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The Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill signed Thursday by the President includes funding to bring TSA employee compensation to a level commensurate with other federal agencies. It also supports funding to expand collective bargaining rights for our screening workforce.

After years of advocating for fair pay for TSA employees, the provision allows the agency to bring pay rates in alignment with other federal agencies, effective July 1, 2023. TSA’s frontline employees, Transportation Security Officers (TSO), have generally been paid up to 30% less than their federal counterparts. The bill also included funding for expanded collective bargaining rights for TSA’s non-supervisory TSOs as well as new computed tomography and credential authentication technology acquisitions that will significantly enhance our checkpoint screening capabilities.

TSOs now regularly screen more than two million passengers per day, and we expect travel volumes to continue to increase throughout 2023. The FY23 Omnibus Appropriations Bill further enables the critical national security work that TSA employees do each day to protect the nation’s transportation systems.

FILE – Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro speaks at an election night event, Nov. 8, 2022, in Oaks, Pa. Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro will take office with a decisive mandate from Pennsylvania voters, who overwhelmingly rejected a Republican drive to pare back abortion rights and voting laws in the premier battleground state. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

HARRISBURG, PA – Today, Governor-Elect Josh Shapiro announced the appointments of six Deputy Chiefs of Staff with a wealth of experience, talent, and a deep knowledge of the Commonwealth to the Shapiro Administration. These individuals will bring decades of experience – from state, local, and federal government work, to leadership in organized labor and issue advocacy organizations – to the table as they join the Shapiro Administration. The Deputy Chiefs of Staff will serve key roles in Governor-Elect Shapiro’s leadership team, and they will work directly with state agencies, stakeholders, government officials, and local communities all across Pennsylvania as they assist in advancing the Governor-Elect’s top priorities.

The six Deputy Chiefs of Staff who will be helping lead the Shapiro Administration’s efforts to grow our economy, improve our schools, and make our communities safer are:

• Joseph Lee, Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration and Opportunity
• Lindsey Mauldin, Deputy Chief of Staff for Health and Human Services 
• Danielle Okai, Deputy Chief of Staff for Economic Development
• Michael Pipe, Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Safety
• Sam Robinson, Deputy Chief of Staff for Consumers and the Environment
• Tori Shriver, Deputy Chief of Staff for Education and Workforce Development

These accomplished individuals are joining a historic Administration – one that will bring people together, represent our entire Commonwealth, and deliver results for all Pennsylvanians every day. With this growing, capable, hard-working leadership team, Governor-Elect Shapiro will be ready to get to work for the people of Pennsylvania on day one.

“With these dynamic, smart, and capable public servants joining our team as Deputy Chiefs of Staff, our Administration will hit the ground running to streamline communication, operate nimbly, and get things done for Pennsylvanians,” said Governor-Elect Shapiro’s incoming Chief of Staff Dana Fritz. “Governor-Elect Shapiro and I are ready to get to work with this diverse and experienced group to build an economy that works for everyone, improve our schools to ensure our children receive a quality education, and make communities across the Commonwealth safer for our families.”

FILE – Dame Vivienne Westwood poses for a photo after collecting her insignia from Britain’s Prince Charles during an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London on June. 9, 2006. Westwood, an influential fashion maverick who played a key role in the punk movement, died Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, at 81. (Fiona Hanson, Pool via AP, File)

LONDON (AP) — English designer Vivienne Westwood has died at 81. Her fashion house announced her death Thursday on its social media platforms, saying she died peacefully in South London surrounded by friends and family. A cause was not immediately disclosed. Westwood was an influential fashion maverick who played a key role in the punk movement. Westwood’s fashion career began in the 1970s with the punk explosion, when the onetime primary school teacher’s radical approach to urban street style took the world by storm. But she went on to enjoy a long career highlighted by activism and a string of triumphant runway shows and museum exhibits.

FILE – Brazilian soccer great Pele, and English soccer star David Beckham pose for photos during a U.S. Soccer Foundation fundraising gala, in New York, March 19, 2008. Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

SAO PAULO (AP) — Pelé, Brazil’s mighty king of soccer, has died. He was 82. Since 2021, he had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer discovered during a routine medical exam. Pelé was one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century. He won a record three World Cups with Brazil and was the standard-bearer of “the beautiful game” with the national team and his club Santos. His exuberance and mesmerizing moves transfixed generations of fans around the globe. His flair personified his country’s samba-style elegance. Late in his career, he helped popularize soccer in North America by joining the New York Cosmos.

FILE – Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks with members of the media during a news conference in Philadelphia, on Oct. 13, 2022. The separation of powers, and where legislative authority stops and the court’s begins, were central to arguments Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, in court over a lawsuit by Krasner, Philadelphia’s elected prosecutor, challenging the state Legislature’s attempt to remove him from office. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania court is weighing whether to step in and stop the Legislature’s impeachment proceedings against Philadelphia’s top elected prosecutor. The panel of judges sound wary about potentially violating the separation of powers in a lawsuit by Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner challenging an attempt by Republican lawmakers to remove him from office. The four-judge Commonwealth Court panel, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, presided over nearly two hours of arguments Thursday. The trial in the state Senate is set to begin Jan. 18. The case is part of a wave of efforts across the country to remove progressive prosecutors as violent crime rose nationally.

FILE – An AmerisourceBergen Corp. office building stands on Oct. 16, 2019, in Conshohocken, Pa. The U.S. Justice Department claimed in a lawsuit filed Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, that the major drug wholesaler contributed to the deadly toll from opioids by turning a blind eye to warning signs about suspicious sales to its pharmacy customers. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that a major drug wholesaler contributed to the deadly toll from opioids by turning a blind eye to warning signs about suspicious sales to its pharmacy customers. An 87-page civil enforcement action filed Thursday accuses AmerisourceBergen Corp. of failing to properly scrutinize orders for suspicious activity. AmerisourceBergen says the federal complaint is cherry-picking pharmacies among their tens of thousands of customers “while ignoring the absence of action” by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Opioids have been linked to more than 500,000 U.S. deaths during the past two decades.

A Southwest Airlines ground operations crew member waits to guide an arriving jet into a gate, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022, at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Southwest Airlines is returning to a relatively normal flight schedule as the focus shifts to making things right with what could be well more than a million passengers who missed family connections or flights home during the holidays, and many of whom are still missing luggage. The Dallas carrier, which had canceled thousands of flights every day this week after a winter storm last weekend, reported less than 40 cancellations early Friday. While that was still more than United, American and Delta combined, it is a step back from one of the most chaotic weeks in aviation history for a single airline. Federal regulators have vowed a rigorous review of what happened at Southwest.

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Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published 8:55 A.M.

(Hopewell Township, PA) Beaver County Chief Detective Andy Gall announced  on Thursday afternoon that a monetary award is being offered  for any information  leading to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible . The theft  of over  $30,000 worth of rescue equipment took place on  Tuesday, December 20,2022 from Station 92 on  Brodhead Road  in Hopewell Township..