HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Legislature is approving aid for universities after a fight that has dragged on five months into the fiscal year. However, the politically divided body continued Wednesday to feud over school funding. Legislation to send $600 million to several universities passed both the House and Senate. But the bill lacks the increase in aid for Temple, Pitt and Penn State that Democrats had sought. Gov. Josh Shapiro was expected to sign it. Meanwhile, the House’s Democratic majority stripped from a separate schools bill a GOP-backed tax credit that largely benefits private schools. That’s because Republicans have blocked an extra $100 million that Democrats want for the poorest public schools.

FILE – Starbucks employees and supporters link arms during a union election watch party Dec. 9, 2021, in Buffalo, N.Y. Thousands of U.S. Starbucks workers plan to walk off the job Thursday — one of the chain’s busiest days of the year — to protest the company’s anti-union stance. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex, File)

Workers at more than 200 U.S. Starbucks stores plan to walk off the job Thursday. Organizers say it’s the largest strike yet in the two-year-old effort to unionize the company’s stores. The Workers United union chose Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day to stage the walkout since it’s usually one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks expects to give away thousands of reusable cups Thursday to customers who order holiday drinks. The union says it’s expecting more than 5,000 workers to take part in its “Red Cup Rebellion.” Around 30 stores also staged walkouts on Wednesday.

(Beaver, Pa) The Beaver County Courthouse announced they will be closing to the public on November 21st, starting at 12:00 p.m. and will reopen on November 22nd at 8:00 am. County employees will undergo training and there will be no public access to any of the departments within the building.
The Sheriff’s office will also not accept any gun permit applications after 11am. Residents are asked to call a specific office if you plan to visit that day for their cut-off times.

FILE – U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., speaks before President Joe Biden about his infrastructure agenda while announcing funding to upgrade Philadelphia’s water facilities and replace lead pipes, Feb. 3, 2023, at Belmont Water Treatment Center in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)  

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright (D-PA-8) introduced the Locality Pay Equity Act to help put an end to the persistent wage disparities at Tobyhanna Army Depot and Letterkenny Army Depot by requiring the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to treat all employees working at the same locations equally.

“Every worker deserves to be treated fairly, regardless of pay schedule, and time has long past for us to address this issue at Tobyhanna and Letterkenny,” said Senator Casey. “These workers are serving our Nation and they deserve fair treatment from their government. This legislation would work to create a fairer compensation system and end these pay disparities.”

 

“The hardworking men and women at Tobyhanna Army Depot work tirelessly to keep the American warfighter equipped with the best technology. From navigational equipment to missile guidance and control, Tobyhanna is a role model for American ingenuity,” said Congressman Matt Cartwright, co-chair of the bipartisan House Military Depot and Industrial Facilities Caucus. “But the outdated and unfair federal pay system has disadvantaged workers at Tobyhanna for years. Senator Casey and I agree that we should be doing all we can to support these workers — and that includes ensuring fairness in terms of pay. This common-sense fix will help do just that.”

 

“Under current policy, there are significant and unjust pay gaps between federal employees under the Federal Wage System (FWS) and those on the General Schedule (GS). The issue stems from outdated FWS wage area boundaries, which were mostly drawn shortly after World War II, reflecting the locations of military installations at the time. However, GS locality boundaries are up to date and more accurate according to commuting rates and other job market considerations,” said Randy Erwin, National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees. “It is fundamentally unfair that federal employees working side-by-side, for the same employer, and in the same location, are paid different wages. It is time to end these pay inequities by guaranteeing pay parity with the Locality Pay Equity Act.”

 

“Our local leaders across Pennsylvania know that Senator Casey is a champion for pay equality between our General Schedule and Wage Grade workers. It is only fair to provide each with the same locality area for base pay and retirement,” said Philip W. Glover, District 3 National Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees (PA/DE). “We applaud Senator Casey for continuing this fight on behalf of the federal workforce.”

Currently, salaried employees at both facilities, served by the General Schedule (GS), are included in higher paying locality pay areas than their hourly employee counterparts, who are served by the Federal Wage System (FWS). The Locality Pay Equity Act would prohibit OPM from including more than one local wage area within a pay locality and ensure that no employee’s pay will be lowered because of these changes.

 

The legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators John Fetterman (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published November 15, 2023 2:57 P.M.

(South Heights, Pa) An emergency water line repair was announced Wednesday morning, and no time frame for the closure was announced for the occurrence at Temple Road and Green Street.

HARRISBURG, Nov. 14 – State Rep. Rob Matzie was elected vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee as the bicameral, bipartisan committee met yesterday to approve the 2022 annual report of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.

