HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to devote millions of dollars to creating a 10-year economic development plan, including developing commercial and industrial sites, revitalizing an aging workforce and better competing with neighboring states to entice big businesses to choose Pennsylvania.

The plan, which Shapiro announced a week out from his formal budget address, seeks to address workforce shortages, ease challenges for startups and tech spinoffs and boost funding for economic development incentives.

Shapiro’s administration will focus its funding in five industries: agriculture, energy, life sciences, manufacturing and robotics and technology.

Shapiro has been eyeing such a strategy since last year, when he told legislators during his inaugural budget address that he was “competitive as hell — and I’m sick and tired of losing to other states.”

The announcement comes as neighboring states are pouring incentives into luring multibillion-dollar microchip, electric vehicle and battery factories. That includes Ohio landing a $20 billion factory by chipmaker Intel in 2022, which officials say has the power to create a new technology hub in the state.

But business-sector officials say Pennsylvania lacks huge tracts of available land to attract such projects.

Shapiro has worked to shorten the wait time to receive licenses and permits, and he has touted Pennsylvania’s role in being awarded federal funding to establish two hydrogen hubs in the state as part of President Joe Biden’s effort to fight climate change.

But challenges still abound. Even though Pennsylvania’s payrolls hit a record high in December, the state’s labor force has lagged behind pre-pandemic levels. The state’s economy is less dynamic than some other states and its workforce is relatively older and slower-growing.

Shapiro has warned that being competitive would take money, and he plans to ask lawmakers for millions to kick start the plan.

A “major investment” would go to site development, building on a pilot program that provided grant funding to do site assessments and prepare land for remediation as a sweetener to commercial and industrial businesses.

For small businesses and commercial corridors, Shapiro is proposing $25 million. Another $3.5 million will create the new Pennsylvania Regional Challenge, which is aimed at incentivizing regional growth. To further develop the workforce and create more internships as a way to keep people in the state, he is asking for $2 million.

Other funds will support start-ups and entrepreneurs, with $10 million set aside for the agricultural industry.

(AP)

Wall Street limped early Tuesday with corporate earnings rolling in and the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate decision imminent.

Futures for the S&P 500 and futures for the Dow Jones industrials each slipped less than 0.2% before the bell.

UPS tumbled more than 7% after the package delivery company unexpectedly dialed back expectations for the year.

General Motors climbed nearly 8% as the automaker’s profit and sales rose by double-digit percentages last year.

Microsoft, Google and Starbucks report their latest financial results after the bell Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, the US reports on job openings for November and the Conference Board releases consumer confidence data for January.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will make its next decision on what to do with interest rates. Most expect the Fed will no make any changes, but there is hope that it may cut rates in March. That would be the first downward move since the Fed began dramatically raising interest rates two years ago to get inflation under control.

There is a lot of evidence suggesting that the Fed may be able to pull off a so-called economic “soft landing” after a period of accelerated inflation. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge cooled further last month even as the economy kept growing briskly, a trend sure to be welcomed at the White House as President Joe Biden seeks re-election in a race that could pivot on his economic stewardship.

On Friday, the U.S. government will release its monthly jobs report. Economists expect continued growth in hiring, but at a cooler pace. That’s exactly what the Fed wants to see after surging U.S. growth contributed to rising prices.

Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.6%, Germany’s DAX rose 0.2% and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%.

Shares in property developer China Evergrande Group, the world’s most heavily indebted real estate company with more than $300 billion in liabilities, remained suspended from trading after a Hong Kong court ordered the company to be liquidated because it is insolvent.

But shares in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group closed 4.4% higher after they resumed trading following a suspension on Monday. Evergrande Property Services fell lost 3.9%.

Other property companies led the decline in Hong Kong, where the benchmark Hang Seng index sank 2.3% to 15,703.45. Country Garden tumbled 5.7% and Sunac China Holdings was down 7.1%. Guangzhou R&F Properties lost 5.5%.

Technology companies also retreated, with food delivery company Meituan down 2.8% and e-commerce giant Alibaba falling 2%.

