Pennsylvania payrolls grew in December amid labor shortage
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s payrolls are continuing to grow, but a persistent worker shortage is still keeping labor markets tight. The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 5.4% in December. The national rate was 3.9% in December. In a survey of households, the labor force shrank for the seventh straight month, reflecting a worker shortage that some economists attribute partly to an increase in people who have recently gone to work for themselves. In a separate survey of employers, payrolls in Pennsylvania grew in December by more than 14,000, driven primarily by hiring in trucking and warehousing.

Pennsylvania set state record for gambling revenue in 2021
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania has set another annual record for gambling revenue in the era of online gambling and sports betting. State regulators say casinos and other operators won more than $4.7 billion from gamblers in calendar year 2021 in one of the nation’s largest commercial casino states. The rebound continues after pandemic-related shutdowns sapped casino revenue in 2020. The more than $4.7 billion came from 16 operating casinos, including three new mini-casinos in 2021, as well as fantasy sports operators and truck stops. That beat the $3.9 billion recorded in fiscal year 2021, as well as the previous calendar year high of $3.4 billion, two years ago.

(AP Photo)
By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Louie Anderson, whose four-decade career as a comedian and actor included his unlikely and Emmy-winning performance as mom to twin adult sons in the TV series “Baskets,” has died at age 68. Anderson’s publicist Glenn Schwartz says the comedian died Friday in Las Vegas. The publicist had said earlier this week that Anderson was hospitalized for a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He’d been a familiar face elsewhere on TV, including as host of a revival of the game show “Family Feud” from 1999 to 2002, and on comedy specials and in frequent late-night talk show appearances.

(AP Photo)
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Three new U.S. studies offer more evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines are standing up to the omicron variant, at least among people who have gotten booster shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the studies Friday. The results echo previous research — including studies in Germany, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. They found available vaccines are less effective against omicron than they were against earlier versions of the coronavirus. One of the papers found that two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines offered no significant protection against omicron. Several studies have concluded a booster can significantly improve protection.

(File Photo)
Story by Sandy Giordano, Beaver County Radio News Correspondent

(Center Twp., Beaver County, Pa.) A representative of the firm  Crabtree, Rohrbach and Associates  presented the Central Valley School Board with information and updates  and  said the date for the Act 34 Public Hearing  would be in  February or March 2022. Bids could be released in early April  and adoption . 20 days prior to the hearing. The adoption could be awarded in May.

(AP Photo)
Friday, January 21, 2022 at 7:57 AM
By AAMER MADHANI and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ends his first year in the White House with a clear majority of Americans for the first time disapproving of his handling of the presidency in the face of an unrelenting pandemic and roaring inflation. That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. More Americans disapprove than approve of how Biden is handling his job as president by a margin of 56% to 43%. As of now, just 28% of Americans say they want Biden to run for reelection in 2024, including only 48% of Democrats.

(AP Photo)
Friday , January, 21, 2022 at 7:54 AM
By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in three months as the fast-spreading omicron variant disrupted the job market. Jobless claims rose for the third straight week — by 55,000 to 286,000, highest since mid-October, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, rose by 20,000 to 231,000, highest since late November. A surge in COVID cases has set back what had been a strong comeback from last year’s short but devastating coronavirus recession.

(File Photo)
Friday, January, 21, 2022 at 7:44 AM
(Pittsburgh, Pa.) 48-year-old Stacey Shaw from Salem, Ohio, the former CEO and president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 712 Credit Union has been officially sentenced by the US Department of Justice to 51 months in prison followed by one year of house arrest and two years of supervised release. Shaw was charged with multiple counts of embezzlement.
Officials say that Shaw opened six different credit cards in her name in May of 2017 without approval from the board of directors and then raised the spending limit on the cards 138 times for personal purchases. In all officials say that she stole $2.1 million.
Shaw was also found guilty of willful misconduct of failing to disclose a gross income of $589,200.00 in 2018 and $1.1 million in 2019.

(File Photo)
Friday, January 21, 2022 at 7:24 AM
(Bellevue, Pa.) There has been an arrest made in the shooting that happened Wednesday night near the corner of Sheridan and Lincoln avenues Bellevue in which 28-year-old Rachel Dowden was killed while she was waiting for a bus on Wednesday night.
Police have arrested 25-year-old DeAngelo Zieglar of Pittsburgh.
Police said Dowden has a protection from abuse order against Zieglar that was valid until Nov. 3, 2024 and earlier this month, Zieglar allegedly stole a gun from Dowden during an incident at her home.
Police have matched that stolen gun to the weapon that was found after the shooting and believed to be the gun that was used to kill Dowden.