 

Matzie, who is the committee’s longest-serving member, said the group’s work in overseeing PIAA-sanctioned sports includes ensuring student athletes have opportunities to participate and thrive in a broad range of competitive settings. 

 

“School sports can play such a key role in developing a student’s character and confidence, instilling a sense of fair play and teaching other critical lessons outside the classroom,” Matzie said. “But we need to ensure the system is evolving so it includes new opportunities and reaches more students.

 

“At today’s meeting, I asked the PIAA about progress toward expanding high school sports to include women’s flag football, which is rapidly increasing in popularity and has been designated an Olympic sport. I was satisfied to hear that the board is monitoring the sport’s growth here in the commonwealth with an eye toward seeing it become an established competitive sport.”

 

At the meeting, Matzie also expressed his hope to see increased livestream coverage of student competitions and discussed his concerns regarding how schools at the top of the PIAA’s classifications are monitored relative to the competition formula.

(Brooke Schultz/AP)

A federal court has ruled that a Pennsylvania community’s resolution prohibiting the display of an American flag with a thin blue line on all township property is unconstitutional. The ruling about the flag that’s also used as part of the police union’s logo came down Monday.

The dispute in Springfield Township, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Philadelphia, arose over the use of the black-and-white American flag, with one horizontal blue stripe. The township argued the use of the flag was creating “discontent and distrust” in the community against the police.

Prohibiting the use of the thin blue line flag restricts the free speech of public employees under the First Amendment, U.S. District Judge Karen Marston decided.

“The Township repeatedly suggests that the Thin Blue Line American Flag is of limited, if any, public value or concern because it is ‘offensive’ and ‘racist,’” Marston wrote in the court opinion. “But as this Court previously told the Township, ‘the First Amendment protects speech even when it is considered “offensive.”'”

Wally Zimolong, an attorney representing the police officers, said the court’s ruling was a vindication of his clients’ claims.

“It was a resounding win for the First Amendment and free speech,” he said. “It showed once again that the government cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination based upon a message it disagrees with or finds offensive.”

Messages left with the township and their attorney seeking comment were not immediately answered.

Tensions began when the township police department’s union voted to incorporate the flag into its logo in 2021. Several of the township’s commissioners opposed the decision, due to the fact the symbol has become associated with Blue Lives Matter, a term which has been used by some police supporters in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Commissioners and the police union met to discuss the logo, but the union voted to deny the request to change it. The township offered to cover the cost of designing a new logo — saying a private donor had agreed to pay up to $10,000 to change it — but the union declined.

In October 2022, the matter escalated when the township’s lawyer and manager sent a cease-and-desist letter to the union, saying that the use of the flag in the union’s logo “unnecessarily exacerbates the ongoing conflict between police officers and the communities they serve,” directing the union to stop using the flag or remove Springfield Township from its name.

After the union refused to drop the flag or change its name, the commissioners adopted a policy that barred township employees, agents or consultants from displaying the flag while on duty or representing the township. It prohibited the display of the flag on personal property brought into a township building or from being displayed on township-owned property, including vehicles.

The police officers who brought the lawsuit, along with the statewide police union, argued that the flag is a “show of support” for law enforcement, representing “the preservation of the rule of law, the protection of peace and freedom, the sacrifice of fallen law enforcement officers and the dedication of law enforcement office(r)s,” according to the court opinion.

They argued they wanted to continue to display the flag in township buildings and publicly.

The court sided with the officers, saying that the township failed to demonstrate “real, not conjectural, harm” by using the flag and that the ban “addresses that harm in a direct and material way.”

In the opinion, Marston remarked that the township calling the flag “racist” and “offensive,” “at times borders on unprofessional.” Morale for the police force, she said, appeared to have taken a “significant toll from the repeated assertions that the police officers — and not merely the Flag — are racist.”

“Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the Flag carries racist undertones to certain members of the community,” she wrote in denying a request to impose sanctions on the township. “Indeed, the individual Plaintiffs admitted that they have been told the Flag carries racial undertones.”

(Josh Funk/AP)
(Photo by Curtis Walsh/Beaver County Radio)

A business owner with companies near where a Norfolk Southern train derailed and caught fire in February has sued the railroad for $500 million, saying most of his eastern Ohio companies have remained closed and he hasn’t been able to reach a financial settlement with the railroad.

Edwin Wang filed his federal lawsuit Tuesday. It comes amid government lawsuits against Norfolk Southern and a class action case on behalf of residents who have complained about the derailment’s impact on East Palestine, Ohio.

Wang’s companies make specialized ceramic fiber insulation products for steel mills. The wholesale part of his business, CeramSource, was able to reopen last month in a new location just over the nearby Pennsylvania border. But contamination concerns and the costly equipment Wang can’t afford to replace have kept his other companies closed. Before the derailment spilled chemicals on his property, Wang’s companies employed close to 50 people and had plans to expand.

