(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Philadelphia’s altered gay pride flag is seen outside City Hall on June 19, 2017, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two public school districts and several parents have sued Pennsylvania in a bid to undo antidiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people, saying the state’s two-year-old regulation is illegal because it goes beyond what lawmakers intended or allowed.

The lawsuit comes amid a national debate over the rights of transgender high school athletes to compete in women’s sports, and was filed in the statewide Commonwealth Court late Thursday.

If the lawsuit is successful, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission would no longer be able to investigate complaints about discrimination involving sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The plaintiffs’ lawyers also say a favorable ruling in court would bar transgender student athletes from competing in women’s high school sports in Pennsylvania.

The plaintiffs include two districts — South Side Area and Knoch, both in western Pennsylvania — and two Republican state lawmakers, Reps. Aaron Bernstine and Barbara Gleim, as well as three parents and seven students.

The lawsuit names Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, which investigates complaints about discrimination because of someone’s race, sex, religion, age or disability in housing, employment and public accommodations.

Shapiro’s office said it had no immediate comment Friday, and the commission did not respond to an inquiry about the lawsuit Friday.

The lawsuit is aimed at the definition of sex discrimination, which the commission expanded by regulation to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The regulation was approved in late 2022 by a separate regulatory gatekeeper agency, and it took effect in 2023.

The plaintiffs contend that the state Supreme Court has interpreted the term “sex” as used in the Pennsylvania Constitution to mean either male or female.

They also contend that the state Legislature never gave permission to the Human Relations Commission to write regulations expanding the legal definition of sex discrimination, making the regulation a violation of the Legislature’s constitutional authority over lawmaking.

The commission has justified the expanded definition by saying that state courts have held that Pennsylvania’s antidiscrimination laws are to be interpreted consistently with federal antidiscrimination law. The commission can negotiate settlements between parties or impose civil penalties, such as back pay or damages.

For years, Democratic lawmakers tried to change the law to add the terms sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to the portfolio of complaints that the Human Relations Commission could investigate. Every time, Republican lawmakers blocked the effort.

Shapiro, in the past, has backed the Democrats’ legislation and in 2021 called GOP-backed legislation to prohibit transgender athletes from playing women’s high school and college sports “cruel.”

Most states have laws against discriminating against gay or transgender people in employment, housing and public accommodations or investigate such complaints, according to the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for equality for LGBTQ people.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – A data center owned by Amazon Web Services, front right, is under construction next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Berwick, Pa., on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Facing projections of spiking energy demand, U.S. states are pressing for ways to build new power plants faster as policymakers increasingly worry about protecting their residents and economies from rising electric bills, power outages and other consequences of falling behind Big Tech in a race for electricity.

Some states are dangling financial incentives. Others are undoing decades of regulatory structures in what they frame as a race to serve the basic needs of residents, avoid a catastrophe and keep their economies on track in a fast-electrifying society.

“I don’t think we’ve seen anything quite like this,” said Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, which represents independent power plant owners.

The spike in demand for electricity is being driven, in large part, by the artificial intelligence race as tech companies are snapping up real estate and seeking power to feed their energy-hungry data centers. Federal incentives to rebuild the manufacturing sector also are helping drive demand.

In some cases, Big Tech is arranging its own power projects.

But energy companies also are searching for ways to capitalize on opportunities afforded by the first big increase in electricity consumption in a couple of decades, and that is pitting state political leaders against each other for the new jobs and investment that come with new power plants.

Governors want to fast-track power plants

Moves by states come as a fossil fuel – friendly President Donald Trump and Republican-controlled Congress take power in Washington, D.C., slashing regulations around oil and gas, boostingdrilling opportunities and encouraging the construction of pipelines and refineries that can export liquefied natural gas.

States are seeking action, with the National Governors Association asking Congress to make it easier and faster to build power plants and criticizing the U.S. as among the slowest developed nations in approving energy projects.

But there may be less that the federal government can do right away about a looming power shortage, since greenlighting power plants to feed the electric grid is largely the province of state regulators and regional grid operators.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to establish an agency to fast-track the construction of big power plants and dangle hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for projects providing electricity to the grid.

The state, and the country, needs more power plants to win the artificial intelligence race and provide reliable and affordable power to residents, said Shapiro, who suggested Pennsylvania may leave the regional grid operated by PJM Interconnection in favor of “going it alone.”

“It has proven over the last number of years too darn hard to get enough new generation projects off the ground because of how slow PJM‘s queue is,” Shapiro told a news conference on Feb. 27.

Indiana, Michigan and Louisiana are exploring ideas to attract nuclear power while Maryland lawmakers are floating ideas about commissioning the construction of a new power plant there.

In Ohio, a lawmaker wants to restrict the influence of electric utilities in hopes of giving independent power producers more incentive to build power plants to feed the state’s fast-growing tech sector.

The bill, which awaits a vote, won the support of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, the state’s residential ratepayer watchdog, and business groups whose members care about electric prices. However, it split the energy sector between companies operating in competitive markets and those operating under state utility monopolies.

