FILE – Work continues at a shale gas well drilling site in St. Mary’s, Pa., March 12, 2020. Facing the need to win Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris has sworn off any prior assertion that she opposed fracking. But that hasn’t stopped Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump from wielding her now-abandoned position as to win over working-class voters in the key battleground state where the industry means jobs. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Facing the need to win battleground Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris is swearing off any prior assertion that she opposed fracking, but that hasn’t stopped Republican Donald Trump from wielding her now-abandoned position to win over voters in a state where the natural gas industry means jobs.

Last week, in his first appearance in Pennsylvania since Harris became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, Trump repeatedly warned that Harris would ban fracking — a position she held as a presidential primary candidate in 2019 — and devastate the economy in the nation’s No. 2 natural gas state.

“She’s against fracking, she’s against oil drilling, she wants everybody to have one electric car and share it with the neighbors,” Trump told rallygoers at a Harrisburg rally on Wednesday, which was also his first appearance in the state since he was wounded in a July 13 assassination attempt in Butler County. “Harris has stated repeatedly that she supports, quote, banning fracking. I’ll ban fracking, I’ll ban it on my first day.”

Harris’ campaign, in a statement, insisted she would not ban fracking, and called Trump’s claims an “attempt to distract from his own plans to enrich oil and gas executives at the expense of the middle class.”

Still, Trump criticized Harris’ support as a senator and candidate in 2020’s presidential primary for a Democratic resolution to create a “Green New Deal,” a sweeping progressive effort to shift the country toward renewable energy. Trump called the platform — never fully translated into policy proposals — a “$100 trillion green new scam designed to abolish the oil, coal and natural gas industry entirely.”

While Harris considers choosing popular Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as a finalist to be her running mate on the Democratic ticket, Trump has made it clear that he won’t concede the swing state, part of the decisive “blue wall” along with Michigan and Wisconsin. Trump repeatedly has said his administration would “drill baby drill” and dismissed Harris’ change of position with these words of caution: “Remember, a politician always goes back to what their original thought was.”

Fracking is nearly always on the ballot in Pennsylvania. Formally named hydraulic fracturing, it has made the United States an oil and gas superpower over the past decade, along with horizontal drilling.

Republicans routinely attack Democrats over fracking to drive a wedge into the party’s fragile alliance between its left wing, which is hostile to fossil fuels, and its bedrock building trade union base, whose workers are building an expanding network of gas pipelines, power plants and processing facilities in Pennsylvania.

Republicans have used similar attacks in the past two election cycles, both unsuccessfully, against Joe Biden in 2020’s presidential race and against Sen. John Fetterman in 2022.

To attack Biden in 2020, Republicans seized on a series of confusing statements — such as remarks on the oil industry from a debate just a couple weeks before the election — to claim he intended to “ban” or end national gas extraction. That was not Biden’s official position, and if he intended to restrain the extraction method, it was hard to find evidence of it in energy production data during his first three years in office.

Biden has sought to slow down leasing on federal lands and emphasize conservation as part of a large-scale effort to slow global warming. But U.S. natural gas production and crude oil production have hit record monthly highs in the past year, according to federal energy statistics. The same thing has happened with gas production in Pennsylvania, which also has posted record monthly highs during Biden’s time in office.

Harris has backed Biden’s plan to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But that plan never included a ban on fracking, and Biden has said he viewed those energy sources as necessary during the transition.

Trump, meanwhile, has heavily courted the gas industry in Pennsylvania and has ridiculed the science behind increasingly urgent warnings for immediate action to stave off the worst of climate damage by cutting fossil fuel emissions.

Oil and gas producers have opposed a range of energy policies under Biden, including tougher regulations on tailpipe emissions and vehicle fuel economy that they see as a de facto electric vehicle mandate, clamping down on leases on federal lands and delaying liquefied natural gas projects.

Energy companies want to know whether Harris will continue down those roads.

“It’s safe to say that we and a lot of other folks are eager to hear from the vice president,” said Dustin Meyer, a senior vice president at the American Petroleum Institute.

