(Oil drilling derricks at desert oilfield for fossil fuels output and crude oil production from the ground. Oil drill rig and pump jack. Photo provided by Keystone State News Connection)

Keystone State News Connection

March 24, 2022

Emily Scott

As gas prices across the country are at record levels due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, elected officials who are also military veterans are calling on the Biden administration to invoke the
Defense Production Act to accelerate a clean-energy transition.

The rise in gas prices is connected to the ban on the importation of Russian oil as a result of Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

Joel Hicks, a city council member in the Borough of Carlisle and a 20-year Navy veteran, said during a news conference hosted by Elected Officials to Protect America, U.S. dependence on foreign oil is a threat to national security and to the planet.

“The only way to free democratic countries from the grip of autocratic oil-producing nations is to accelerate this transition,” Hicks argued. “To free ourselves from the corrupt nature that petrostates yield and wield as we see quite dramatically in the last several weeks.”

Hicks added his also supports the Build Back Better Act’s clean-energy provisions, which include $555 billion for renewable energy and clean transportation incentives.

As of Wednesday, the average gas price in Pennsylvania was $4.31 a gallon, nearly 10 cents more than the national average.

Julia Nesheiwat, a member of the Consensus for American Security network who served as a military intelligence officer in the Army, said through the Defense Production Act, the Biden administration could increase the domestic supply of renewable energy, while also weakening the power of fossil fuels such as crude oil in shaping geopolitical issues.

“Clean energy certainly can be a part of our energy security when it comes to being safe, and reliable and affordable,” Nesheiwat contended. “It can create jobs, it can grow our economy, and it certainly can protect lives. If we’re able to really feed these diverse energy sources into our grid, it can insulate us from the fluctuations of fossil-fuel prices.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report released last month said without a major reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuels, 3.5 billion people around the world are highly vulnerable to megafires, droughts, sea-level rise and flooding associated with climate change.

(File Photo)
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A scramble to collect enough signatures over a week and a half to make it onto the primary ballot is underway, kicking off what is certain to be a year of political change in the Pennsylvania Legislature. The state Supreme Court cut in half the normal three-week petition-gathering period last week. That’s when the court gave final approval to new General Assembly maps. The new schedule leaves in place the May 17 primary date but gives candidates a tight schedule to find enough valid signatures. Candidates need 500 signatures for state Senate and 300 for the House. At least 22 Republicans and seven Democrats in the House are not seeking another term. Five state senators are also bowing out.

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Madeleine Albright, a child refugee from Nazi- and then Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe who rose to become the first female secretary of state, has died at age 84. Her family says she died of cancer on Wednesday. Albright was a mentor to many current and former American statesmen and women. President Bill Clinton chose Albright as America’s top diplomat in 1996, and she served in that capacity for the last four years of the Clinton administration. At the time, she was the highest-ranking woman in the history of U.S. government. In 2012, President Barack Obama awarded Albright the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

(File Photo of Waitress Janice Wagner moves chairs in the outdoor seating area at Agolino’s Restaurant in West Pittston, Pa., Tuesday, June 16, 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. (Christopher Dolan/The Times-Tribune via AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Tipped employees in Pennsylvania will soon have to make more than four times as much money in tips to be paid below the state’s minimum wage. That’s under a new regulation approved Monday. It could take effect in the coming months. Currently, employers can pay tipped employees less the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, to as low as $2.83 if they make at least $30 a month in tips. Under the newly approved rule, that monthly tip threshold will rise to $135 a month. The rule also says an employee must spend at least 80% of their time on tipped work to be classified as a tipped employee.

(Photo of Bullet proof vests that are being sent ti Ukraine, Photo courtesy of Pa. Media Services) 
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania State Police and the state Capitol Police are donating used body armor to efforts in Ukraine to deliver humanitarian aid amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Col. Robert Evanchick, the state police commissioner, said the ballistic vests and helmets are intended for Ukrainian police officers and aid workers in Ukraine. The two agencies produced about 110 used police bulletproof vests and 15 surplus ballistic helmets that they were no longer using. Gov. Tom Wolf said it is surplus equipment that would be thrown away otherwise. Wolf noted that his administration is working on collecting food and mask donations for Ukraine, as well.

(File Photo of the two Pa State Troopers killed in the line of duty early Monday morning by a woman accused of driving under the influence)  

(Philadelphia, Pa.) (AP) A judge has denied bail to a woman charged with third-degree murder in an early morning crash on a Philadelphia interstate that claimed the lives of two Pennsylvania troopers and a civilian. Twenty-one-year-old Jayana Tanae Webb was ordered held pending an April 5 hearing on charges that also include second-degree manslaughter of a law enforcement officer and vehicular homicide while driving under the influence. WCAU-TV reports that defense attorney Michael Walker argued that his client was a first-time offender and posed no danger to the public, but the judge agreed with prosecutors that there was a public safety issue. Walker said later that his client was “devastated.”

(File Photo)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh officials say five police officers will be fired following an internal investigation into the death of man who police shocked with a stun gun multiple times. Fifty-four-year-old Jim Rogers died a day after police used a stun gun on him in connection with an alleged bicycle theft in October. Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt did not release the names of the officers or details of the investigation. That’s per the police department’s collective bargaining agreement which affords each officer the opportunity to use arbitration to challenge the discipline imposed. Schmidt said three more officers will keep their jobs.

 

(File Photo)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is reversing decisions from last year and says it won’t allow beer and wine licensees to sell edible products containing the marijuana extract CBD. CBD is a nonintoxicating chemical compound, one of many chemicals found in cannabis. Marketers say CBD can treat a range of ailments. Wednesday’s decision to rescind approval was made at the request of the state Department of Agriculture. A board spokesperson says the department told the liquor board that the sale of such consumable products is illegal in Pennsylvania.

(File Photo)

(North Fayette Twp., Pa.) TSA officers found a loaded .357-caliber handgun in a 49-year-old male passenger from Munhall’s backpack at the main security checkpoint of Pittsburgh International Airport yesterday afternoon according to Allegheny County Police.
The man did have a concealed carry permit . The FBI was notified and is investigating
The TSA us reminding passengers that bring firearms into an airport checkpoint can face federal civil fines from the TSA up to $10,000. Repeat offenders can be fined up to $13,910.