Norfolk Southern locomotives are moved through the Conway Terminal in Conway, Pa., Saturday, June 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Norfolk Southern got a boost during the second quarter from insurance payments related to last year’s disastrous East Palestine derailment, but it also made progress in reducing its expenses and getting more efficient.

The Atlanta-based railroad said it earned $737 million, or $3.25 per share, in the quarter, but there were several unusual factors influencing the results. And last year’s $356 million profit, or $1.56 per share, was heavily weighed down by costs related to the derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

But CEO Alan Shaw is most proud of the $250 million in productivity and safety gains the railroad has made this year. Norfolk Southern also hauled 5% more freight during the quarter thanks to the efficiency and new business it was able to attract.

“I’m really encouraged by our progress and I’m really confident in our future,” Shaw said. “We did everything we said we were going to do.”

The $156 million in insurance payments the railroad received as it recovered some of the more than $1.7 billion it has spent in response to the February 2023 derailment in eastern Ohio more than offset the $91 million in costs this quarter. That resulted in a $65 million net boost to earnings. Much of the derailment costs, including the $600 million class action settlement the railroad agreed to this spring, will likely eventually be covered by the railroad’s insurance.

Further complicating the financial picture is the fact that Norfolk Southern spent $22 million in the quarter to fight back against investor Ancora Holdings’ campaign to take over the board and fire the railroad’s management. Ancora’s nominees ultimately won three board seats, but not enough to take control.

Without any of those unusual factors, Norfolk Southern estimated that it would have earned $694 million, or $3.06 per share, in the quarter. The analysts surveyed by FactSet Research expected the railroad to report earnings per share of $2.86.

Its stock rose almost 7% in after-hours after the earnings report came out.

Norfolk Southern endorsed all of the recommendations the National Transportation Safety Board made in its final East Palestine report, and the railroad said it has largely addressed the safety concerns the Federal Railroad Administration raised in a report last year. But the rail industry has been lobbying against many of the proposed regulations Congress has been considering.

During the proxy fight, Shaw hired a new operations chief and promised to make the railroad more efficient, though he still says he doesn’t want to cut so deep that Norfolk Southern won’t have the resources it needs to handle additional freight when the economy does improve.

The railroad said has already parked more than 320 locomotives and pulled some 7,000 cars off its network as it moved to run fewer but longer trains to handle the same freight without as many engines or crews.

Over the next two years, Norfolk Southern predicts will improve productivity by about $550 million and boost its profit margin.

Already, the railroad reported improvement in every single performance metric in its quarterly report Thursday with everything from the average velocity of its cars to the amount of time trains spend in railyards getting better.

Edward Jones analyst Jeff Windau said Norfolk Southern has been steadily improving its efficiency and “put together a really solid quarter.”

The railroad’s revenue grew 2% to $3.04 billion in the quarter, in line with Wall Street’s forecast.

Norfolk Southern is one of the nation’s largest railroads operating trains across the eastern United States.

French President Emmanuel Macron, front left, and IOC President Thomas Bach in the stands in Paris, France, ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

PARIS (AP) — Celebrating its reputation as a cradle of revolution, Paris kicked off its first Summer Olympics in a century on Friday with a rule-breaking opening ceremony studded with stars and fantasy, showcasing the city’s resilience as authorities dealt with suspected acts of sabotage that targeted France’s high-speed rail network.

Widespread travel disruptions triggered by what French officials said were coordinated arson attacks on high-speed rail lines and rains in Paris had dampened the mood ahead of the ceremony.

But as global audiences tuned in, the show’s spectacular launch at 7:30 p.m. lifted spirits. A humorous short film featured soccer icon Zinedine Zidane. Plumes of French blue, white and red smoke followed. And Lady Gaga sang, in French, with dancers shaking pink plumed pompoms, adding a cabaret feel to the start of what is expected to be a more than three-hour show.

Crowds crammed along the River Seine and watching from balconies “oohed” and “ahhed” as Olympic teams began parading in boats along the waterway.

The stakes for France were immense. Dozens of heads of state and government were in town and the world was watching as Paris turned itself into a giant open-air theater.

Paris’ ceremony was unfurling along the River Seine, turning the city’s iconic monuments into stages for dancers, singers and other artists.

Rains that soaked spectators and athletes and travel chaos in Paris train stations highlighted the risks of Paris’ bold choices. The sprawling ceremony gave organizers bigger crowds to transport, organize and safeguard than would have been the case if they’d followed the example of previous Olympic host cities that opened with stadium shows.

Still, as the show got underway, optimism soared that Paris – true to its motto that speaks of being unsinkable – might just win its gambles.

While evening rains forecast by national weather service Meteo France shouldn’t delay the ceremony and many of its planned surprises, Paris organizers had been crossing their fingers for clear skies to assist with their vision of showcasing the city and its iconic monuments.

Wet weather could make the ceremony a more fatiguing experience for the thousands of Olympians parading on boats on the Seine River and the hundreds of thousands of spectators on its banks and bridges — many more than could have been squeezed into France’s national stadium.

Paris organizers said they expect 6,800 of the 10,500 athletes will attend before they embark on the next 16 days of competition.

“Of course when you organize an outdoor spectacle, you prefer good weather,” the Paris Games’ chief organizer, Tony Estanguet, said on France Inter radio.

But the ceremony “was thought out so it can be held in the rain,” he said.

“It will perhaps be a bit different,” he added. “We’ll adapt.”

Some spectators who followed organizers’ advice to arrive well ahead of time along the ceremony route fumed over long waits to get to their seats.

“Paris has been great, anything to do with the Olympics and dissemination of information has been horrible,” said Tony Gawne, a 54-year-old Texan who turned up six hours in advance with his wife.

“When you spend $6,000 on two tickets, well, that’s a little frustrating.”

