Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, left, stands behind his bench during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The struggling Pittsburgh Penguins may be sellers at the trade deadline for the first time in decades. Pittsburgh currently sits near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with two weeks to go before the March 8 deadline. General manager/director of hockey operations Kyle Dubas says he wants to give the team plenty of opportunities to show it can contend. Still, time is running out if the Penguins want to avoid missing the playoffs for a second straight season following a streak of 16 consecutive postseason berths

FILE – Election workers at the Allegheny County Election Division warehouse in Pittsburgh process ballots from the 2022 Pennsylvania primary, June 1, 2022. Pennsylvania’s highest court ruled Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, that Republican state lawmakers can no longer try to enforce a subpoena for election records they issued in 2021 in a quest inspired by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s highest court is ruling that Republican state lawmakers can no longer try to enforce a subpoena for election records that they issued in 2021. Their quest had been inspired by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, but the court said Wednesday that the subpoena became “unenforceable” when the state Legislature’s two-year session ended in 2022. It dismissed three appeals and vacated a lower court order that said the Senate could enforce its subpoena. The ruling is effectively a victory for the state attorney general’s office, Senate Democrats and several voter groups, who had gone to court to try to block the subpoena.

FILE – The Pennsylvania Judicial Center, home to the Commonwealth Court, is seen on Feb. 21, 2023, in Harrisburg, Pa. A township ordinance that limits firing guns to indoor and outdoor shooting ranges and zoning that significantly restricts where the ranges can be located do not violate the Second Amendment, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court says a township ordinance that limits firing guns to indoor and outdoor shooting ranges and zoning that significantly restricts where the ranges can be located do not violate the Second Amendment. The justices ruled Wednesday for Stroud Township and against Jonathan Barris, who challenged the gun restrictions. Barris drew complaints from neighbors after building a gun range on his property in the Poconos. In 2011, the township adopted an ordinance restricting gunfire to indoor and outdoor gun ranges, as long as they were issued zoning and occupancy permits.

FILE – Darryl George, a 17-year-old junior, before walking across the street to go into Barbers Hill High School after serving a 5-day in-school suspension for not cutting his hair, Sept. 18, 2023, in Mont Belvieu, Texas. A trial is set to be held Thursday, Feb. 21, 2024, to determine if George can continue being punished by his district for refusing to change his hairstyle, which he and his family say is protected by a new state law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke, File)

ANAHUAC, Texas (AP) — A trial is set to be held to determine if a Black high school student in Texas can continue being punished by his district for refusing to change his hairstyle. The student, Darryl George, and his family say his hairstyle is protected by a new state law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination. George’s Houston-area school district says its policy limiting the length of boys’ hair doesn’t violate the new law. George’s attorney says Texas lawmakers had safeguarding hair length in mind when they approved the new law. The bench trial is being held before state District Judge Chap Cain III in Anahuac.

FILE—This is a Pittsburgh Transit Authority bus that was on the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh when it collapsed in this file photo from Jan. 28, 2022. Investigators looking into the collapse of the Pittsburgh bridge last year want transportation officials nationwide to closely examine more than 10,000 other bridges with similar construction to make sure they don’t have the same kind of corrosion that was found on the bridge that collapsed. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Federal investigators say the city of Pittsburgh did not adequately maintain or repair a bridge, leading to the corrosion of the structure’s steel legs and its collapse into a ravine more than two years ago. The city-owned Forbes Avenue bridge fell down on Jan. 28, 2022, plunging a bus and four cars about 100 feet into the Fern Hollow Creek. Another vehicle drove off the east bridge abutment and landed on its roof. National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Wednesday that the collapse shouldn’t have happened, blaming “repeated failures to act” on extensive corrosion to the uncoated weathering steel. A new bridge at the site opened to traffic in December 2022.

Harrisburg, PA – Today, Acting Secretary of the Department of Health Dr. Debra Bogen announced the Shapiro Administration has launched a $1 million tuition assistance program to help recruit and retain Emergency Medical Services (EMS) professionals.

“Emergency medical services professionals are an essential part of the health care system,” said Acting Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen. “Knowing that you will have well-trained and qualified individuals arriving to your door 24/7 in the event of an emergency is a safeguard that we want for all Pennsylvanians. The Shapiro-Davis administration is committed to helping people enter and remain in this vital profession, and this tuition assistance program supports these workforce efforts.”

Administered by the Department of Health, this program is funded by $1 million from the Fireworks Tax Act each year for the next three years. Pennsylvania residents who obtained a Pennsylvania state certification as an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT), or Paramedic after July 1, 2023, are eligible to have a portion of their tuition reimbursed.

In addition, Pennsylvania licensed EMS agencies are eligible to receive reimbursement of expenses related to recruitment and retention efforts, up to $1,250 per fiscal year.

This tuition reimbursement assistance builds on the Shapiro Administration’s support of Pennsylvania’s EMS industry after securing $20.7 million in the 2023-24 budget to increase mileage rates for ambulance services, ensuring that EMS workers and first responders are properly reimbursed for the critical care they provide. The investment in EMS protects critical access to health care in a state where EMS agencies respond to nearly 24 million 911 calls each year and 26% of the residents live in rural areas.

(AP Photo/Scott Sonner)

Keystone State News Connection – Danielle Smith

The American Climate Corps seeks to create 20,000 jobs related to conservation, climate issues and clean energy.

The program originated by the Biden administration is still being developed but organizations in Appalachia believe it could provide many young people in the area with good-paying employment opportunities.

