Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is advising motorists that line painting operations on various roadways in Allegheny, Beaver, and Lawrence counties will occur today, Thursday, November 11 weather permitting.

Work to repaint lines will occur from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day in the following locations:

Allegheny County

• Route 2110 Penn Avenue in Churchill Borough

Beaver County

• Route 30 from Allegheny County to Ohio

Lawrence County

• Route 18/Route 108 intersection in the City of New Castle

Roadway line painting is an important part of PennDOT’s highway safety initiatives. Paint lines provide direction, delineation, and guidance to motorists.

Generally, PennDOT is not responsible for paint on vehicles.

Motorists should use caution and be aware of changing traffic patterns when driving through the area.

(New Sewickley, Pa) A new holiday lights destination has come to Beaver County. Enchanted Lights begins operating a walk-through light show in New Sewickley November 24th and running weekends through January 5th!

This outdoor event features a dazzling display of twinkling lights, festive decorations, and delightful surprises that’s sure to fill you with holiday cheer! Enjoy hot chocolate and roast s’mores around the campfires with friends and family, all while being ensconced in a tapestry of shimmering lights.

The owners of Three Rivers Paintball will be utilizing their 70-acre wooded property located just outside of Cranberry to premier this holiday event.

“We are so excited to launch Enchanted Lights!   We’ve been planning and building for over a year, so finally sharing it with our guests will mean a lot,” says Alex Krischke. “I’ve grown up helping produce events with my parents, and I’ve learned so much from them. This is a dream I’ve had for years, and I’m hopeful that it will become my stamp on the family legacy.”

All parking proceeds will go toward supporting people and pets through The Lighthouse Foundation in Butler County and Cross Your Paws Dog Rescue.

Ticket purchases can be made at www.EnchantedLightsPittsburgh.com

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.”