June 30, 2023 4:51 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature appear on track to start the state’s new fiscal year without a spending plan in place. Closed-door talks through Thursday have yielded optimism from Republicans, but discontent from Democrats. The 2023-24 fiscal year begins Saturday. Budget negotiators have said little publicly about their private discussions. Republicans have spoken positively of their discussions with Shapiro, but talks with Shapiro’s fellow Democrats have been strained. Democrats say they want more money for public schools and that they oppose a new $100 million private school “voucher” program that is backed by Republicans and supported by Shapir
June 30, 2023 4:49 am
A community engagement meeting sponsored by Blueprints brought the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority to town to survey and take feedback on broadband expansion in the area. The authority is in charge of developing a five year action plan and administering the $1.16 billion in federal funds just received by Pennsylvania from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. That funding is called the Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment program, or BEAD. The idea of the meeting is to aid the authority by making sure residents that are described as unserved and underserved receive access that is described by the BEAD Program as “always on.” Attendees weighed in on issues they have with broadband. The comments ranged from total lack of access to affordability, stating that those on a fixed income would find it difficult to pay even $30 a month for broadband access. Difficulty dealing with service providers was also a concern. Engagement meetings will be held throughout Pennsylvania all summer long.
June 30, 2023 4:48 am
A Chicago man avoided trial by pleading guilty to drug possession charges on Thursday. Terrell Jones, 38 will spend the next 8-20 years in state prison on multiple felony possession with intent to deliver and firearms possession charges. Jones and an accomplice were arrested in a house raid in the City of Washington in September of 2020 that revealed unspecified drugs. They were also charged with selling cocaine to an informant earlier that year. His accomplice Tommie Holmes, 40 also of Chicago went to trial in October of 2022 and was found guilty on similar charges. He was sentenced to 10-20 years in state prison.
June 29, 2023 5:51 pm
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida sheriff’s deputy has been found not guilty of failing to act during the 2018 Parkland high school massacre. Fired Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson wept as Thursday’s verdict was read. The 60-year-old was the deputy assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a shooter murdered 17 people there five years ago. Peterson arrived at the building about two minutes after the six-minute attack began. Prosecutors had claimed he should have gone inside to stop the shooter. He had insisted he didn’t know where the shots were coming from. It was the first time a U.S. law enforcement officer had been tried for actions during a school shooting.
June 29, 2023 1:48 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver of a tanker truck hauling gasoline lost control on a curved off-ramp on Interstate 95, causing the truck to flip and catch fire, leading to the collapse of the northbound lanes in early June. This is according to a preliminary report from federal safety officials. The National Transportation Safety Board’s brief report released Thursday outlined what happened on June 11. A vehicle was hauling 8,500 gallons of gasoline from Wilmington, Delaware, to a gas station located on Oxford Avenue in Philadelphia when it crashed and caught fire on the off-ramp, killing the driver and damaging a section of the interstate.
June 29, 2023 10:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down affirmative action in college admissions, forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies. In a 6-3 decision, the court overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively. The two programs violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a conservative majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the decision “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.”
June 29, 2023 9:34 am
The Borough of Charleroi reached an agreement with the Authority of the Borough of Charleroi to mutually benefit both parties. On Wednesday Charleroi agreed to sell their sewer lines to the ABC for $3.75 million. Sean Logue, Solicitor for Charleroi Borough calls the deal a win-win for both the borough and the authority. According to Logue, there will be no rate increase for customers of the authority in Charleroi or in any of the other municipalities that the authority serves. Furthermore, employees of the authority will not be affected. Logue states that the sale will remedy a $400,000 deficit that the borough faced in October. It will also put the borough in good financial standing for the future.
June 29, 2023 5:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has cozied up to high-dollar donors at posh Upper East Side penthouses and on West Coast decks gussied up with floral arrangements and flags in recent weeks. He has two more fundraisers in New York on Thursday that will close out an end-of-quarter campaign blitz his team believes will put him on strong financial footing for a contest they expect to set new spending records. While the first quarter is widely viewed as a benchmark of campaign strength, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul, Democratic mega-donor and co-chair of Biden’s campaign, said there is “no urgency right now” for Biden to raise or spend vast sums since he lacks a credible primary threat, and the election is 16 months away.
June 29, 2023 5:22 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s criminal indictment on charges of mishandling government secrets appears to have dented his popularity among Republicans — but only slightly. That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Sixty percent of Republicans now have a favorable view of Trump. That number is down slightly from April, when 68% of Republicans said they had a favorable view of the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner. The poll found 38% of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Trump, up from 30% in April. The dip suggests some Republicans could be growing weary of Trump’s never-ending legal drama.
June 29, 2023 5:21 am
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian police say a professor and two students have been stabbed during a class on “gender issues” at a university in the Canadian city of Waterloo and a suspect has been taken into custody. The wounds were non-life threatening, police said, adding the motive for the attack at the University of Waterloo was not immediately clear. The suspect was being questioned by investigators. Nick Manning, associate vice-president of communications for the university, identified the suspect as a member of “the university community” but declined to confirm the individual is a student. Manning said the stabbing occurred in Philosophy 202, which, according to the university website, focuses on “gender issues.”
