Capitol riot arrest of restaurant owner rattles hometown
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press
KANE, Pa. (AP) — Before the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, most people in Pauline Bauer’s rural Pennsylvania hometown knew her for the deep-dish pizza and ice cream she sells at her restaurant. After her arrest in May on riot-related charges, Bauer became a target for strangers’ scorn and a punchline for Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk show on CBS. Bauer believes most of her neighbors support her, but some residents of Kane, Pennsylvania, condemn what she did in Washington on Jan. 6. Colbert mocked her argument that she is “immune from laws.” Bauer has told a federal judge that she doesn’t want an attorney to represent her.

New leader to take over UPMC as longtime CEO retires
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The head of one of Pennsylvania’s largest employers, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, is retiring and the organization’s executive vice president will succeed him. Jeffrey A. Romoff has led the organization that would become UPMC since 1992 when it consisted of a handful of hospitals. He hands over the reigns of what is now a $23 billion health care system to Leslie C. Davis, who has been with UPMC for 17 years. That’s according to a Wednesday press release from UPMC. Davis will become president and CEO of UPMC on Sunday, and Romoff will serve as president emeritus during a transition period until Oct. 1.

(Somerset, PA) (July 2021) —It’s a girl! An African elephant calf was born in the early
morning hours of July 18th at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium’s International
Conservation Center (ICC) in Somerset, PA. Both mother and baby are bonding and doing well. The healthy calf was born at just under three feet tall and weighed in at 218 pounds.
This is the first calf for new mom, Sukuri, who had no issues during her pregnancy and is very attentive to her newborn. The pregnancy was a result of natural breeding with resident bull elephant, Jackson.

“We are delighted that the pregnancy and birth went smoothly. Initial introductions are going very well, with both mom and calf staying close to each other,” said Willie Theison, lead elephant care specialist at both the ICC and the Pittsburgh Zoo. “As with any newborn, we are now tracking encouraging progress with parameters like weight, bloodwork, and feeding.”
The baby elephant is expected to remain with her mom at the International Conservation Center in Somerset. Both the ICC and the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium are operated by the Zoological Society of Pittsburgh.
The ICC is located on approximately 1,000 acres in Somerset, PA and is the only facility of its kind in North America that specializes in the care and breeding of African elephants. The ICC enables the Pittsburgh Zoo to play a major leadership role in addressing the needs for the species in North America.
Follow the Zoo on social media @pghzoo for photos and updates.

(File Photo)

(Oakmont, Pa.) Pa State Police in Gibsonia are reporting that they were called to Oakmont Plaza on the Pa. Turnpike  Monday evening, July 26, 2021, at 10:30 PM for reports of an unknown truck clipping the large yellow concrete safety pillar with its driver’s side and totally shearing the pillar from the ground.

According to a release the truck then continued into the plaza and briefly parked. A short time later the truck left the plaza without reporting the crash of notifying anyone of the incident.

Troopers stated in the release that they are continuing to investigate, and surveillance video showed the trucking company owner.  The driver of the truck is facing possible charges of accidents involving damage to an unattended vehicle or property.

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

HARRISBURG, Pa. – U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., wants to bring back the Civilian Conservation Corps, a public-works program from the 1930s that created 3 million jobs nationally, planting trees and creating trails and cabins in national parks.

The Revive the CCC Act, introduced last week by Casey, would focus on jobs to mitigate climate change and address racial justice. Unlike the original CCC, the proposal also would include farms as job host sites.

Hannah Smith-Brubaker, executive director of Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, said this on-site support could help farmers deal with flooding and erosion.

“Having help to install some of these conservation practices means a lot, because we know that the margin for farmers is really tight,” she said, “and so it’s sort of a win-win situation; we’ve got the help on the farms, but then also the ability to pass on this important information.”

This isn’t the first time a revival of the CCC has been suggested in Congress, and some budget pushback is expected. Under this bill, the jobs would pay at least $15 an hour and could create 57,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, according to a study by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute.

A Civilian Conservation Corps also could be helpful in rebuilding an economy hit hard by the pandemic. Pennsylvania’s labor market is short more than 400,000 jobs compared with February 2020 employment numbers.

Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center, said he thinks a new CCC could be a national opportunity for life-sustaining and meaningful jobs.

“These are really important jobs; people would be on the front lines of climate response,” he said. “If we get a CCC, I can guarantee you that you’re going to have members of Congress from both parties that are going to be doing ‘show-and-tells’ in their districts where the good work of the CCC is going on again.”

Casey’s legislation also supports pathways to employment in climate, conservation and related trades for formerly incarcerated people. Similar legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Transportation funding report could launch years of debate
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A transportation funding commission is preparing to recommend how to raise billions more dollars in Pennsylvania for a 21st-century highway system, a report that is expected to kick off a debate that could last years. The report, expected this week, was ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf in March to find ways to replace Pennsylvania’s gas tax. It is expected to contain a blend of recommendations, but the primary revenue-raiser will be a vehicle-miles-traveled fee. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor said it’s a difficult time to raise taxes and fees, as the economy rebounds from the pandemic, and he predicted no action before 2023, at the earliest.