(Prospect Boro, Pa.) Pa State Police in Butler are reporting that they were called to the scene of a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle on Friday night at 11:45 PM at the intersection of New Castle Road and Main Gate Road in Prospect Boro, Butler County
Upon arriving on the scene and investigating Troopers learned the a 43-year-old male pedestrian, from New York, entered New Castle Road from the berm as 2015 Kenworth Tractor Trailer was traveling eastbound being driven by a 64-year-old male from Slippery Rock. The driver of the truck saw the pedestrian in the road and tried to steer away from impact as he applied the brakes. He was not able to avoid impact and hit the pedestrian. The unnamed pedestrian was suffered severe injuries and was air-lifted to Butler Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Pa State Police are continuing to investigate.

(Monaca, Pa.) Governor Tom Wolf announced that Express Med Pharmaceuticals, an innovative pharmacy and pharmacy provider, will expand its existing operations in Monaca. Express Med Pharmaceuticals will invest $8 million into the expansion, retaining 34 jobs and creating nearly 700 new, full-time jobs at its Beaver County facility. Express Med Pharmaceuticals was acquired by SelectQuote, Inc., and intends to expand its Center Township site which is home to inventory, process flow, staging, and shipping and receiving operations.

“This funding serves as an invaluable tool in Express Med Pharmaceuticals’ continued growth in the commonwealth and ability to serve their consumers for healthcare needs,” said Gov. Wolf. “With their latest investment into western Pennsylvania comes hundreds and hundreds of new jobs for the region and my administration is thrilled to witness the new opportunities this expansion will bring to Monaca at a critical time in the state’s economic recovery.”

Founded in 1998 as Express Med Pharmacy Services, the company operated as a traditional mail order pharmacy. More recently, the company renamed itself Express Med Pharmaceuticals with an outward facing brand, my-medPak. The company developed an innovative pill pack solution that is customized to the unique needs of each patient, focusing on individual multi-dosages by day and time.

“It’s great to be able to partner with the state of Pennsylvania on the expansion of SelectRx (Express Med Pharmaceuticals) and to be able to create additional job opportunities in the state,” said Tim Danker, CEO of SelectQuote, Inc. “The expansion of SelectRx is an important part of the growth of SelectQuote and our healthcare services platform, Population Health.”

The company received a funding proposal from the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for a $500,000 Pennsylvania First grant and a $500,000 workforce development grant to help the company train workers. The company has committed to investing $8 million into the project and creating 674 new jobs, many of which will be for remote Pennsylvania workers, over the next three years.

The project was coordinated by the Governor’s Action Team, an experienced group of economic development professionals who report directly to the governor and work with businesses that are considering locating or expanding in Pennsylvania.

(Potter Twp., Pa) If you were in Beaver and surrounding areas on Thursday or Friday you may have noticed a smell in the air that smelled like anti-freeze.
Shell said in a statement on Sunday that a third party investigator is looking into the complaints.

Early reports indicate the smell could be associated with treatments to prevent corrosion in the cooling tower that were completed on Thursday.

Shell said in the statement that it is in contact with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

