President Joe Biden signs HEARTS Act of 2024, which provides more CPR training as well as automated external defibrillators in schools

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin (3) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022, in Foxborough, Mass. Hamlin was in critical condition early Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, after the Bills say his heart stopped following a tackle during the Monday Night Football game, which was indefinitely postponed. (AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Buffalo, NY) President Joe Biden signed a bill on Monday to give more automated external defibrillators to schools and to access more training for people to learn CPR. This act is called the Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, and Research, and AED Training in the Schools Act of 2024, or HEARTS, for short. On of those who supported this action was Damar Hamlin, an NFL football player and Pittsburgh area native. Hamlin needed an automated external defibrillator to help him for the cardiac arrest that he suffered during a 2023 NFL football game.

Trial for man who tried to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump is moved to September of 2025

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Orlando, FL) A judge confirmed on Monday in an order that the trial for the man who tried to assassinate President Donald Trump in Florida in September will move to September 8th, 2025. United States District Judge Aileen Cannon also confirmed in the order that the original date for the trial of Ryan Wesley Routh was for February 10th, 2025. Routh has already pleaded not guilty for his actions. However, according to prosecutors, Routh tried to shoot Trump with a rifle hiding in shrubbery at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. Routh is currently in a Miami jail and is being held without bail.

Aliquippa Police Sergeant is resigning after eight years of service

(File Photo of the City of Aliquippa Police Department)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano, Published on December 26th, 2024 at 8:15 A.M.)

(Aliquippa, PA) Aliquippa Police Sergeant Nicholas D’Arrigo will be resigning. D’Arrigo announced on the department’s Facebook page that his last day will be on Thursday, January 2nd, 2025. D’Arrigo reported to Giordano in a Facebook reply that he will be moving on to a position in the Cranberry Township area for another department. D’Arrigo also confirmed that after serving for eight years in his position, he sent a message to the community to say thank you.

Luigi Mangione, the man who killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleads not guilty of charges

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal court for his arraignment on state murder and terror charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare pleaded not guilty on Monday to state murder and terror charges while his attorney complained that comments coming from New York’s mayor would make it tough to receive a fair trial.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was shackled and seated in a Manhattan court when he leaned over to a microphone to enter his plea. The Manhattan district attorney charged him last week with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism.

Mangione’s initial appearance in New York’s state trial court was preempted by federal prosecutors bringing their own charges over the shooting. The federal charges could carry the possibility of the death penalty, while the maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.

One of Mangione’s attorneys told a judge that the “warring jurisdictions” had turned Mangione into a “human ping-pong ball” and that New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other government officials had made him a political pawn, robbing him of his rights as a defendant and tainting the jury pool.

“I am very concerned about my client’s right to a fair trial,” lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said.

Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch stood among a throng of heavily armed officers last Thursday when Mangione was flown to a Manhattan heliport and escorted up a pier after being extradited from Pennsylvania.

Friedman Agnifilo said police turned Mangione’s return to New York into a choreographed spectacle. She called out Adams’ comment to a local TV station that he wanted to be there to look “him in the eye and say, ‘you carried out this terroristic act in my city.’”

“He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest stage perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career. It was absolutely unnecessary,” she said.

She also accused federal and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories, calling their approach confusing and highly unusual.

In a statement, Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus wrote: “Critics can say all they want, but showing up to support our law enforcement and sending the message to New Yorkers that violence and vitriol have no place in our city is who Mayor Eric Adams is to his core.”

“The cold-blooded assassination of Brian Thompson — a father of two — and the terror it infused on the streets of New York City for days has since been sickeningly glorified, shining a spotlight on the darkest corners of the internet,” Mamelak Altus said.

State trial court Judge Gregory Carro said he has little control over what happens outside the courtroom, but can guarantee Mangione will receive a fair trial.

Authorities say Mangione gunned down Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on the morning of Dec 4.

Mangione was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said. He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, according to federal prosecutors.

At a news conference last week, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the application of the terrorism law reflected the severity of a “frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.”

“In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror,” he added.

Mangione is being held in a Brooklyn federal jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried.

During his court appearance Monday, he smiled at times when talking with his attorneys and stretched his right hand after an officer removed his cuffs.

Outside the courthouse, a few dozen supporters chanted, “Free Luigi,” over the blare of a trumpet.

Natalie Monarrez, a 55-year-old Staten Island resident, said she joined the demonstration because she lost both her mother and her life savings as a result of denied insurance claims.

“As extreme as it was, it jolted the conversation that we need to deal with this issue,” she said of the shooting. “Enough is enough, people are fed up.”

An Ivy-league graduate from a prominent Maryland family, Mangione appeared to have cut himself off from family and friends in recent months. He posted frequently in online forums about his struggles with back pain. He was never a UnitedHealthcare client, according to the insurer.

Thompson, a married father of two high-schoolers, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.

The killing has prompted some to voice their resentment at U.S. health insurers, with Mangione serving as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills. It also has sent shockwaves through the corporate world, rattling executives who say they have received a spike in threats.

