FILE – Mail-in and absentee ballots are seen at the elections warehouse in Pittsburgh, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE – Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his third budget proposal to lawmakers next week, a plan that’s expected to seek substantially more aid for the poorest public schools, emphasize frugality and press the politically fraught topics of bailing out public transit and legalizing marijuana.
The plan to be unveiled Tuesday also is expected to carry aid for rural hospitals, boost pay for workers who care for older adults and disabled people and introduce taxes on skill games that are seen as competitors to casinos and lottery contests.
It comes at a time when Pennsylvania has an enormous surplus. It’s projected to have $10.5 billion in reserve when the fiscal year ends June 30.
But the state also faces growing deficits, a slow-growing economy, a fast-growing retirement-age population that is costly to care for and cost pressures from a range of human services.
Passage will require approval from Pennsylvania’s Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled Senate.
Here’s what to watch for:
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SPENDING
Lawmakers approved a $47.6 billion spending plan for the current fiscal year. That represented a 6% increase over the prior year’s approved budget and held the line on sales and income tax rates, the state’s two major revenue sources.
Big increases went toward public schools, nursing homes and services for the intellectually disabled. However, it required about $3 billion of surplus cash to balance, eliciting warnings from Republicans that the state must slow the pace of spending or risk depleting its surplus within several years.
The state is expected to bring in $46 billion in tax collections this fiscal year — likely well below what Shapiro will propose in spending.
Lawmakers say they expect Shapiro’s forthcoming plan to emphasize cost savings and scraping up unused cash in program accounts to help offset spending increases elsewhere.
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Public schools are expected to be a top priority again.
Shapiro is under pressure from education allies and Democratic lawmakers to marshal billions more for schools in response to a court decision that found that Pennsylvania’s system of public school funding violates the constitutional rights of students in the poorest districts.
Lawyers for the schools that sued the state are asking for a $1 billion increase in “adequacy” money for schools that have been disadvantaged by the funding system, plus another $325 million for instruction and special education to help all districts keep pace with rising costs. That’s almost 13% more.
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PUBLIC TRANSIT
Shapiro has been adamant about preventing cutbacks by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the Philadelphia region’s public transit agency, which hasn’t regained ridership lost during the pandemic.
Republican lawmakers have insisted on finding a new revenue source and packaging transit aid with more cash for highway projects in their districts.
Last year, Shapiro proposed a $150 million tax on the skill games that are popular in bars, convenience stores, pizzerias and standalone parlors around the state. Lawmakers are again eyeing it as a way to raise the money.
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HUMAN SERVICES
Organizations that provide home care for older adults and people with disabilities are seeking increases in Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Direct care workers’ pay rates have fallen far behind, and it’s getting harder to find workers, making the services harder to get for people who need them, said Mia Haney of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association.
The association is seeking about $550 million in rate increases, about 22% more. Pennsylvania has among the lowest in reimbursement rates among its neighbors and comparable states, it says.
Separately, nursing home operators want at least $139 million more, or about 7%, to help keep beds open, and a $20 million increase, or about 10% more, for day programs that help older adults get medical, nutrition, rehab and other needs met.
Gary Pezzano of LeadingAge PA said nursing home operators are taking beds offline because they can’t affording staffing costs, and that’s causing emergency rooms to get backed up because there’s a lack of beds to accept people in need of rehab or nursing care.
Counties are seeking another $100 million for the mental health services they administer — about a 33% increase — and say the network that serves its social services and criminal justice system is on the verge of collapse.
Shapiro, meanwhile, has said he’ll propose more money to support health care in rural Pennsylvania.
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ENERGY
Shapiro wants to fast-track the construction of big power plants and offer hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks amid an energy crunch that threatens to raise electricity bills across Pennsylvania.
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LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, said he believes passage of forthcoming legislation he’ll sponsor to legalize marijuana is possible by July 1, although getting enough Senate Republicans on board has been a challenge. Shapiro supports legalizing marijuana.
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VIOLENCE PREVENTION
The anti-gun violence group CeaseFirePA said it found big drops in gun violence — a 42% drop in victims and a 38% drop in deaths since 2022. It urged lawmakers to “double down” on $56.5 million it budgeted this year for violence prevention.
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This story has been corrected to show the Pennsylvania Homecare Association is seeking $550 million, not $500 million, and that the percentage increase is 22%, not 7%.
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Follow Marc Levy on X at: https://x.com/timelywriter

(File Photo)
Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing gas line excavation work on Dutch Ridge Road (Route 4108) in Brighton Township, Beaver County will occur Monday through Friday, February 3-7 weather permitting.

