Pennsylvania in Focus

Child care workers and advocates warned lawmakers that Pennsylvania faces a major shortage of workers and a lack of funding during a Wednesday committee hearing. Workers are leaving for better-paying and less-stressful jobs at grocery stores and in the fast-food business, and hundreds of child care options have disappeared since the pandemic. “As families return to work, we need to make sure that child care is available for those families and that that child care is affordable,” said Rep. Donna Bullock, D-Philadelphia.

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A months-long backlog of unemployment claims still haunts the Department of Labor and Industry, and top officials told the Senate Appropriations Committee that more money could help them catch up. In Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget, the department would see an 11% funding increase, about $90 million. Nancy Walker, the department's acting secretary, said the additional dollars will pay for more staff to clear a backlog of more than 35,000 claims. “Our first priority was to look at (unemployment claims) and see how we can make that process better,” she said. 

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As the University of Pittsburgh prepares for a trio of events on transgender issues, thousands of students have demanded that administrators cancel them. State-level lawmakers have joined in the call as well. Free-speech advocates, however, warn that doing so harms freedom of expression and threatens the university as a place for open debate. One of the events that some students oppose will also include a transgender speaker.

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More than a month after the East Palestine train derailment and Norfolk Southern’s decision to burn vinyl chloride from five tanker cars, Pennsylvania residents want more information — and more attention from state leaders. In western Pennsylvania – a few miles from East Palestine, Ohio – residents spoke of the need for independent analysis and expanding the testing area to ensure water and soil quality. They also want a more proactive approach from the many state and federal alphabet agencies in the area. Understandably, the speed at which test results and new information reaches them is a recurring issue.

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Two of Pennsylvania’s most respected economic analysts offered muddy expectations of future revenue estimates on Monday. Acting Revenue Secretary Pat Browne sat before the Senate Appropriations Committee – on which he served as majority chairman for nearly a decade before joining Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration – to discuss how to spend the $50 billion in the state’s bank account at the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The total, including $42.2 billion in recurring revenues and $5.7 billion in rainy day funds, would cover Shapiro’s $44.3 billion spending plan that infuses significant investments into public education, public safety and workforce development.

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As Pennsylvania officials discuss an electric vehicle fee to replace the gas tax, federal funds are available to build out the EV charging infrastructure in the commonwealth. On Monday, PennDOT announced its first round of funding will open on March 27 and close May 5 for EV stations across Pennsylvania. The money will flow through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure grant program, with $25 million available for fiscal year 2022 and $37 million for fiscal year 2023, according to a news release. In total, Pennsylvania will receive almost $172 million over five years from the federal government.

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Consensus continues building in the General Assembly as lawmakers embrace expansion of the state’s child care tax credit. What exactly an expansion looks like remains to be seen, though Gov. Josh Shapiro, Senate Republicans and House Democrats – who play key roles in negotiating the state’s budget – agree more must be done. “We have reached the point where this is no longer an issue for families, but an issue for employers across the commonwealth,” Nicole Reigelman, spokeswoman for House Democrats, told The Center Square on Monday. According to the Economic Policy Institute, care for one child in Pennsylvania nears $12,000 per year – a cost so prohibitive that nearly 1.6 million parents have left the workforce entirely. During his budget address last week, Shapiro said the state’s economy loses $3.5 billion each year because of lacking child care options.

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Farmers in western Pennsylvania began offering their soil samples for collection in recent weeks after contamination concerns about the train derailment in nearby East Palestine, Ohio went unaddressed. Cliff Wallace, president of the Beaver-Lawrence Farm Bureau, told The Center Square on Tuesday he’s spoken with property owners seven miles out from the burn site who say they saw plumes of smoke drifting over their land in the aftermath of the crash. Wallace, who taught agriculture classes in the region for 35 years, said he soon began compiling video footage and photos of the smoke, knowing that something more had to be done.

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Listen to Other ATN Productions:

America in Focus: A weekly feature of the top TheCenterSquare.com stories of the week out of Washington D.C. with commentary from The Center Square editors and more!

America's Talking: An interview podcast hosted by Austin Berg. Guests include professors, journalists, artists, business and nonprofit leaders, authors, and more.

Everyday Economics: Join economist Dr. Orphe Divounguy and Chris Krug as they discuss global markets, inflation, and everything else that will help you understand the economic world around you.

Future of Freedom: Future of Freedom is a bi-weekly podcast highlighting the work of the non-profits which are shaping the future of the freedom movement. Listeners will hear civil, intellectual conversations about why the organizations exist, what their mission is, and how they work to achieve it. Hosted by Scot Bertram.

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Gov. Josh Shapiro has recreational cannabis on his mind, though legalization advocates worry the tax rate could be too high. Details remain scant, but the governor’s proposed budget includes an adult-use cannabis tax in the form of a 20% wholesale tax, assuming that sales would begin in January 2025. The commonwealth would then realize revenues starting in fiscal year 2024-25. The budget estimates that Pennsylvania would harvest $16 million in 2024-25, growing to $189 million annually by 2027-28.

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Listen to Other ATN Productions:

America in Focus: A weekly feature of the top TheCenterSquare.com stories of the week out of Washington D.C. with commentary from The Center Square editors and more!

America's Talking: An interview podcast hosted by Austin Berg. Guests include professors, journalists, artists, business and nonprofit leaders, authors, and more.

Everyday Economics: Join economist Dr. Orphe Divounguy and Chris Krug as they discuss global markets, inflation, and everything else that will help you understand the economic world around you.

Future of Freedom: Future of Freedom is a bi-weekly podcast highlighting the work of the non-profits which are shaping the future of the freedom movement. Listeners will hear civil, intellectual conversations about why the organizations exist, what their mission is, and how they work to achieve it. Hosted by Scot Bertram.

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Plugging more abandoned oil and gas wells has become a bigger priority on the state and federal level, but some advocates say this isn't the most cost effective solution. When more strings get attached to funding, costs rise for projects that are already expensive, said The Well Done Foundation. Political considerations to show that something gets done also complicate matters. “Every well is absolutely, 100% different — and I’m talking about wells that are located 660 feet away from each other in the same farmer’s field,” said Curtis Shuck, chairman of the Well Done Foundation.

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Listen to Other ATN Productions:

America in Focus: A weekly feature of the top TheCenterSquare.com stories of the week out of Washington D.C. with commentary from The Center Square editors and more!

America's Talking: An interview podcast hosted by Austin Berg. Guests include professors, journalists, artists, business and nonprofit leaders, authors, and more.

Everyday Economics: Join economist Dr. Orphe Divounguy and Chris Krug as they discuss global markets, inflation, and everything else that will help you understand the economic world around you.

Future of Freedom: Future of Freedom is a bi-weekly podcast highlighting the work of the non-profits which are shaping the future of the freedom movement. Listeners will hear civil, intellectual conversations about why the organizations exist, what their mission is, and how they work to achieve it. Hosted by Scot Bertram.

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pennsylvania-in-focus/support

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