(Photo provided with release)

Keystone State News Connection

Danielle Smith

The latest research on the “State of Working Pennsylvania” says a tight labor market and new levels of union organizing are offering new opportunities for workers.

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate in August was the lowest since June 2000, at 4.2% – and more than six million Pennsylvanians are either working or looking for jobs.

Stephen Herzenberg – executive director of Keystone Research Center and co-author of the report – said with smart and worker-friendly policies, the next several years should see a sense of possibility for those workers.

“This year’s report shows that – first of all – there are more job openings than there are unemployed workers looking for jobs,” said Herzenberg. “So, individual workers have more leverage in the job market. It’s easier for them to quit and find another job just as good.”

Herzenberg added that this is also a moment in which wages are rising in Pennsylvania – and have for seven years now. He said it’s only the second time since 1979 the state has seen higher wages across the board for an extended period of time.

Herzenberg said the research indicates union organizing is key to some of the higher wages and better benefits, and points to both local and national efforts at such companies as Amazon, Google, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s.

He said he thinks Pennsylvania needs policymakers to be supportive of workers who want to organize.

“Workers that have the courage to form unions are part of the solution,” said Herzenberg. “And regular people – who look at the upcoming election and vote for people based on, will they support a higher minimum wage? Will they support the rights of workers to unionize? Will they support the rights of construction workers and manufacturing workers?”

The Keystone Research Center report recommends policy choices that strengthen collective bargaining rights, raise wages and enhance workers’ skills, in order to – as the report puts it – “see a return to shared prosperity.” It says without those policies, wages could eventually fall for many workers.

(Photos Provided with release)

Story by Beaver County Radio Staff
(West Mifflin, Pa.) Kennywood will host some special guests during the next two weekends of Phantom Fall Fest, including the winner of the inaugural season of Netflix’s smash hit baking show “Is It Cake?©” tomorrow night and next Saturday is a first-ever fall event for the park’s four-legged friends, the Dogtober Fest Halloween Parade and Costume Contest.

From 3:30 to 4:30 tomorrow park guests can meet with Andrew Fuller the winner of the inaugural season of Netflix’s smash hit baking show “Is It Cake?©” outside the Kandy Kaleidoscope.

Next Saturday October 22, 2022 Park guests must register online to bring their dogs to Dogtober Fest and bring a five pound bag of dog food to donate to Who Rescued Who Humane Society. There will be a link on Kennywood’s website to register your pup.
Each pet owner to bring a dog will receive one complimentary Phantom Fall Fest ticket to return any operating day between October 22 and October 30.

(File Photo)

(Photo courtesy of Aliquippa Superintendent Dr. Woods)

Story by Sandy Giordano, Beaver County Radio News
(Aliquippa, Pa.) The Aliquippa School Board met on Wednesday night and hired Sam Giordano, a math teacher at the junior senior high school since 2003 as the district’s new elementary school assistant principal.  He begins his new duties on Monday, October 31, 2022. Sam is a graduate of Western Beaver High School and has a bachelor of science in elementary education from Clarion University. He received his masters degree  in education for k-12 from YSU, and his principal’s certification from Westminster College.

Giordano replaces Mike  Malec  who is leaving the district for a new position.

(File Photo of the Federal Courthouse in Pittsburgh)

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) Former Freedom resident 28-year-old Zachary Dinell  pleaded guilty in federal court to federal hate crime charges.
Dinell is charged with one count of conspiracy, ten counts of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and one count of concealing material facts in a health care matter before United States District
Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan Thursday.
According to admissions made during Dinell’s plea hearing, he and co-defendant Tyler Smith were employees of Mc Guire Home in New Brighton, Pennsylvania.
Residents of the facility suffered from a range of severe physical, intellectual, and emotional disabilities, and required assistance with all activities of daily life, including bathing, using the bathroom, oral hygiene, feeding, and dressing. As members of the facility’s Direct Care Staff, Dinell admitted that he and Smith were responsible for providing this daily assistance to residents.
From approximately June 2016 to September 2017, Dinell further admitted that he and Smith engaged in a conspiracy to commit hate crimes against residents of the facility because of the residents’ actual or perceived disabilities. Dinell and Smith carried out assaults in a variety of ways, including by punching and kicking residents, jumping on residents, rubbing liquid irritants in their eyes, spraying liquid irritants in their eyes and mouths, and in one instance removing a resident’s compression stocking in a manner intended to inflict pain. Several of these assaults were recorded
on Dinell’s cell phone. As part of the conspiracy, Dinell acknowledged that he and Smith exchanged text messages in which they expressed their animus toward the disabled residents, shared pictures and videos of residents, described their assaults, and encouraged each other’s continued abuse of residents.
Dinell further admitted that he and Smith were able to avoid detection by, among other things, exploiting their one-on-one access to residents of the facility and the fact that the victims were non-verbal and could not report the defendant’s alleged abuse. Due to their physical disabilities, the residents also were not able to defend themselves against the alleged assaults.
As part of his plea agreement, and subject to the approval of Judge Ranjan, Dinell has agreed to a term of imprisonment of between 14 and 17 years.
The case against Smith remains pending, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

(File Photo of Aliquippa City Building)

Story by sandy Giordano, Beaver County Radio News
(Aliquippa, Pa.) Aliquippa City Council met this week and approved the hiring of two new full time police officers, and changed the status of a part time officer to full time.

FILE—Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, meets with supporters as he leaves his event in Philadelphia, in this file photo from Sept. 24, 2022. Black voters are at the center of an increasingly competitive battle in a race that could tilt control of the Senate between Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz, as Democrats try to harness outrage over the Supreme Court’s abortion decision and Republicans tap the national playbook to focus on rising crime in cities. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd, File)
By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — An NBC News correspondent who interviewed Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman says her reporting should not be seen as a commentary on his fitness for office after a stroke. Reporter Dasha Burns reported on-air that the Democrat appeared to have trouble understanding a conversation without a closed-captioning device. The comment has been retweeted by Republicans, who are seeking an advantage in the closely followed Senate race between Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz. The interview with Burns was Fetterman’s first on-air interview since his May 13 stroke. It was conducted with a device that prints a transcript of questions in real time on a computer screen, to help Fetterman deal with auditory processing issues.

FILE – The price of shrimp is displayed at a market in Philadelphia, Thursday, June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation in the United States accelerated in September, with the cost of housing and other necessities intensifying pressure on households, wiping out pay gains that many have received and ensuring that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates aggressively. Consumer prices rose 8.2% in September compared with a year earlier, the government said Thursday. On a month-to-month basis, prices increased 0.4% from August to September after having ticked up 0.1% from July to August.

This Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, photo shows a Social Security card in Tigard, Ore. Social Security checks to increase by 5.9%, as inflation fuels largest COLA for retirees in nearly 40 years (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% boost in their benefits in 2023. That’s a historic increase and welcome news for American retirees and others — but it’s tempered by the fact that it’s fueled by record high inflation that’s raised the cost of everyday living. that means the average recipient will receive more than $140 a month extra beginning in January. The cost-of living adjustment is meant to help cover the higher cost of food, fuel and other goods and services. How well it does that depends on inflation next year.