Pennsylvania in Focus

Rural America has 20% of the country’s population and 46% of the nation’s car crashes. A lack of resources, both in cash and workers, poses a challenge to avoiding wrecks and deaths. Though rural traffic studies have been of questionable quality, a new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association suggests broader cooperation to pool local resources, more public outreach, and better road design to curb collisions.

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A circle of farmers in Pennsylvania have embraced hemp as state and federal money encourages growth of the industry. With government support, farmers troubleshoot how hemp plays a role in the production of textiles, paper, automotive bio-composites, and construction projects. The need, advocates argue, lies in more research funding and building new markets in the commonwealth to support the crop.

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Pennsylvania’s public higher education system received bipartisan praise when it didn’t raise tuition for a fifth year. The General Assembly’s relationship with the commonwealth’s state-related universities, however, has been rockier as political disagreements and rising costs have made legislative Republicans more skeptical of the status quo.

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The Senate’s top-ranking Republican called lawmakers back to Harrisburg to face the $45.5 billion spending plan sitting on the chamber’s desk for the last four weeks. It's the same budget they all voted for on June 30, before the House did the same five days later. All the Senate had left to do was sign it – per parliamentary procedure – and wait for the blessing of Gov. Josh Shapiro's pen.

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An urban search and rescue team could come to western Pennsylvania at the behest of a bipartisan group of state lawmakers — but not with the endorsement of the state’s emergency response director. Philadelphia hosts a federally funded PA Task Force 1, one of 28 federal urban search & rescue teams, while the rest of the commonwealth relies on smaller teams. Two bills, House Bill 843 and Senate Bill 792, would establish a similar task force based in Pittsburgh to respond to emergencies.

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Pennsylvania hospitals may soon test urine samples for fentanyl and xylazine, two of the most common additives found in heroin. The state government legalized fentanyl test strips for personal use last year, following a number of other states responding to more overdose deaths in the last decade. More than 5,200 Pennsylvanians have died from an overdose death in the last year, according to CDC data.

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While the Pennsylvania budget stalemate remains, senators argued over the importance of school choice and increasing public school funding at a committee hearing in Reading. The Senate Education Committee met Tuesday to discuss “student opportunities for success,” hearing from parents of children in public and private schools in Reading, as well as public school leaders of Reading School District.

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In the fight against blight, neglectful property owners may soon feel more pressure to clean up their act – or else lose control to a land bank. House Bill 1163, now awaiting action in the Senate, would let municipalities take a “use it or lose it” approach to blight. Once a locality declares a property blighted or abandoned, it could then be deemed liable to be acquired by a land bank.

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As natural gas production expands in other states, Pennsylvania’s has flatlined and seen productivity declines. Industry leaders blame permitting issues and other roadblocks, while environmentalists say the economic outlook for gas has weakened and nature benefits.

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A redundant permitting process, delays, and problems with getting plugged into the grid means headaches are routine for new power projects. For one renewable hydroelectric plant, the process has driven up the cost of the project by 30% — if not more. A plan to build seven turbine-generators at the Braddock Locks and Dam outside Pittsburgh to produce 5.25 megawatts of electricity, as The Center Square previously reported, has had years of delays. State officials have noted that the delays have run up the cost of the project “substantially.”

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