FILE – Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson answers students’ questions during a news conference at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, N.M., on July 11, 2021. Virgin Galactic completed what’s expected to be its final test flight Thursday, May 25, 2023, before taking paying customers on brief trips to space. The company is planning its first commercial flight, a science mission with the Italian Air Force, in late June. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M (AP) — Virgin Galactic has completed a final test flight before taking paying customers on brief trips to space. Six of the company’s employees landed Thursday morning at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico after a flight that included a few minutes of weightlessness. The flight came nearly two years after founder Richard Branson beat fellow billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to space. Flights were grounded after that trip as federal aviation authorities investigated a mishap. The first commercial flight will be a science mission with the Italian Air Force. Next will come paying ticket holders who have been waiting years for their chance at weightlessness.

FILE – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds holds a news conference on COVID-19 in Johnston, Iowa, Tuesday, May 19, 2020. As the federal government scrambles to crack down on surging child labor violations, some state lawmakers want to let children work longer hours and in more hazardous occupations. In addition to allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to work unsupervised in child care centers last year, the Iowa Legislature sent a bill to Republican Gov. Reynolds earlier this month to expand the hours minors can work and allow 16- and 17-year-olds to serve alcohol in restaurants. (Olivia Sun/The Des Moines Register via AP, Pool, File)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Some state lawmakers are looking to loosen child labor laws, even as the federal government cracks down on surging violations. In at least 10 states, legislators have proposed letting children work longer hours and in more hazardous occupations as a fix for labor shortages. They also say parents have the right to let their kids work, and without too much paperwork. But advocates against child exploitation are concerned by proposals allowing children to work late on school nights and serve alcohol in restaurants. Recent investigations by federal authorities found child workers exposed to dangerous conditions in meatpacking plants and automotive factories, industries that have struggled to find adult workers.

FILE – Tina Turner performs in a concert in Cologne, Germany on Jan. 14, 2009. Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer, died Tuesday, after a long illness at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, according to her manager. She was 83. (AP Photo/Hermann J. Knippertz, file)

NEW YORK (AP) — Tina Turner has died at age 83. She teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” She was also known for such songs as “Proud Mary,” “River Deep, Mountain High” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero.” Her trademarks were her growling contralto, her bold smile and strong cheekbones, her palette of wigs and her muscular, quick-stepping legs. Turner’s manager says she died Wednesday after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published May 25, 2023 1:18 P.M.

(Ambridge, PA) Tina (Iorfido) Miller was sworn in last Tuesday as the new, and first  female mayor of Ambridge. Mayor Miller replaces Gerald (Duke) McCoy who resigned.  She was sworn in by District justice Alex Korol. Photo is courtesy of the Ambridge Police Department.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), and Highway Safety Network (HSN) are urging motorists to keep traffic safety top of mind when behind the wheel this holiday weekend, and all summer long. The agencies are working with municipal police departments and other safety partners across the commonwealth to participate in the National “Click It or Ticket” (CIOT) Enforcement Mobilization running now through June 4.

 

“Seat belts save lives,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “If you know someone who doesn’t wear their seat belt, please ask them to consider changing their habit. Losing a loved one in a crash because they weren’t buckled can truly devastate a family. A seat belt is your best protection in a crash, but you have to ‘click it!’”

 

As part of the enforcement mobilization, tonight state and local police agencies, will be taking part in coordinated, high visibility enforcement by utilizing roving patrols, traffic enforcement zones, and speed enforcement details on roadways with high rates of unbuckled crashes.

 

“We are grateful to our law enforcement partners who continue to educate motorists and promote the importance of wearing seat belts every day,” said Highway Safety Network Executive Director Chris Lengle. “The “Click It or Ticket” mobilization highlights that importance by bringing together all law enforcement to achieve our common goal of saving lives. Each contact creates an opportunity to change someone’s behavior and, quite possibly, save their life.”

 

In 2022, there were 11,955 crashes in Pennsylvania where at least one occupant was not wearing a seat belt, resulting in 354 fatalities. It is estimated that 93% of unbelted occupants, or 301 people, who were killed in crashes while traveling in passenger vehicles, including cars, small trucks, vans, and SUVs, could have survived if they had been buckled up.

 

During the four-day Memorial Day weekend in 2022, PSP troopers investigated 775 crashes that resulted in three fatalities and 191 injuries. State Police also cited 1,080 individuals for not wearing seat belts and issued 233 tickets for not securing children in safety seats.

