WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving a pandemic-inspired nationwide ban on evictions in place, over the votes of four objecting conservative justices. The court on Tuesday rejected a plea by landlords to end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moratorium on evicting millions of tenants who aren’t paying rent during the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, the Biden administration extended the moratorium by a month, until the end of July. It said then it did not expect another extension. U.S. Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington had struck down the moratorium as exceeding the CDC’s authority, but put her ruling on hold.

(AMBRIDGE, Pa.) Fire and EMS companies in the 16^th Legislative District were awarded $197,903 in grant funding to address a wide range of needs, from equipment, building repairs and training to replenishing pandemic-related expenses, state Rep. Rob Matzie announced today.

Matzie, D-Beaver/Allegheny, said 15 fire and EMS companies are receiving grants from the Office of the State Fire Commissioner at a critical time.
“The pandemic made working on the frontlines even more difficult than usual, as departments faced shortages while battling new risks and logistical problems,” Matzie said. “Securing this funding should ease a bit of the burden on our tireless first responders by ensuring they have the resources they need to stay safe.”

Matzie said the following grants were awarded:

Ambridge Borough Fire Department – Fire Company, $12,233.

Ambridge Volunteer Fire Department – Fire Company, $12,411.

Baden Volunteer Fire Department – Fire Company, $15,000.

City of Aliquippa – Fire Company, $13,302.

Conway Volunteer Fire Department – Fire Company, $12,946.

Economy Volunteer Ambulance Service – EMS, $8,855

Economy Volunteer Firemens Association – Fire Company, $14,193.

Freedom Volunteer Fire Department — Fire Company, $11,520.

Harmony Township Volunteer Firemen Inc. – Fire Company, $14,015.

Hopewell Township Volunteer Fire Department – Fire Company, $12,233.

Leetsdale Fire Department – Fire Company, $11,876.

Monaca No. 1 Volunteer Fire Department – Fire Company, $11,340.
Monaca Volunteer Fire Department No. 4 – Fire Company, $12,411.

Quaker Valley Ambulance Authority – EMS, $8,993.
Rochester Township Volunteer Fire Department No. 1 – Fire Company, $26,585.

The grants were awarded under the OFC’s Fire Company and Emergency Medical Service Grant Program and can be used for facility construction and renovation, purchase or repair of equipment, fuel purchases, member training and certification, public education, recruitment and retention, debt reduction, overtime costs associated with backfilling positions while firefighters are training, and supplementing pandemic-related expenses.

Additional information, including a link to the full list of awardees, is available here.

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) Giant Eagle announced that they are attempting to reduce their carbon dioxide output by 50% by 2030 and will seek to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Giant Eagle says is planning on achieving those goals by:

1) Converting their fleet of 200 trucks to 100 percent alternative energy.

2) Infrastructure improvements that target carbon reduction and energy efficiency such as smart lighting solutions and greener HVAC systems.
3) Investments into green energy solutions including direct green power purchasing agreements and other renewable power investments.

4) Investments into negative emissions technologies which include carbon capture, soil sequestration and reforestation

This initiative will include electricity, refrigeration and fuel used in stores, offices and with related transit of goods, according to Giant Eagle. Giant Eagle also says it will focus on other sustain-ability efforts.

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board is expected to make its final ruling on whether the state will join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in July.

RGGI is a multistate cap-and-invest program to cut carbon emissions, and a new report from the Ohio River Valley Institute shows it has strong potential to support the communities hit hardest by closing coal plants.

The report said Pennsylvania could see $300 million annually from RGGI, a portion of which could support lost tax revenue and workforce development in area communities.

Joann Kilgour, executive director of the Ohio River Valley Institute, said RGGI is an opportunity for the Commonwealth to learn from past mistakes.

“Looking at RGGI as really an opportunity to provide some planning and use proceeds to usher in a more prosperous future in coal plant communities across the Commonwealth,” Kilgour explained. “Whereas, without a plan, market forces will continue to shutter coal plants and there will be no planned funding to cushion job losses and other economic impacts.”

