AP: Publicly traded firms get $300M in small-business loans
By REESE DUNKLIN, JUSTIN PRITCHARD, JUSTIN MYERS and KRYSTA FAURIA Associated Press
An Associated Press investigation has found that a relief fund Congress created to protect small businesses amid the coronavirus crisis has helped companies with thousands of employees, past regulatory run-ins and risks of financial failure even before the economy got walloped. The Paycheck Protection Program was supposed to help small businesses, which typically have less access to quick cash and credit. Its $349 billion in emergency loans are intended to keep workers on the job and bills paid on time. But the AP found 75 companies that collectively received $300 million were publicly traded, and some had market values well over $100 million.

Queen Elizabeth II marks 94th birthday without fanfare
LONDON (AP) — Britain is marking Queen Elizabeth II’s 94th birthday with silence, as the nation in lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic forgoes the usual gun salutes and ringing of bells. With thousands dead, the monarch decided that the celebratory display of military firepower would not be “appropriate.” Nor will there be a celebratory peal of bells from Westminster Abbey, as the church where the queen was married and crowned is currently closed. The royal family took to social media to share images of Elizabeth as she marks the occasion. The queen will mark the day with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle in Berkshire.

Oil market in turmoil as price falls below zero
By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer
BANGKOK (AP) — The market for U.S. crude oil is in turmoil, with one contract trading below zero. Collapsing demand for fuel due to the pandemic has created a glut of oil, with storage capacity running short. The cost to have a barrel of U.S. crude delivered in May was at negative $7.40 per barrel Tuesday, after plunging to negative $37.63. Traders are paying about $16 per barrel for U.S. oil to be delivered in June. Analysts consider that to be closer to the “true” price of oil, and it is the lowest in decades. The volatility is hurting stock markets, which are down around the world and expected to drop on Wall Street when trading begins.

Pittsburgh Metro Area Continues to Rank Among Worst 25 in Nation for Two Measures of Air Quality, But Improved for All Three Measures Tracked, Finds 2020 ‘State of the Air’ Report. Allegheny County Was One of Only 14 Counties in United States with Straight “F” Grades.

American Lung Association’s annual air quality report finds nearly half of Americans breathing unhealthy air. For particle pollution, Pittsburgh metro area one of just nine in U.S. with “F” for year-round level, and only one east of Utah among worst 25 for daily measure.

PITTSBURGH, PA (April 21, 2020) – The American Lung Association’s 2020 “State of the Air” report found the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV metro area tied for the eighth-most polluted city in the nation for its year-round average levels of fine particle pollution. It was one of only nine in the nation earning a failing grade for this measure and was the only metro area outside of California to do so. Although its result continued to fail to meet the air quality standard, the area nevertheless improved to match its best-ever year-round average concentration of fine particle pollution.

 

For the measure of daily spikes of fine particle pollution, the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV metro area also improved, posting fewer days with unhealthy levels of this pollutant. However, the area still ranked as 16^th worst polluted in the nation, an improvement over its 10^th place ranking in last year’s report, and it was the only one of the country’s worst 25 cities that was east of Utah.

 

The Pittsburgh metro area improved slightly for ozone smog, too, but continued to fall among the worse metro areas in the U.S. for this pollutant, ranking 30^th most polluted out of 229 metro areas for days with high levels of ozone. Ozone and particle pollution are the nation’s most widespread air pollutants and both can be deadly.

 

The American Lung Association recognizes the Pittsburgh metro area’s improvements over the years for all three measures of air pollution tracked in the report. But despite those improvements, Allegheny County not only was the most polluted county in the metro area for all three, but was one of only 14 counties in the nation that posted failing grades for those three measures.

 

The Lung Association’s annual air quality “report card” tracks Americans’ exposure to unhealthful levels of particle pollution and ozone during a three-year period. Once again, the report found that nearly half of all Americans were exposed to unhealthy air in 2016-2018. In the three-state, 12-county Pittsburgh metro area, ozone air pollution placed the health of over 2.6 million residents at risk, including those who are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution such as older adults, children and those with a lung disease.