 

Pennsylvania law requires drivers, front-seat passengers, and any occupant younger than 18 to buckle up when riding in a vehicle. Children under age 4 must be properly secured in an approved child safety seat. Children under age 2 must ride in a rear-facing car seat until they outgrow the maximum weight and height limits designated by the seat manufacturer. Booster seats are required for children ages 4 to 8.

 

Troopers certified as child passenger safety technicians offer car seat fittings and inspections throughout Pennsylvania, helping ensure that car seats are in good working condition, installed properly, and free from recalls.

 

“Child safety seats save lives but are most effective when installed and used correctly,” said PSP commissioner Colonel Christopher Paris. “Troopers certified as child passenger safety technicians will explain how to correctly install the seat, correct any errors in the installation, and provide information on best practices.”

 

The checks are free of charge. A complete list of child passenger seat fitting stations is available at psp.pa.gov.

 

With summer travel kicking off this weekend, PennDOT reminds motorists to visit 511PA’s Historic Holiday Traffic page to plan optimal travel times on major roadways across the state this Memorial Day. The holiday travel tool allows the public to see how traffic speeds on the Friday before and on Memorial Day in 2021 and 2022 compare to traffic conditions during a typical, non-holiday week. Users can choose their region and view an hour-by-hour, color-coded representation of traffic speeds to help determine the best times to travel during the holiday.

 

While PennDOT will remove lane restrictions and suspend construction projects wherever possible, the Historic Holiday Traffic page also allows the public to view interstate restrictions that will be in place during the holiday travel period.

 

Motorists are reminded they can also check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles in Pennsylvania year-round by visiting www.511PA.com. The service, 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.

 

For more information on seat belt safety visit, www.PennDOT.pa.gov/Safety.

 

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

 

Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Liaisons (LEL), a grant-funded program administered by the Highway Safety Network (HSN), are a vital link between PennDOT and local police agencies across the state. For more information, visit highwaysafetynetwork.org.

 

The CIOT enforcement is part of Pennsylvania’s Highway Safety Program and is funded by part of PennDOT’s investment of federal funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

 

PennDOT’s media center offers social media-sized graphics highlighting topics such as aggressive driving, speeding, distracted driving, and seat belts for organizations, community groups, or others who share safety information with their stakeholders.

 

The public can join the discussion on social media using the hashtags #BeSafePA, #BuckleUp, and #ClickItOrTicket.

 

Follow PennDOT on Twitter and like the department on Facebook and Instagram.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) today announced ongoing investments in the Unemployment Compensation (UC) system as well as a status update on the Department’s support services available to workers and employers experiencing economic challenges.

 

When he took office in January, Governor Josh Shapiro promised to make overhauling the UC system a priority – and he is following through on his commitment to enhance the system’s functionality to process claims in a timely manner, optimize customer service at all levels, and bolster the system’s resilience during times of low or high unemployment.

 

Under the leadership of Acting Secretary Nancy Walker, L&I has hired more than 200 additional UC interviewers to staff service centers and answer calls. This move to more robustly staff the phone lines is part of a comprehensive strategy to augment the overall UC workforce and prioritize technical updates to the system. This hiring is the latest in the Department’s efforts to revamp the UC experience, and it comes on the heels of Acting Secretary Walker’s decision to indefinitely extend in-person UC assistance at PA CareerLink locations across the Commonwealth.

 

“The Department of Labor & Industry is committed to providing timely services to Pennsylvanians who lose work through no fault of their own and to businesses that are adversely affected by unexpected job dislocation,” Acting Secretary Walker said. “L&I is focused on eliminating the pandemic backlog of claims while building an Unemployment Compensation system and a Rapid Response protocol that are resilient and capable of delivering the services Pennsylvanians need – and today’s announcement is another step towards making this a reality.”
UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

 

The Department’s top priority is resolution of the pandemic backlog of claims, which includes any unresolved claims filed between March 2020 and November 2021. During this period of high unemployment, the Department received 3.7 million regular UC claims and 3.4 million Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims. The outstanding backlog of unresolved pandemic claims totaled 12,832 at the end of April 2023.

