Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published November 17, 2023 3:46 P.M.

(Aliquippa, Pa) On Saturday, November 18, 2023,  the Heal Your Heart Thanksgiving meal in Aliquippa for families is being held from 11 am to 2pm in the high school cafeteria.

FILE – The logo of Honda Motor Co., is seen in Yokohama, near Tokyo on Dec. 15, 2021. Honda is recalling nearly 250,000 vehicles in the U.S. because bearings can fail, causing the engines to stall and increasing the risk of a crash. The recall covers certain 2018 and 2019 Honda Pilot SUVs and Odyssey minivans, and some 2017 and 2019 Ridgeline pickup trucks. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

DETROIT (AP) — Honda is recalling nearly 250,000 vehicles in the U.S. because bearings can fail, causing the engines to stall and increasing the risk of a crash. The recall covers certain 2018 and 2019 Honda Pilot SUVs and Odyssey minivans, and some 2017 and 2019 Ridgeline pickup trucks. Also affected are certain 2015 to 2020 Acura TLX cars and 2016 to 2020 Acura MDX SUVs. Honda says in documents posted Friday by .U.S. safety regulators that connecting rod bearings in the engine can wear and seize due to a manufacturing error, damaging the engines. The engines could stall while being driven, increasing the risk of a fire or crash. The automaker says in documents that it has no reports of injuries. Dealers will inspect and repair or replace the engines if needed.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Several leading Pennsylvania universities that receive millions of dollars in state aid must start publicly disclosing more records about their finances, employment and operation. That’s according to legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Josh Shapiro. He signed the bill a day after it passed the Senate unanimously. For years, lawmakers have sought to expand public-disclosure requirements over Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities: Pitt, Temple, Lincoln and Penn State. Under the legislation, the universities will be required to publish various pieces of information about their finances, employment and operations. Some of it they already voluntarily produce, such as open meeting minutes from their boards of trustees, enrollment and staff employment figures.

The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, Sunday, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has opened civil rights investigations at seven schools and universities over allegations of antisemitism or Islamophobia since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. It includes three Ivy League institutions — Columbia, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania — along with Wellesley College, Lafayette College and Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. It also includes Maize Unified School District, a K-12 system in Kansas. The Education Department announced the inquiries on Thursday, calling it part of the Biden administration’s effort to take “aggressive action” against discrimination.

Danielle Smith – Keystone State News Service

Pennsylvania needs more economic opportunities and a new report from the Keystone Research Center showed federal investments in climate and infrastructure projects would help grow a skilled construction workforce.

Diana Polson, senior policy analyst at the center, said the report revealed federal money would create thousands of trade jobs through expanding union construction apprenticeships leading to quality careers, as electricians, operating engineers, carpenters, and laborers.

“In Pennsylvania, for example, these apprenticeships train workers for jobs that pay more than most college-educated workers earn, and 61% more than the average worker in Pennsylvania,” Polson pointed out. “Significantly, this training comes without any student debt.”

Polson added Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to use 3% of the federal funds from recently signed climate and infrastructure laws to expand workforce development and apprenticeships. Shapiro’s 2023-24 budget includes $6 million for the effort.

Polson noted President Joe Biden’s Good Jobs Initiative seeks to embed job quality and equity incentives into the federal funding, to make sure apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeships benefit underserved communities. She called it a huge win all around, for the state, climate, for those communities, and taxpayers.

“We had shared this in the report, research has shown that for every dollar invested in apprenticeship $35 is returned to the government in higher tax collections, or reduced expenditures on public assistance or unemployment over the career of an apprentice,” Polson emphasized. “These are huge returns on investments.”

Keystone Research Center said the resources will lead to high-wage union construction careers. The center is holding a webinar today at 1 p.m. on construction apprenticeship programs in coal country, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio.  Published November 17, 2023 11:06 A.M.

