The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has confirmed a positive case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in a flock of commercial layer chickens in Lancaster County.
Also known as “high path AI”, there is no immediate public health concern since no human cases of avian influenza have been detected in the United States. However, it can cause sudden death, lack of energy and appetite, decreased egg production and more in infected birds.
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said an interagency task force is working to address the threat from the disease and protect the state’s $7.1 billion poultry industry.
“Biosecurity is most important for anyone who owns or works with poultry,” he said. “Anyone visiting a farm should be aware that your vehicles and shoes may carry the virus from other places you have traveled. Clean them thoroughly and stay away from the poultry barns unless you have to be there.”
This is the first positive case of high-path AI in commercial poultry in the state since an outbreak in 1983 and 1984. Infections in commercial and backyard poultry flocks have been confirmed in 29 states, including most surrounding Pennsylvania.
The Department of Agriculture has quarantined the farm and all commercial poultry facilities within a 10-kilometer radius of the infected flock. Jeff Warner, acting deputy secretary of animal health and food safety, said it’s important for poultry producers in the state to ensure biosecurity practices are part of their daily routine.
“The ability to identify where poultry flocks are located in a disease outbreak is important to help animal-health officials stop the spread of the disease quickly, he said. “Using premises’ ID, state officials can quickly notify all flock owners of a dangerous disease in their area and recommend testing if needed to rule out the disease.”
By Mark Peterson. Published April 20, 2022, 6:00 A.M.
(Beaver County, PA) Guglielmo Marconi was born on April 25, 1874. He was an Italian inventor and businessman who was the most responsible for creating what we all enjoy, love and know as radio. Beaver County Radio will honor Marconi and the business he gave birth to on his birthday with a special line up of guests highlighting the discovery and development radio.
Ken Mueller
From 9 to 10 A.M., Ken Mueller will join Teleforum show host, Eddy Crow. Ken will take you on a trip all the way back to the late 1800’s when great men like Guglielmo Marconi, Nikola Telsa, Heinrich Rudolph Hertz and Reginald Fessenden made it possible for you to “tune in” to the radio today. Ken Mueller graduated from Geneva College with a degree in broadcasting and has a master’s degree in mass communications from Penn State University. He began his radio career right here at WBVP from 1982 through 1984. Ken then held other positions in the radio industry in Lancaster, Philadelphia, and New York, at both the local and network levels. Additionally, he spent 13 years as the Radio Curator at the Museum of Television & Radio (now the Paley Center for Media) in NYC and Beverly Hills. He is currently the Director of Public Relations and Development for the Occupational Development Center in Lancaster, PA.
John Poister
The spirit of invention that Guglielmo Marconi embodied will be further exemplified from 10 to 11 A.M. That is when well-known Pittsburgh radio personality and historian, John Poister, will be Eddy Crow’s special “Marconi Day” guest on Teleforum. John will take a look at a very exciting time for our region. Specifically, back to the 1920’s when radio stations were first coming on the air in Pittsburgh. John will talk about the formation and startup of the five original Pittsburgh radio stations including KDKA, KQV, WCAE, WWSW and fellow St. Barnabas Radio Network Station, WJAS. John Poister has been a radio junkie since he was 6 years old. After graduating with a Communications degree from Ithaca College, John got his professional start right here at WMBA in Ambridge. Along the way, John also lent his talents to WEBO-Owego, NY, WIXZ-McKeesport, KQV-Pittsburgh, WTAE-TV and Radio-Pittsburgh, WPGH-TV-Pittsburgh, WSHH/WJAS/WPTT-Pittsburgh, WPXI-TV-Pittsburgh and WMNY-Pittsburgh. In addition, John served briefly as Allegheny County Communications Manager and was the media spokesperson for the State Department of Environmental Protection’s Southwest Region. He is currently the afternoon news anchor for WHJB -FM in Greensburg.
The final hour of Teleforum on Marconi Day will celebrate the hobby and tradition of Amateur Radio. Representatives from the Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Association will talk about the popularity of doing more than just listening. Since its beginning, wireless communication has always been an amazing way to exchange information between people. Initially, radio waves were used to send and receive Morse Code signals back and forth between individuals. Here is a sample of our stations call letters, WBVP, WMBA and WJAS, translated to Morse Code:
Being connected with other people around the world with wireless communication is very important and it has become a big part of our everyday lives. Long before the internet and cellular phones made this type of communication commonplace, radio pioneers were the ones who first envisioned and then introduced it. While it has evolved over the years, two-way radio wave voice communication continues to proliferate today in an F.M. bandwidth that is a little higher than the one in you can pick up in the dashboard of your car. Amateur Radio operators work their craft between 144 and 148 Megahertz. Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Association will open the door to this amazing word as part of Marconi Day on Beaver County Radio.
International Marconi Day takes place this year on April 23, 2022. The day is a 24-hour amateur radio event which celebrates the career of Italian wireless communications pioneer, Guglielmo Marconi. The event takes place each year on the Saturday closest to Marconi’s birthday, which was on April 25, 1874. The on-air tribute to Marconi and the special segments on Beaver County Radio will take place on Marconi’s birthday, Monday April 25, 2022.
(File Photo) Story by Frank Sparks and Sandy Giordano, Beaver County Radio (Aliquippa, Pa.) Pa State Police at the Beaver Barracks are reporting that they have filed criminal homicide charges against 29-year-old Tyquan Cornell Johnson of Aliquippa.
