Harrisburg, PA — This afternoon, Governor Josh Shapiro released the following statement ongoing budget negotiations:

 

“Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation with a full-time, divided legislature — meaning nothing gets done unless it can make it through our Republican-led Senate and our Democratic-led House. Over the past several weeks, I have worked with leaders in both chambers to craft a commonsense, responsible budget that makes critical investments in public safety, agriculture, economic development, public education, workforce development, relief for our seniors, and much more, as I laid out in my budget address in March.

 

“Last Friday, the Senate passed a responsible budget that delivers critical funding to our shared priorities and sent it to the House for its consideration. Now, we stand at an impasse largely over one provision of this budget, PASS Scholarships, a proposal I support that has been passed by the Senate but one that Leader Bradford has made clear does not have the support of the House, where it was voted down in committee on Friday.

 

“Over the weekend, Leader Bradford requested a legal memo from the Office of General Counsel, which confirmed that without enabling legislation setting up this program, my Administration legally cannot implement it. Knowing that the two chambers will not reach consensus at this time to enact PASS, and unwilling to hold up our entire budget process over this issue, I will line-item veto the full $100 million appropriation and it will not be part of this budget bill.

 

“While I am disappointed the two parties could not come together, Leader Bradford has given me his word — and he has written a letter outlining directly to Leader Pittman — that he will carefully examine and consider additional education options including PASS, Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC), and Education Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) as we work to address our public education needs in light of the Commonwealth Court’s recent education ruling.

 

“This is just one of several initiatives important to me that have passed in one chamber but not the other — initiatives like statute of limitations reform, an increase in our minimum wage, commonsense gun safety legislation, and the Fairness Act. It is incumbent upon leaders in both chambers to find ways to work together so that everyone’s ideas are carefully considered and advanced through the legislative process and we can deliver for all Pennsylvanians.

 

“Our Commonwealth should not be plunged into a painful, protracted budget impasse while our communities wait for the help and resources this commonsense budget will deliver.

 

“It is our responsibility to deliver a budget that addresses the most pressing issues Pennsylvanians are facing, and so with this commitment, I respectfully urge Democrats and Republicans in the House to now pass the budget bill that has been sent to them by the Senate and send it to my desk.”

HARRISBURG – Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Butler/Lawrence) issued the following statement after voting “no” to an irresponsible 2023-24 state budget.

“Apparently, Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable children are not a priority for Gov. Josh Shapiro. After supporting $100 million that would provide money to children from K-12 in the lowest performing 15% of schools in statewide performance standards, the governor changed his tune and has pledged to veto that item in the budget. That is totally unacceptable. The PA Award for Student Success (PASS) scholarship program would give students better educational opportunities. During his campaign, Shapiro supported school choice for our students, but when push came to shove, he sided with his Democrat colleagues and special interest groups.

“A total of 88 high schools in the state would have been impacted by the PASS scholarships, 33 of those schools have zero students who are proficient in math. Make no mistake about it, the governor’s priority is not our children’s education.

“The budget misses the opportunity to address many financial pitfalls Pennsylvania is facing. The plan is a 6% increase in spending over last year’s budget. This level of spending is unsustainable and would lead to a tax hike in the near future. While costs have gone up in all sectors of the economy, increasing a budget by this amount is not sustainable.

 

“This budget does nothing to address our structural deficit while using surplus funds to prop up our balance sheet.

 

“This budget falls short of being fiscally responsible. Protecting taxpayers will remain one of my top priorities.”

(Monaca, PA) Starting this fall, Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) will offer its nationally  renowned James M. Johnson School of Aviation Sciences Professional Pilot associate degree online.  Future pilots who enroll at CCBC can complete all the program’s academic courses virtually while  participating in flight training at one of nine partnering flight schools across the state.  CCBC’s premier partner flight providers stretch across the state from Beaver County to the Poconos, and  include:  

Aces Aviation 

AirQuest Aviation 

Fly Legacy Aviation 

High Flight Academy 

Laurel Highlands Aeronautical Academy 

Moore Aviation 

Moyer Aviation, Inc. 