States competing against each other

In Missouri, utilities including Ameren and Evergy, as well as the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, labor unions and the state’s top utility regulator are backing legislation to repeal a nearly half-century old law preventing utilities from charging customers to build a power plant until it is operational.

The law was approved in a 1976 voter referendum when states were looking to hedge against utilities saddling ratepayers with financing upfront, potentially bloated, inefficient or, worse, aborted power projects.

Consumer and environmental groups protested the bill, saying it would result in new natural gas plants that are likelier to be more costly to ratepayers.

Last year, similar legislation passed almost unanimously in Kansas, along with companion legislation extending tax breaks to new power plants.

Within months, Evergy announced alongside the state’s leaders that it would build two 705-megawatt natural gas plants and said the legislation will “help Kansas compete with other states for investment and ultimately save customers money.”

John Coffman, the utility consumer counsel for the Consumers Council of Missouri, said utilities are playing the two states, Missouri and Kansas, against each other and were planning to build the power plants anyway.

But, he said, “They’re just looking for opportunities to squeeze more money out of the process.”

Energy companies see an opportunity

Snitchler said action is being spurred by states realizing that longstanding power reserves are dwindling, especially as coal-fired and nuclear power plants retire, and now all sorts of power companies are leaping at the chance to make money.

A pitfall he sees in the race to build plants is an undoing of protections that some states once adopted to shield ratepayers and put the risk of building expensive power projects onto corporate shareholders.

“The problem, of course, is it shifts the risk back on the people who perhaps should not be bearing it,” Snitchler said.

A Pennsylvania state lawmaker, Sen. Gene Yaw, wants to set up a massive power plant-financing fund like Texas, which established a $10 billion low-interest loan program after the state was wracked by a deadly winter blackout in 2021.

Yaw, a Republican, has no misgivings about Pennsylvania helping finance power plants. Even by conservative estimates, the state will need dozens more power plants to meet projections of rising demand, he said.

“And what do we have underway or planned right now? Nothing,” Yaw said. “And we haven’t built anything since 2019. So we’ve got to do something to encourage people to come here and build in Pennsylvania just to maintain the status quo.”

(File Photo: Source for Photo: First responders work the scene after a plane crashed in the parking lot of a retirement community in Manheim Township, Pa., Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Logan Gehman/LNP/LancasterOnline via AP)

(AP) A single-engine airplane carrying five people crashed and burst into flames Sunday in the parking lot of a retirement community near a small airport in suburban Pennsylvania, and everyone on board survived, officials and witnesses said.

The fiery crash happened around 3 p.m. just south of Lancaster Airport in Manheim Township, police chief Duane Fisher told reporters at an evening briefing. All five victims were taken to hospitals in unknown condition. Nobody on the ground was hurt, the chief said.

Brian Pipkin was driving nearby when he noticed the small plane climbing before it suddenly veered to the left.

“And then it went down nose first,” he told The Associated Press. “There was an immediate fireball.”

Pipkin called 911 and then drove to the crash site, where he recorded video of black smoke billowing from the plane’s mangled wreckage and multiple cars engulfed in flames in a parking lot at Brethren Village. He said the plane narrowly missed hitting a three-story building at the sprawling retirement community about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Philadelphia.

A fire truck from the airport arrived within minutes, and more first responders followed quickly.

“It was so smoky and it was so hot,” Pipkin said. “They were really struggling to get the fire out.”

A dozen parked cars were damaged and Brethren Village residents were briefly asked to shelter in place as a precaution, Fisher said.

“I don’t know if I’d consider it a miracle, but the fact that we have a plane crash where everybody survives and nobody on the ground is hurt is a wonderful thing,” the police chief added.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed there were five people aboard the Beechcraft Bonanza. Its planned flight and destination were not released soon after the crash.

The conditions of the five also were not immediately known and authorities didn’t elaborate on how they survived the crash.

Air traffic control audio captured the pilot reporting that the aircraft “has an open door, we need to return for a landing.” An air traffic controller is heard clearing the plane to land, before saying, “Pull up!” Moments later, someone can be heard saying the aircraft was “down just behind the terminal in the parking lot street area.”

The FAA said it will investigate.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said state police were assisting local authorities. “All Commonwealth resources are available as the response continues, and more information will be provided as it becomes available,” Shapiro said on social media.

The crash comes about a month after seven people were killed when an air ambulance burst into flames after crashing onto a busy Philadelphia street.

Monday, March 10th, 2025

(Photo Courtesy of the Allegheny County Police)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to Allegheny County Police, a man from Fayette County was charged for possessing a gun at Pittsburgh International Airport’s main security checkpoint on Thursday. A felony charge was given to forty-five-year-old James McDonald of Point Marion after he possessed a firearm in his suitcase and did not have a license. Allegheny County Police have confirmed that a valid concealed carry permit is needed to possess a firearm and McDonald did not have one. Allegheny County Police were given an alert by TSA officers when the incident occurred. A notification about the incident was also given to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(Photo Courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A man from Morgantown, West Virginia got arrested on Wednesday for bringing a gun through one of Pittsburgh International Airport’s security checkpoints. The weapon was a handgun and it was found in a carry-on after being intercepted by TSA. According to TSA, these incidents are happening so frequently which could make them set a record that they do not want. That record is for the most intercepted guns in a year at the Pittsburgh International Airport.

