FILE – Shopping carts are parked outside a Home Depot in Philadelphia on Sept. 21, 2022. Home Depot is buying SRS Distribution, a materials provider for professionals, in a deal valued at approximately $18.25 billion. The home improvement retailer said Thursday, March 28, 2024, that the acquisition will help speed up its growth with the contractors. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Home Depot is buying SRS Distribution, a materials provider for professionals, in a deal valued at approximately $18.25 billion. The home improvement retailer said Thursday that the acquisition will help speed up its growth with the contractors. SRS provides materials for those including professional roofers, landscapers and pool contractors.

FILE – In this May 28, 2020, file photo, mail-in primary election ballots are processed at the Chester County Voter Services office in West Chester, Pa. Pennsylvania’s highest court on Thursday, Sept. 17. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal appeals court says a requirement for Pennsylvania voters to put accurate handwritten dates on the outside envelopes of their mail-in ballots doesn’t run afoul of a civil rights law. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday to uphold enforcement of the required date on return envelopes. The dates are a technical mandate that caused thousands of votes to be declared invalid in the 2022 election. The total number is a small fraction of the large state’s electorate. The court’s ruling puts additional attention on Pennsylvania’s election procedures ahead of the presidential election.

(Pittsburgh, Pa) The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is seeking the public’s feedback on winter services through an online survey.

“The PennDOT team works diligently to keep roadways safe and passable in the winter months, often in challenging conditions,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “The public’s feedback helps us review operations and also identify ways we can enhance public information.”

The survey is available through April 17 and should take about five minutes to complete. All responses are anonymous.

The 16-question survey asks respondents about their timeline expectations for safe and passable roadways, how they rank snow-removal priorities, and how they rate PennDOT’s winter services.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published March 28, 2024 10:15 A.M.

(Aliquippa, Pa) State Police in Beaver have released some additional information regarding a shotting in Aliquippa Tuesday. They say they were dispatched to the area of 404 Linmar Terrace around 6:30pm. Upon arrival, they found Maurice Mathis had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his lower extremities. Aliquippa PD requested the State Police assume responsibility for the shooting investigation. Mathis was transported to the hostiptal for his injuries and an investigation is ongoing.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing the bridge preservation project on the Rochester-Monaca Bridge, which carries Route 18 over the Ohio River, in Rochester and Monaca boroughs, Beaver County will begin on Monday, April 1 weather permitting.

Work on the bridge and surrounding state roads will begin on Monday, April 1 in preparation for the anticipated 67-day closure and detour of the bridge will occur according to the following schedule:

Rochester-Monaca Bridge (Route 18)

• Single-lane alternating traffic will occur on the bridge from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays through mid-June for paint containment installation, barrier repairs, and other miscellaneous construction work.

Route 51

• Single-lane restrictions will occur on westbound Route 51 in Rochester Borough from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays as needed through late September. Restrictions will occur between the South Route 18/East Route 68 Rochester off-ramp and the North Route 51/West Route 68 Beaver/Chippewa off-ramp for platform installation, downspout work and other miscellaneous construction activities.

Additionally, median island removal work is expected to begin in early April requiring single-lane alternating traffic at the intersection of Seventeenth Street (Route 51) and Pennsylvania Avenue (Route 4044). Details including work hours will be provided in advance of the work.

Additional information will be provided in advance of the 67-day closure and detour of the bridge. All restrictions above will be in place, as needed, until the bridge closure and detour begins.

This $6.69 million project includes bridge preservation work on the Rochester-Monaca Bridge between Atlantic Avenue in Monaca Borough and Pleasant Street in Rochester Borough. Preservation work includes expansion joint replacement, zone painting, concrete deck overlay, downspout repair and replacement, steel and concrete repairs, as well as sidewalk, deck, barrier, and fence repairs, pavement marking upgrades, and other miscellaneous construction activities. Motorists will see a full 67-day closure and detour of the bridge via the Monaca-East Rochester Bridge between June and August 2024. Bicycle and pedestrian access will be maintained during construction. This project is expected to be completed in late 2024.

FILE – President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and former President Bill Clinton attend at a memorial service for Sen. Robert Byrd, July 2, 2010, at the Capitol in Charleston, W.Va. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are teaming up with President Joe Biden for a glitzy reelection fundraiser Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The event brings together more than three decades of Democratic leadership. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A fundraiser for President Joe Biden in New York City that also stars Barack Obama and Bill Clinton is raising a whopping $25 million. Biden’s campaign says the Thursday night event sets a record for the biggest haul for a political event. The Radio City Music Hall fundraiser provides a gilded exclamation mark on a recent burst of campaign travel by Biden, who visited several political battlegrounds in the last few weeks. The Democratic president has a significant fundraising advantage over Republican rival Donald Trump, with more than four times as much cash on hand by the end of February.