Pittsburgh Flight Training Center 

Nulton Aviation Flight Academy 

Ravotti Air LLC 

“The United States continues to experience a vast piloting shortage with Boeing alone predicting a need  for 600,000 pilots in the next two decades,” explained Dr. John Higgs, Senior Dean and Dean of the  James M. Johnson School of Aviation Sciences at CCBC. “With high quality flight providers across the  state on board, we can offer lucrative career opportunities to more students and meet industry  demands broadly and quickly.”

Online courses for the degree include Foundations and Development of Aviation, Private Pilot Flight  Theory, Instrument Flight Theory, Commercial Flight Theory, Aircraft Engines & Systems, Aerodynamics  of Flight, Human Factors Theory, Foundations in Meteorology, and more. 

Graduates will also earn their Private license, Instrument rating, Commercial certificate, and Multi Engine and/or Certified Flight Instructor ratings. They will benefit from earning a Restricted Airline  Transport Pilot (R-ATP) Certificate, which allows pilots to join airlines at 21 years old, after 1,250 flight  hours versus the standard 1,500 hours (about 2 months), and gain seniority sooner. 

“CCBC’s online Professional Pilot program will allow students across the state to receive first-class  academic instruction from our faculty, while learning hands-on at a flight school close to home,” said  CCBC President Dr. Roger W. Davis. “This virtual portal gives students access to an education that can  take them anywhere in the world.” 

Pennsylvania residents will receive partial reimbursement for flight costs from CCBC’s PA Flight Discount  Fund. On a per flight hour basis, pilots-in-training will receive reimbursement toward flight costs  (currently $50 an hour). On average, students can expect to recoup 20% of the costs. 

Often called the “Harvard of Aviation due to its now prestigious reputation as one of the nation’s top  programs, CCBC launched its aviation school in 1969. More than 50 years later, the college has placed an  air-traffic controller in every tower in the country and a professional pilot in the cockpit of every major  U.S. airline through industry-approved curricula taught by aviation professionals and best-in-class flight  simulators. 

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
(Photo/Associated Press)

Those waiting for the return of “Queen B” to Western Pennsylvania will have to wait a little longer.

In a tweet released Wednesday by the official Acrisure Stadium account, the facility announced that Beyonce’s “Renaissance World Tour” show scheduled for August 3 was postponed due to “logistics and scheduling issues”. Those issues were not specified.

Those who purchased tickets for the August 3 show automatically had their purchases refunded. A statement tweeted out later by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey stated that the city was “disappointed” with the news, and that the city was in talks with the tour promoters for a potential rescheduled date.

Beyonce last performed at then-Heinz Field back on May 31, 2016 during her “The Formation: World Tour” in front of a crowd of 36,325. The stadium set an attendance record last month when Taylor Swift performed in front of a crowd of 73,117.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The man who gunned down 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue does not have a psychiatric or neurological disorder, and he was capable of forming the intent to kill, a neurologist testified Wednesday at the killer’s federal death penalty trial.

Dr. Ryan Darby, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was called by prosecutors to rebut defense experts who previously testified that Robert Bowers is psychotic and has brain abnormalities.

Bowers, 50, a truck driver from suburban Baldwin, was convicted last month of killing members of three congregations who had gathered at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. He also wounded two worshippers and five police officers.

The penalty phase of Bowers’ trial began June 26 and is expected to last several weeks. Defense lawyers are trying to persuade a jury to spare his life, while federal prosecutors are seeking a death sentence.

Last week, defense experts testified that Bowers was “blatantly psychotic,” with a long history of mental illness. Bowers’ lawyers are trying to show that his ability to form the legal intent to kill was impaired by mental illness and his delusional belief that he could stop a genocide of white people by killing Jews.

But Darby asserted Wednesday that mental illness did not appear to play a role in the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack.

The neurologist told jurors he examined Bowers for more than three hours in May, finding the defendant to be calm, cooperative and keen on talking about Jews, immigrants and his belief in a racist conspiracy theory known as the “great replacement.”

Darby, who also reviewed scans of Bowers’ brain, disagreed with defense experts’ assessment that Bowers has schizophrenia — a serious brain disorder whose symptoms include delusions — as well as a seizure disorder and brain abnormalities.

