Adult taken into custody after child, 4, shot in home
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Police say an adult was taken into custody after a 4-year-old child was critically wounded in a shooting in Pennsylvania’s capital over the weekend. Harrisburg police said patrol units were called to a home in the city at about 10:15 a.m. Sunday and found the child with a gunshot. The child was taken to a hospital and was listed in critical condition after emergency surgery. Police said the adult caretaker of the residence was taken into custody and what the department called “appropriate charges” are forthcoming. Anyone with information is being asked to call city police.

(Photos used with permission of St. Barnabas)
Story by Frank Sparks, News/Program Director
Monday, December, 20, 2021 at 7:49 AM
(Brighton Twp., Beaver County, Pa.) Brighton Twp. Police are asking for the publics help in identifying an individual from an incident at Tusca Plaza Shop N Save Gas Station last Thursday Evening, December 16, 2021. He is described as a very skinny white male who was wearing a black and grey jacket, black shorts, and running pants underneath and has a tattoo on his right wrist that looks like a bracelet. The man kept his head and face covered the entire time during the incident. The man left on foot and hasn’t been seen since. In an e-mail statement of the incident St. Barnabas Senior Vice President and CFO J.D. Turco said that “ St Barnabas is grateful to the community for its support of the business and to the outstanding officers of the Brighton Township Police Department who responded that evening. We have every confidence that they will find this individual. We are however most thankful for the safety of our employee.” Anyone with information please contact the Beaver County Dispatch Center at 724-775-0880.

By LISA MASCARO, ALAN FRAM and HOPE YEN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin has all but delivered a death blow to President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion domestic initiative. Saying he can’t support the package, the West Virginia Democrat has single-handedly thrown his party’s agenda into jeopardy. Furious colleagues are desperate to salvage what’s left of a top priority. Next steps are highly uncertain. Congress has recessed for the holidays but some lawmakers are demanding a vote, though that seems unlikely. Others are at work on changes to win Manchin’s support. Manchin said on “Fox News Sunday” that after months of negotiations, “I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation.”

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

Pennsylvania’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission has voted on its proposals for state House and Senate voting-district maps. Good-government advocacy groups say the maps are a step in the right direction to keep communities of interest together.

The biggest changes are seen in the House map, reflecting large population shifts in the Commonwealth over the last decade. As a result, several incumbents, majority Republican, have been drawn into the same district.

Carol Kuniholm, chair of Fair Districts PA, said though it may be frustrating for incumbents, the result is more compact districts, with fewer county splits.

“Rather than try to draw the districts to keep as many incumbents in place as possible, especially with the House map,” said Kuniholm, “it was done to reflect communities better. And to remind everybody that these districts belong to the people of Pennsylvania, and not to the people who are elected to serve the people of Pennsylvania.”

According to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, there’s a near-even party split in both the Senate and House maps, and a slight increase for Democrats compared with the current ones.

The commission is made up of four House and Senate leaders, with one nonpartisan chair – Mark Nordenberg, a former dean at the University of Pittsburgh.

Salewa Ogunmefun, executive director of the group Pennsylvania Voice, said she’s happy to see the creation of seven new districts that would maximize the vote for communities of color.

“Chair Nordenberg and the LRC members,” said Ogunmefun, “were really committed to making sure that the growing populations in the state – which are entirely driven by the Black population, the Latinx population, by the Asian American population – that those communities are getting more opportunity to elect their candidates from this process.”

Pennsylvania’s Asian population grew by 46% between 2010 and 2020, according to U.S. Census data, and its Hispanic and Latino population grew by 45%.

Pennsylvanians will have 30 days from last week’s vote to provide public comment on the proposals.

(File Photo)
Story by Sandy Giordano, Beaver County radio News Correspondent
Friday December 17, 2021 at 7:48 AM
(Hopewell Township, Pa.) Hopewell Township Commissioners adopted their 2022 budget earlier this week The budget is $5,953,507, and millage will remain at 16 mills, according to Township Manager Jamie Yurcina. There is a 3.5 percent increase in healthcare costs for employees.

The commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. for reorganization January 3, 2022

(File Photo)
Friday, December 17, 2021 at 7:25 AM
(Harrisbur, Pa.) Rep. Joshua D. Kail (Beaver/Washington) announced yesterday that House Bill 1332 that he is co-sponsoring that would require school districts to publish the curriculum that will be taught for each grade and subject area so parents can review the lessons and textbooks in advance of the school year has passed the House.

Kail said via statement “Parents should never be left in the dark when it comes to their child’s education,” Kail said. “Transparency between parents and school districts will create an environment that best suits our students.”

The bill would go into effect for the 2022-23 academic year. Kail said a school administrator or designee would be required to post the curriculum online in order to avoid overloading teachers. School entities would also have 30 business days to update their websites after approval of updated curriculum.

The legislation now heads to the governor’s desk.