(Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, at podium, speaks during a news conference at Marsh Creek State Park in Downingtown, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. Shapiro filed criminal charges Tuesday against the developer of a problem-plagued pipeline that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

October 6, 2021- 6:46 AM

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press
Pennsylvania’s attorney general has filed criminal charges against the developer of a pipeline that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia. Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the charges Tuesday at a news conference at Marsh Creek State Park in Downingtown. That’s where Sunoco Pipeline LP spilled thousands of gallons of drilling fluid last year. The spill occurred during construction of the troubled Mariner East 2 pipeline. Prosecutors say the multibillion-dollar pipeline project fouled waterways and residential water supplies across hundreds of miles. Texas-based Energy Transfer owns Sunoco and says “it intends to vigorously defend itself.”

By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Facebook data scientist has stunned lawmakers and the public with revelations of the company’s awareness of apparent harm to some teens from Instagram and her accusations of dishonesty in its fight against hate and misinformation. Now she is coming before Congress. Frances Haugen has come forward with a wide-ranging condemnation of Facebook. After recent reports in The Wall Street Journal based on documents she leaked to the newspaper raised a public outcry, Haugen revealed her identity in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday. She’s testifying to the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection at a hearing Tuesday.

Biden lifts abortion referral ban on family planning clinics
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is reversing a ban on abortion referrals by federally funded family planning clinics. Monday’s action by the Department of Health and Human Services lifts a Trump-era restriction as political and legal battles over abortion grow sharper from Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court. Groups representing the clinics say they hope the rule reversal leads to the return of some 1,300 service providers that left the program to protest the Trump administration’s policy. HHS has estimated that the upheaval led to as many as 180,000 unintended pregnancies. The clinics provide birth control and basic health care mainly to low-income women.

(Wayne Twp., Pa.) Pa State Police in New Castle reported yesterday via release that they responded to the scene of a motorcycle accident on Route 488 Portersville Road in Wayne Township, Lawrence County, on Tuesday September 28 at 9:43 PM.
Upon arriving on the scene and investigating it was reported via release that 31-year-old Cody Bouzek of Darlington was operating a 2000 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle west bound on Portersville Road and while being under the influence of alcohol and going fast he was unable to negotiate a curve to the right. Bouzek crossed over the eastbound lane and into the embankment continuing on crashing into a chain link fence causing major damage to the fence and his motorcycle. Bouzek was air-lifted to UPMC Presbyterian for serious injuries. There is no word on his condition. Charges are pending blood results.

(Photo of Mahalek from appearance on Teleforum, March 18, 2021)

HARRISBURG – Reps. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford/Franklin/Fulton), chairman of House Education Committee’s Subcommittee on Higher Education, and Natalie Mihalek (R-Allegheny/Washington), chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Education, held a joint hearing this morning on higher education funding in Pennsylvania.

The 2021-22 budget allocates more than $1.86 billion to support higher education, including funding for: The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE); state-related universities of Penn State University, The University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, Lincoln University, and Penn Veterinary School (Penn Vet); community colleges; and grants for students through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA).

Held at the state Capitol, the hearing’s testifiers included:

• Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Nathan Hench, Guaranty and Strategy, PHEAA.
• Dean Andrew Hoffman and Vice Dean Robert Schieri, Penn Vet.
• Vice President Charles Gradowski, Finance and Administration, Lincoln University.
• Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Hari Sastry, University of Pittsburgh.
• Interim Treasurer David Marino, Temple University.
• Executive Vice President and Provost Nick Jones, Pennsylvania State University.
• Chancellor Dr. Daniel Greenstein and Chief Financial Officer Molly Mercer, PASSHE.

“Our focus today was on public dollars earmarked for higher education; where the money goes and how it is used,” said Topper. “Providing this oversight ensures our investment in our institutions and its students is being spent prudently and in the best manner possible.”

“With this much funding being allocated to higher education, it was only appropriate that the state Legislature took a deep dive. Our primary duty is to make sure we are being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” said Mihalek. “We want accountability and transparency for the public when we’re talking about five cents of every dollar spent in Pennsylvania. The public deserves to know how this money is being used and how it benefits students. I thank PASSHE, PHEAA and our state-run schools for helping us to have a better understanding as to how allocated funding from the General Assembly is used.”

Testifiers focused on this funding being used to keep higher education accessible and affordable for all students, especially those who reside in the Commonwealth. Since these schools work in partnership with the Commonwealth, in-state tuition is discounted greatly compared to out-of-state rates and it helps to keep the discount rates flat year after year.

Another focus was that these state-run universities have been able to manage their cost structure better in recent years. Marino stated that by better aligning their cost structure with changing demographics, Temple University has been able to cut its operating budget in five of the past 10 years, eliminating $136.4 million from the annual operating budget.

Sastry emphasized that the University of Pittsburgh has had modest tuition increases and has invested in several critical initiatives aimed at reducing student debt. “The Pitt Success Pell Match Program was introduced in 2019 and marked the greatest restructuring of financial aid in the university’s history,” Sastry said. The program helps students and families with the greatest financial need pay for college by maximizing the power of this federal program by matching student Pell Grants dollar for dollar.

Hoffman and Schieri thanked the state on behalf of Penn Vet for their support since 1889, four years after the school was founded. “Without the state’s support, Penn Vet would not exist in the form it does today,” said Hoffman. “It would not be able to discount tuition for in-state students, nor would it be able to provide its breadth of services to residents and industry, most notably agriculture, which as you know is regarded as Pennsylvania’s largest industry.”

Hench, on behalf of PHEAA, took pride in the organization being able to offer higher education assistance while minimizing students reliance on loan debt. PHEAA offers a variety of student aid programs for the Commonwealth, the largest being the PA State Grant Program, and many outreach services that millions of residents have relied upon to successfully navigate the student aid application process.

To watch the full hearing, visit www.PAHouseGOP.com/Video/Education.

By FRANK BAJAK and BARBARA ORTUTAY Associated Press
Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms are back online after a massive global outage plunged the services and the businesses and people who rely on them into chaos for hours. Facebook said late Monday that “the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change” and that there is “no evidence that user data was compromised as a result” of the outage. The company apologized and said it is working to understand more about the cause, which began around 11:40 a.m. Eastern Monday. Facebook is going through a major crisis after the whistleblower who was the source of The Wall Street Journal’s series of stories exposing the company’s awareness of internal research into the negative effects of its products went public on CBS’s “60 Minutes” program Sunday.

Man accused in co-worker deaths tells deputies he was raped
Associated Press undefined
DAVENPORT, Fla. (AP) — An electrician accused of killing three co-workers on assignment in central Florida told detectives he did it because his colleagues had raped him, but a Florida sheriff is dismissing that claim, saying there was no evidence to support it. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Monday at a news conference that Shaun Runyon confessed multiple times to the murders during interviews with detectives. Runyon told detectives that the co-workers raped him, and he hated all three of them. But Judd says a sexual battery test failed to confirm the allegation. Runyon was charged over the weekend with three counts of first degree murder and one count of aggravated battery.