He said Bowers’ toxic views about Jewish people were reinforced by antisemitic material he viewed online and were not the result of a delusion or psychosis.

“He saw himself as a soldier” in a war against white people, Darby testified. He said Bowers told him that if he had a chance to attack the synagogue again, he would kill more people.

HARRISBURG – House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) said Wednesday that the move by Pennsylvania’s House Democrats to approve a General Appropriations bill that would have a lifeline scholarship program line-item vetoed is the result of choosing political convenience over students.

“Democrats approving this budget is nothing more than an escape hatch for our friends on the other side of the aisle who wish to avoid a protracted impasse over a politically inconvenient issue that divides their own party,” Cutler said. “Today’s vote ultimately will leave students and families, who want nothing more than the opportunity for a better education and a better future, out in the cold merely for political convenience.”

Cutler also noted the budget bill in chief is a document of contradictions that is soured by recent maneuvering on the lifeline scholarship issue.

“There are positive things one can point to in this spending plan. It increases funding for career and technical education, workforce development programs, public safety, and property tax relief while maintaining our commitment to supporting public education, the PA State System of Higher Education, and increasing funding for Educational Improvement and Opportunity Scholarship tax credit programs. It increases support for our Rainy Day Fund, spends less than what the governor originally proposed, and is considerably more reasonable than the unilateral budget passed out of this House about a month ago by the Democrats on a straight party-line vote,” Cutler stated.

“On the other hand, this budget has a lot of concerning elements,” Cutler continued. “For instance, it does little to address our structural deficit and runaway and unaccountable welfare programs, which if not addressed, will threaten the long-term ability of our state to genuinely prosper.”

The General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2023-24, once enacted, will fund Commonwealth functions for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. Without the passage of an accompanying Fiscal Code, discretion over how these funds are to be distributed largely lies with the governor.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania State Police investigated 668 vehicle crashes resulting in three fatalities and 194 injuries during the five-day Independence Day travel period, which ran from June 30-July 4. Alcohol was a factor in 59 of the non-fatal crashes.

Troopers made 505 arrests for driving under the influence and issued 23,738 total traffic citations to include 845 individuals for not wearing seat belts and 210 tickets to people for failing to secure children in safety seats.

Table 1: Independence Day Weekend Crash Statistics

Year	Total Crashes	Fatal Crashes	People Killed	People Injured	Alcohol-Related Crashes	Alcohol-Related Fatal Crashes
2023 (5 days)	668	3	3	194	59	0
2022 (4 days)	649	4	4	170	52	0

 

Table 2: Independence Day Weekend Enforcement Statistics

Year	DUI Arrests	Speeding Citations	Child Seat Citations	Seat Belt Citations	Other Citations
2023 (5 days)	505	7,929	210	845	14,754
2022 (4 days)	515	8,769	297	986	14,257

 

More information on 2023 Independence Day enforcement, broken down by troop, is available here.

These statistics cover only those incidents investigated by the state police and do not include incidents to which other law enforcement agencies responded.

For more information on the Pennsylvania State Police, visit psp.pa.gov.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday backed off his insistence on money for a new private-school funding program, giving the Democratic-controlled House the opening to approve a new state spending plan after a days-long stalemate in Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature.

The chamber on Wednesday night approved the main bill in a $45 billion spending plan, 117-86, as the state government plowed through its fifth day without full spending authority. Every Democrat voted in favor of it, joined by 15 Republicans.

The holdup was primarily over education spending — including Shapiro’s support for a new $100 million program to pay for tuition at private and religious schools that is a top priority for Republican lawmakers.

That first-ever “voucher” program had been a key element in a budget deal between Shapiro and Republicans who control the state Senate — and killing it opened the door to steps the Senate GOP could take to extract concessions in other budget-related legislation.

The private-schools program had been opposed by Democrats, teachers unions and school boards, and the ensuing stalemate prompted Shapiro to pledge to issue a line-item veto of the $100 million program should the House otherwise pass the Senate-approved spending plan.

In a statement, Shapiro said he was disappointed, but did not want to plunge the state into a “painful, protracted budget impasse.”