But Paris has plenty of aces up its sleeve. The Eiffel Tower, its head still visible below the clouds, Notre Dame Cathedral — restored from the ashes of its 2019 fire — the Louvre Museum and other iconic monuments will star in the opening ceremony. Award-winning theater director Thomas Jolly, the show’s creative mind, has used the signature Paris cityscape of zinc-grey rooftops as the playground for his imagination.

His task: Tell the story of France, its people, their history and essence in a way that leaves an indelible imprint on Olympic audiences. Refresh the image and self-confidence of the French capital that was repeatedly struck by deadly extremist attacks in 2015. Capture how Paris is also aiming to reboot the Olympics, with Summer Games it has worked to make more appealing and sustainable.

It’s a big ask. So Paris is going big, very big. That goes for the security, too. Large fenced-off stretches of central Paris are locked down to those without passes and the skies during the ceremony will be a no-fly zone for 150 kilometers (93 miles) around.

Many details of the spectacle that will stretch through sunset and into the Paris night remain closely guarded secrets to preserve the wow factor. Lady Gaga was seen before the show, doing some warmup singing. She raised a hand and waved. French media also mentioned Céline Dion and stars from France as possibles among the thousands of performers.

Jolly was also recently filmed watching French air force jets practicing how to draw a heart in the Paris skies with trails of colored smoke.

Soccer icon Zinedine Zidane, who led France to World Cup ecstasy in 1998, is among the guesses for who might light the Olympic cauldron. Another suggestion is that organizers might bestow that honor on survivors of the 2015 attacks by Islamic State-group gunmen and suicide bombers who killed 130 people in and around Paris.

The identity of the final torch bearers has been the country’s biggest secret. Estanguet said Friday morning that only he knows “the personality or athlete” and that he still hadn’t told that person.

“I plan to tell the last carrier today,” he said. “He or she doesn’t know.”

The ceremony’s broad-brush strokes have been previously announced and are stunning in their ambition. French President Emmanuel Macron said they initially felt like “a crazy and not very serious idea.”

The athletes will parade on boats on an east-west route along a 6-kilometer (nearly 4-mile) stretch of the Seine. Watching will be 320,000 paying and invited ticket holders, plus many others from balconies and windows.

During the athletes’ waterborne adventure, Paris’ splendors will unfurl before them. They’ll pass historic landmarks that have been temporarily transformed into arenas for Olympic sports.

Concorde Plaza, where French revolutionaries guillotined King Louis XVI and other royals, now hosting skateboarding and other sports, and the Grand Palais of iron, stone and glass, the fencing and taekwondo venue.

The golden-domed resting place of Napoléon Bonaparte, the backdrop for Olympic archery, and the Eiffel Tower, which donated chunks of iron that have been inlaid in the gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals. They’ll be won in the 32 sports’ 329 medal events.

Up to 45,000 police and gendarmes, plus 10,000 soldiers, will safeguard the ceremony and its VIP guests, with IOC President Thomas Bach and Macron presiding.

Paris’ aim, said Estanguet, is “to show to the whole world and to all of the French that in this country, we’re capable of exceptional things.”

___

AP journalists Megan Janetsky and Jerome Pugmire contributed to this report.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published July 26, 2024 12:02 P.M.

(Aliquippa, Pa) At 5:43pm on Saturday, July 20, 2024 a home was broken into on Beaver Avenue in West Aliquippa. Eric Bruce, 38, was jailed on Monday, July 22, 2024, and George Karas, 48, was jailed on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. The 2 men face felony counts of criminal trespass.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County radio. Published July 26, 2024 10:57 A.M.

(Industry, Pa) Beaver Police reported just before 11 a.m. Friday morning that the trio consisting of Jonathan James Bish, 18, Chantz Isaiah Cottrill, 18 and 17 year old Julie DiBacco of Monaca are in custody. They were involved in a stabbing of three individuals near Industry Park. They went to a home on Midland Beaver Road following the incident that was called in to police at 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published July 26, 2024 6:18 A.M.

(Industry, Pa) Beaver Police Chief Dan Madgar announced Tuesday afternoon that his department has warrants for Jonathan James Bish, 18, Industry, and Chantz Isaiah Cottrill, also of Industry. A female, Julia Debacco, 17, of  Monaca. The three were involved in a stabbing incident near Industry Park early Wednesday morning and they were last seen when they reportedly went to a house in the 1200 block of Midland-Beaver Road.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 27 states and remained unchanged in 23 states and the District of Columbia during the past year. (Rawpixel.com/AdobeStock)
Danielle Smith – Keystone State News Connection

The Keystone State continues offering a favorable landscape for Pennsylvanians seeking employment opportunities.

Claire Kovach, senior research analyst at the Keystone Research Center, said the steady trend has been ongoing for months, with the rate hovering below the national average of 4.1% during the past year.

“Pennsylvania is on a roll,” Kovach asserted. “We added, I think, 15,600 jobs in June, and that’s 11 months straight now that Pennsylvania has added jobs. The data we got showed that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is still quite low through 3.4%, and it’s been at that or around that for over a year now.”

Kovach pointed out inflation is falling as nominal wages are growing steadily and the persistence of the combined effects is helping the labor market recover. She noted the number of nonfarm jobs rose to a record high of more than six million.

Kovach emphasized the largest increase in jobs in June was in education and health services.

“There’s just some of the jobs that are most in demand,” Kovach observed. “Jobs, especially like in health services, are consistently projected to be some of the most in-demand jobs over the next years and decades, especially in Pennsylvania. I believe leisure and hospitality also reached a record high in June.”

Kovach added as the economy improves and nears full employment, the jobless rate will not continue to drop forever. It is expected to gradually stabilize at a low level, with the lowest so far at 3.2%.