(AP)- Dorothy Hoffner, a 104-year-old Chicago woman whose recent skydive could see her certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest person to ever jump from a plane, has died.

Hoffner’s close friend, Joe Conant, said she was found dead Monday morning by staff at the Brookdale Lake View senior living community. Conant said Hoffner apparently died in her sleep on Sunday night.

Conant, who is a nurse, said he met Hoffner — whom he called Grandma at her request — several years ago while he was working as a caregiver for another resident at the senior living center. He said she had amazing energy and remained mentally sharp.

“She was indefatigable. She just kept going,” he said Tuesday. “She was not someone who would take naps in the afternoon, or not show up for any function, dinner or anything else. She was always there, fully present. She kept going, always.”

On Oct. 1, Hoffner made a tandem skydive that could land her in the record books as the world’s oldest skydiver. She jumped out of a plane from 13,500 feet (4,100 meters) at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.

“Age is just a number,” Hoffner told a cheering crowd moments after landing. It was not her first time jumping from a plane — that happened when she was a spry 100 years of age.

Conant said he was working through paperwork to ensure that Guinness World Records certifies Hoffner posthumously as the world’s oldest skydiver, but he expects that will take some time. The current record was set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson of Sweden.

Conant said Hoffner didn’t skydive to break a record. He said she had so thoroughly enjoyed her first jump that she just wanted to do it again.

“She had no intention of breaking the record. And she had no interest in any publicity or anything. She wasn’t doing it for any other reason than she wanted to go skydiving,” he said.

Skydive Chicago and the United States Parachute Association celebrated Hoffner in a joint statement Tuesday.

“We are deeply saddened by Dorothy’s passing and feel honored to have been a part of making her world-record skydive a reality.

“Skydiving is an activity that many of us safely tuck away in our bucket lists. But Dorothy reminds us that it’s never too late to take the thrill of a lifetime. We are forever grateful that skydiving was a part of her exciting, well-lived life,” they said.

Conant said Hoffner worked for more than four decades as a telephone operator with Illinois Bell, which later became AT&T, and retired 43 years ago. The lifelong Chicago resident never married, and Conant said she had no immediate family members.

A memorial service for Hoffner will be held in early November.

“She was a dear friend who was an inspiration,” Conant said.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Four of Pennsylvania’s universities are plugging budget gaps while they await hundreds of millions of dollars in aid that has been snarled in a partisan dispute among lawmakers in a state that has one of the nation’s most abysmal records for funding higher education.

Education advocates argue that even a proposed increase in aid won’t make a dent in the underfunding of Pennsylvania’s higher education.

The University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln are in line to receive about $623 million, a 7% increase proposed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro “to keep them whole as federal aid shrinks.” The universities, referred to as state-related universities, are not state owned, but receive subsidies.

The funding levels for higher education, however, lag behind those from decades ago.

Lawmakers approved funds to go out to the state-owned higher education system, community colleges and state financial aid. If the Legislature doesn’t send any money to the four state-related schools, Pennsylvania’s spending on higher education will be below $1.5 billion in fiscal 2023-24. That is below the $1.6 billion it was spending 25 years ago.

Pennsylvania ranks nearly last in just about every measure for college affordability. Tuition rates are high, students leave encumbered with more debt and the state gives less to higher education than others.

Advocates say a lack of state aid is a big reason for the higher tuition rates. The Keystone Research Center, a progressive thinktank organization in Harrisburg, found Pennsylvania spends $153 per capita on higher education, well below the U.S. average of $338.

Pennsylvania’s Class of 2020 had the third-highest student loan debt in the nation, leaving college with an average debt of $39,375, the research center found.

This year, universities are addressing their budgets by not filling vacant positions, delaying upcoming raises, pausing some construction plans and putting out calls for advocacy from alumni. They planned their budgets with the optimism that the proposed increase would get lawmakers’ approval.

“For us, the delay really hits us because it’s our operations. And so we manage with any cash that we have sitting around,” said Lincoln President Brenda Allen. “These days — not a lot of cash is sitting around.”

State House Republicans have cited concerns about tuition increases while repeatedly denying the necessary two-thirds majority needed to send the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to the schools. The Democrats that control the House of Representatives bypassed the dispute last week by turning to a legislative maneuver that required approval of only a simple majority, but the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

The schools operate on the fiscal year, but revolve around their academic calendar, said Zack Moore, the vice president of government and community relations for Penn State. If the appropriation passes in during the school’s current fall semester, the university will be fine, he said.

“But I do believe that if we get into the new year, into the second semester of the academic year, then we will certainly get very, very nervous and potentially have to start taking other fiscal actions to make sure that we can pay salaries, can operate,” he said.

House Majority Leader Rep. Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, agreed that tuition freezes were necessary, but said the discussion hinges on the state funding levels.

“We need to talk about how we fund our schools and then about the issues of affordability, about tuition,” he said. “And if you want to talk about things like freezes, you better get real about the funding levels.”

It’s been a long term problem for the state, going back to the 1980s, said Stephen Herzenberg, an economist and executive director of the Keystone Research Center.

As the era where careers were plentiful for people with only a high school education came to an end, cuts started coming to higher education. It has made it more difficult for people to get a degree they now need to find good paying jobs, he said.

Coupled with significant slashes to state funding around 2011, Pennsylvania has been on a trajectory of ranking low for affordability.

Even as they wait, the universities are already developing their requests for the next fiscal year. Hari Sastry, the senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer at the University of Pittsburgh, said they’ve heard the concerns about affordability, and have pitched a “shared sacrifice for the state.”