 

“This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, which has been responsible for dramatic improvements in air quality. However, Pittsburgh area residents continue to breathe some of the most unhealthy air in the country, driven by emissions from vehicles and industrial sources, both locally generated as well as from upwind, placing their health and lives at risk,” said American Lung Association Director of Environmental Health Kevin Stewart. “Furthermore, with nearly half of Americans breathing unhealthy air, our ‘State of the Air’ report shows that nationally, because of climate change, the nation is heading in the wrong direction when it comes to protecting public health.”

 

Each year “State of the Air” provides a report card on the two most widespread outdoor air pollutants, ozone pollution, also known as smog, and particle pollution, also called soot. The report analyzes particle pollution in two ways: through average annual particle pollution levels and short-term spikes in particle pollution. Both ozone and particle pollution are dangerous to public health and can increase the risk of premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer, and new research links air pollution to the development of serious diseases, such as asthma and dementia.

 

This year’s report covers 2016, 2017 and 2018, the years with the most recent quality-assured data available collected by states, cities, counties, tribes and federal agencies. Notably, those three years were among the five hottest recorded in global history. Rising temperatures lead to increased levels of ozone pollution. Changing climate patterns also fuel wildfires and their dangerous smoke, which increase particle pollution. Ozone and particle pollution threaten everyone, especially children, older adults and people living with a lung disease. Although this report does not cover data from 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of air pollution on lung health is of heightened concern. Learn more about that at www.Lung.org/covid-19.

 

Ozone Pollution in the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV Metro Area

Compared to the 2019 report, Pittsburgh experienced slightly fewer unhealthy days of high ozone in this year’s report.

 

“Ozone pollution can harm even healthy people, but is particularly dangerous for children, older adults and people with lung diseases such as COPD or asthma,” said Stewart. “Breathing ozone-polluted air can trigger asthma attacks in both adults and children with asthma, which can land them in the doctor’s office or the emergency room. Ozone can even shorten people’s lives.”

 

This report documents that warmer temperatures brought by climate change are making ozone more likely to form and harder to clean up. Significantly more people suffered unhealthy ozone pollution in the 2020 report than in the last three “State of the Air” reports. Both Allegheny and Beaver Counties earned “F” grades in this year’s report, recording 24 and 12 days, respectively, of high ozone during the report period.

 

Particle Pollution in the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV Metro Area

“State of the Air” 2020 found that the year-round particle pollution level in the metro area’s worst-performing county (Allegheny) was better than in last year’s report. The level matched its previous best, recorded over the 2013-2015 period, but it still failed to meet the national standard for this pollutant.

 

“Particle pollution can lodge deep in the lungs and even enter the bloodstream. It can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes and cause lung cancer,” said Stewart. Particle pollution comes from industry, coal-fired power plants, diesel emissions, wildfires and wood-burning devices.

 

“Year-round particle pollution levels had dropped in recent years thanks to the cleanup of coal-fired power plants and the retirement of old, dirty diesel engines. However, the increase we’ve seen nationally in particle pollution in this year’s report is a troubling reminder that we must increase our efforts to reduce this dangerous pollution,” said Stewart.

 

“State of the Air” 2020 also tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even lethal. Although the area improved with fewer days when short-term particle pollution reached unhealthy levels, compared with last year’s report, Allegheny County did not match its best performance, in the 2017 report, but tallied 28 days high in fine particle pollution during the report period and earned an “F” grade.

 

On a positive note, the following five counties in the metro area all earned “A” grades for fine particle pollution in this year’s report, posting zero days with average concentrations in the unhealthy ranges, according to the air quality standard: Armstrong, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties, PA, and Brooke and Hancock Counties, WV. That placed these counties on the list of cleanest counties in the nation for this pollutant.

 

“We all have the right to breathe clean, healthy air. The 50^th anniversary of the Clean Air Act serves as a critical reminder that Americans breathe healthier air today because of this landmark law,” said Stewart. “At the same time, this year’s report shows that we must stand up for clean air—especially to safeguard our most vulnerable community members. Our leaders, both here in southwestern Pennsylvania and at the federal level, must take immediate, significant action to ward off climate change and other threats to the quality of the air we all breathe.”

 

While the report examined data from 2016-2018, this 21^st annual report also provides air pollution trends back to the first report. Learn more about Pittsburgh’s rankings, as well as air quality across the region and the nation, in the 2020 “State of the Air” report at www.Lung.org/SOTA.

