Aug 1, 2025 5 min read

Cheers: Cheers to the Carmichaels Copperheads for winning their 15th Fayette County Baseball League championship last Friday. Carmichaels, coached by Dickie Krause, swept top-seeded Potomac Valley with three complete-game pitching performances, winning by scores of 8-0, 2-0 and 7-2 behind Gavin Pratt, Matt Bamford and Gianni Cavini. Copperheads pitching limited the Mudcats to a combined two runs on just eight hits while holding them scoreless the first 20 innings of the series. It was the fifth straight championship for Carmichaels star Santino Marra, who also won the 2021 title while playing for Masontown and then the next three playing under his father, Buddy Marra, for M&R Transit.

Cheers: What a serendipitous turn of events for the borough of Charleroi with last week’s news that a tentative agreement has been reached with a prospective buyer for the recently closed World Kitchen plant in Charleroi. After a tumultuous nine months for the 250 people employed there, an unnamed company is pledging to invest roughly $25 million in refurbishing the 132-year-old glass plant and restore many of the jobs that were lost. Sources close to the transaction said plant owner Anchor Hocking struck a deal to sell the plant to an entity whose identity is being withheld for now, revealing only that the company is involved in “industrial grade glass.” The news was met with glee by borough officials and former employees. “I’ve got a big smile on my face,” said Charleroi Councilman Larry Celaschi upon hearing the news. “I’m 65, and I’ve never attempted a back flip, but I’m so happy that I can go in my front street and try.” The sentiment was shared by longtime employee Daniele Byrne, vice president of the union representing workers at the Corelle Brands plant, who was not aware of any potential sale but said she would “absolutely” return to work there. The hope is for the deal to be finalized by the end of September and the plant operational within the next six months.

Jeers: Hundreds of pharmacies across Pennsylvania have gone out of business in recent years, and pharmacists say legislation passed last year to help isn’t doing enough to prevent more closures, according to a Spotlight PA report. The problem, pharmacists and their advocates say, boils down to how much pharmacies are paid for their work and the medications they provide. Insurance reimbursements frequently don’t cover the costs of the drugs themselves or the related overhead expenses, such as paying for staff and keeping the lights on, according to multiple pharmacists and pharmacy owners. Several pharmacists told Spotlight PA that depending on reimbursement rates, pharmacies can bring on more customers and fill more prescriptions and still end up losing money. “We are getting closer and closer to the day that we don’t have main street pharmacies with their doors open,” pharmacist Erich Cushey, who owns Curtis Pharmacy in Claysville, Washington, Carmichaels and Connellsville, told the news organization. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association says more state action is needed. A proposal from state Sens. Judy Ward (R., Blair) and Lisa Boscola (D., Northampton) would affect payments to pharmacies for the millions of patients enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. In a June memo to colleagues, they said the approach saved hundreds of millions in administrative costs for Ohio, while also allowing hundreds of millions of dollars in dispensing fees to go directly to pharmacies.

Cheers: A caregiver is credited for helping to save a paralyzed man from a Fayette County fire that killed a woman. Tony Masterbray, 74, had just arrived for his shift about midnight July 16 to provide overnight care for the paralyzed man, who is in his early 50s, can’t speak and breathes with the help of oxygen. About 1:30 a.m., a smoke alarm sounded in the Dunbar Township home, prompting Masterbray to leave his client’s room to check on the situation. He found the mother standing in the doorway of her bedroom with fire behind her. He directed her to get out of the house, but she instead went into the living room, where she apparently collapsed in a chair. A former firefighter, Masterbray closed the bedroom door and used a towel to seal off the threshold to keep smoke from entering the rest of the house. He and the father then went into the paralyzed man’s room and tried to get him into a wheelchair, but Masterbray’s back gave out. Unable to get the man out of the bedroom, Masterbray and the father pulled him from the bed onto the floor, and Masterbray remained next to him as the father opened the bedroom window to let in fresh air. Firefighters arrived, and the three family members were flown to area hospitals, but the woman, 73-year-old Barbara Diane Woods, died two days later. Masterbray said he had no qualms about doing everything he could that morning. “My concern was for my client and his family,” Masterbray said before pausing for a moment. “My family.”