The Shanghai Composite index gave up 1.8% to 2,830.53.

Chinese regulators have been moving to prop up the markets, among the world’s worst performing so far this year, amid worries about the troubled property industry and slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

“Skepticism persists regarding the equity plunge protection plan,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. “While measures akin to a band-aid on a broken leg may temporarily boost stock prices, they do little to stabilize earnings or foster growth.”

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1% higher to 36,065.86 and the Kospi in South Korea edged 0.1% lower, to 2,498.81. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.3% to 7,600.20.

Bangkok’s SET lost 0.2% while India’s Sensex shed 1.1%.

In other trading Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gave back 20 cents at $76.58 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped $1.23 to settle at $76.78 a barrel on Monday.

A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, lost 28 cents to $81.55 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar fell to 147.36 yen from 147.50 yen. The euro rose to $1.0842 from $1.0835.

On Monday, U.S. stocks gained as they kicked off a week where Wall Street’s most influential stocks may show whether the huge expectations built up for them are justified.

The S&P 500 gained 0.8% and the Dow industrials climbed 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1.1%.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Steel has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the Pittsburgh-based company of violating federal clean air laws by operating plants without its desulfurization controls for more than three months, emitting clouds of sulfurous gas into surrounding towns.

The settlement with environmental groups Clean Air Council and PennEnvironment and the Allegheny County Health Department was filed in federal court Monday for a judge to review, the groups said.

PennEnvironment and the other plaintiffs accused the steel producer of more than 12,000 violations of its air pollution permits.

They put the value of the settlement at $42 million, including $37 million worth of improvements to U.S. Steel’s pollution control and plant reliability systems at its Mon Valley Works plants.

The rest is a $5 million penalty that U.S. Steel agreed to pay to fund clean air efforts. It is one of the largest-ever fines nationally in a citizen-enforced lawsuit under federal clean air laws, Clean Air Council and PennEnvironment said.

“This historic announcement should send a message to all illegal polluters who put the health and environment of Pittsburghers at risk,” David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, said at a news conference Monday. “We will not sit by while illegal air pollution rains down on nearby communities and the Pennsylvanians who live in them.”

U.S. Steel said it regretted the “accidental” emissions and that it strives to comply with environmental regulations.

“When we miss that mark, we will make changes so we can do better,” said Kurt Barshick, the company’s Mon Valley Works vice president, said in a statement.

The environmental groups sued in 2019, after a Christmas Eve fire at the Clairton coke works plant caused $40 million in damage.

The fire damaged pollution control equipment and led to repeated releases of sulfur dioxide, the lawsuit said. Sulfur dioxide is a colorless, pungent byproduct of fossil fuel combustion that can make it hard to breathe.

In the wake of the fire, Allegheny County warned residents to limit outdoor activities, with residents saying for weeks afterward that the air felt acidic, smelled like rotten eggs and was hard to breathe.

The fire knocked out pollution controls at its Mon Valley plants, but U.S. Steel continued to run them anyway, the groups said.

The lawsuit also cited repeated breakdowns at the Clairton plant, including one in 2019 in which the company reported a release of 525,000 pounds of coke oven gas from a pressure release valve. Allegheny County, which is home to Pittsburgh and the Mon Valley Works plants, said U.S. Steel has already spent about half of the $37 million on improvements.

U.S. Steel also must permanently close approximately 60 of the worst polluting coke ovens, the groups said. The ovens turn coal into coke, a raw ingredient in the steelmaking process.

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Yesterday’s 3-2 ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of an older state law that limits the use of Medicaid dollars to cover abortion costs has received at least one major dissenter in the State House of Representatives.

House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County said in a statement following the decision on Tuesday that  “Pennsylvania law already allows public funds to be used to pay for abortions in case of incest, rape or to protect the life of the mother. This decision, supported by only part of the seven-member court, eviscerates the past, well-established precedent of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and opens the door for tax dollars to pay for all elective abortions.”

Cutler additionally stated that the decision “does nothing but further the divide over such a sensitive topic and will only lead to more mischief and bad faith where lawmakers and other elected officials should be leading with respect and understanding.”