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

(Beaver Falls, PA)  The 43rd Annual Beaver County Invitational Marching Band Festival got underway at 6:30pm Saturday evening with a full house in attendance at Reeves Stadium. Host band, the New Brighton Marching Lion Pride, took to the field to kick things off with the opening ceremonies before the performances of 13 local marching bands. The first band to perform their 2021 show was the Riverside Panther Marching Band under the direction of David Withrow and assistant director Levi Plassmeyer. The 50 piece band had a theme of America for this year’s show, paying tribute to the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with selections such as “Veterans Salute”, and “America the Beautiful”. The Beaver Falls Marching Tiger Band followed with a performance of a variety of songs such as the “Pink Panther” theme and “All Star” by Smash Mouth under the direction of Robbie Goode and assistant directors Morgan Rockwell, and Tiffany Vasilakis. Rochester Area Marching Rams were the next to showcase their work with director Kaleb Kibble. The Marching Rams played 80s classics including “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi, and “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Up next was the Hopewell High School Viking Pride Marching Band, the largest student organization within the school district, who performed a selection of video game theme songs like “Mii Channel” and “Tetris”. They closed their performance with the fitting “Pinball Wizard” by The Who. The Viking Pride band was under the direction of Kit Keiper, and assistant directors Jenn Sutton and Kelsey Steele.  The Lincoln High School Marching Blue Band followed Hopewell with a high stepping Foo Fighters show. The band played hits including “Monkey Wrench” and “Learn to Fly” before leaving the field with their classic “Blue Band Funk”. The band was under the direction of D. Lee Caldwell, Jr. and assistant director Justin Miller.  The 30 piece South Side High School Marching Band proceeded to step under the lights performing hits like “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys and “Bye Bye Bye” by NSYNC. The South Side Marching Band was under the direction of Matt Diehl and assistant director Josh Adams. The Blackhawk Marching Band was next, with director Brandon Tambellini and assistant director Mikaela Kalmar. Blackhawk decided to “funk” things up, performing selections such as “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder and “Brick House” by the Commodores. With a show centered on the music of Queen, the Freedom Big Red Marching Band followed and performed songs like “Under Pressure” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The 50 piece Big Red Marching Band was under the direction of Emily Rickard and Ashley Barnes. The largest band of the night, the Central Valley Warrior Marching Band, came to rock the stadium with a show titled “Rock on”. The band performed rock classics such as “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne and “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynryd. The Warrior Marching Band was under the direction of Wendy H. Lewis and assistant directors Tori Petrella and Craig Whipkey. The Beaver Area High School Marching Band took the field next, with a show named “Dance the Night Away”. The band played songs such as “Dancing Queen” by ABBA and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston.  The Beaver Marching Band was under direction of J. P. Scanga and assistant directors Phil Cypher, Steve Maker, and Joey Caponera.  The Western Beaver Golden Beaver Marching Band, under direction of Andrea Hart, along with assistant director Tori Franconi, followed with a show called “That 80s Sound”.  The Golden Beaver Band played songs such as “Blinding Lights” by the Weekend, and “99 Red Balloons” by Nena.  The final high school band of the night, the host New Brighton Marching Lion Pride, took to the field for their second time to perform their movie themed show. The 58 peice band, under the direction of Jamie Beilstein and assistant director Jeff Frankenstein, performed powerful selections such as the “Star Wars” main theme and “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins from “Top Gun”. To wrap things up, the Geneva College Golden Tornado Marching Band put on a grand finale with selections such as a “Daft Punk Medley” and “American Landscapes”.  Overall the festival continued to be a great musical showcase of local high school marching bands, giving them a night to perform to people who were strictly there to see and listen to them. Music education in Beaver County proves to be strong as all of the bands sounded great. They all performed strong and executed creative drill.  New Brighton has hosted the festival since its inception in 1978.

Two county bands that were missing from the festival include Ambridge and Aliquippa. Aliquippa is reported to not have had enough band members this year, with alumni and community members stepping in to perform at football games.

Check out photos of the bands below!

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) Pennsylvania State Police at the Rivers Casino, in Pittsburgh, are reporting via release that they have charged 69-year-old Anthony Bozza of Rochester Twp., Pa. with Criminal Defiant Trespass.
Troopers stated in the release that the incident occurred after Bozza had placed himself on a self exclusion list in February of 2021 for a duration of one year. On Monday, September 20, 2021, around 5:30 PM Bozza entered the gaming floor of the casino and began to participate in gaming activities.

(Muddy Creek Twp, Pa.) Pa State Police are reporting via release that they were dispatched to the scene of a one vehicle accident on West Portersville Road in Muddy Creek Twp. at 3:15 PM on Wednesday, September 22, 2021.
Troopers said in the release that 67-year-old Timothy Kelly of Ellwood City was operating a 2006 Ford Econoline van west on West Portersville Road when he struck a telephone pole on the right side of the road causing his vehicle to spin sideways before striking an embankment of the westbound lane causing the vehicle to over turn on the driver’s side. Kelly was injured in the accident and transported to Jameson Hospital.
State Police have cited him with not properly driving on roadways laned for traffic.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing northbound lane restrictions on the I-79 Neville Island Bridge in Glenfield Borough and Robinson and Neville townships, Allegheny County, will occur Friday night, September 24 through Monday morning, September 27 weather permitting.