During a ceremony at a senior-citizen center in Philadelphia in August, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro ceremonially signed legislation which expands the Property Tax/Rent Rebate program to nearly 175,000 more Pennsylvania seniors and doubles rebates for many of the 400,000 Pennsylvanians who already qualify. (Submitted photo courtesy office of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro)
Older Pennsylvanians will soon see some financial relief with their property taxes and rent.
Gov. Josh Shapiro recently signed House Bill 1100 into law, expanding the state’s existing property tax and rent rebate program.
Bill Johnston-Walsh, state director for AARP Pennsylvania, said the expansion of the program will significantly boost property tax rebates for older adults, alleviating the financial burden for homeowners and renters. He said the yearly maximum standard will increase from $650 to $1,000 for individuals.
It is the first expansion of the program in nearly 20 years, Johnston-Walsh said. “Both property taxes across the state, and rents, have been increasing year after year. And that’s why AARP Pennsylvania fought so hard to expand the property tax rebate program.”
The Keystone State has some work to do to provide more access to quality pre-Kindergarten programs for the youngest Pennsylvanians.
Only 43 percent of eligible 3- and-4-year-olds are in high-quality, publicly funded pre-K, leaving more than 87,000 without access, according to a new report entitled, “State of Early Care and Education in Pennsylvania.”
Maggie Livelsberger, policy director for Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said young children need access to programs preparing them to start Kindergarten. But she said inadequate funding for child care has led to issues of supply and demand, affecting a family's ability to find care they can afford.
“It also impacts child care providers, and their ability to be compensated fairly, to pay their teachers and maintain their business expenses,” Livelsberger said. “We are living in a world where there is a very historic workforce shortage within the child care system, and a lot of that is due to unlivable wages.”
U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1873 and forms the nucleus of what is now called the Mon Valley Works. (Mark Dixon photo via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)
The jobs of more than 3,000 Mon Valley steelworkers are among those that hang in the balance after competing bidders emerged with offers to purchase Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel Corp.
On Sunday evening, the publicly traded company announced that it had retained investment bankers from Barclays Capital Inc. and Goldman Sachs & Co. to evaluate “strategic alternatives” to “maximize stockholder value” that could include selling all or part of the corporation.
U.S. Steel operates the Pittsburgh area’s last integrated steelmaking facility, the Mon Valley Works, which includes a coal by-products plant in Clairton; a blast-furnace and continuous casting facility, Edgar Thomson Plant, in Braddock and North Braddock; and a rolling mill, Irvin Plant, in West Mifflin.
U.S. Steel confirmed over the weekend that a rival company, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., a steel-making and iron-ore mining conglomerate in Ohio, had made an unsolicited $7.3 billion offer to purchase the corporation.
The Cleveland-Cliffs offer has the support of the United Steelworkers union, according to a letter the company released on its website.
A new study sheds light on the urgent need for policies to reduce emissions from U.S. oil and gas production, showing the public health effects are costing billions of dollars.
The research estimated in 2016, in the U.S. alone, oil and gas-related pollution caused $77 billion in health damages, contributing to 7,500 early deaths and more than 400,000 asthma exacerbations.
Dr. Barbara W. Brandom, a retired professor of pediatric anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh and a member of the Concerned Health Professionals of Pennsylvania, said she saw firsthand the impact of poor air quality on children's health because asthmatic kids had complications with anesthesia.
“Basically, we need to stop burning fossil fuels,” she said.
Local groups are working to counter a rise in anti-semitism in Pennsylvania and across the country.
Anti-semitic incidents in the United States reached a new high in 2022, with a total of 6,751 cases of racist, anti-semitic and other hateful messages reported by the Anti-Defamation League.
Advocates say that the trial of Robert Bowers — the man convicted of killing 11 people inside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood in 2018 — is a reminder of the danger that anti-semitism and other racial- and religious-based hate groups present.
Hilary Levine, associate director for the American Jewish Committee’s regional office in Philadelphia, said the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, a plan announced in May by the Biden administration, is a step in the right direction.
(Tube City Almanac 2019 file photo for illustration only)
Allegheny County Economic Development is currently accepting applications for the 2023 round of the Blight Removal Program, a spokeswoman said.
Municipalities, public authorities, councils of government, land banks and private developers may apply for funding to remediate established blight conditions. Applications are due by 4:30 p.m. June 16 and individual awards of up to $250,000 are available.
Approximately $1.5 million is available during this round of funding, county officials said.
Warmer winters and shifting weather patterns caused by climate change are magnifying the impact of invasive pests like the spotted lanternfly, say experts. (Tube City Almanac file photo by Vickie Babyak)
Invasive pests cost the U.S. about $40 billion a year in damages to trees, plants and crops, according to the USDA.
Kathryn Bronsky is the USDA’s national policy manager for plant protection and quarantine. She said hungry pests are often great hitchhikers, and people can accidentally spread them to new areas by traveling.
In particular, she said, experts are urging residents to be on the lookout for the spotted lanternfly.
Attendees at the Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative lunch included state Reps. Brandon Markosek and Abigail Salisbury; chamber member and McKeesport real-estate broker Robert Baum; state Reps. Matthew Gergley and Nick Pisciottano; West Mifflin business owner Nick Pisciottano; Lt. Gov. Austin Davis; Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald; business owners Craig Baum and Eva Jovanovic; Allegheny County Councilman Bob Macey; and Mon Yough Chamber Board Chair Robert Johnson. (Tom Leturgey photo for Tube City Almanac)
Pennsylvania’s governor is dedicated to making the state more business-friendly to entrepreneurs, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis told the Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce during its annual legislative luncheon.
During the event at the Georgetown Centre in Pleasant Hills, Davis told local business leaders that among Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first actions after being sworn in was the creation of the new Office of Transformation & Opportunity.
Davis called the office “a one-stop shop for businesses, to give you the support you need to grow and thrive.”
The administration is also putting pressure on state permit and license agencies to perform, he said. When a business applies for a license, Davis said, “they will have a timeline that the state is required to meet. And if we don’t respond by that deadline–the applicant gets their money back.”
“We’re planting a flag, sending a clear message that Pennsylvania is open for business,” he said.
Above: Dewitt Walton, vice president and program director for the Pittsburgh chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, talks to visitors during a July 2022 session. (Submitted photo courtesy APRI Pittsburgh, via Instagram)
Labor leaders in various industries recently celebrated the 85th anniversary of a federal law that laid the groundwork for registered apprenticeship programs in Pennsylvania and across the country.
However, a new report says not everyone gets a fair shot at these opportunities.
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that Black apprentices are underpaid and underrepresented in registered apprenticeship programs. Dewitt Walton, vice president and program director for the Pittsburgh chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, said the key to changing this is for more people to know what's available.
“The opportunities for life-changing careers in the construction and building trades, we have to increase the awareness of those opportunities,” he said, “and promote them in a more comprehensive and successful manner than we have in the past.”
While a proposed increase in basic education funding in Pennsylvania is appreciated, public school officials that represent small school districts said last week it’s not enough.
Last week, five members of the Pennsylvania League of Urban Schools — including East Allegheny School District — held press conferences to appeal to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the General Assembly to treat school district funding as a crisis that needs more attention.
In addition to EA, school officials in Greater Johnstown, Upper Darby, Lancaster and Bethlehem all presented specific financial information regarding the gap between the revenue they receive each year, and their operating and mandated costs.