(Aliquippa, Pa) At the November 8, 2023 work session, Antwon Townsend was hired. He will be paid $20 an hour effective, November 6, 2023. Zazshyra Bryant was hired as an autistic support aide and will earn $14.00 an hour.
An ESL teacher was hired for the district along with Craig Popovich, a JSHS art teacher who was hired. His salary will be $50,480 a year.  Rachel Roberts was hired as a JSHS English teacher. Her prorated salary is $64,294. Dr. Phillip K. Woods said she has 20 years of teaching experience in schools in Western Pennsylvania.
At the November 15, 2023 meeting, speech teacher Megan Paich’s resignation was approved effective January 12, 2024.
All fall and winter girls coaching salaries were approved for the junior high and junior varsity and varsity coaches.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) today announced that all driver license and photo centers, including its full-service center in Harrisburg, will be closed Thursday, November 23 and Friday, November 24, 2023, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

 

CARNEGIE, PA — Today, Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) announced that the non-profit STEM Coding Lab is getting a $150,000 grant from the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program through the ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute, the nation’s leading robotics and AI manufacturing innovation Institute, headquartered in Western Pennsylvania. This investment will allow STEM Coding Lab to provide robotics and manufacturing workforce education to high-poverty, K-8 students across Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District.

“Our students today are the inventors and creators of tomorrow,” said Rep. Chris Deluzio. “This $150,000 federal investment in Western Pennsylvania’s students will help foster the high-demand skills our region needs to launch an innovative new era of domestic manufacturing.”

“In the last 3 years, STEM Coding Lab has quadrupled in size, now serving nearly 4,000 under-resourced youth throughout Western Pennsylvania,” said Casey Mindlin, Executive Director of STEM Coding Lab. “Our growth and success are rooted in the reality that computer science and STEM instruction are critical in equipping all our youth, not just affluent learners, with the skills needed to be creators, rather than just users of technology. We are grateful for Rep. Deluzio’s continued commitment to unlocking federal funds to activate the next generation of Pennsylvania innovators. We look forward to continuing to work with him, as well as the rest of the Pennsylvania delegation, to ensure that all of our region’s youth are prepared to compete for the jobs of tomorrow.”

“The ARM Institute is excited to work with STEM Coding Lab in furthering our mission to expand awareness of careers in advanced manufacturing across the nation”, stated Lisa Masciantonio, Chief Workforce Officer of the ARM Institute.  “A key part of that mission is exposing young people to robotics and STEM at an early age, which makes what STEM Coding Lab does so critical.”

The project will be led by the ARM Institute, with STEM Coding Lab as a subcontractor, and has an overarching goal of creating at least 1,000 modern manufacturing jobs in the Pittsburgh region. This award was part of a larger White House announcement as part of their workforce hub convenings in Western Pennsylvania and Augusta, GA.

In May, the Biden-Harris Administration designated the Pittsburgh region as one of five Workforce Hubs where President Biden’s Investing in America agenda (the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act) are creating good-paying jobs and catalyzing historic levels of private and public investment. In Western Pennsylvania, these investments show a roadmap to creating high-quality career opportunities for students and workers while boosting local manufacturing and strengthening the economy.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) today released its preliminary employment situation report for October 2023.

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was unchanged over the month, remaining at the record low of 3.4% in October (records date back to January 1976). The U.S. unemployment rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point from September to 3.9%. The Commonwealth’s unemployment rate was one full percentage point below its October 2022 level of 4.4%, while the national rate was up two-tenths of a percentage point over the year.

Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force – the estimated number of residents working or looking for work – was up 2,000 over the month due to gains of 1,000 in both resident employment and unemployment.

Pennsylvania’s total nonfarm jobs were down 4,700 over the month to 6,168,100. Jobs increased from September in six of the 11 industry supersectors with the largest gain in education & health services (+2,300), which rose to a record high.

Over the year, total nonfarm jobs were up 129,200 with gains in 10 of the 11 supersectors. Education & health services (+48,100) had the largest volume over-the-year gain among supersectors.