Some Republicans expressed shock at the turn of events. In a statement, Senate Republican leaders said Shapiro had “decided to betray the good faith agreement we reached” and lacked “enough respect and standing within his own party to follow through with his promise.”

On the House floor, Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, accused Shapiro of “backtracking on a handshake deal.”

The spending plan represents a 5% increase from last year’s approved budget, sending most of the new money to education, health care and social services.

The total spending figure would be several hundred million less than what Shapiro proposed in March and about $1.7 billion less than what the Democratic-controlled House passed in early June. It also carries significantly less for public schools than what House Democrats sought.

The plan does not increase sales or income taxes — the state’s two main sources of income — and requires about $1 billion from reserves to balance, leaving another $13 billion in reserve.

Shapiro’s original budget plan — and his deal with Senate Republicans — fell short of what many Democrats had wanted.

Shapiro secured a hefty increase of more than $600 million for public school instruction and operations, or about 7%, as well as millions to provide free school breakfasts, public defenders for the indigent and bigger property tax and rent subsidies for the elderly and disabled.

Millions more was set aside to improve school buildings and help pay for school mental health counselors. The plan also includes another $150 million Republicans wanted for a separate tax-credit program that largely benefits private schools.

Still, the spending plan does not include some of Shapiro’s priorities and about $600 million in aid for Penn State, Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh remained in limbo, held up by a House Republican bloc.

Other items that Shapiro had wanted in the budget bill — and that Senate Republicans agreed to in exchange for the private schools program — might need separate legislation to allow that money to be spent.

That means that Senate Republicans have not necessarily lost all their leverage, but Majority Leader Rep. Matthew Bradford, D-Montgomery, noted, “That’s never how I understood how a bill becomes a law.”

Even with concessions from the House Democrats, Bradford said the spending plan had good aspects.

“Sure, I think there’s missed opportunities, but on balance, I think it moves the Commonwealth forward,” he said. “The education funding is particularly notable.”

And Republicans haven’t scheduled the Senate to return to session until Sept. 18, giving them the ability to hold up the budget bill until then without the constitutionally required signature of the presiding officer, they said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — J.D. Martinez and David Peralta homered back-to-back in the fifth inning, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers rally from a four-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 on Wednesday night.

Martinez connected on an 0-2 pitch from reliever Roansy Contreras (3-7) for his 20th homer, a go-ahead, three-run shot to left-center that scored Will Smith and Max Muncy, who drew consecutive walks.

“Will and Munce had really good at-bats and found a way to get on,” Martinez said. “I feel like I’ve been kind of unlucky lately, just missing balls at the fence.”

Peralta followed with a 406-foot solo shot to the lower right-field seats for a 6-4 lead.

Contreras and Pirates starter Osvaldo Bido combined on four walks over the fourth and fifth. Both were called for pitch-clock violations: Bido in the second and Contreras in the fifth.

The Dodgers’ struggling bullpen turned back two bases-loaded jams over the final three innings.

“It’s big,” Martinez said. “We need those guys. That’s one of the huge pieces for us to be able to lock up huge situations for us.”

Pittsburgh threatened in the ninth, loading the bases with no outs against Daniel Hudson. Pinch-hitter Connor Joe opened with a ground-rule double, then Hudson walked Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds back-to-back. Henry Davis struck out and Carlos Santana flied out before Jack Suwinski struck out swinging to end the game.

Hudson earned his first save in 13 months. He returned to the team last week after tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament on June 24, 2022, against Atlanta.

“It’s just good to have him back and stabilize us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It certainly adds another leverage guy.”

Leading 6-4, the Dodgers eked out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh. Jared Triolo singled off Phil Bickford, who then walked Austin Hedges and McCutchen. Ryan Brasier came in, and backed by solid defense, got three straight outs to end the inning. Reynolds lined out to short on a stellar catch by Miguel Rojas, Davis lined into Mookie Betts’ glove at second and Santana popped out to third.

The Dodgers got on the board with two runs in the fourth. Jason Heyward had a bases-loaded sacrifice fly that scored Muncy, who walked, and Rojas added a RBI single.