To keep tuition flat for 2025, it would take an increase of 9% in the state appropriation. The university would fund about 3% itself, he said.

“It’s a little bit of a different approach than what we’ve taken before,” he said. “But we thought it was important to just show, you know, our commitment to making sure that that tuition stays affordable as possible.”

The House Democrats’ effort to skirt the Republican no votes is now before the state Senate, along with other legislation meant to tie up loose ends on the state’s spending plan. Both chambers are scheduled to return next week.

“This is a skirmish, which will probably be resolved,” Herzenberg said. “The long term funding issue is not a skirmish, it’s a structural problem. And that’s what Gov. Shapiro said in his budget address in early March — what we’re doing right now in our education isn’t working. And that’s exactly right.”

(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)

At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, a recent report and video were made aware to Hopewell School District Superintendent Dr. Jeff Beltz about a student using a bathroom they didn’t identify with, which has since created concern among parents and community members.

Dr. Beltz said the video from the junior high school revealed that the student used the correct bathroom. However, the response from the parents to the incident have ranged vastly, from those who want cameras in all bathrooms, to allowing for transgender bathrooms.

Solicitor John Salopek told those in attendance that  the district  is concerned about the wellbeing of all students, but he also stated that no incidents have been reported to the administration about bathroom use.

The issue will be further discussed at the board’s next meeting on October 24.

It was also announced at the meeting that Janet Logan was promoted to full-time speech teacher (after previously being part-time) effective October 16, and that Nicholas Zabala and Lisa Sinclair were hired as part-time transportation aides, backdated to October 2 and October 4, respectively.

FILE – Colored coordinated Presidential Primary Election ballots are organized by political parties for voters on June 7, 2016, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Porterville, Calif. While the politics are murky, the fresh frenzy of outsider candidates threatens to weaken both major parties as President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump tighten their grip on their party’s presidential nominations. There’s little concern that the independent or third-party candidates would actually win the presidency, but they could siphon support from the ultimate Democratic and Republican nominees. (Chieko Hara/The Porterville Recorder via AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Two political outsiders have taken steps to launch independent or third-party presidential bids over the past week. And the prospect of at least two more looms. Leaders in both major political parties acknowledge the rise of serious outsider candidates threatens to undermine the strength of Democratic and Republican candidates in the 2024 general election. Anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr. is a scion of the Democratic dynasty but is expected to become the latest to launch an independent or third-party presidential bid Monday in Philadelphia. The rise of such outsider candidates in 2024 reflects the extraordinary unpopularity of both major parties, led by Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a campaign event at Independence Mall, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Republicans are attacking Robert F. Kennedy as he drops his Democratic primary bid and launches an independent run for the White House. Their fiery response reflects growing concerns that the former Democrat now threatens to take votes from former President Donald Trump in 2024. National Democrats have stayed silent on Kennedy’s announcement. Kennedy declared independence from the Democratic Party in Philadelphia on Monday. He spoke of a “rising tide of discontent” in the United States and said he wants to make a “new Declaration of Independence” from corporations, the media and the two major political parties.

Harrisburg, PA – Today, Governor Josh Shapiro ordered United States and Commonwealth flags on all Commonwealth facilities, public buildings, and grounds to immediately fly at half-staff from Tuesday, October 10, 2023 through Friday, October 13, 2023 in recognition of the lives lost in Israel after the acts of war by the terrorist organization Hamas.

 

“I condemn the horrific acts of war in Israel by Hamas and their enablers. These attacks on innocent Israeli civilians are abhorrent and warrant world condemnation and outrage,” said Governor Josh Shapiro. “Our family has shared many special moments in Israel and our hearts break for those living this horror now. We stand in solidarity against terror and are praying for all people in Israel.”

Danielle Smith – Keystone State News Connection

Fall leaves on the lawn might seem like a nuisance, but they actually play an important role for the environment. A new survey from the National Wildlife Federation reveals most people know that leaf layers provide a home to moths and insects, which birds need to survive – and yet, they continue to bag them up and send them to a landfill.

Tim Ifill, director of trees, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, explained trees are an essential part of the environment.

“They’re these living things that are used to this nutrient cycle where, you know – in a forest setting, you can imagine – they drop their leaves on the ground, those leaves slowly decompose, return nutrients to the soil, and then the tree roots will take up those nutrients and use them to grow,” he said.

The “Leave the Leaves” survey found more than 70% of people know that fallen leaves and leaf layers are beneficial to wildlife, soil health and biodiversity. But only one in four keeps their leaves on the lawn.

Instead of buying mulch for landscaping, Ifill said he runs over the leaves with a mower, which helps add organic matter to the lawn, and explained chopping up and using leaves also offers the benefit of moisture absorption, in a way that is friendly to the local ecosystem.

“The basis of that food chain, in many cases, is this great insect life,” Ifill continued. “And they need that leaf litter to reproduce every year and to overwinter. And if we take that away from them, then they’re not going to have any places to overwinter. And we’re not going to have that basis of the food chain that every other beneficial animal is going to need to survive.”

Ifill said another important part of the ecosystem is for people to put native plants in their yards and gardens, which also helps support wildlife.

David Mizejewski, a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation, said the lawn still needs to breathe, so leaving it totally covered with a few inches of leaves is too much. It is better to chop them up, and added putting leaves in bags for disposal is not a good idea”Bagging them up and sending them to the landfill actually is a really bad thing,” he explained. “It really contributes some really nasty greenhouse gases to the atmosphere that are a piece of climate change.”

The survey notes around 14% of people toss ten or more bags of leaves into the trash per year. Mizejewski said Pennsylvanians can share their space with a wealth of wildlife if they “leave some leaves” and give them some habitat.