FILE – Taylor Swift arrives at the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. A photographer told police he was punched in the face by Taylor Swift’s father on the Sydney waterfront on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, hours after the pop star’s Australian tour ended. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

SYDNEY (AP) — Taylor Swift’s father will not be charged over a photographer’s claim that Scott Swift assaulted him on the Sydney waterfront hours after the pop star’s Australian tour ended last month. Photographer Ben McDonald had alleged that one of Swift’s security guards forced an umbrella into his face and camera and that Scott Swift then punched him. The incident occurred at the Neutral Bay Wharf, where the father and daughter had just come ashore from a yacht Feb. 27. Police began investigating the incident at the time and announced Wednesday that “no further police action” would be taken. The statement said that “no offences were detected.”

Shown is the wreckage of Francis Scott Key Bridge as seen from Dundalk, Md., on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, Recovery efforts resumed Wednesday for the construction workers who are presumed dead after the cargo ship hit a pillar of the bridge, causing the structure to collapse. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Manufacturers and shippers are scrambling to figure out where they can load or unload cargo while the main operations at the Port of Baltimore remain closed due to Tuesday’s deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Supply chain experts say other ports up and down the East Coast are likely to absorb much of Baltimore’s traffic, avoiding a crisis. But not without some longer shipping times and upheaval. Baltimore is the ninth-busiest port for international cargo in the nation, but it leads U.S. ports in “roll on, roll off” cargo. That means goods with wheels, composed largely of automobiles but including construction and agricultural equipment.

Keystone State News Connection – Danielle Smith

Pennsylvania’s wild trout streams are getting some much-needed attention and outdoor enthusiasts across the state can voice their views on safeguarding fisheries.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has collected data on 24 proposed Wild Trout Streams, recommending they receive official designation to preserve their “exceptional” trout habitats.

Nate Walters, coldwater unit leader for the commission, said protecting streams supports healthy, self-sustaining wild trout populations, which in turn is vital for water quality.

“It’s important to protect them from any kind of human impacts that can further degrade these streams,” Walters asserted. “Again, it’s important to protect these streams for the water quality and habitat protection standpoint, whether it’s for instream or the wetlands surrounding the streams.”

Walters pointed out all Pennsylvania residents can submit public comments about the Wild Trout Streams designations online. Pennsylvania has more than 80,000 miles of streams and rivers, most of which support fishing, kayaking and boating activities.

Alexandra Kozak, Pennsylvania field manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said officially adding streams to the state’s Wild Trout Stream roster will not only preserve world-class fishing opportunities but boost local economies and tourism.

“We have a $58 billion outdoor recreation economy,” Kozak explained. “Considering that roughly 40% of the streams across the state are not suitable for fishing, swimming or even drinking water, according to the DEP, it makes sense to safeguard these exceptional waterways that are already meeting top standards, that can continue to support our outdoor recreation and then continue to drive, you know, our economy.”

Kozak noted their 2020 survey showed 1.2 million Pennsylvanians fished local waterways. She added local businesses like fly shops, fishing guides and bait stores benefit from anglers visiting these areas.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressmembers Chris Deluzio (PA-17) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) introduced the Shrinkflation Prevention Act. The legislation would prohibit corporations from deceptively decreasing the sizes of their products without lowering the price commensurately.

Without advertised changes, customers are often unaware when they receive less for what they spend. In practice, shrinkflation might mean more air in a bag of chips, fewer sheets on a roll of paper towels, or a divot in the bottom of a jar of peanut butter.

Shrinkflation cuts down on the purchasing power of working families, and it can add up across multiple items in a shopping trip. Among household paper products and snack foods, roughly 10 percent of inflation has been driven by shrinkflation. From 2020 to 2022, corporate profits rose by 74 percent – five times as fast as inflation.

The Shrinkflation Prevention Act would:

• Direct the FTC to establish regulations to establish shrinkflation as an unfair or deceptive act or practice, prohibiting manufacturers from engaging in shrinkflation.
• Authorize the FTC and state attorneys general to pursue civil actions against corporations who engage in shrinkflation.

“Shrinkflation is a ripoff—yet another way that big corporations are sticking it to folks,” said Rep. Deluzio. “People in Western Pennsylvania are feeling the pinch from corporations charging more for less to pad their profits at our expense. It’s time to fight back. I am proud to join Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez in introducing the Shrinkflation Prevention Act to bring down costs and to crack down on these deceptive practices.”

“Working families across Southwest Washington just aren’t getting the same bang for their buck as they used to at the grocery store. Corporations have used rising prices as cover to give you less for what you’re paying and boost their bottom line—while the amount of packaging and cost to get products on shelves largely remains the same,” said Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez. “It can be hard to notice when items get a bit smaller, and shrinkflation can add up throughout your shopping cart. I’m introducing this legislation to fight these deceptive practices and get extra breathing room to families facing higher costs.”

Full text of the legislation is available here, and a summary is available here. The Shrinkflation Prevention Act was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA).