President Joe Biden meets Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Naval Base Point Loma, Monday, March 13, 2023, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order aiming to increase the number of background checks to buy guns. The order also seeks to promote more secure firearms storage and ensure U.S. law enforcement agencies get the most from last summer’s bipartisan gun control law. The Democratic president is expected to unveil his latest efforts at curbing gun violence during a speech Tuesday in Monterey Park, California, where a gunman stormed a dance hall and shot 20 people, killing 11, following a Lunar New Year celebration. The bipartisan legislation passed after the killings of 10 grocery store shoppers in Buffalo, New York, and 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold another Community Resource Open House on March 16, 2023, from 6-8 p.m. at the East Palestine school gym (360 West Grant Street). This will be an opportunity for residents to talk face-to-face and ask questions to representatives of responding agencies. Residents will also have the opportunity to learn more about the scientific equipment that EPA uses to monitor the quality of the air.

At the same time, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania agencies and State Representative Jim Marshall will host a Community Resource Open House for Pennsylvania residents at the Darlington Township Volunteer Fire Department (3590 Darlington Road, Darlington, Penn.).

EPA and Norfolk Southern contractors continue to take soil samples at agricultural, residential, commercial, and recreational properties in both Ohio and Pennsylvania.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

It was a much quicker and quieter meeting than the last few.

Following three consecutive meetings that were extensively detailed–focusing on the feasibility of creating a competitive spirit team–the New Brighton Area School Board held their regular committee meeting in a matter of minutes with a sizable reduction of people in attendance. Jay Funkhouser was not in attendance for the meeting, and Steven Powell pinch-hit as the presenter of financial resolutions.

The board moved ahead as usual, submitting for approval the following resolutions:

• Renewal of a Flexible Instruction Day plan for the next three school years, beginning in 2023-24 and finishing in 2025-26
• A list of the graduating students of the Class of 2023, pending academic and financial obligations
• Budget transfers for the 2022-23 school year as required by law
• A contract for Nutrition, Inc. to provide food services for the 2023-24 school year
• Appointment of Nicole Oliver to the New Brighton Recreation Commission as a representative of the New Brighton School District
• The retirements of Elementary School teacher Lori Marazzi (9/8/23) and Middle School teacher Maureen Anderson (6/2/23)
• A revised list of bus drivers from McCarter Transit, Inc. for the 2022-23 school year

These resolutions will be voted on at the next New Brighton School Board meeting, scheduled for March 27 at 7:30 PM.

FILE – This 2019 aerial photo provided by ConocoPhillips shows an exploratory drilling camp at the proposed site of the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. President Joe Biden will prevent or limit oil drilling in 16 million acres of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean, an administration official said on Sunday, March 12, 2023. The expected announcement comes as regulators prepare to announce a final decision on the controversial Willow project. (ConocoPhillips via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is approving the major Willow oil project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope. The decision is one of President Joe Biden’s most consequential climate decisions and is likely to draw condemnation from environmentalists who say it flies in the face of the Democratic president’s climate pledges. Climate activists have been outraged Biden appeared open to greenlighting the project, which they say put his climate legacy at risk. They say allowing oil company ConocoPhillips to move forward with the drilling plan also would break Biden’s campaign promise to stop new oil drilling on public lands. ConocoPhillips says Alaska’s Willow project could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day.

FILE- The seal of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System is displayed in the ground at the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington, Feb. 5, 2018. Facing the prospect of a third financial crisis in less than two decades, the Federal Reserve initiated a broad emergency lending program late Sunday, March 12, 2023, intended to shore up confidence in the nation’s financial system following the collapse of two large banks with deep ties to the tech industry. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two large banks that cater to the tech industry have collapsed after a bank run, government agencies are taking emergency measures to backstop the financial system, and President Joe Biden is reassuring Americans that the money they have in banks is safe. It’s all eerily reminiscent of the financial meltdown that began with the bursting of the housing bubble 15 years ago. Yet the pace this time around seems even faster. Over the last three days, the US has seized two banks after a run on Silicon Valley Bank. The Associated Press addresses what the US is doing and whether it will be enough.

A member of the Mexican security forces stands next to a white minivan with North Carolina plates and several bullet holes, at the crime scene where gunmen kidnapped four U.S. citizens who crossed into Mexico from Texas, Friday, March 3, 2023. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the four Americans were going to buy medicine and were caught in the crossfire between two armed groups after they had entered Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday. (AP Photo)

LAKE CITY, S.C. (AP) — It was supposed to be a fun road trip to Mexico for a group of childhood friends. But once they got there, the trip took a terrible turn, and two members of the group would never make it home. Shortly after Latavia McGee and her friends crossed the border and drove into Matamoros, their van was crashed into and they came under gunfire by Gulf cartel members. McGee and Eric Williams, who were loaded into a pickup truck by their captors, would be held for three days next to the bodies of their two slain friends. Mexican authorities say an anonymous tip led to their rescue.

FILE – Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a Coolidge and the American Project luncheon in the Madison Building of the Library of Congress, Feb. 16, 2023, in Washington. On Saturday, March 11, Pence harshly criticized former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, furthering the rift between the two men as they prepare to battle over the Republican nomination in next year’s election. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence has unleashed his harshest criticism yet of former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Pence made the remarks Saturday at the annual white-tie Gridiron Dinner, where politicians and journalists gather in Washington. Pence said, “I had no right to overturn the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day.” The former vice president added, “And I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable.” Pence is expected to challenge Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in next year’s election.

FILE – In this Feb. 21, 2015 file photo, an Oscar statue appears outside the Dolby Theatre for the 87th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)
Story by Sandy Giordano and Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published March 13, 2023 11:30 A.M.

(Los Angeles, CA) Center Township graduate Joe Letteri won his fifth Oscar for visual effects Sunday night. Letteri was born in Aliquippa and graduated from Center High School in 1975. Lettari has had a lengthy career in movie visual effects working on over 30 big screen movies since 1989.  He has been nominated for an Oscar 11 times, and won his fifth Sunday for “Avatar: The Way of Water”.  Letteri previously won Oscars for the first “Avatar” movie, King Kong (2005), and two “The Lord of the Rings” movies.

(Pittsburgh, PA) Reports say a Pittsburgh Post Gazette worker on strike ended up in the hospital with a broken jaw following an altercation with a PG delivery driver. The incident was said to have happened Saturday night outside of the PG distribution center on the south side. There have been conflicting reports of what caused the incident. The driver claims that he was verbally and physically attacked. The Union says the driver assaulted two strikers, with one needing medical treatment. The Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council is expected to hold a press conference today, saying that they are seeking answers and accountability.