September 27, 2024 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
Elementary school pupils learn to use tablets in class. (Lexie Flickinger photo from www.schooltechnology.org, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0)
A new report finds Pennsylvania schools are falling behind in teachers’ pay and have not kept up with inflation since the 1990s.
The report from the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, highlights data on the state’s public schools, educator compensation, school district staffing and funding, and student performance.
Chris Lilienthal, assistant director of communications for the PSEA, said the report aims to educate Pennsylvanians on the challenges and opportunities facing public schools, and educators’ salaries are a big one.
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August 19, 2024 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
A state vehicle accesses a public charging station. Electric vehicle registrations increased 82 percent between 2021 and 2023. (Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection photo)
Pittsburgh is emerging as a leader in innovative solutions like electric vehicles and clean energy to combat the climate crisis, says the group Elected Officials to Protect America.
The bipartisan nonprofit, based in Rockland, Maine, is a network of elected officials who are concerned about the effects of climate change on the environment. It recently hosted a press conference in Pittsburgh to applaud the region for efforts to encourage motorists to switch to electric cars, and for projects such as Energize Pittsburgh, a pilot program designed to help low-to-moderate income homeowners to reduce their energy costs.
Statewide, in 2022, electric vehicle registrations increased by about 82 percent from the previous year, the group said. At the start of this year, more than 47,000 electric vehicles were registered in the state.
State Rep. Emily Kinkead, Democrat from Bellevue, envisions Pittsburgh as a future leader in the green economy, bolstered by strong labor unions and academic institutions.
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August 16, 2024 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
(Source: Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association; Keystone Research Center; Economic Policy Institute)
Pennsylvania's wage growth has rebounded from pre-pandemic lows and now exceeds the national average, according to the latest Pennsylvania Workforce Trends report from the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association.
The data show average hourly earnings for nonsupervisory workers grew almost 4 percent between 2019 and this year. Pay grew even faster among low-wage workers, at 9.2 percent in Pennsylvania, but not as much as the U.S. average of more than 13 percent.
Carrie Amann, executive director of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association, said despite the wage increases, Pennsylvanians are well aware the cost of living has also been on the uptick.
“Employers are, in fact, paying their workers more in certain occupations and certain percentiles of workers,” Amann said. ‘We’ve seen significant increases — I think, almost 10 percent wage increases — in what we would typically call low-wage workers.”
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July 02, 2024 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
A bill to increase Pennsylvania public school funding by billions of dollars passed the state General Assembly and is awaiting a vote in the state Senate.
House Bill 2370 proposes more than $5 billion extra in funding for the next seven years. It has been referred to the state Senate’s education committee and has not been scheduled for a vote.
Aaron Chapin, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, a union representing more than 187,000 teachers and other school employees, said if the bill is signed into law, it would boost school funding and reflect critical elements of the Basic Education Funding Commission’s majority report.
PSEA strongly supported that report, which was released in January.
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July 02, 2024 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
Editor’s Note: This story was written by Danielle Smith of Keystone State News Service with additional reporting from Tube City Almanac.
The state Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation received a national award for its cleanup work regarding approximately 27 acres of coal refuse piles in Cambria County, which posed multiple environmental threats to the area. (Photo courtesy state Department of Environmental Protection)
Pennsylvania will receive $244 million this year to clean up the pollution left over from decades of coal mining.
The money is part of $725 million in abandoned mine cleanup funding the Biden administration is providing to more than two dozen states. Pennsylvania has more abandoned coal mines than any other state in the country, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. About 1.4 million Pennsylvanians live within one mile of an abandoned mine.
The most recent funding is the third installment of more than $11 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for cleaning up environmental hazards and pollution by past coal mining operations, aligning with President Joe Biden’s environmental justice initiatives.
“Remediation of abandoned mine lands is critical for the health, safety, and well-being of communities across Pennsylvania,” said Jessica Shirley, acting state secretary of environmental protection. “With this federal funding, we will be able to continue this vital work that protects public health and safety, and put reclaimed land to good use with eligible economic development initiatives.”
According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, more than 5,000 miles of streams in Pennsylvania are impacted by acid mine drainage from abandoned mining sites. Toxic chemicals from mines can harm water sources and result in issues like erosion, DEP said.
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May 22, 2024 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
(Source: Keystone Research Center)
Although polls show that Pennsylvanians are concerned about the economy, research indicates that the unemployment rate statewide is at a record-low number, and better even than the rate nationally.
