PARIS (AP) — The Eiffel Tower is reopening for the first time in nine months even though France is under new rules aimed at taming the coronavirus’ fast-spreading delta variant. The “Iron Lady” of Paris was ordered shut in October as France battled its second virus surge of the pandemic. The tower stayed shut for renovations even after most of the country’s major tourist draws reopened last month. This week, President Emmanuel Macron announced that COVID-19 passes would be required to enter restaurants and venues like the Eiffel Tower. Starting Wednesday, all visitors over age 18 will need to show a pass proving they’ve been fully vaccinated, had a negative virus test or recently recovered from COVID-19.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Penn State will impose its first tuition increase for incoming in-state undergraduate students since the 2017-18 school year. Under a plan approved by trustees on Thursday, incoming Pennsylvania resident students will see a 2.5% tuition increase at all campuses for the 2021-22 school year. At the University Park campus, that will mean a per-semester increase of $224, to $9,184, while the per-semester increase at the Commonwealth Campuses will range from $162 to $184, depending on the campus. Under the plan, out-of-state undergraduate students and all graduate students will see tuition increase by 2.75%. The student fee will remain flat for full-time students at the University Park campus.

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today lifted the moratorium on door-to-door, public event and in-person energy sales and marketing activities by PUC jurisdictional competitive energy suppliers (suppliers), which was put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.

Commissioners voted 4-0 to lift the current moratorium, which was put in place by virtue of the Commission’s March 16, 2020 Emergency Order (Emergency Order) prohibiting such sales and marketing activities.  Today’s action follows a 30-day public comment period initiated by the PUC in May on further modifying and eventually lifting the Emergency Order – and marks the fourth time in 16 months that the Commission has modified the Emergency Order.

In approving today’s Order, the Commission once again stipulated that suppliers engaging in door-to-door, public event, and in-person sales and marketing activities must continue to comply with relevant orders and guidance of the Governor and the Secretary of Health as well as all applicable PUC regulations and orders.

Additionally, the Commission continues to require jurisdictional suppliers to report their intent to resume door-to-door sales and marketing activities – including the general time period and geographic area in which the supplier will be active – to both the PUC’s Office of Competitive Market Oversight (OCMO) and Bureau of Consumer Services (BCS).

Similarly, jurisdictional suppliers are directed to report when they use a third-party vendor to perform door-to-door sales and marketing activities as part of their report under 52 Pa. Code § 111.14 to BCS.  These report requirements will remain in effect until Sept. 30, 2021, or unless lifted earlier by the Commission.

To increase awareness and compliance among the state’s supplier community, the Commission is also directing OCMO and BCS to issue a Secretarial Letter pertaining to the scheduling of training sessions on the resumption of door-to-door sales and marketing activities – to be offered to all electric general suppliers and natural gas suppliers under the Commission’s jurisdiction.

Today’s action marks the fourth time that the Commission has modified the March 16 Emergency Order.  By virtue of its June 4, 2020 Order, the PUC lifted the moratorium on in-person sales and marketing activities for activities at retail businesses open as a result of the Governor’s directives at that time.  Subsequently, on Dec. 3, 2020, the Commission permitted the resumption of energy sales and marketing at outdoor public events – and then in May granted a Petition for Partial Rescission of the Emergency Order and lifted the portion of the Emergency Order prohibiting suppliers from conducting in-person sales and marketing activities with commercial and industrial customers that are open as a result of orders or directives of the Governor and the Secretary of Health.

Photo and Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano

(Aliquippa, Pa.) The Aliquippa School Board accepted the resignation of Superintendent Dr. Peter M. Carbone at Thursday night’s special meeting.  He reflected on his 26 year career in the district, as a teacher, football coach, assistant principal, principal, and district superintendent . He praised the district’s teachers for their work  over the last 17 months.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh is joining other Catholic bishops in Pennsylvania in reinstating the obligation to attend mass weekly and on Holy Days starting Aug. 15, 2021

Bishop David Zubik said via release that “more and more people are returning to our churches” since public health restrictions have been relaxed and so many people are vaccinated. Zubik also said that while the obligation is being re-instated if you are ill he strongly encourages you to stay home.
In March 2020, bishops across the state issued a notice suspending that obligation to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

(Story and photos by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Curtis Walsh)