Single-lane alternating traffic will occur on Dutch Ridge Road at the intersection with Windy Ghoul Drive from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day through Friday, February 7. Crews from Team Fishel will conduct gas line excavation work.

Please use caution if traveling on this roadway. Work zone safety is everyone’s responsibility.

PennDOT is not involved in this work and is providing this information as a public service announcement only. For additional information contact Dillon Eggers at 724-714-8263.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.

Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Allegheny, Beaver, Lawrence counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District11.

Information about infrastructure in District 11, including completed work and significant projects, is available at www.penndot.pa.gov/D11Results. Find PennDOT’s planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.

Find PennDOT news on X, Facebook, and Instagram.

(FIle Photo: Source for Photo: Shown are lockers at Penn Wood High School in Lansdowne, Pa., Wednesday, May 3, 2023. As schools across the country struggle to find teachers to hire, more governors are pushing for pay increases and bonuses for the beleaguered profession. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) Pennsylvania lawmakers return to Harrisburg on Monday, facing renewed pressure to address long-standing issues that include improving the economy and education. Advocates for those causes say it’s a crucial opportunity to make meaningful progress on many policies. Gillian Kratzer with the group Better Pennsylvania says one key priority Democrats are focused on is improving school funding. Kratzer says her group anticipates Governor Josh Shapiro’s third budget address, on February 4th. In the last budget, Shapiro made the largest investment in Commonwealth history for K-through-12 public education, at just over one-billion dollars.

(File Photo of the Clock in Beaver)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver, PA) Volunteers are asking for two more years to raise funds for a project to make a new swimming pool and community center for the public in Shaw Park in Beaver. The Beaver Council will take a vote on whether to provide the Shaw Park Project group a two-year period for people to gather funds. The group has collected $616,000 for the project that is worth close to $3.9 million. The borough has also teamed up with the group to turn the bathhouse at Shaw Park into a community center. If the time runs out, the committee of the Shaw Park Project will distribute the funds for the preservation of the park. You can visit shawparkbeaver.org to donate.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Police and coast guard boats are seen around a wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — A midair collision between an Army helicopter and a jetliner killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, officials said, as they scrutinized the actions of the military pilot in the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.

At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the river from Washington, officials said Thursday. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

President Donald Trump told a White House news conference that no one survived.

“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital.

The crash occurred before 9 p.m. in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over 3 miles (about 4.8 kilometers) south of the White House and the Capitol.

Air crash investigations can take months, and federal investigators told reporters they would not speculate on the cause.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 airplane, agency spokesperson Peter Knudson said. They were at the agency’s labs for evaluation.

The plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, and first responders were searching miles of the Potomac, Donnelly said. The helicopter wreckage was also found. Images from the river showed boats around the partly submerged wing and the mangled wreckage of the plane’s fuselage.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the plane was making a normal approach when “the military aircraft came into the path” of the jet.

One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration that was obtained by The Associated Press. Those duties are often divided between two people, but the airport typically combines the roles at 9:30 p.m, once traffic begins to slow down. On Wednesday the tower supervisor directed that they be combined earlier.

“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said. A person familiar with the matter, however, said the tower staffing that night was at a normal level.

The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, during shift changes or when air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.

The Federal Aviation Administration has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas, carrying, among others, a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches, and four union steamfitters from the Washington area.

A top Army aviation official said the crew of the helicopter, a Black Hawk, was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around the city.

“Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation.

The helicopter’s maximum allowed altitude at the time was 200 feet (about 60 meters), Koziol said. It was not immediately clear whether it exceeded that limit, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said altitude seemed to be a factor in the collision.

Koziol said investigators need to analyze the flight data before making conclusions about altitude.

Trump opened the news conference with a moment of silence honoring the crash victims, calling it an “hour of anguish” for the country.