AAA: Pennsylvania Gas Prices Dip; Oil Prices Plunge
The average price of gasoline across Western Pennsylvania is two cents cheaper this week at $2.122 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

Mid-Atlantic and Northeast state averages are two to six cents cheaper on the week. With the latest declines, only four states in the region carry averages of more than $2/gallon: New York ($2.22), Washington, D.C. ($2.16), Pennsylvania ($2.08) and New Jersey ($2.05). At $1.68, North Carolina has the lowest state average in the region.

Increasing by 1.3 million barrels, total regional gasoline stocks now sit at a healthy 71.8 million barrels. Inventory has bumped up for a month by a substantial 11 million barrels. Energy Information Administration (EIA) levels were reported at 60 million barrels for the week ending March 20. Given the substantial amount of gasoline inventory, regional refinery utilization has plummeted to 39%.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                 $2.122
Average price during the week of April 13, 2020                                      $2.147
Average price during the week of April 22, 2019                                      $3.036

The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:      

$2.090      Altoona
$2.226      Beaver
$2.198      Bradford
$2.098      Brookville
$2.064      Butler
$2.070      Clarion
$2.100      Du Bois
$2.106      Erie
$2.116      Greensburg
$2.109      Indiana
$2.192      Jeannette
$2.118      Kittanning
$2.149      Latrobe
$1.953      Meadville
$2.232      Mercer
$1.789      New Castle
$2.225      New Kensington
$2.199      Oil City
$2.212      Pittsburgh
$1.929      Sharon
$2.240      Uniontown
$2.199      Warren
$2.184      Washington

On the National Front
On the week, the national gas price average decreased by a nickel pushing the year-over-year savings to $1.03/gallon. Today, 20 states have pump price averages that are $1/gallon or more cheaper compared to last year, with another dozen states within a dime of reaching this mark. One in four U.S. gas stations are selling gas for $1.49 or less.

Prices may continue to drop in the week ahead, as regional refinery rates drop and the price of crude oil plummets. At the end of Friday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased by $1.60 to settle at $18.12 per barrel. Today (April 20^th), the price dropped into negative territory. This drastic drop is likely to be reflected at the pump in the days ahead.

Crude prices were volatile last week in the wake of a historic 9.7-million b/d crude oil production reduction agreement for May and June 2020 between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia. As oil inventories continue to grow around the globe and crude demand falls worldwide, crude prices have dropped dramatically as the public health, economic and financial impact of COVID-19 increases. Crude prices will likely remain volatile this week as the market continues to assess how low prices could fall during the ongoing pandemic.

On the week, U.S. gasoline demand was stable at 5.1 million barrels-per-day as refinery rates dipped down to 69%, a level not reported by the EIA in more than a decade. Despite lower run rates amid low demand, gasoline stocks increased. Total U.S. stock levels measure at a record 262 million barrels – the highest weekly domestic stock level ever recorded by EIA, since it began reporting the data in 1990.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.

(Pittsburgh,Pa.)Two convenience stores were robbed Overnight in Pittsburgh.The first robbery happened about 2:30 a.m. at the 7-Eleven on Brookline Boulevard in Brookline. The second shortly after 3:00 a.m. at the speedway on Browns Hill Road in Greenfield.

In both robberies, two men walked into the store wearing dark hooded sweatshirts and had their faces covered. A gun was displayed, and they got away with cigarettes at the first store and an undetermined amount of cash at the second. No one was hurt in either robbery.

Police are investigating to determine whether the robberies are related.

Minnesota man accused of dismembering woman, dumping remains
By JEFF BAENEN Associated Press
PLYMOUTH, Minn. (AP) — Prosecutors say a western Minnesota man admits he killed a 19-year-old woman, dismembered her in his garage and disposed of the body parts in dumpsters outside his apartment. Ethan Broad, of Moorhead, was charged Monday in Clay County court with second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony. Bail was set at $1 million. According to the complaint, the 27-year-old Broad killed Dystynee Avery, cut up her body with a saw, put the remains into garbage bags and dumped them in bins near his apartment. Broad told police he killed and dismembered Avery in self-defense.