Kayleigh Del Cotto, director of strategic partnerships for LandForce, an employment social enterprise nonprofit organization combining workforce development with environmental stewardship. She said the organization is unique in its ability to pay wages during all phases of transitional employment, including training people 18 and older.

“Over the last eight years, 52% of our crew members have fallen very neatly within the age range of the American Climate Corps,” Del Cotto reported. “Given a recent expansion that we’re going through, we can now have two cohorts. So we will naturally be able to start hiring a second crew in June.”

Del Cotto noted the initiative offers job opportunities to marginalized individuals who have traditionally faced barriers to employment. While providing them with the necessary skills and support systems “to step into their power” and attain long-term sustainable jobs to support their families.

Annie Regan, director of digital communications for ReImagine Appalachia, said not only could the initiative bring jobs to a region hard-hit by the opioid crisis and unemployment but participants will also receive paid training, opening the doors to opportunities for employment in both the public and private sectors.

“We’re seeing similar trends in today’s economy with folks not being able to find jobs, climate change, exasperating our impacts,” Regan acknowledged. “Of course, we want younger folks to have these jobs, too, and to have pathways to apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs and working with our unions.”

The climate corps is modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Depression-era program launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to alleviate high unemployment among young men. The White House said the Climate Corps aims to attract individuals from diverse backgrounds and disadvantaged communities to work in climate-related sectors.

• Traditional Gaming: Brick-and-mortar casino slots and table games grossed a record $49.4 billion in 2023, up 3.3 percent over 2022. On a state level, 19 out of 27 traditional gaming markets saw record annual revenue.
• Sports Betting: In 2023, sports betting achieved new records for handle ($119.8B) and sportsbook revenue ($10.9B), up 27.8 and 44.5 percent respectively. This growth was largely fueled by continued maturation across most existing markets as well as several new markets, particularly in Massachusetts and Ohio.
• iGaming: 2023 online casino revenue grew 22.9 percent year-over-year to $6.2 billion in the six states with full-scale legal iGaming.

FILE – In this June 27, 2019, file photo, then-Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., listens to questions after the Democratic primary debate hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Art in Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

CARNEGIE, PA — Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan to Western Pennsylvania today. Together and alongside other elected leaders, they announced Pennsylvania will receive a $200 million investment from President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to improve its water infrastructure and replace dangerous lead pipes in communities.

This Pennsylvania announcement is part of a nationwide $5.8 billion IIJA investment in stormwater, drinking water, and wastewater investments that will help support essential water infrastructure that protects public health and water bodies across the country. Almost half of this funding will be available as grants or principal forgiveness loans, which help underserved communities across America invest in water infrastructure.

“Exposure to any level of lead puts everyone, especially kids, at risk,” said Rep. Deluzio. “I am so glad I can help deliver millions from President Biden’s Infrastructure Law funding for communities in Western Pennsylvania like Millvale to remove dangerous lead pipes and ensure folks have clean and safe drinking water.”

“President Biden and I believe that every person in our country should have a right to clean water no matter where they live or how much money they make. That is why our Administration made clean water a national priority and delivered the largest investment in America’s water infrastructure in history,” said Vice President Harris. “Today, I am proud to announce more than $5.8 billion from our Investing in America agenda for states, Tribes, and territories to upgrade water infrastructure in communities across our nation. With this investment, we are continuing our urgent work to remove every lead pipe in the country and ensure that every American has access to safe and reliable drinking water.”

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda continues to transform communities for the better with this latest infusion of funds for critical water infrastructure projects,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “With $50 billion in total, the largest investment in water infrastructure in our nation’s history, EPA will enable communities across the nation to ensure safer drinking water for their residents and rebuild vital clean water infrastructure to protect public health for decades to come.”

In the greater Pittsburgh area, water utilities are working hard to remove lead service lines from operation and reduce exposure to lead from drinking water. The Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority used State Revolving Fund dollars’ worth over $9.5 million to replace approximately 1000 lead service lines in low-income residential neighborhoods.

The funding EPA announced for Pennsylvania is part of a $5.8 billion investment through the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRF), one of EPA’s signature water investment programs. This multi-billion-dollar investment will fund state-run, low-interest loan programs to address key challenges, with $2.6 billion going to the Clean Water SRF for wastewater and stormwater infrastructure and $3.2 billion going to the Drinking Water SRF for drinking water infrastructure. Today’s announcement includes allotments for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law General Supplemental funds and Emerging Contaminant funds for SRF programs for fiscal year 2024. EPA anticipates announcing allocations for billions in additional resources in fiscal year 2024 for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Lead Service Line Replacement fund later this Spring.

Since 2022, the IIJA has injected $21.9 billion into water infrastructure projects across the country protecting public health, preserving water resources, and creating jobs. These investments are unprecedented and transformational. As part of today’s announcement, EPA released for the first time an initial list of 124 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded SRF projects that are underway across the country. A full list of the projects can be viewed on EPA’s website. View more stories about how Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has impacted communities across the country by accessing the Investing in America’s Water Infrastructure Storymap.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published February 21, 2024 10:42 A.M.

(Aliquippa, Pa) The second annual event will be held at the Aliquippa Elementary  School from  5-7 pm on Tuesday the 27th. There will be games, an Easter Egg Hunt and prizes will be awarded. The annual event is sponsored by the Aliquippa School District, City of Aliquippa, and other related organizations within the city, including the Salvation Army.