Aliquippa man jailed for driving an illegal mini motorcycle on several roads

(File Photo of Police Lights)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) An Aliquippa man was taken to jail after driving a mini motorcycle that was illegal on roads on Monday. According to a Facebook post from the City of Aliquippa Police Department, police witnessed a man on Franklin Avenue operating an illegal mini motorcycle on the road. Fifty-one–year-old Cecil Hunt of Aliquippa was the owner of the motorcycle. Hunt possessed a warrant for his arrest out of the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department, which was known by one of the officers. Hunt was turned over to the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department and was jailed following the encounter.

Aliquippa man jailed for driving under the influence after his car could not be driven

(File Photo of City of Aliquippa Police Department Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) An Aliquippa man was taken to jail after a crash in Hopewell Township on Monday. According to a Facebook post from the City of Aliquippa Police Department, police were dispatched to a motor vehicle crash on Kennedy Boulevard at Sheffield Road. A 2017 dark blue Lincoln sedan could not be driven after its damage was found following the crash discovered by a Hopewell Township police officer. Forty-nine-year-old Eric Mason of Aliquippa was the driver who stated to officers that he had been drinking. Mason smelled like alcohol, his speech was slurred, and his eyes were both glassy and bloodshot. After refusing both a breath test and sobriety tests, Mason was taken to the Beaver County Jail. Mason was charged with driving under the influence and reckless driving.

Geneva College will host several Beaver County high school basketball teams in the thirty-third year of the Central Valley Roundball Holiday Classic

(File Photo of Basketball Broadcast Schedule Poster)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) Geneva College in Beaver Falls will host a slate of games this week for some Beaver County high school basketball teams in the thirty-third year of the Central Valley Roundball Holiday Classic. On Friday, December 27th and on Saturday, December 28th, the gym where college basketball made its debut will host eight games on each day. There will be a four-team tournament for the girls’ games while the rest are the boys’ games. The Beaver County teams include the boys’ teams from Aliquippa, Beaver Area, Beaver Falls, Blackhawk, Central Valley and Lincoln Park. Central Valley and Rochester will also have both their girls’ teams playing in the four-team tournament in the high-stakes basketball showcase. Here is the schedule for the event:

Friday, December 27th 

  • 10 a.m. Keystone Oaks Vs. Rochester (Girls) 
  • 11:30 a.m. Northgate Vs. Central Valley (Girls) 
  • 1 p.m. Blackhawk Vs. Beaver Falls (Boys) 
  • 2:30 p.m. Knoch Vs. Greater Johnstown (Boys) 
  • 4 p.m. Gateway Vs. Central Valley (Boys) 
  • 5:30 p.m. Abington Heights Vs. Uniontown (Boys) 
  • 7 p.m. Aliquippa Vs. Mentor (OH) (Boys) 
  • 8:45 p.m. Beaver Area Vs. Baldwin (Boys)

Saturday, December 28th

  • 10 a.m. Consolation matchup of Keystone Oaks Vs. Rochester & Northgate Vs. Central Valley (Girls) 
  • 11:30 a.m. Winners matchup of Keystone Oaks Vs. Rochester & Northgate Vs. Central Valley (Girls) 
  • 1 p.m. Mentor (OH) Vs. Abington Heights (Boys) 
  • 2:30 p.m. Johnstown Vs. Gateway (Boys) 
  • 4 p.m. Pine Richland Vs. Beaver Area (Boys) 
  • 5:30 p.m. Baldwin Vs. Knoch (Boys) 
  • 7 p.m. Central Valley Vs. Lincoln Park (Boys) 
  • 8:45 p.m. Uniontown Vs. Aliquippa (Boys) 

Homicide in Aliquippa still being investigated by Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver

(File Photo of Police Lights)

(Reported by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

(Aliquippa, PA) An intentional homicide in Aliquippa is still under investigation. Aliquippa Police responded to an alleyway close to Burton Street on Monday at 1:35 p.m. The victim, thirty-four-year-old Devon Williams of Pittsburgh, was found dead. The Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver are still looking for information after Aliquippa Police gave the investigation over to them. If you have any information about this incident, please call 724-773-7400.

Police chase in Hopewell Township leaves Aliquippa man facing multiple charges

(File Photo of Aliquippa Police Car)

(Hopewell Township, PA) A man from Aliquippa faces charges after police chased his car while he broke multiple laws. According to a Facebook post from the City of Aliquippa Police Department, on Monday at around 11:23 p.m. police noticed a white BMW on Kennedy Boulevard near Grand Avenue. Police followed the driver of that car, who was not stopping at stop signs while both turning through traffic and cutting people off. Officers believed the suspect was driving under the influence, so they stopped chasing the driver on Maratta Road in Hopewell Township when they saw the driver went way too fast. The driver then hit a utility pole on that same road after the chase ended. The driver was twenty-two-year-old Emmanuel Gyadu Mantey, who was taken to jail without any incident. Mantey faces several charges, which include:

  • Fleeing or Attempting to Elude Police
  • Reckless Driving
  • Careless Driving
  • Roadways Laned for Traffic
  • Failure to Use Turn Signal
  • Failure to Stop at Stop Signs

Monaca water main break leaves big hole on Route 18 near Walmart Hill

(File Photo of Road Work)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Monaca, PA) A water main break occurred on Route 18 near Walmart Hill in Monaca on Monday afternoon. The water main break left a big hole close to the road near both that Walmart and a bank in Monaca. As of 4 p.m., the impact of traffic will continue. It is unclear at this time what caused the water main break. This is a developing story, and we will have updates as soon as they are available.