(Photo Courtesy of the Beaver Borough)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Borough, PA) The Beaver Borough announced some of their spring events. Their annual town yard sale occurs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 3rd. You do not need a permit for this event. The Beaver Borough’s Spring clean-up days to get rid of household items are on Saturday, May 10th for the South side of town and on Saturday, May 17th for the North side of town. They do not accept “garbage,” items with freon, building materials, lawn waste, electronics, mattresses or propane tanks. You can also call 724-773-6700 for more information.

(File Photo of Aliquippa Fire Department Truck)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) An investigation continues to identify the cause of a kitchen fire that occurred in a house in Aliquippa on Friday morning. The fire got reported on the 1600 block of Davidson Street just after 1 a.m. The fire chief confirmed nobody was cooking during the fire and that everyone in the house escaped safely. There is no identifiable cause for this fire at this time.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump’s short reprieve for U.S. automakers from stiff tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada isn’t likely to allow enough time for those companies to make the changes necessary to minimize the damage from Trump’s intensifying trade war.

Trump granted a one-month exemption to 25% tariffs on vehicles and auto parts traded through the North American trade agreement USMCA after speaking with leaders of automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the White House said Wednesday. Trump then broadened the exemption beyond autos for Mexico and some imports from Canada on Thursday.

In response to concerns about the short timeline for auto companies, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that Trump told the companies to “start investing, start moving, shift production here.”

It’s just not that simple.

Automakers “will be hit differently based on exactly where their supply chain is,” said John Paul MacDuffie, professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania. In particular, “GM and Ford have shrunk back from a formerly much more global footprint, but they still are global companies.

“Of course, if the goal is to move a lot of production to the U.S.,” he added, “I guess you could. But I don’t see those changes happening quickly.”

Automakers responded to Wednesday’s news graciously. Ford said in a company statement: “We will continue to have a healthy and candid dialogue with the Administration to help achieve a bright future for our industry and U.S. manufacturing.” Both GM and Stellantis thanked Trump for the exemption in statements.

Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents the three automakers, said he applauds the president “for recognizing that vehicles and parts that meet the high U.S. and regional USMCA content requirements should be exempt from these tariffs.”

But with only a monthlong grace period, automakers know challenges lie ahead.

Why is this so hard for auto companies?

To be sure, as automakers spent decades expanding around the world, they frequently battled supply-related woes and policy changes that hindered production — and their bottom lines.

A disaster halfway across the globe impacting one tiny component, with no easy or obvious supply alternative, can take down a vehicle’s production for weeks.

Contentious labor negotiations and work stoppages have put significant pauses on automaking for the domestic car companies.

The COVID-19 pandemic also interrupted global supply chains and sent new and used vehicle inventory to disastrous lows on dealer lots, causing prices to skyrocket.

“At least automakers have seen some version of this uncertainty,” said Hovig Tchalian, assistant professor at the University of Southern California. “I think this uncertainty is actually higher. But they’ve had some practice doing it.”

Working in the favor of automakers are normalized and in some cases high levels of inventory at dealerships; a healthy number of cars yet to be sold provides a buffer to any slowdown in production.

But for years automakers and suppliers have kept a strategic amount of parts on hand — enough to account for disruptions but not so much that excess capital is tied up in components just sitting in warehouses.

“What the 30 days will allow them to do is to analyze what kind of work in progress they’ve got, what kind of parts stock that they’ve got,” Martin French, partner at consultancy Berylls by AlixPartners, said of automakers and their supply companies.

Generally there has been a lot of progress in U.S. manufacturing, he said, “But the reality is that just does not happen in the space of a couple of weeks.”

Compounding impact

Those disruptions and others throughout the business’s history have made it clear that automakers can only respond so quickly.

The tariff exemption is no exception, given the ever-increasing complexity of assembly lines and manufacturing. Plants can’t be moved, factories can’t be built and product lines can’t be changed overnight.

And even with this pause, steel and aluminum tariffs are still expected to go into effect on March 12. Then, on April 2, Trump is expected to set broad “reciprocal” tariffs to match the taxes and subsidies charged by other countries on imports.

Those would disrupt the automotive industry quickly and dramatically, said Sam Fiorani, an analyst at AutoForecast Solutions.

“A substantial change in automotive free trade will hurt stock prices of all automakers because their profits will take a hit and consumers will face higher prices on vehicles, further diluting sales going forward,” he said.

Not only do companies have to decide whether immediate changes in production are realistic, but if they’re unable to do that meaningfully, they might produce or sell fewer vehicles — sending new car buyers to other brands or the used market — and, ultimately, make less money.

“The uncertainty that’s being created for the auto industry is going to inhibit investment as firms try to assess what the future looks like,” said Brett House, a professor at Columbia University’s business school, “and they have very little clarity on it.”