Attacking Harris over fracking is reminiscent of Republican efforts to turn union workers against Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. In tenor and scale, Trump’s overtures to the industry have echoed the unfulfilled promises he made to save the coal industry during his first campaign.

Clinton was hammered for saying “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business” when describing her climate plan, a comment that was used to suggest she had declared war on coal.

Democrats in Pennsylvania — such as Fetterman, Shapiro and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey — have successfully run on getting tough on fracking through stronger regulation. They shun talk of a fracking ban, although they may not necessarily support every aspect of Biden’s energy policy if unions oppose it.

When Biden dropped his candidacy, the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters, whose members work on pipelines and in power plants, quickly endorsed Harris in a unanimous vote.

Mark McManus, the union’s general president, pointedly noted that Harris “did have a previous position in a previous role in a different state,” but said she has been clear about her new position on fracking.

“And it’s a good position for the United Association,” McManus said. “She’s a nationwide candidate right now.”

McManus described Harris’ energy approach as being joined at the hip with Biden, a Pennsylvania native the union endorsed twice in his races against Trump, including this year’s campaign. McManus embraced what he described as an “all of the above energy approach.”

Still, in a heavily populated and heavily contested state where Trump won by just over 44,000 votes in 2016 and Biden won by just over 81,000, any marginal change is significant, campaign strategists and pollsters say.

Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Allentown, said fracking simply won’t be a decisive factor for most Pennsylvania voters because opinions on it are highly divided in the state.

The gas industry has flushed money into some local economies. But it has also inspired a backlash in other communities, most notably in Philadelphia’s suburbs.

The sweet spot for statewide candidates — such as Casey, Shapiro and Fetterman — has been not calling for a ban, but calling for tight regulation, clear disclosure about the process and limits on where it can be done, Borick said.

“It’s been successful for all of them,” Borick said, “and that’s where you see Harris going now.”

[Aug. 5, 2024] — The American Red Cross is experiencing an emergency blood shortage as the nation faces dangerous levels of heat and people head out for final summer travel plans. Since July 1, the Red Cross national blood supply has fallen by more than 25%, and blood donors of all types, especially those with type O blood, are urged to give as soon as possible to help patients receive lifesaving medical care.

 

Heat impacted more than 100 blood drives in July in nearly every state where the Red Cross collects blood – compounding other seasonal obstacles to blood donation, such as travel and summer activities. Together these factors contributed to a shortfall of more than 19,000 blood donations in July. At the same time, hospital demand for blood products remains strong. Blood products are being sent to hospitals faster than donations are coming in. Right now, type O inventory is so low, distributions of this vital blood type are reduced below what hospitals count on.

 

“It’s critical hospitals have both type O positive and O negative blood ready to go for patients in the most life-threatening situations,” said Dr. Eric Gehrie, executive physician director for the Red Cross. “Type O is especially important for victims of accidents and other trauma who are receiving emergency treatment. Now is the time for donors of all blood types to give and ensure hospital shelves can be restocked before any impact to patient care.”

 

The Red Cross is working with hospitals around-the-clock to meet the blood needs of patients – but can’t do it alone. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

FILE – An array of pistols are shown in the Dan Wesson display as guests browse firearms at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Indianapolis, April 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

PITTSBURGH, PA – Firearms Owners Against Crime Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action (FOAC-ILLEA) announced today that License to Carry Firearms applications in Pennsylvania have been changed after the organization raised concerns with the Pennsylvania State Police.

FOAC-ILLEA President Jim Stoker first contacted the Pennsylvania State Police in July 2023. At that time, the application required the applicant to disclose their employer, including address, phone, and occupation, and to provide two references. As the organization pointed out, these items were not authorized or explicitly listed in the statute that created the license.

“The inclusion of questions concerning employer and personal references at best is an overreaching data grab on Pennsylvania citizens and, at worst, a blatant violation of citizens’ constitutional rights,” said Stoker.

Last fall, the Pennsylvania State Police also met with the Pennsylvania Sheriffs’ Association, that shared similar concerns. Following those discussions and meetings, the State Police committed to reviewing the application and revising it, as appropriate.