Energy company GenOn announced earlier this month it plans to close the Cheswick coal-fired power plant in Allegheny County in September. That will leave only three conventional coal plants online in Pennsylvania without plans to retire or transition.

Sen. Carolyn Comitta, D-West Chester, introduced the RGGI Investments Act in June.

She said it would broaden the areas in which the state can invest RGGI proceeds to include a proposed Energy Communities Trust Fund and an Environmental Justice Fund.

“The RGGI Investments Act is enabling legislation for these valuable RGGI proceeds to be directed to the communities and individuals who need it the most,” Comitta asserted.

Pennsylvania is the only state in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast region not yet a part of RGGI. If approved, it could join by early 2022.

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that the government can indefinitely detain certain immigrants who say they will face persecution or torture if they are deported to their native countries. Over the dissent of three liberal justices, the court held 6-3 Tuesday that the immigrants are not entitled to a hearing about whether they should be released while the government evaluates their claims. Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court that they are not entitled to a bond hearing. The case involves people who had been previously deported and when detained after re-entering the United States illegally claimed that they would be persecuted or tortured if sent back.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the government can indefinitely detain certain immigrants who say they will face persecution or torture if they are deported to their native countries.
Over the dissent of three liberal justices, the court held 6-3 that the immigrants are not entitled to a hearing about whether they should be released while the government evaluates their claims.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court that “those aliens are not entitled to a bond hearing.”
The case involves people who had been previously deported and, when detained after re-entering the United States illegally, claimed that they would be persecuted or tortured if sent back. One man is a citizen of El Salvador who said he was immediately threatened by a gang after being deported from the U.S.
An immigration officer determined that the immigrants had a “reasonable fear” for their safety if returned to their countries, setting in motion an evaluation process that can take months or years.
The issue for the court was whether the government could hold the immigrants without having an immigration judge weigh in. The immigrants and the Trump administration, which briefed and argued the case before President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January, pointed to different provisions of immigration law to make their respective cases.
Alito, in his opinion for the court, wrote that the administration’s argument that the relevant provision does not provide for a bond hearing was more persuasive.
In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer saw it differently. “But why would Congress want to deny a bond hearing to individuals who reasonably fear persecution or torture, and who, as a result, face proceedings that may last for many months or years…? I can find no satisfactory answer to this question,” Breyer wrote.
The federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, had ruled in the immigrants’ favor, but other appellate courts had sided with the government. Tuesday’s decision sets a nationwide rule, but one that affects what lawyers for the immigrants called a relatively small subset of noncitizens.

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has sided with a pipeline company in a dispute with New Jersey over land the company needs for the natural gas pipeline. Both liberal and conservative justices joined to rule 5-4 for the PennEast Pipeline Co.. The 116-mile planned pipeline is to run from Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County to Mercer County in New Jersey. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had allowed PennEast’s project to move forward in 2018, but lawsuits followed. Tuesday’s decision from the high court doesn’t end litigation over the pipeline. A separate challenge involving New Jersey is pending in a federal appeals court in Washington.

By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A key trade that sealed a budget deal between Gov. Tom Wolf and Republicans who control the Legislature was a $100 million injection of cash into Pennsylvania’s poorest public schools in exchange for the governor backing off a regulatory expansion of eligibility for overtime pay. Wolf, a Democrat, had sought more than $1 billion in new, higher funding for public schools, but met Republican resistance. He settled for $300 million, including the $100 million strictly for poorer districts. In exchange, Wolf agreed to repeal the regulation he pushed through in 2020 to expand the range for lower-wage salaried workers who must receive time-and-a-half pay for overtime.

Story By Beaver County Radio Correspondent, Sandy Giordano.

(Hopewell Township, PA) – Hopewell Township Police Department and other local departments are participating in the Drive Sober or Get pulled Over impaired driving awareness campaign. Officers will be working together during this holiday weekend to take drunk drivers off the roads.