3 killed by suspected tornado, lightning as storms hit South
HEADLAND, Ala. (AP) — Apparent tornadoes and a lighting strike are being blamed for three deaths in the South. Officials say one man was killed in Mississippi and another died in Alabama when winds ripped apart mobile homes. Authorities suspect tornadoes in each case. And a woman is dead in south Georgia following a house fire that officials suspect was caused by lightning. The Storm Prediction Center received more than 250 reports of possible tornadoes, high winds, hail and storm damage from east Texas to central Florida on Sunday and Monday. Thousands were left without power by the storms.

Florida slowest state in US to process unemployment claims
By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida has processed its hundreds of thousands of new unemployment claims more slowly than any other state. Florida is already among the most inhospitable places to be unemployed, and the economic downturn from the coronavirus outbreak has only added to the misery. State data now streaming into the Department of Labor shows Florida at the absolute bottom among all 50 states and the District Columbia in the percentage of the unemployed it is serving, lagging behind states big and small. Nearly 7 of every 8 Floridians who managed to file claims during the three weeks from mid-March until early April were waiting to have them processed.

Pennsylvanians Encouraged to Use Electronic Filing Options for PA Tax Returns During COVID-19 Pandemic

Harrisburg, PA — The Department of Revenue is encouraging Pennsylvanians to take advantage of user-friendly electronic filing options for their Pennsylvania personal income tax returns (PA-40s). Even though the deadline for filing 2019 tax returns has been extended to July 15, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filing now electronically is a good option, including for Pennsylvanians who are expecting a tax refund.

“We want our taxpayers to know that you don’t have to wait until July. We’re still processing returns and issuing the majority of refunds that are requested,” Revenue Secretary Dan Hassell said. “If you’re expecting a refund and you’re able to electronically file your return from home, that will help us deliver your refund as quickly as possible.”

The department recently announced the extension of the filing deadline to July 15, 2020 for taxpayers to file their 2019 Pennsylvania personal income tax returns and payments. The extension gave taxpayers an additional 90 days to file from the original deadline of April 15 as the commonwealth takes steps to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Despite its offices being closed, the department is processing the majority of the personal income tax returns that it receives electronically. The processing of paper returns and paper check payments submitted during the office closure will be delayed.

Electronic Filing Options:

• Padirectfile – Use this free, secure, state-only electronic income tax filing system that is available through the Department of Revenue’s website. For more information or to begin filing, visit Padirectfile.
• Electronic Filing Free – Free electronic filing options are available to file state and federal returns using software from a reputable vendor (income limits may apply). More vendor information  is available on the department’s website.
• Electronic Filing for a Fee – Paid tax preparers and commercial tax preparation software providers that offer e-filing for a fee are processing returns during the pandemic. E-filing offers advantages not available to taxpayers filing by paper, including error-reducing automatic calculators, instant confirmation of successful filing, faster refund processing and direct deposit options.  

July 15 Deadline

All taxpayers who received more than $33 in total gross taxable income in calendar year 2019 must file a Pennsylvania personal income tax return by midnight, Wednesday, July 15, 2020.  

Taxpayer Service and Assistance

The Department of Revenue is reminding taxpayers that is also has:

• Extended the deadline to file informational returns related to PA S corporations, partnerships, and estates and trusts to July 15, 2020.
• Extended the due date for corporations with tax returns due in May to August 14, 2020.
• Removed the requirement for some businesses to make prepayments of Sales and Use Tax for April, May and June of 2020. Many larger businesses are required to make prepayments under normal circumstances.
• Announced a plan to offer taxpayers increased flexibility, additional time to meet their tax obligations, and a reprieve from several tax enforcement actions.

With the department’s call centers closed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, taxpayers seeking assistance are encouraged to use the department’s Online Customer Service Center, available at revenue-pa.custhelp.com. You can use this resource to electronically submit a question to a department representative. The department representative will be able to respond through a secure, electronic process that is similar to receiving an email. Additionally, the Online Customer Service Center includes thousands of answers to common tax-related questions.

Find Alerts from Revenue Online

Taxpayers and tax professionals are encouraged to visit the Department of Revenue’s COVID-19 information page on www.revenue.pa.gov for additional guidance and updates on department operations. You can also visit the department’s pages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for real time updates.

Visit the commonwealth’s Responding to COVID-19 guide for the latest guidance and resources for Pennsylvanians or the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s dedicated coronavirus webpage for the most up-to-date information regarding COVID-19.