Norfolk Southern declined to comment on the lawsuit, but spokesman Thomas Crosson said the railroad is “actively supporting businesses in their recovery efforts.” That includes reaching confidential settlements with 11 businesses and offering $1.8 million to 55 others.

The railroad’s CEO has also apologized for the derailment and pledged to make things right. As part of that, the railroad has committed nearly $102 million to the community, and has been working to clean up the mess left behind by the derailment. The EPA is monitoring those efforts.

The railroad told investors last month that costs associated with the derailment had reached nearly $1 billion and are expected to climb as the lawsuits are resolved. In addition to the lawsuits, the company is working out details of three long-term funds it pledged to create to help East Palestine recover.

Wang’s lawsuit blames the derailment on Norfolk Southern having cut its workforce in recent years and its decision to rely more on longer, heavier trains. Railroad unions have also alleged that those changes — as well as similar ones made in the rest of the industry — made railroads riskier. The company has defend its overall safety record and said the operational changes only made it more efficient. But it also pledged to improve safety and become the example in the industry.

Norfolk Southern’s actions before and after the derailment compounded the damage, Wang asserts in court documents that call the derailment an “unmitigated disaster of unimaginable portions with terrible consequences.”

The National Transportation Safety Board has said an overheated bearing on one of the railcars likely caused the derailment, but it won’t issue its final report until sometime next year.

Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern is one of the nation’s largest railroads and operates roughly 20,000 miles of track in the eastern United States.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats who control the state House of Representatives on Tuesday advanced an estimated $1.8 billion boost to the pensions of Pennsylvania state government and public school retirees, while some Republicans said taxpayers will unfairly shoulder the financial burden.

The legislation passed 140-63, with every Democrat supporting it.

It now goes on to the GOP-controlled state Senate, where it faces an uncertain future.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office declined to say whether the Democrat supports the bill, but would continue to review it as it moved chambers. The state’s teacher’s union hailed the legislation as “long overdue.”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Steve Malagari, D-Montgomery, said during floor debate that the bill is a modest request to help tens of thousands of pensioners with their financial struggles amid steep increases in inflation.

“Our teachers, our public servants deserve a retirement reflecting their commitment and not to be marred by financial hardship,” Malagari said.

Most House Republicans opposed the bill, saying the state has sought to help the low-income older Pennsylvanians by boosting subsidies for property taxes and rent. They said pensioners receive Social Security, which has been boosted by cost-of-living adjustments to reflect inflation.

Rep. Brad Roae, R-Crawford said that the legislation was “so expensive it cannot be funded in one year,” and could impact local property taxes as school districts have to shoulder the costs.

“Not to downplay anybody’s financial plight, but there are a lot of people that never worked for the state, never worked for the school district, that have much worse financial situations in retirement than retired school employees and state employees that we’re trying to help here,” he said.

House Minority Leader Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, recalled the past management of the state’s school employee pension system that included deferred payments and steep increases in property tax bills to help make up for it.

“For years, the General Assemblies of the past used the public pension system like an irresponsible teenager with a credit card,” he said. “Unfortunately, it has been the property taxpayers who continue to pay the price for those past mistakes. And this is the important part. They will continue to pay if this legislation is enacted in its current form.”

Under the bill, an estimated 69,000 pensioners would see an average annual bump in their pensions of a couple hundred dollars a month, for a total cost of nearly $1.8 billion, according to independent actuarial analysts.

The state would be on the hook to pay back most of it in annual installments over 10 years, while school districts also would owe a portion over that period.

More than 25,000 retirees from state government would see an average annual increase of $2,240 in the first year while roughly 43,500 retirees from public schools would see an average annual increase of $3,040 in the first year.

Eligible state government retirees are at an average age of nearly 80, and are expected to live an average of 12 years. Eligible public school retirees are at an average age of nearly 83 and are expected to live an average of 10 years.

Labor unions backing the change say pensioners who retired before 2001 have not had a cost-of-living increase since then, and are struggling to get by since inflation spiked two years ago. A 2001 law fattened pensions for people who had not yet retired, but did not apply to those who had already retired.

Neither of the state’s big pension systems are fully funded. In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said the chamber would take a hard look at the bill with that in mind.

“I have genuine empathy for those who retired before 2001 and this is something which will be thoroughly reviewed,” Pittman said. “Obviously, we must be careful about the fragile nature of our pension funds.”

The push for the pension increase comes as the Pennsylvania state government is awash in cash after years of running deficits. It is sitting on approximately $14 billion in reserves, or almost one-third of its approved budget of $45 billion for the current fiscal year.