(Chippewa Township, PA)  As I arrived at Blackhawk High School, the parking lot was nearly full as a crowd of approximately 75 individuals worked there way into the school, filling the hallways.  The 3 hour long meeting started off with a long presentation by Superintendent Dr. Robert Postupac on the district plans for returning to school.  He stated that as of the moment the district will not require students to be masked or vaccinated.  The Board said they believe the requirement of vaccines for students would be an unnecessary liability and the benefits don’t outweigh the risks.  The plan is for the school to be open 5 days a week at full capacity with mask wearing being anyone’s choice, both in school and on school transportation.  The superintendent assured that the district will not tolerate any negative behavior to anyone wearing or not wearing masks.  He also noted that the district will continue to not participate in any type of contact tracing, stating that the Dept. of Health threatened to shut down one of their buildings this past year and went as far as trying to make the district perform contact tracing of students families over weekends. One board member stated that he is “a little bit afraid of government right now”  which prompted a big applause from the public.  When it became time for public comments, many took to the podium.  Some examples of statements people made were comments about segregation between vaccinated and unvaccinated people, requests for certain signage regarding masks and social distancing to be taken down, and some going as far as to say the mask wearing was child abuse.  There were also concerns of school security, with parents stating it was too easy to take their child from school, without having to show their uncovered face or any type of identification.  Students of the district voiced their opinions as well with a 9th grader saying that virtual learning caused her grades to plummet and masks gave her headaches, while a 4th grader stated he didn’t have anyone at home to help him with school, and that it was too easy for him to play video games rather than do his school work.  One parent challenged the school board to use only a school issued iPad moving forward, stating that her 14 year old said he “forgot what it feels like to write with a pencil”.  Multiple students are also said to be repeating their grade.  After around 2 and a half hours of public comments, the normal meeting resumed.  The June bills were paid with a general fund budget of $199,894.97, Capitol Projects Fund at $20,897.72, and the cafeteria fund of $89,663.96.  The board approved a 5 year extension for Dr. Robert Postupac after an executive session, and hired Robert Puskas as assistant high school principal. Zach Hayward was hired as athletic director.  The purchase of 10 cafeteria tables was also approved at a cost of $11,306.50.

(Center Twp. PA)  Many were in attendance this morning at the Beaver County Recovery Summit in the CCBC Golden Dome to hear a variety of speakers discuss the recovery of Beaver County.  The event started off with a message from Dr. Roger Davis followed by a segment entitled Beaver County Resiliency with speakers Helen Kissick and Daniel Rossi-Keen, PhD. County Commissioners Dan Camp and Jack Manning took to the microphones to discuss the reopening of the county along with video messages by Congressman Connor Lamb and Senator Bob Casey.  Norm Mitry, President/CEO of Heritage Valley Health System gave his outlook on the post pandemic future followed by Jennifer Shoaf, Deputy Chief Academic Officer of PA Cyber, giving her thoughts on the things we can take away from the pandemic, socially and emotionally.   Charles “Skip” Homan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Beaver County Partnership, Steven M. Ross, PhD Senior Research Scientist and Professor at the Center for Research  and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University, and Senator Camera Bartolotta, for Pennsylvania’s 46^th District, all took the stage to discuss building the future of education in Beaver County. The Beaver County Partnership Quality Education Council (QEC), joined in a collaboration with John Hopkins University to conduct interviews with superintendents, board presidents, college presidents, legislators, municipal leaders, business owners, and other community stakeholders.  Their goal was to gather information on current cost, equity, and quality of education within the county.  They were also trying to learn of any community structural, policy, and cultural issues that could impact education.  Ami Gatts, John Tkach, Larry Nelson, and David A. Wytiaz,  Administrative Director, Beaver County Career and Technology Center spoke on the future of workplace development during a segment that was moderated by John Goberish, Dean/School of Industrial Technology & Continuing Education, Community College of Beaver County.  Bethany Williams gave updates on the work being done by the Beaver County Regional Council of Governments, followed by Lew Villotti and Michael Henderson speaking on business attraction in a post pandemic environment.  Lisa Vesolich, Mike Rubino, and  Dr. Cheryl King closed out the morning with a discussion of Non-Profit Resources & Reflections in Beaver County. The afternoon consisted of a couple more speaking points, one being the construction and and operations of the Shell Plant and the other being small businesses in our region.  All together, the summit was a big success with a lot of informative information on where Beaver County currently stands and how it will continue to grow.