 

There are no claims in the pandemic backlog that are waiting for an initial review; rather, each of these claims is pending for reasons of extenuating circumstance. For example, many of these claims lack required information for eligibility determination from the claimant, employer, or both, and can only be resolved through the manual process of collecting the needed information. In some cases, claimants filed a claim but never filed a weekly certification. In others, a final determination of ineligibility for UC benefits is pending while the Department verifies that the claimant received benefits through the temporary federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Separately, the Department continues to process new claims. In this regular workload category, most claimants wait fewer than six weeks for a decision on eligibility for UC benefits. In April 2023, L&I received 26,602 claims in its regular workload and distributed UC benefits totaling $110,479,338 to 74,141 eligible claimants.

 

L&I is also working aggressively to resolve the unprecedented number of fraud reports filed during the pandemic period of high unemployment. At the end of April, the number of outstanding fraud reports totaled 25,548 – down from 34,000 at the start of the Shapiro Administration in January.

 

In April, L&I served 50,999 individuals who called the UC helpline at 888-313-7284; 5,223 individuals through the UC chat service; and 17,033 individuals through email. Through the Department’s UC Connect program offering in-person customer service at Pennsylvania CareerLink^® locations, L&I served 3,516 individuals in April for a total of 40,673 since the program’s launch in May 2022.

 

Recent functional changes and upgrades to the UC program include:

 

• L&I encourages UC claimants to contact the Department through its convenient chat option, called PAULA. PAULA is built to answer the most frequently asked questions, including how to file for benefits, how to use a debit card, and how to complete the requirements for work searches. At any time, individuals can ask to speak to a live representative for help with checking a claim status, filing for weekly benefits, checking a payment status, changing personal information, or resolving questions about overpayments. Customer-service agents are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• L&I has implemented an interface with the Integrity Data Hub (IDH), a multi-state data system established and funded by the United States Department of Labor and operated by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. This tool mitigates fraud risk by comparing UC claims data against a variety of datasets, which will help the Department detect and prevent both eligibility fraud and identity fraud.

 

L&I reminds UC claimants of their responsibility to file weekly benefit certifications online or by using the department’s touch tone telephone service, called PAT, at 888-255-4728 (en Español 877-888-8104).

 

RAPID RESPONSE SERVICES

 

Rapid Response Services are available for businesses and workers in the event of job dislocation caused by a natural disaster, economic transition, planned layoff or closure through the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). Rapid Response services are available to employers and employees at no cost. The Rapid Response Services Team provides businesses with a customizable approach to their specific business needs as challenges occur, which can include layoff aversion, coordination of business closure to maximize public and private resources, assisting with the re-employment of impacted workers, and other transitional services.

 

For the month of April, L&I provided Rapid Response Services to 36 employers and 820 workers. Since the start of the year, L&I’s Rapid Response Services team has supported 124 employers and 6,780 workers.

 

For more information on the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, please visit the website or follow L&I on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Shell has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that it polluted the air around its massive new petrochemical refinery in western Pennsylvania. The administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the penalty Wednesday. Shell acknowledged the plant violated air emissions limits. The multibillion-dollar refinery near Pittsburgh opened in November, only to be shut down months later after Shell said it identified a problem with a system that’s designed to burn off unwanted gases. Shell said it has fixed the problems, and plans to restart the facility. The plant makes polyethylene, a plastic used in everything from consumer and food packaging to tires.

FILE – Law enforcement, and other first responders, gather outside Robb Elementary School following a shooting, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. A criminal investigation in Texas over the hesitant police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting remains ongoing a year after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in  Uvalde. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A criminal investigation in Texas over the hesitant police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting is still ongoing a year after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde. Wednesday marks one year since the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. The continuing investigation underlines the lasting fallout over the shooting and how the days after the attack were marred by authorities giving inaccurate and conflicting accounts about efforts made to stop a teenage gunman. The Uvalde school district permanently closed the Robb Elementary campus and plans for a new school are in the works. Schools in Uvalde will be closed Wednesday.

The entrance to Oliver Citywide Academy is empty after a shooting on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 in Pittsburgh. Authorities say a student shot and killed another student outside a school in Pittsburgh shortly before classes were due to start. Police say the alleged shooter is in custody, and that they recovered a gun. No other injuries were reported. (Justin Vellucci/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via AP)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Authorities say a student was arrested in the shooting death of another student just outside a Pittsburgh school. Police say the shooting happened by the steps of Oliver Citywide Academy shortly before classes were due to start Wednesday morning. Officers found the victim with gunshot wounds in front of the school and he later died. Another student seen running from the scene with a gun was arrested and a firearm was found. A city spokesperson said most students were still on their way to the school when the shooting happened. Both the shooter and the victim were minors, but their specific ages were not immediately released.