Troopers say that Johnson murdered 22-year-old Isaiah Alston, of Aliquippa at the intersection of Irwin and Meadows Streets in the early morning hours of April 10, 2022. Alston sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Shortly after police arrived on scene they received a report of a person being shot in the 1200 block of Franklin Ave. in Aliquippa. When police arrived they found Johnson had been shot multiple times. Johnson was transported to a Pittsburgh hospital for his injuries. Aliquippa Police asked PSP to take over the investigation.
Aliquippa Police Chief John Lane told Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano that “PSP did an outstanding job. This is the way all of our crimes against persons should be handled, and the families deserve swift justice.”
State Police have charged Johnson with criminal homicide, prohibited person from possessing a firearm, possession of a firearm with manufacture number altered/obliterated, firearms not to be carried without a license, recklessly endangering another person.
He is currently being housed in the Beaver County Jail awaiting a preliminary hearing.
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a 7-year-old boy flown to a hospital after a shooting in northwestern Pennsylvania last week has died at a Pittsburgh hospital. The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office said 7-year-old Antonio Yarger Jr. was taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh after Thursday’s shooting in Erie. The medical examiner’s office said Yarger was pronounced dead at the hospital Monday morning. Erie police said the boy was shot in the head Thursday night while on the sidewalk about a block from his home. No arrests have been announced. Erie police said the boy was shot in the head Thursday night while on the sidewalk about a block from his home. No arrests have been announced.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh’s police chief says an officer who went to a short-term rental property where a party was going on shortly before gunfire broke out, killing two youths, saw nothing to suggest it was anything other than an ordinary noise complaint. Chief Scott Schubert told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday that video indicates that the vast majority of the 200 or so people at the party didn’t arrive until after the noise complaint call. About 90 minutes later, shortly after 12:30 a.m. Sunday, some kind of altercation occurred and gunfire inside and outside killed two 17-year-olds and wounded nine people. Other people were injured trying to escape.
(Rochester, Beaver County, Pa.) With a Federal Judge striking down the national mask mandate on airplanes and mass transit Monday, and The Transportation Security Administration saying Monday night that it would it will no longer enforce the mask requirement, the Beaver County Transit Authority has lifted the masking mandate on all facilities and BCTA vehicles including the DART Bus Program.
The sign below is what BCTA is posting throughout its facilities:
Mary Jo Morandini, General Manager of the Beaver County Transit Authority told beaver County Radio that “BCTA has followed all CDC Guidelines throughout the pandemic.”
The CDC does still recommend that people wear masks in indoor public transportation settings however BCTA is making masking optional following along the same lines of PAT Transit and Pittsburgh International Airport once the TSA said that it would it will no longer enforce the mask requirement after the Federal Judges ruling.
Wednesday’s Teleforum begins with Dale Reckless of MRS Physical Therapy, and afterwards features author James Keefe joins the program to explain the perceived benefits of the RGGI plan in Pennsylvania. Teleforum is on the air every weekday from 9:10 till noon on AM1230, AM1460, FM99.3 presented by St. Barnabas, and on FM95.7, as well as with the free Beavercountyradio App!
(Harrisburg, Pa.) Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence) recently wrote a letter to Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Secretary Noe Ortega about material that is targeted at young students.
A slideshow was provided to Bernstine with the “Gender Unicorn” and “Genderbread Person,” which was presented during a seminar at a local university. The purpose of the seminar was to expose the way that future teachers are learning how they could have conversations with children in kindergarten, and first and second grades.
“There is no reason to be having these conversations with such young children, and it is unacceptable,” said Bernstine. “The classroom is not the place to push this ideology onto them.”
Bernstine said that according to those at the seminar, the “Gender Unicorn” and “Genderbread Person” are meant to educate grade school students about their identity as part of an anti-bullying campaign. In addition, the lawmaker added, the material came from the United States Department of Education and was provided to PDE.
“This is simply inappropriate for children of this age, and should not be included in any curriculum,” said Bernstine. “It is not the job of the government to indoctrinate these kids to this type of graphic. These young people do not need to be confused about issues that do not relate to their age group. It is unethical.”
Hanover Twp., Washington County, Pa.) Pa State Police at the Pittsburgh Barracks are reporting that one person was killed and two others hurt in a crash that occurred on Sunday in Hanover Twp., Washington County, Pa.
Troopers said via release that a vehicle being driven by Stewart Alan Wilson attempted to pass another vehicle that was turning left into a driveway.
Wilson’s vehicle struck the second vehicle in the front end and then went out of control hitting a guiderail, going airborne, hitting a telephone pole and ending up on its roof. Both Wilson and his passenger Denise A Pierce-Wilson were ejected from the vehicle. Pierce-Wilson was transported to Weirton Medical Center where she succumbed to her injuries. The other individuals were transport to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. There is no word on their condition as State Police continue to investigate.
(Photo of Physician General Dr. Denise A. Johnson speaking with the press about the need for blood donations, February 03, 2022 – Hummelstown, Pa. Photo courtesy of PA Media Services)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s acting health secretary is leaving the job. Gov. Tom Wolf said Monday his physician general, Dr. Denise Johnson, will take over leadership of the department. Keara Klinepeter’s last day is Friday. She’s been acting secretary since her predecessor, Alison Beam, left at the end of 2021. Klinepeter has been deeply involved in the government’s handling of COVID-19, including as special advisor to the secretary and executive deputy secretary. Johnson will also continue to serve as physician general.