But he spent most of his time casting political blame, lashing out at former President Joe Biden’s administration and diversity efforts at the Federal Aviation Administration, saying they had led to slipping standards — even as he acknowledged that the cause of the crash was unknown.

Without evidence, Trump blamed air traffic controllers, the helicopter pilots and Democratic policies at federal agencies. He claimed that the FAA was “actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative.”

Inside Reagan National, the mood was somber Thursday as stranded passengers waited for flights to resume, sidestepping camera crews and staring out the windows at the Potomac, where recovery efforts were barely visible in the distance.

Aster Andemicael had been there since the previous evening with her older adult father, who was flying to Indiana to visit relatives. She spent much of the long night thinking about the victims and their families.

“I’ve been crying since yesterday,” Andemicael said, her voice cracking. “This is devastating.”

Flights resumed around midday.

The deadliest plane crash since November 2001

Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight slammed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five people on the ground.

The last major fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, along with one person on the ground, bringing the total death toll to 50.

Experts often highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, however. The National Safety Council estimates that Americans have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on airplanes are too rare to calculate the odds. Figures from the Department of Transportation tell a similar story.

But the airspace around Reagan National can challenge even the most experienced pilots no matter how ideal the conditions. They must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.

Just over 24 hours before the fatal collision, a different regional jet had to go around for a second chance at landing at Reagan National after it was advised about a military helicopter nearby, according to flight tracking sites and control logs. It landed safely minutes later.

Tragedy stuns Wichita

The crash devastated the Kansas city, which prides itself on being in America’s heartland. Wichita hosted the U.S. Figure Skating Championships this year for the first time, along with training camps for top young skaters.

The city has been a major hub for the aircraft industry since the early days of commercial flight, and it is home to the U.S. headquarters for Bombardier, which manufactured the jetliner. So many regional workers have jobs tied to the industry that the area’s economy slumps when sales dip.

Several hundred people gathered in the city council chambers for a prayer vigil.

“We will get through this, but the only way we will get through this is together,” said the Rev. Pamela Hughes Mason of St. Paul AME Church.

Collision happened in tightly controlled airspace

Flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet (122 meters) and a speed of about 140 mph (225 kph) when it rapidly lost altitude over the Potomac, according to data from its radio transponder. The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-700 twin-engine jet, manufactured in 2004, can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers.

A few minutes before the crash, air traffic controllers directed the jet to a shorter runway, and flight-tracking sites showed that it adjusted its approach.

Less than 30 seconds before the collision, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight.

A crewmember said the aircraft was in sight and requested “visual separation” — allowing it to fly closer than otherwise might be allowed if pilots did not see the plane. Controllers approved the request.

Seconds later, the two aircraft collided.

(File Photo: Caption for Photo: Telecommunication tower with radio antennas and satellite dishes is installed on the rural on the green field with grass, bushes and trees. Concept of harmless of electromagnetic and microwave radiation on the environment, nature and human)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(North Sewickley Township, PA) On Thursday, a proposed Beaver County solar farm in North Sewickley Township was denied a zoning application. Penn Renewables was the company that faced a zoning board after leasing the farm. However, neighbors believed that values of property and issues with flooding would affect the “impact” the land has in the community. Even though Penn Renewables is continuing to get the farm applied to be built on a wooded area of almost eighty acres, an almost three-hour decision by a zoning board said no to the opportunity. 

(File Photo of Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Kennedy Township, PA) A former secretary for Sto-Rox elementary school has been charged with stealing over $1,000 from a fundraiser of the school. According to court paperwork, Jasmine Smith now has a theft charge after $1,015 was taken from the Sto-Rox PTO. Smith was caught on video keeping the cash in the drawer of her desk and leaving with it on November 15th, 2024. Court paperwork also states that February 18th, 2025 will be the preliminary hearing date for Smith. 

(File Photo of Police Lights)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Hanover Township, PA) Pennsylvania State Police in Beaver report that charges were filed after a man from Hookstown caused a single-vehicle crash close to 1457 Lincoln Highway. At 6:24 a.m., thirty-seven-year-old Zane Cuneo hit a shrub bush with his vehicle after crossing into an oncoming lane. According to police, Cuneo suffered minor injuries and was suspected as heavily being under the influence of alcohol. Cuneo was charged for DUI following the incident.