December 15, 20225:29 am
A Volant man who went missing was found dead near his home. State Police in Lawrence County report no foul play is suspected in the death of 81 year old Jack Ponder. Police said Ponder was last contacted on December 6th.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is offering residents tip on contending this season with winter storms. The PUC advises folks to be prepared when storms are on the way by keeping cell phones charged and necessary supplies like food, medicine and batteries on hand. In the event of power outages, folks are advised not to try to remove trees or limbs from fallen lines but they should make sure that they are using generators safely and keeping tabs on elderly neighbors. More tips can be found at www.puc.pa.gov/.
A Butler woman faces charges following a one vehicle accident in Franklin Township. State Police report 24 year old Hannah Schoeffel was involved in a rollover crash on Country Club Road. Schoeffel and a four year old child were taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for treatment. Police said Schoeffel was charged with driving under the influence.
A number of Western Pennsylvania police departments are getting a share of more than one-hundred-30-million dollars in state grants. Rochester Township Police, in Beaver County, are among the agencies benefiting from the funding distributed by the Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The department is receiving over 88-thousand dollars, a large portion of which will go to body cameras and in-car video systems.
The Sharon Herald reports a Stoneboro man was sentenced in connection with a fatal accident from November 2021. 69 year old James Eaton was sentenced to 6 months to two years in the Mercer County Jail. Eaton was charged with homicide by vehicle in the death of 56 year old Rod Dickey of Mercer. The fatal accident took place on East State Street in Jefferson Township.
House Democrats in the Pennsylvania Assembly are accusing the state’s GOP leader of improperly transferring nearly 52-million-dollars. Before he left the House speaker’s position, Rep. Bryan Cutler reportedly transferred the millions from accounts he controlled in that office to the Republican leadership account. Democrats say the money is meant to be used by an independent leader of the chamber, not just one party. Cutler, a Republican from Lancaster, says the money belongs to the Republican Caucus.
AAA estimates 112.7 million people will journey 50 miles or more away from home from December 23 to January 2. That’s an increase of 3.6 million people over last year and closing in on pre-pandemic numbers. 2022 is expected to be the third-busiest year for holiday travel since AAA began tracking in 2000. Air travel will see a 14% increase over last year, with nearly 7.2 million Americans expected to fly.
Pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck say a new melanoma vaccine tested in Pennsylvania is showing promising results. The vaccine uses messenger RNA technology and reportedly reduced the likelihood of recurrence by over 40 percent. Dr. Jason Luke at the University of Pittsburgh says the results are a potential watershed moment in cancer treatment therapy. Officials say nearly eight-thousand Americans die from skin cancer each year.