Story by Beaver County Radio Correspondent Sandy Girodano

(Ambridge, Pa.) Yesterday State. Rep. Rob Matzie announced county residents struggling with homelessness will benefit from $31,000 in federal funding for critical resources that include affordable housing and emergency shelter.  He said in addition to a grant totaling $31,125 .00, the county will share in more than $1.72 million in funding being distributed to 20 counties throughout the central and western parts of the state

(File Photo)

Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano

(Hopewell Twp., Pa.) Hopewell School Board met Monday night  in the high school auditorium for its regular meeting and approved a $40,626,135.00 budget for 2020 -21  The spending plan calls for a 2.5 mill increase  to 78.2 mills.  Appropriations for 2020-21 are $42,877,943. The board announced the $2.251,808 will come from the fund balance.

Obama raises $7.6 million at fundraiser for Biden’s campaign
By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama has helped raise a record-breaking $7.6 million from more than 175,000 individual donors in a grassroots fundraiser for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Obama is warning Democrats against being “complacent or smug” about the presidential race. He is telling them to get engaged with the campaign and says “whatever you’ve done is not enough.” The small-dollar fundraiser Tuesday kicked off what Obama’s team says will likely be a busy schedule heading into the fall, as he looks to help elect not just Biden but also Democrats running for House and Senate.

DEP Holds Virtual Hearings on Emissions Rule

Andrea Sears

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Today is the second day of virtual public hearings on the Department of Environmental Protection’s draft rule for controlling emissions from oil and natural-gas facilities.

Current emission rules only apply to new or modified facilities. The new rule would control emissions of methane and volatile organic compounds from existing oil and gas infrastructure. The Trump administration has been rolling back federal clean-air regulations on the fossil-fuel industry, including methane-emission rules.

Patrice Tomcik, project manager of state campaigns for the group Moms Clean Air Force, said that leaves it up to the states to take the lead in controlling those pollutants.

“Cutting methane pollution will help reduce the impacts of climate change,” she said, “and cutting volatile organic compounds will improve air quality and public health, which is really important right now.”

The final virtual public hearing begins at 6 p.m. Thursday. Written comments also can be submitted to DEP through July 27.

Tomcik noted that the importance of the new rule is illustrated by a recent report from the Environmental Defense Fund, which showed that methane pollution in the state is far worse than the oil and gas industry acknowledges.

“Pennsylvania’s oil and gas methane emissions are 16 times higher than what industry reported to the state,” she said, “and that is a whopping 1.1 million tons of methane pollution per year.”

She said the climate impact of that methane is double the impact of all tailpipe emissions per year in the state.

Tomcik said she would like to see the DEP make the rule even stronger. She pointed out that, as written, it would allow less frequent testing at some sites, and would not apply to low-producing wells that are the source of half of the state’s methane emissions.

“If we have a strong, comprehensive methane rule that includes these low-producing wells and frequent inspections for all leaks over the oil-and-gas operations throughout the state,” she said, “we can reduce methane pollution by up to 60%.”

Clean-air advocacy groups say stopping methane leaks would cost the industry very little because the methane they capture is the product they sell.

The proposed rule is online at pacodeandbulletin.gov, and the methane emission report is at edf.org.

Pollinator Solar Array Provides Dual Benefits

Andrea Sears

CARLISLE, Pa. — A solar-array project unveiled in Carlisle on Monday will not only generate renewable power, but will also provide real benefits for local farms and pollinator insects.

The seven-acre pollinator-friendly solar array will provide power to the headquarters of Giant Foods, a major supermarket chain. Under and around the panels, the site also will provide ample space for a variety of native plants such as butterfly milkweed and blue mistflower, selected to attract the pollinating insects critical to nearby farms.

According to Center for Pollinators and Energy director Rob Davis, this pollinator solar array will serve as a model for projects anticipated to be developed over the next 10 years.

“More than 3 million acres of land will be used for ground-mount solar projects,” Davis said. “So, the project we build today will inform all of the best solar practices we use tomorrow and next year and the year after that.”

The project is the first pollinator-friendly solar array to open in Pennsylvania.

Robin Ernst is president of Ernst Pollinator Service, which designed the seed mix and planted the seeds at the solar array. She said the plantings will have multiple benefits for the site.

“By being revegetated with native pollinators, we’re able to help build those soils. We have stronger root systems in place that will help with runoff, add beautification and provide habitat for our pollinators,” Ernst said.

She said the flowering plant species will be in bloom by the summer of 2021 and the meadow should be fully functional the following year.

Davis said the project shows that any city, county, company or organization can plan and build a pollinator solar array by following what he called a “pollinator-friendly scorecard.”

“The scorecard is a flexible, science-based tool that demonstrates that within the managed landscape of a solar farm, there’s enough flowers and flowering vegetation to provide a meaningful benefit for pollinators at scale,” Davis said.

Pollinator-friendly scorecards can be downloaded at beeslovesolar.org.

Rope found hanging in Wallace’s garage was coincidence
By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer
The rope found hanging in Bubba Wallace’s garage at Talladega Superspeedway was not a hate crime. Federal authorities said the rope had been hanging at the Alabama track since at least October. Video evidence showed it had been hanging from the garage door but was the only one fashioned as a noose. Wallace coincidentally was assigned that garage. NASCAR stood by its decision to investigate the discovery found in the stall of its only Black driver. Wallace successfully called for a ban of the Confederate flag and has become an activist for the sport during a push for racial equality.

Police officer involved in Breonna Taylor shooting fired
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Louisville Metro police department has fired one of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. A termination letter sent to Officer Brett Hankison released by the city’s police department Tuesday said Hankison violated procedures by showing “extreme indifference to the value of human life.” The letter also said Hankison, who is white, violated the rule against using deadly force. Taylor, who was Black, was shot eight times by officers who burst into her Louisville home using a no-knock warrant during a March 13 narcotics investigation. Two other officers remain on administrative reassignment while the shooting is investigated.

With student gathering, Trump gets a more boisterous crowd
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — It wasn’t quite one of his signature big-stadium rallies. But President Donald Trump drew something closer to the jam-packed audience of political supporters he’s been craving as hundreds of young conservatives filled a Phoenix megachurch Tuesday to hear his call for them to get behind his reelection effort. The crowded Dream City Church for the gathering of Students for Trump offered a starkly different feel compared with Trump’s weekend campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his first of the coronavirus era, which drew sparser attendance.