Student’s Snapchat profanity leads to high court speech case
By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before the Supreme Court this week is an argument over whether public schools can discipline students over something they say off-campus. Fourteen-year-old Brandi Levy was suspended from cheerleading over a profanity-laced posting on Snapchat. The case has its roots in the Vietnam-era case of a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, that suspended students who wore armbands to protest the war. In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court sided with the students, declaring students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Keystone State News Connection

Andrea Sears

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Last week’s Climate Leaders Summit emphasized fighting climate change as an economic opportunity, and state leaders say that means investments and jobs in Pennsylvania.

At the conclusion of the virtual summit of more than three dozen world leaders, President Joe Biden stressed the massive investments necessary to fight climate change will help restore an economy ravaged by COVID-19 and create thousands of new, good-paying jobs.

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., pointed out in an online news conference Biden’s American Jobs Plan (AJP) calls for investments and tax credits that could create many of those jobs in Pennsylvania.

“By manufacturing electric cars, electrifying public transit vehicles, and paving the way for a clean energy economy, that creates jobs while fighting climate change,” Wild contended.

Biden’s plan faces stiff opposition from congressional Republicans who object to paying for much of the needed investments by raising taxes on corporations.

Pennsylvania Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, noted the fight against climate change is critical to preventing the kind of damage that is becoming more common around the country every year.

“We’re talking about $56 billion dollars in repairs that are necessary as we respond to the floods and the hurricanes and these intensified weather events that are connected to climate change,” Kenyatta outlined.

Pennsylvania has experienced 37 extreme weather events in the past ten years.

The AJP calls for improving the resilience of infrastructure and supporting communities as they recover from disasters.

Wild believes the investments called for by the AJP have the potential to create a more just and cleaner future for generations to come.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing a lane restriction in the outbound Fort Pitt Tunnel in the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, will occur Sunday and Monday nights, April 25-26.

A single-lane restriction will occur in the outbound (westbound) Fort Pitt Tunnel from 9:30 p.m. through 5:30 a.m. each night as crews conduct stand pipe work.

Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.

Prototype of 1st US dollar coins auctioned for $840,000
The Associated Press undefined
Officials say a piece of copper that was struck by the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1794 and was a prototype for the fledgling nation’s money was auctioned off for $840,000, considerably more than expected. Heritage auctions spokesman Eric Bradley said the “No Stars Flowing Hair Dollar” opened at $312,000 when it was put up Friday evening but “in less than a minute, intense bidding quickly pushed the coin to its final auction price of $840,000.” The coin, formerly owned by businessman and Texas Rangers co-chairman Bob Simpson, had been expected to sell for $350,000 to $500,000.