Isaac Makes Landfall, Begins Slow Move Inland

/in /by

On the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana finds itself dealing with another storm as Hurricane Isaac made landfall overnight. The storm was a category 1 hurricane when it hit the coast and maintained that status during the hours that followed.

Here in Pennsylvania, forecasters will be watching the storm’s projected path as it moves first into the Midwest and then takes an expected eastward turn this weekend. The remnants of Isaac could impact the mid-Atlantic region, but much depends on upper level winds. The National Weather Service expects to have a better idea of the potential impact later in the week.

Parts of Pennsylvania are still recovering from last year’s devastating hurricane season, when Hurricane Irene swept up the East Coast in August, followed by the remnants of Lee, which drenched central and northeastern PA with more than a foot of rain over three days in September.

 

PA Remains Out of Isaac’s Projected Path

/in /by

Tropical Storm Issac is expected to become a Hurricane by tonight, and as it passes by the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Isaac’s projected track shows the storm making landfall on the Gulf Coast and affecting the Midwest. As of Monday morning, Pennsylvania remained well outside the expected cone of probability, but the storm could provide some much needed drought relief in the southern and Midwestern regions of the U.S.

A year ago, another “I” storm, Irene, was wreaking havoc in Pennsylvania. That storm brought high winds and flooding to the Commonwealth as it ambled up the East Coast, knocking out power and prompting coastal evacuations.

Two more tropical disturbances in the Atlantic are currently being monitored by the National Hurricane Center.

 

The Focus Finally Shifts to Football, But Uncertainty Remains

/in /by

It’s been an unprecedented off-season for the Penn State football program, but trials, memorial services and NCAA sanctions give way to actual football this Saturday as the Nittany Lions open their 2012 season against Ohio University.

While the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky scandal will still be on everyone’s minds, and reminders of child sex abuse victims will be evident everywhere at Beaver Stadium including on the players’ uniforms, for three hours this weekend Penn State fans can once again focus on the game they love. Many things have, of course, changed since the last time Penn State took the field. Legendary Head Coach Joe Paterno passed away in January and the team is operating under harsh sanctions imposed by the NCAA.

New Head Coach Bill O’Brien is the man being asked to pick up the pieces of a broken football program. He has drawn rave reviews for his handling of a difficult situation at Penn State so far. Fans, school officials, and even the governor of Pennsylvania, have remarked at how well O’Brien has taken the reins, but no one knows yet if the New England Patriots’ former Offensive Coordinator can win on the field as a Head Coach.

Fans get their first taste of the new era of Penn State football at noon on Saturday.

 

 

Consortium Envisions ‘Tech Belt’ in PA, OH and WV

/in /by

Pennsylvania is part of the pilot program for a proposed national network of manufacturing institutes.  The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMMII) is a public-private partnership that spans PA, Ohio and West Virginia.  The Department of Defense is putting up $30-million dollars to help fund the institute; another $40-million dollars is coming from a broad base of consortium members.

Additive manufacturing is a high-tech process that produces items directly from a 3D digital model.  “Rather than the traditional way of taking a block of material and subtracting material away where you don’t want it, additive manufacturing is a layered process that puts the material where you do want it,” says acting NAMMII director Ralph Resnick.

Eight Pennsylvania universities and community colleges are a part of the consortium, including Penn State.  “The concept is to try to utilize universities and industry together to try to advance technical issues and barriers that are impeding manufacturing from being competitive in this marketplace,” says Wayne Figurelle, director of industrial innovation programs for the College of Engineering at Penn State.

Resnick and Figurelle tell Radio PA that the Department of Defense is especially interested in additive manufacturing because it’s cost-effective, mobile, and allows for production in limited quantities.

Resnick expects big things if they can harness the energy of the 40-companies, 9-research universities, 5-community colleges and 11-nonprofits who are participating in the pilot project.  “We not only hope to create jobs, but we hope to create region that is similar to the Silicon Valley for electronics or the Research Triangle in North Carolina.”

NAMMII is the first of what President Barack Obama has proposed as a billion dollar network of 15-manufacturing institutes.  Expansion of the program would require congressional approval.

RadioPA Roundtable

Radio PA Roundtable 08.24.12

/in , , , /by

On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman and Matt Paul preview Penn State’s attempt to shift focus from off-the-field disasters to the team that will take the field next Saturday for the 2012 season opener against Ohio University. You’ll also get an update on a select committee on property taxes and hear details about the report generated by the governor’s Advisory Committee on Manufacturing.