“We appreciate the assistance and cooperation from the Pennsylvania Sheriffs’ Association and the Law Offices of Josh Prince. Both were key participants throughout this process and provided valuable insight and experience. We also appreciate the Pennsylvania State Police working with FOAC-ILLEA to address these concerns,” said Stoker.

While the new application continues to include those noted items that were of concern, each is now marked as optional.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published August 5, 2024 12:41 P.M.

(Aliquippa, Pa) PA State Police were called to assist Aliquippa just after midnight on Monday, August 5, 2024. The shooting occurred in the 1200 block of Main Street. The scene was secured by State and Aliquippa Police. During the investigation of the shooting, it was determined the multiple vehicles in the area were struck by bullets. The victim has been identified as Rico Miller, 18, of Aliquippa. Miller was life flighted to a Pittsburgh hospital and is recovering from his wounds, according to State Police who have assumed the duties of the investigation. The crime scene was processed by PSP Troop D- Forensics Service Unit. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call the PSP Beaver Criminal investigation Unit at 724-773-7400.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published August 5, 2024 9:26 A.M.

(Aliquippa, Pa) Aliquippa Police were called to the scene in the area of Main Street for an overnight shooting. One person was life flighted to a Pittsburgh hospital. State police are investigating and no other information is available at this time.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published August 5, 2024 9:23 A.M.

(Rochester Township, Pa) Beaver Valley Regional Police were informed of thefts that occurred overnight last Wednesday at their business in Rochester Township. According to the press release, while investigating, they discovered Autumn Kennedy entered the store using her employee issued key disabling the alarm system after hours between 11:51pm and 4am 4 times. She took over $2,000 in cash, 3 cartons of cigarettes, and miscellaneous convenience items. She has been charged with burglary, theft, retail theft, and criminal trespass. Kennedy is lodged in the Beaver County Jail.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing a westbound lane restriction on Route 4042 (Bridge Street) in Beaver Borough, Beaver County will begin Monday, August 5 weather permitting.

A lane restriction will occur on Bridge Street in the westbound direction between Market Street and Otter Lane weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through early September. Crews from Team Fishel will conduct gas line work for Columbia Gas.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A former resident of Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced on July 31, 2024, to 210  months of incarceration on his conviction for a series of pharmacy robberies throughout Western  Pennsylvania and distribution of the narcotics from those robberies, United States Attorney Eric G.  Olshan announced today.  

In March, following a four-day trial before Senior United States District Judge Arthur J.  Schwab, a Pittsburgh jury found Abdulrahman Abdelaziz Jamea, 26, guilty of seven crimes: one  count each of conspiracy to commit armed pharmacy robbery and conspiracy to possess with the  intent to distribute controlled substances, three counts of armed pharmacy robbery, and two counts  of pharmacy robbery.  

Evidence introduced during the trial established that Jamea participated in a conspiracy to  rob pharmacies of Schedule II controlled substances—that is, highly addictive opioids and  stimulants—between September 2018 and July 2019. This conspiracy included the robberies of  pharmacies in Beaver, Bridgeville, Edinboro, Erie, and the Oakland area of Pittsburgh. During three  of the robberies, Jamea and his co-conspirators brandished a firearm to threaten the lives of  pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and to intimidate them into opening the locked safes where  the controlled substances were kept. Evidence also established that Jamea returned to the Columbus  area to sell these stolen drugs to both prescription drug abusers and other traffickers.  

“Jamea’s armed robbery spree across western Pennsylvania risked the lives of pharmacy  employees and ordinary civilians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time—all so  he and his co-conspirators could steal dangerous drugs and later sell them on the street,” said U.S.  Attorney Olshan. “This sentencing reflects both the serious and violent nature of these robberies,  which have no place in this district or anywhere. Our office is grateful as always for the exceptional  work of our law enforcement partners and for the resolve of the victims during the course of this  important prosecution.”  

In imposing sentence, Judge Schwab specifically noted Jamea’s use of a silver handgun to  threaten employees at a pharmacy in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, while a co-conspirator stole thousands  of Schedule II controlled substances such as opioids and amphetamines from the store’s safe.  

