(Photo of Tamara L. Collier Provided with Release Courtesy of TRAILS Ministries)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) According to a release today from TRAILS Ministries INC., TRAILS Ministries INC. of Beaver Falls has hired a new Executive Director who began with the
organization in August of 2025, Tamara L. Collier. Collier served for fourteen and a half years as the Community Outreach Specialist, Reentry Coordinator
and Diversity Coordinator with the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of
Pennsylvania. Collier also served as a life coach during that tenure with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and she assists in facilitating the Beaver County Community and Law Enforcement Coalition. Collier is also both the coordinator and co-creator of Tiger Talk at Beaver Falls High School in Beaver Falls, which brings alumni of that school from different career paths who lived experiences to both mentor and engage students several times during their freshman year of high school, which is in 9th grade. Collier is also a member of several teams and councils, including the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League’s (WPIAL’s) Equity Advisory Council. Collier convened the Trauma-Informed Care Group, now known as the Trauma Liberation Collective (TLC) to bring together local trauma experts and supporters to lead the efforts of establishing a trauma-informed initiative in Allegheny County in August of 2020. The TLC has a focus primarily of education regarding the trauma that is unaddressed within the Black communities of Allegheny County, reducing the stigma of seeking help for this trauma and to promote the heaing of this trauma. Collier also included facilitating both the Downtown Safety Coalition and the Western District of Pennsylvania’s Community Police Relations Groups in both Pittsburgh and Erie. Collier is also a mother of three young men who have all graduated from college and a grandmother of five grandchildren. The reentry project for TRAILS Ministries INC. of Beaver Falls, which is now where Collier will serve as their executive director, is a faith-based, holistic approach to helping those impacted by the trauma of incarceration directly or indirectly.

(File Photo of an Open for Business Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Cranberry Township, PA) Meijer, a grocery store chain based in Michigan, has recently announced that its first location in Western Pennsylvania will be in Cranberry Township after Meijer submitted plans formally for that new location. According to a recent report from the Butler Eagle, Meijer is planning to buld a 159,000-square-foot supercenter in the northeast corner of Route 228 and Franklin Road near North Catholic High School. Meijer will sell their grocery store products in that location in the future and these submission plans for their new location in Cranberry Township come not too long after Meijer announced that they will expand their businesses into Western Pennsylvania. Meijer has over 500 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. 

(File Photo of Road Work Ahead Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Allegheny County, PA) PennDOT District 11 announced that tomorrow night, through Monday, October 6th, weather permitting, a lane restriction on the Interstate 79 Neville Island Bridge in Robinson and Neville Townships and Glenfield Borough of Allegheny County will occur. From 7 P.M. tomorrow night continuously through 5 A.M. Monday morning, southbound I-79 will be reduced to a single-lane of traffic on the Neville Island Bridge as crews from Lindy Paving will conduct concrete patching there. If this work completed sooner, the restriction in this area could be lifted earlier.

(Photo of the Pittsburgh Steelers Logo Provided with Release Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to a release from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers are proud to announce their partnership with the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network (SITG!), a program dedicated to supporting student success and tackling chronic absenteeism. Eight Pittsburgh Public Schools will be the schools that the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network will work with in this initiative and this program will be launched this fall. When a student misses an average of two days per month during the school year, a student is defined as chronically absent, which is ten percent or more. According to data from a December 2024 A+ Schools Pittsburgh study, Pittsburgh Public Schools reported that 30 percent of their students grades K-12 were chronically absent and this number rose to 45 percent when analyzing attendance data for grades 9-12. Pittsburgh Arlington PreK-8, Pittsburgh Faison PreK-5, Pittsburgh Grandview PreK-5, Pittsburgh Miller PreK-5, Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12, Pittsburgh Morrow PreK-8, Pittsburgh Perry High School, and Pittsburgh Westinghouse Academy 6-12 are the schools where this program will be launched this fall. 

According to that same release from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday, here is some more information about this initiative, in which plans are being made to expand to other school districts in the years to come:

• This total team effort includes A+ Schools Pittsburgh who is helping coordinate the rollout by directly collaborating with Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) and the Pittsburgh Steelers on this program to mobilize resources and coordinate the support that is needed. Additionally, Everyday Labs will provide PPS with supports and metrics to improve student attendance, and Battelle will provide PPS and school personnel with tools and training needed to curb student
  absenteeism.
• Schools that are participating in the program will be provided with a variety of resources like engagement calendars, educational programming, and activities that encourage students to attend school.
• Additionally, the Pittsburgh Steelers have designed special incentives for students if they come to school and improve their attendance record. Students will have the opportunity to win tickets to Steelers games and events at Acrisure Stadium, official Steelers swag like t- shirts and hats, items autographed by players, and have Steely McBeam and Steelers players visit their schools.
• The Stay in the Game! Attendance Network was founded in 2019 by the Cleveland Browns Foundation, Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and Proving Ground out of Harvard and now partners with the Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati to positively impact more than 200 districts and 580,000 Ohio students. The Pittsburgh Steelers are the first professional NFL team to partner with the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network (SITG!) outside of Ohio.

(File Photo of Police Siren Lights)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) An investigation continues into a shooting that occurred at the Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh on Tuesday at around 8 p.m. which police confirm injured one person and caused that person to get taken to a hospital. According to Ross Township Deputy Police Chief Brian Kohlhepp, gunfire was exchanged between people in the parking lot between Dick’s House of Sport and Nordstrom. It is not clear at this time how many people were involved in this incident. The vehicle involved in this incident got recovered in Wilkinsburg. No arrests have been made yet in connection with this incident as of yesterday evening.

(Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Philadelphia, PA) An executive order was signed yesterday by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro which will protect access to all vaccines for people in Pennsylvania. This signing occurred at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The order, called Executive Order 2025-02, will create both a vaccine portal online to share verified information and a “vaccine safety net in Pennsylvania. All state agencies in Pennsylvania are required to align their policies for vaccine with “trusted medical experts” because of this order, which will also make a vaccine education group to try to oppose misinformation. According to Shapiro, he has a six-step plan to ensure anyone can get the vaccines they want and that they’ll be covered by Medicaid and private insurance.

(File Photo of a City of Beaver Falls Police Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) Yesterday morning, an eleven-year-old girl got injured by an SUV in Beaver Falls as she was walking to Beaver Falls Middle School. According to Beaver Falls police, the girl was crossing Seventh Avenue at 18th Street that morning around 7:30 a.m. on her way to the middle school when she was struck by a sports utility vehicle that had failed to stop at the crosswalk. A hospital was where that girl got taken for treatment to her injuries. An investigation into this incident is not complete, and when it is, that will be when a decision is made about whether the driver of the SUV that hit this girl in Beaver Falls will face charges or not. Police also noted that the driver cooperated with authorities and stayed at the scene while doing that.

(File Photo of a City of Aliquippa Police Department Car)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) A stabbing occurred early yesterday morning in Aliquippa and police were investigating this incident. Superior Avenue was where this incident happened, and the time of the incident was around 12:20 a.m. yesterday. The victim of this stabbing was taken to the hospital. There was no word of any arrests initially.