Reynolds had a solo homer off Dodgers starter Bobby Miller (5-1) in the first. The Pirates extended the lead to 4-0 on Suwinski’s three-run blast in the fourth.

“It was a bad slider,” Miller said of Suwinski’s home-run pitch. “But I dialed it right back in. I wanted to go as far as I could in this game. Just giving the team a chance to win is the biggest deal.”

Miller allowed four runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one.

“I don’t know where we would have been if he couldn’t get six (innings),” Roberts said.

Bido gave up two runs and two hits in four innings. He struck out four and walked four.

(Photo by Beaver County Radio News Director Curtis Walsh)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Norfolk Southern says the owner of the rail car that caused the fiery Ohio derailment in February failed to properly maintain it in the years before the crash, and the railroad wants to make sure that company and the owners of the other cars involved help pay for the costs.

The railroad filed a complaint Friday against all the car owners and shippers connected to the hazardous chemicals that spilled in the Feb. 3 derailment. As part of that, Norfolk Southern said GATX didn’t follow the car manufacturer’s recommendations for taking care of the plastic pellet car that has been blamed for the derailment.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report that the likely cause of the crash was a bearing on that car overheated. Its final report detailing everything that contributed won’t be done until at least next year. The derailment forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and sent a towering plume of black smoke over the town of East Palestine

The railroad said everyone involved in shipping hazardous chemicals bears some responsibility under federal regulations in making sure they get to their destination safely. Norfolk Southern, like most railroads, doesn’t actually own most of the cars it hauls, and it said the car owner and shippers are responsible for maintaining them even though railroad workers inspect and repair them along the way if they find defects.

The problem Norfolk Southern identified with the plastic pellet car is that it sat idle for more than a year and a half in 2017 and 2018 and again for more than six months in 2018 and 2019. The manufacturer says railcars need to be moved at least one car length ever six months to keep the grease on the bearings from degrading, which can happen over long periods of time or during extreme weather. The railroad said the car was based on the Gulf Coast near New Orleans, which experiences hurricanes and flooding.

But GATX leases its railcars to companies that use them to ship their products, so it may not have even had control over the car at the time. The NTSB pointed out in documents released as part of its investigative hearing that the railroad doesn’t track car movements within its railyards, so it also may not be clear whether this car wasn’t moved when it wasn’t in use.

GATX said in a statement that “throughout our 125-year history, the safety of our employees, our customers, our environment and the communities in which we operate has always been our highest priority. We will vigorously defend the company against baseless claims made by Norfolk Southern.”

Norfolk Southern’s move to make sure other companies pay part of the nearly $400 million estimated cost of the derailment isn’t a surprise. It previously said it would likely do that as well as pursuing reimbursement from its insurers.

Railroad spokesman Thomas Crosson said this legal move doesn’t signal a change in Norfolk Southern’s commitment to cleaning up the mess. Rather, Crosson said this complaint “seeks to ensure that others responsible for the safe transport of freight, such as railcar owners and shippers of the material being transported, contribute resources to the effort.”

The railroad also defended the decision to blow open five tank cars containing vinyl chloride and burn that chemical three days after the derailment because officials were concerned those cars might explode. Residents are concerned about the potential health implications of that move and the other chemicals that spilled.

Norfolk Southern said the railroad’s hazardous materials experts who were helping firefighters deal with the derailment feared that the pressure inside the cars could be building. The fact that one car appeared to heat up on its own and another car violently vented some pressurized gas even after the fire near those cars had been extinguished troubled first responders.

The company that shipped the vinyl chloride, OxyVinyls, told the NTSB last month that its experts believed the chemical remained stable.

“Norfolk Southern’s lawsuit is a meritless disinformation campaign masquerading as a legal filing,” OxyVinyls spokeswoman Celina Cardenas said. “Norfolk Southern’s recommendation to simultaneously detonate the railcars containing our product — contrary to the available information about the railcars’ condition or the product properties — appears to have been needlessly rushed to prioritize Norfolk Southern’s rail line operations.”

It will be up to the courts to decide how much responsibility all of the companies involved will bear. In addition to the companies involved in the vinyl chloride and plastic pellet cars, Norfolk Southern sued the companies responsible for three other tank cars that breached.