Jamea is currently serving a separate sentence of more than 40 years following a conviction  in Ohio for eight counts of felonious assault with a firearm. Judge Schwab ordered that the 210- month sentence in this case be served consecutively to Jamea’s term of imprisonment in Ohio. 

Assistant United States Attorneys Barbara K. Doolittle and Michael R. Ball prosecuted this  case on behalf of the United States.  

United States Attorney Olshan commended the Drug Enforcement Administration,  Pennsylvania State Police, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Erie Police Department, Edinboro Police  Department, Beaver Police Department, Bridgeville Police Department, and Ohio Highway Patrol for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Jamea. 

FILE – Chester County, Pa., election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa., Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A technical requirement that Pennsylvania voters write accurate dates on the exterior envelope of mail-in ballots was again the subject of a court proceeding on Thursday as advocates argued the mandate unfairly leads to otherwise valid votes being thrown out.

A five-judge Commonwealth Court panel heard about two hours of argument in a case that was filed in May, even though the date requirement has been upheld both by the state Supreme Court and the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case was brought by the Black Political Empowerment Project, Common Cause and allied advocacy groups against the secretary of state and the elections boards in Philadelphia and Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh. They argued that enforcing the date requirement infringes upon voting rights and that none of the prior cases on the topic directly ruled whether it runs afoul of the state constitution’s Free and Equal Elections Clause.

The number of potentially invalid ballots at stake is a small fraction of the electorate, in the range of 10,000 or more across Pennsylvania in prior elections, and those voters tend to be comparatively older. Democrats have embraced voting by mail much more than Republicans since it was widely expanded in Pennsylvania in 2019 — months before the COVID-19 pandemic — as part of a legislative deal in which Democrats got universal mail-in voting while GOP lawmakers obtained an end to straight-ticket voting by party.

More than a third of ballots cast in this year’s state primary election were by mail, according to the lawsuit.

Judge Patricia McCullough, a Republican on the panel, asked what authority Commonwealth Court has over the legislatively enacted rule.

“Can this court just come in and change the law because it wasn’t the best thing they should have written or we don’t think it has a purpose? Is that a grounds for us to change or declare something to be invalid?” she asked.

John M. Gore, a lawyer for the state and national Republican Party groups that are fighting the lawsuit, said the court would only have grounds to do so if the procedure was “so difficult as to deny the franchise.” He argued to the judges that the dating requirement is not so onerous that it denies people the right to vote.

The dates serve as a backstop, Gore said, providing evidence about when ballots were completed and submitted. The mandate also “drives home the solemnity of the voter’s choice” to vote by mail, and could help deter and detect fraud, he said.

County elections officials say they do not use the handwritten envelope dates to determine whether mail-in votes have been submitted in time. Mail-in ballots are generally postmarked, elections officials process and time-stamp them, and the presence of the ballots themselves is enough evidence to show that they arrived on time to be counted before the 8 p.m. Election Day deadline.

Among the issues before the court panel is whether throwing out a portion of the 2019 voting law would trigger a provision under which the entire law must also be thrown out.

Mail-in ballots, and the dating requirement in particular, have spawned several legal cases in Pennsylvania in recent years. Earlier this year, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the mandate for accurate, handwritten dates, overturning a district judge’s decision.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled two years ago that mail-in votes may not count if they are “contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes.” The justices had split 3-3 on whether making the envelope dates mandatory under state law would violate provisions of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that immaterial errors or omissions should not be used to prevent voting.

During the April primary, redesigned exterior envelopes reduced the rate of rejected ballots, according to state elections officials.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing single-lane restrictions on Route 4037 (Barclay Hill Road) in Industry Borough, Beaver County will occur Monday through Friday, August 5-9 weather permitting.

Single-lane alternating traffic restrictions on Barclay Hill Road between Route 68 (Beaver-Midland Road) and Doyle Drive will occur daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Crews from Armstrong Drilling will conduct survey work along the roadway.