In April, the state’s jobless rate stayed at 3.4 percent, an all-time low in Pennsylvania, better than the national rate of 3.9 percent.
Maisum Murtaza, research associate at the Keystone Research Center, said the positive trend has been ongoing for months, with the rate hovering between 3.2 and 3.4 percent over the past year.
He saod the job market is recovering from the COVID pandemic and workers are starting to gain a bit more power in the labor market.
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May 09, 2024 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: State & Region
Editor’s note: The writer of this story has a conflict of interest. He is a U.S. Steel shareholder.
A local clean-air advocate argued Wednesday there is only one likely source of a rotten-egg smell that has plagued the Mon-Yough area for weeks — and it’s U.S. Steel’s Clairton Plant.
Patrick Campbell, executive director of the Group Against Smog & Pollution, said that a 2023 study by the Allegheny County Health Department concluded that nearly all hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, pollution in the region is the result of operations at Clairton Plant, which makes coke, a blast-furnace fuel, by super-heating coal to remove impurities.
“We know the source of the stench,” he said in a phone interview. “Something is going on at Clairton Coke Works that’s resulting in these emissions.”
Last week, Allegheny County Councilman Bob Macey convened a meeting of 40 first-responders, representatives from corporations, and local, county and state officials to discuss the ongoing odor. The smell — which seems to come and go — has resulted in countless calls to local fire departments by residents concerned that they have a natural gas leak.
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May 07, 2024 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: State & Region
* Editor’s Note — This story was corrected after publication. Paragraphs marked with * have been edited.
Conflict of interest notice: The writer of this story is a U.S. Steel shareholder.
U.S. Steel said its Mon Valley facilities, including Irvin Plant, seen here from Glassport, are operating normally. A “rotten egg” or “natural gas” smell reported by residents from West Homestead to Clairton. (Tube City Almanac photo)
A persistent smell of rotten eggs or natural gas in the Mon-Yough area has not been traced to leaks in any natural gas pipelines and local companies and officials are having a difficult time tracking its source.*
Last week, personnel from local fire departments, utility providers, U.S. Steel and a variety of agencies met to discuss the smell, which has plagued communities from West Homestead to Clairton.
There is no immediate danger to the public, according to an email from Allegheny County Councilman Bob Macey of West Mifflin, who convened the meeting.
“It’s been going on for a few months at least,” said Nick Paradise, a spokesperson for Peoples Gas, the dominant natural gas supplier in the McKeesport region. “It’s not necessarily every day — it ebbs and flows.”
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April 30, 2024 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
They may seem pretty at first — but spotted lanternflies could cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to crops and timber in Pennsylvania every year. The invasive pests have arrived in the Mon-Yough area and are widespread. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
Invasive pests cost the United States about $40 billion a year in damages to trees, plants and crops, and according to experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, springtime is the best time for Pennsylvanians to spot invasive species before they can do more damage.
Kathryn Bronsky, national policy manager for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said hungry pests include not only invasive insects but diseases they carry, which people can unknowingly spread.
“Some examples of what to be on the lookout for are Asian longhorn beetle and spongy moths, and other pests that harm trees and natural resources,” she said. “And fruit flies, citrus greening, spotted lanternfly and lots of others that can damage crops and agriculture here in the U.S.”
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April 19, 2024 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
Documentary filmmaker C. Nathaniel Brown, right, with the late Louis Gossett, who talks about his own family’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in the new movie, “Remember Me,” which has its Pittsburgh debut on Saturday. (Photo courtesy C. Nathaniel Brown via Facebook)
Alzheimer’s disease is the eighth-leading cause of death in Pennsylvania, but takes an disproportionate toll on Black and African-American patients.
A documentary on the topic debuts Saturday in Pittsburgh. “Remember Me: Dementia in the African American Community” features individuals and families who are dealing with memory loss.
C. Nathaniel Brown, founder and CEO of Expected End Entertainment and a former Pittsburgh resident, said his aunt lives with dementia, which sparked his interest in talking with others to find out more about the disease and how it affects communities of color.
“The first thing I found out was that there are over 100 types of dementia,” said Brown, who began his career as a writer and photographer for the New Pittsburgh Courier. “And the more I learned, the more I realized how much it was impacting the African American community disproportionately. We’re twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or some other progressive type of dementia.”
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