FILE – A first-time voter waits in the doorway for a voting booth as another voter completes his ballot at the Boot City Opry near Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 3, 2020. (Joseph C. Garza/The Tribune-Star via AP, File)

LACONIA, N.H. (AP) — U.S. presidential elections have been rocked in recent years by economic disaster, gaffes, secret video and a pandemic. But for all that tumult, the volatility surrounding this year’s presidential contest has few modern parallels, posing profound challenges to the future of American democracy. Not since the Supreme Court effectively decided the 2000 campaign in favor of George W. Bush has the judiciary been so intertwined with presidential politics. On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden is seeking reelection as the high inflation that defined much of his first term appears to be easing. But that has done little to assure voters that, at 81, he’s not too old for the job.

TOKYO (AP) — A large passenger plane and a Japanese coast guard aircraft have collided on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and burst into flames. Officials say five people aboard the coast guard plane were killed. All 379 people on the Japan Airlines flight got out safely. The head of the Transport Ministry Civil Aviation Bureau says the collision occurred when the Japan Airlines’ Airbus A350 landed on a runway where the coast guard aircraft was preparing to take off. The coast guard plane had been preparing to deliver relief goods to residents affected by a deadly earthquake in the region on Monday.

Danielle Smith – Keystone State News Connection

Low-wage workers in Pennsylvania are missing out on the pay hikes taking effect in 22 other states and 43 cities and counties this month, through increases in their minimum wages.

Stephen Herzenberg, economist and executive director of the Keystone Research Center, said Pennsylvania is surrounded by neighboring states all are ringing in the new year with higher minimum wages. Since 2009, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour, which he said hurts workers, the economy and small businesses.

“A higher minimum wage would increase the pay of 1.4 million Pennsylvania workers and create more economy-boosting jobs, with wages high enough to increase worker buying power at local businesses,” Herzenberg explained. “A higher minimum wage will also benefit Pennsylvania small businesses who can’t find or keep workers now because they pay too little.”

Herzenberg pointed out people working in low-wage industries are paid $1 to $1.50 less per hour in Pennsylvania than in neighboring states. But backers of the current minimum wage said increasing it would be difficult for small business owners, who might then have to cut jobs or raise prices.

It is up to the General Assembly to set the minimum wage, and Herzenberg noted the new year might bring a change. The state House passed House Bill 1500, legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. The idea has bipartisan support, but the Senate has not yet acted n a similar bill, Senate Bill 743.

“This bill would increase the minimum wage to $11 an hour immediately, and to $15 an hour by 2026,” Herzenberg noted. “Pennsylvanians need to contact their state senator and urge them to support raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage so that our lower-wage workers earn enough to support their family.”

He added the purchasing power of a dollar also has declined since the last minimum-wage increase. Ultimately, low-wage workers in the state have seen their buying power decrease by 30% in the past 14 years.

FILE – Powerball lottery tickets are displayed Oct. 4, 2023, in Surfside, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — A lottery player in Michigan has won the $842.4 million Powerball jackpot on the first day of 2024, the first time it has been won on New Year’s Day since the game’s start in 1992. The winning numbers drawn were: 12, 21, 42, 44, 49 and red Powerball: 1. No one has won the Powerball jackpot since mid-October, enabling the prize to grow to the 10th-largest in U.S. history. The chance of winning is 1 in 292.2 million. The $842.4 million payout is for a sole winner who opts for an annuity doled out over 30 years but people usually prefer a lump sum option. For Monday’s jackpot this is an estimated $425.2 million.

FILE – This photo provided by the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa shows the screen of a Unitronics device that was hacked in Aliquippa, Pa., Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. The hacked device was in a pumping booster station owned by the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa. An electronic calling card left by the hackers suggests they picked their target because it uses components made by an Israeli company. (Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa via AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The hacking of a municipal water authority in Aliquippa is prompting new warnings from U.S. security officials as states and the federal government are wrestling with how to harden water utilities against hackers. Officials say the danger is hackers gaining control of automated equipment to shut down pumps that supply drinking water or contaminate drinking water by reprogramming automated chemical treatments. The efforts took on new urgency in 2021 when the federal government’s leading cybersecurity agency reported five attacks on water authorities over two years, four of them by ransomware and a fifth by a former employee. Potentially hostile geopolitical rivals such as Iran and China are viewed by U.S. officials as a threat.

(Wexford, Pa) Allegheny Health Network has announced that parents Samantha and Billy Polizotto of Beaver welcomed a healthy baby girl, Capria Josephine, at 12:46 a.m. on January 1, 2024 at Allegheny Health Network’s Wexford hospital. Capria Josephine weighed in at 7 lbs., 1 oz and just a little over 18 inches long and is AHN’s first baby born in the Greater Pittsburgh area.

As part of the exciting celebration, the family will receive one year of free diapers thanks to the Western PA Diaper Bank and a birthday gift basket with comfort items filled by AHN caregivers. This year, Capria will also receive a special gift of free “Lessons for a Lifetime” swim sessions from Pittsburgh’s Goldfish Swim Schools.

AHN Wexford hospital officially opened its doors in September 2021 and to date, has welcomed more than 2,900 babies into the world within its bustling labor and delivery program.

Danielle Smith-Keystone State News Connection

Pennsylvania communities could be hit hard by rising financial uncertainty in the country’s biggest electricity market, according to three new reports.

PJM Interconnection includes Pennsylvania and a dozen other states.

According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, private equity and private capital-owned power plants in the PJM face financial struggles that have recently resulted in shutdowns.

This Report’s Author and Institute Energy Analyst Dennis Wamsted said it reveals that private-equity generators have the ability to close a plant on short notice, leaving communities that are not prepared to deal with the economic fallout from job and tax loss.

“Now is the time for local politicians, county politician, state politicians to be planning for this transition,” said Wamsted. “There are opportunities out there. There is a great deal of federal money now available for transition activities, both for workforce transition and for rebuilding existing facilities.”

Wamsted offered an example of a coal-fired power plant in Homer City, Pennsylvania, which recently closed because of ongoing financial trouble.

He said the Conemaugh and Keystone plants – which are close to Homer City – are facing a serious five-year deadline for some environmental compliance issues for pollution.

Wamsted said it’s important for the state to acknowledge and figure out once plants close what’s the best way to go about reusing and replacing those facilities.

He added that decisions have to be made at the local level with community input and collaborating with help from the plant owners.

“We as a locality can propose to the Department of Energy that we reused this as a solar facility and put it in a battery storage unit,” said Wamsted. “And it may not end up with exactly the same number of jobs, but may end up with different skilled jobs.”

Wamsted’s noted that together, the three reports sound the alarm on escalating risks for fossil-fuel plant owners, investors and the latest on communities.

He acknowledged that Pennsylvania’s faces transitional challenges but highlighted that available funding through the Inflation Reduction Act and support is contingent on proactive planning.

FILE – Varieties of disposable flavored electronic cigarette devices manufactured by EB Design, formerly known as Elf Bar, are displayed at a store in Pinecrest, Fla., Monday, June 26, 2023. U.S. officials are seizing more shipments of unauthorized electronic cigarettes. But industry data shows thousands of new flavored products continue pouring into the country from China. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials are seizing more shipments of unauthorized electronic cigarettes. But industry data shows thousands of new flavored products continue pouring into the country from China. The rise in new products continues despite a record number of vaping shipments seized at U.S. ports in recent months. The figures underscore the chaotic state of the nation’s $7 billion vaping market. They also raise questions about how to stop the flow of fruit-flavored disposable e-cigarettes used by 1 in 10 American teens and adolescents.