 years. That included a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 and two Eastern Conference Final appearances.

A seventh-round pick in the 2000 draft, Lundqvist ranks fifth on the NHL career victories list with 459 and won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie in 2011-12. He won 61 more games in the playoffs before halting his hockey career in 2020 because of a heart condition — and on Nov. 13 will become just the third European goalie inducted after Dominik Hasek and Vladislav Tretiak.

Barrasso won the Cup with Pittsburgh back to back in 1991 and ’92. He had been eligible since 2006 and long ago came to peace with the idea of not making the Hall. Selection committee chairman Mike Gartner and board chairman Lanny McDonald had a difficult time reaching him to deliver the news.

“I was definitely not waiting by the phone,” said Barrasso, who won the Vezina and the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1983-84 to start a nearly 20-year NHL career. “Do you make that grade or not is not for you to decide. It’s for others to decide. … It’s a tremendous honor to have been selected by the committee, and it puts a bit of validation on the idea of what I thought along the way of my career.”

Vernon was so surprised he thought McDonald, a teammate when they won the Cup together with Calgary in 1989, was calling to ask him to play golf. The two-time Cup champion who was also playoff MVP when he won it in 1997 with Detroit had been eligible since 2005.

“The game has meant a lot to me throughout my life,” Vernon said. “It is an emotional time for me. Might be a long time coming, but it’s still worth it.”

The wait continues for point-a-game Russian winger Alexander Mogilny and goaltender Curtis Joseph, who is just five victories behind Lundqvist on the NHL career list.

Ouellette got in on her second chance after helping Canada win a gold medal in all four of her Olympic appearances. She had 30 points in 20 games during those tournaments and also was part of six teams that won the IIHF women’s world championship.

Turgeon was selected after being eligible for more than a decade. The 1993 winner of the Lady Byng Trophy as the most gentlemanly player in the league, Turgeon had 1,327 points in 1,294 regular-season NHL games, with nearly of those coming with Buffalo and St. Louis.

“There are a lot of great players that had great careers, so it’s got to be tough for them to decide,” Turgeon said. “It has been a great journey and a privilege to be a part of that journey.”

Hitchcock finally got in 24 years since coaching the Dallas Stars to their first championship in franchise history. He also ranks fourth in regular-season wins among coaches, and yet still the now 71-year-old was shocked to get the call.

“What I’m proudest of is that I survived,” Hitchcock said. “I’m really proud of the fact that when I coached I stayed current. It’s really hard to stay current. I was able to do it.”

Lacroix, the architect of the first two Colorado Avalanche Cup-winning teams in 1996 and 2021, was elected posthumously. He died in December 2020 at the age of 72, and son Eric said Wednesday was bittersweet for the family.

“It’s been a long time coming,” son Marty Lacroix added. “I’m sure my father today in spirit is overwhelmed. I know he wanted this badly, so thank you to everybody.”

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania state senators began advancing legislation Wednesday that would liberalize the state’s 5-year-old medical marijuana program by expanding the scope of who can buy it and allowing it to be sold in edible form.

The three-bill package passed the Senate Law and Justice Committee almost unanimously.

The bills won the votes of every Democrat on the committee, as well as the votes of the committee’s Republican chair and the chamber’s top Republican, Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, of Westmoreland County.

The bills still must pass the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. The votes come as a growing number of states are legalizing marijuana for adult non-medical use, including neighboring Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, supports the legalization of adult-use marijuana, but the idea has run into opposition from most GOP lawmakers.

One bill would eliminate the state’s qualifying list of ailments under which a doctor could prescribe medical marijuana and, instead, simply grant a patient’s doctor the power to prescribe it for any condition. Under current regulations, a state regulatory board has approved a list of 24 categories of ailments that qualify for a doctor’s prescription.

Other aspects would eliminate the need to renew a medical marijuana card annually and allow medical marijuana to be sold in edible form. It currently can be sold in pills, oils, liquids, creams and dried plant that can be smoked.

Another bill would allow licensed marijuana growers to open dispensaries where they can sell the product directly to patients.