June 24, 2021 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has announced that “we have a deal” – a bipartisan agreement on a $953 billion infrastructure plan. The agreement, reached in a meeting Thursday at the White House, means a breakthrough after arduous negotiations on the president’s top legislative priority. Biden invited members of the bipartisan group to discuss the pared-down plan that has rare broad backing and could open the door to the president’s more sweeping and more expensive proposals. The senators have struggled over how to pay for the new spending.
June 24, 2021 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Declaring that the federal government was “taking on the bad actors doing bad things to our communities,” President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a series of efforts to stem a rising national tide of violent crime. But questions persist about how effective the efforts will be in calming what could be a turbulent summer. Crime rates have risen after plummeting during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic, creating economic hardship and anxiety. Biden’s plan focuses on providing money to cities that need more police, offering community support and most of all cracking down on gun violence and those supplying illegal firearms.
June 24, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Kamala Harris is set to make her first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border since taking office. The visit to El Paso, Texas, is planned for Friday and comes after criticism from members of both parties over her failing to go sooner despite her leading role in the administration’s response to a steep increase in migration. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is joining Harris for the trip. So far, Harris has focused her efforts on improving economic and living conditions in the region. Her aides have insisted that her focus is distinct from the security issues that plague U.S. officials trying to handle a spike in border crossings.
June 24, 2021 4:11 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A divided Pennsylvania Senate is starting the process of amending the state constitution to require identification for voters each time they cast a ballot. The party-line vote on Wednesday starts the lengthy amendment process that usually takes years to complete. All Republicans and a single Democrat voted as the proposal passed 30-20. Constitutional amendments require passage by both chambers in two consecutive two-year sessions before going to voters for the final OK. The voter ID provision is part of a package of changes that Republican state lawmakers have been pushing this year in response to their constituents’ displeasure at the result of former President Donald Trump’s failed re-election campaign last fall.
June 24, 2021 4:10 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Lawmakers are sending the governor a bill to let Pennsylvania parents decide whether to have their children repeat a year of school. It’s a measure designed to help children catch up after a year of schooling disrupted by the pandemic. The Senate voted 50 to 0 on Thursday for the proposal. It also would permit students in special education to return for another year, even if they have reached the maximum age of 21. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf hasn’t said if he’ll sign it. Under the bill, parents would have to decide by July 15 whether their child should repeat a grade.
June 24, 2021 4:08 am
SOUTH PARK TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A worker died after falling through the roof of a building Wednesday morning in South Park Township, police said. The fall happened at the Agricultural Building of the South Park Fairground on Brownsville Road around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday. Police said the worker was a 59-year-old man who was on the roof of the building and fell through a skylight. Police said the man was found unresponsive when first responders arrived, and paramedics attempted lifesaving measures, but the victim eventually succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the man was an employee of Marsa Masonry, contracted to perform work on the Agricultural Building. He left the scaffolding he was working from and climbed onto the roof of the building before a witness saw him fall backwards and through a skylight in the roof, about 21 feet. (PHOTO; WPXI)
June 24, 2021 3:28 am
(AP) – Microsoft has unveiled the next generation of its Windows software, called Windows 11, that has a new “start menu” and other features. The newest version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system announced Thursday will be a successor to today’s Windows 10, which the company introduced in 2015. Windows 11 is expected to become available later this on new computers and other devices and as a free update for those with Windows 10. In a challenge to rival Apple, the company also announced that it won’t force app developers to pay fees to Microsoft for using its app store.
June 23, 2021 10:40 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has ruled that a Pennsylvania public school wrongly suspended a cheerleader over a vulgar social media post. The court voted 8-1 Wednesday in favor of Brandi Levy, who was a 14-year-old high school freshman when she expressed her disappointment over not making the varsity cheerleading team on Snapchat with a string of curse words and a raised middle finger. Levy was not in school when she made her post but was suspended from cheerleading activities for a year anyway. The high court ruled the suspension violated Levy’s First Amendment rights. But the justices did not foreclose schools from disciplining students for what they say off campus.
June 23, 2021 7:40 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is announcing an effort to stem a rising national tide of violent crime as administration officials brace for what could be a turbulent summer. They’re focusing on attacking gun violence, funding cities that need police and offering community support. In Biden’s speech Wednesday, he will announce a “zero tolerance” policy that gives no leeway to gun dealers who fail to comply with federal law – their license to sell will be revoked on the first offense. The Justice Department is launching strike forces in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to help take down illegal gun traffickers.
June 23, 2021 7:37 am
Tuesday evening saw Claysville community members congregate for a public input meeting fronted by the Master Revitalization Steering Committee. The committee, established in 2019, seeks to rejuvenate the area’s commercial and economic states alongside pursuing new opportunities with infrastructure, assets, and businesses. Composed of nine total municipalities (East/West Finley, Donegal, Claysville, Blaine, Buffalo, Morris, South Franklin, and Green Hills Borough), the committee’s Claysville Area Master Revitalization Plan primarily focuses on improving the way of life for all of its inhabitants through reviving its area and serving for their essential needs, such as functional, broadband internet. In May 2019, the committee was formed from representatives of different municipalities and organizations to decide upon the project, which was originally designed to only cover Claysville and Donora. Accrued funding from both public and private sources will be directed towards the engineering firm and consultant partners Herbert, Rowland, and Grubic Inc., who will help coordinate funding sources, according to committee member Rick Newton. “What HRG is going to do is help us create a revitalization plan: A multiyear, multiphase revitalization plan that then will also have funding sources identified”, said Newton. Since the plan pertains to a wide scope of communities with separate demands and necessities, the committee held a public meeting to hear the input of Claysville locals. Through different group surveys, attendees provided plenty of suggestions, ideas, and feedback for the area’s revitalization. Topics ranged from developing historical museums, building youth facilities, ensuring broadband internet service, and preserving the agricultural aspect of the area. Members from both the committee and Herbert, Rowland, and Grubic Inc. briefly studied the group responses recorded and found that the residents prefer infrastructure for senior living homes and communities rather than housing for larger nuclear families and that establishing a broadband, fiber-optic network is the most important utility demand for them. With the countless subjects of change espoused by the people, committee member Dennis Dutton remarked that meeting all of these goals would be difficult, but he nonetheless remained hopeful about the project. “In any area like this, each municipality has their own goals, and making that into one goal is very challenging to itself”, Dutton said. In continuing these surveys, the second and final public input meeting will be held on July 13th at the same location.
