FILE – Buffalo Bills Damar Hamlin with his helmet off before playing the Los Angeles Rams during an NFL football game, Sept. 8, 2021, in Inglewood, Calif. The scenes of Hamlin’s on-field collapse after suffering cardiac arrest on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, has forced some fans to yet again confront a truth they have always known but hated to think about: Football can go from exciting and joyous to dark and tragic in a flash. Now, as the Bills defensive back remains in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital, fans are reflecting on their relationship with the sport they love. (AP Photo/John McCoy, File)

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s agent says the player is breathing on his own and able to talk after having his breathing tube removed. It comes four days after he went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the field. Agent Ira Turner was unable to provide any other details in a text sent to The Associated Press. The development was first reported by The Athletic. The 24-year-old Hamlin was listed Thursday in critical condition in the intensive care unit of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Bryan Kohberger, left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)

Authorities say a key piece of evidence in the case of four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in November turned out to be surveillance footage showing a white sedan driving past the victims’ home. According to a police affidavit unsealed Thursday, the car drove past three times before the stabbings early on Nov. 13 and was recorded speeding away afterwards. Investigators said they later tracked the car — and eventually, DNA evidence — to Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old graduate student in criminology at Washington State University, just across the state border. Kohberger made an initial appearance in an Idaho courtroom Thursday after being extradited from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last week.

FILE – Al Schmidt, former city commissioner of Philadelphia, testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, on June 13, 2022. Schmidt, a former Philadelphia election official who has told of enduring death threats whipped up by Donald Trump for defending the city’s 2020 vote-counting against the former president’s election lies, will be nominated for the top election administration post in Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro’s administration. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Philadelphia election official who has told of enduring death threats whipped up by Donald Trump for defending the city’s 2020 vote-counting against the former president’s lies will be nominated for the top election administration post in Pennsylvania by the incoming governor, Josh Shapiro. The Democrat said Thursday that Al Schmidt will be nominated to be secretary of state. That sets up Schmidt to oversee what is expected to be a hard-fought 2024 election in the critical presidential battleground of Pennsylvania. Shapiro made the post his first Cabinet selection to be publicly announced ahead of his Jan. 17 inauguration. The 51-year-old Schmidt is a Republican.

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Story by Beaver County Radio News Staff

(Ross Township, PA) Major traffic delays ensued Thursday afternoon in Ross Township on McKnight Road due to a shootout on the highway. Its reported that a shooter hit at least 5 vehicles and at least one person was shot. Police are said to have arrested the person responsible.

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Story by Beaver County Radio News Staff

(Chippewa Township, PA) Chippewa Township released a statement that they issued a demolition permit for the former Ponderosa Steakhouse on Shenango Road. They also note that there have been inquires of a possible drive through restaurant but no other permits or documents have been filed at this time.

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Story by Beaver County Radio News Staff

(Rochester Township, PA) Shoppers were evacuated from the Giant Eagle store in Rochester Thursday evening. Multiple fire departments including Rochester, Beaver Falls, and New Brighton responded to the call of a burning smell in the store. After investigating, it was determined that one of the above door heaters was overheated. The store reopened a short time later.

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Story by Beaver County Radio News Staff. Published January 6, 2023 6:55 A.M.

(Hopewell Township, PA) State Police in Beaver have released details involving an accident that took place in December in Hopewell.  A vehicle travelling east on I-376 towards the Hopewell exit crested a hill and saw a seed cart obstructing the roadway and was unable to avoid it.  The operator of the Hyundai Sonata struck the cart, causing minor damage to their vehicle. There were no injuries reported.

FILE – The New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, June 29, 2022 in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street and Treasury yields rose after another hot reading on the job market raised worries that the Federal Reserve will need to continue inflicting pain on the economy in order to fight inflation. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% in afternoon trading Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the the Nasdaq also fell. The pullback came after payroll company ADP reported a bigger-than-expected increase in jobs at private companies last month. The continued strength in the job market makes the Fed’s job of reining in inflation more difficult by putting upward pressure on wages.

LAKE CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman who was believed to be the oldest living person in the U.S. has died at the age of 115. Lampe & Powers Funeral Home in Lake City confirms that Bessie Laurena Hendricks, of Lake City, died Tuesday at the Shady Oaks Care Center. Hendricks celebrated her 115th birthday at the home on Nov. 7 and was listed last year by the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group as the country’s oldest living person until her death. Born in 1907, Hendricks was alive to witness news of the sinking of the Titanic, World War I and II, the Great Depression and both the Spanish flu and COVID-19 pandemics.

President Joe Biden speaks about border security in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris stands at left. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the U.S. will immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the border from Mexico illegally. It’s his boldest move yet to confront spiraling arrivals of migrants since he took office two years ago. The new rules expand on an existing effort to stop Venezuelans attempting to enter the U.S., which led to a dramatic drop in Venezuelans coming to the U.S. border. Together the changes represent a major revision to immigration rules that will stand even if the U.S. Supreme Court ends a Trump-era public health law that allows American authorities to turn away asylum seekers.