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable08-24-12.mp3]

West Nile Virus Present in 47 States

/in /by

It’s shaping up to be a bad year for West Nile Virus in the United States, with 47 states reporting positive samples and 38, including Pennsylvania, reporting human cases.

Texas is the hardest hit with about half of the 11 hundred human cases.  Pennsylvania has 8 so far.  Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC’s Division of Vector Borne Infectious Disease, says the mild winter, early spring and hot summer may be factors. More than half of the human cases have been the more serious neuro-invasive disease, including five of Pennsylvania’s cases.

The human cases in Pennsylvania have occurred in Delaware (2), Bucks, Centre, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and Lehigh Counties.  The state has three blood donor samples testing positive for the presence of the virus.  There have been 7 positive veterinary samples, mostly involving horses and nearly 24 hundred positive mosquito samples.

The CDC is reminding people to take precautions against mosquito bites and take steps around their homes to eliminate standing water that can serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Dr. Petersen says it takes 3 to 14 days for symptoms to appear, meaning the cases reported now reflect infections from a week or more ago.  He says they expect many more cases to be reported and the risk of infection will continue through the end of September.

Cash

Online Retailers to Begin Collecting PA Sales Tax

/in /by

Pennsylvanians’ online shopping sprees won’t be tax-free for much longer.  Starting September 1st, online retailers with nexus – or a physical presence – in the state must collect and remit sales taxes.  In an interview with Radio PA, state Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser said they are simply enforcing the existing law. “The governor has pledged no new taxes.  The governor is not going to raise taxes.  However, we are going to administer and enforce the laws fairly on all taxpayers.”

Mueser says the enforcement effort is more about tax fairness than revenue generation, but he does estimate that it will result in an additional $55-million dollars in sales tax collections per year.

The strictly enforced system is intended to be fairer to Pennsylvania’s brick & mortar retailers.  “Those companies on Main Street tend to do most of the hiring and employment and living in our communities, so it’s simply not fair for us not to enforce the laws appropriately,” Meuser says.

Businesses were notified of the enforcement effort last December.  The original February compliance deadline was pushed back until September, and Meuser says there will be no more extensions.

While he declined to discuss specific companies, Meuser does expect former e-commerce companies, both large and small, to be collecting and remitting sales taxes as of September 1st.

House Panel Mulls Stronger School Library Policy

/in /by

Not all school libraries are created equal.  A State Board of Education study highlights the point.  While almost all schools have libraries and 95% have librarians, only 44% of those librarians are full-time.  “Many of the librarians are serving multiple schools within their districts,” says the University of Pittsburgh’s Dr. Mary Biagini, the study’s lead author.  “So students do not have access to a librarian, and sometimes not to the library, throughout their school days.”

The study, mandated by state lawmakers, also found dated and scarce collections at school libraries.  Dr. Biagini says state guidelines recommend $40 – $50-dollars being spent per student on library services, but almost 40% of school districts allocate just $1 – $10-dollars per student.  “The research shows that the higher the funding, the better those students do in reading and writing.”

The House Education Committee formally accepted the school library study at an informational hearing on Wednesday.  It also heard from advocates, who are promoting equal access to adequate school libraries.

While the State Board of Education study provides a snapshot of the 2010-2011 school year, the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association says more recent budget cuts have only made the situation worse.  “We found that an additional 198 schools eliminated or reduced their services from the previous year,” PSLA president Eileen Kern told the committee.

Despite 75-pages of guidelines, state law does not currently mandate dedicated funding, trained staff or even school libraries themselves.  Citing those facts, leaders of the Pennsylvania PTA also called for reforms that set standards for Pennsylvania public school library programs.

Before he adjourned the hearing, Education Chair Paul Clymer (R-Bucks) told the audience that his committee will be making strong school library recommendations when the new state budget is discussed.

Americans Ready to Travel for Labor Day Despite Higher Gas Prices

/in /by

Americans are ready to travel for Labor Day weekend, despite the higher gas prices.   AAA expects travel to be up almost 3% nationwide for the holiday with increases in both car and air travel.

Jenny Robinson of AAA Mid Atlantic says   consumer confidence has improved compared to a year ago and more people are prioritizing travel.  Timing may be a factor as well; she says travel tends to go up when the holiday weekend begins at the end of August.  This year, Labor Day falls on September 3rd and the travel period begins on August 30th.

There are signs of economizing, with more than half of travelers saying their trips will be shorter.  While the number of projected miles per trip is up slightly over last year, Robinson says air travel is likely fueling the extra miles.  More people are expected to head to their destinations by both plane and car than last Labor Day weekend. Travel by automobile is expected to rise by 3.1% with air travel up 3.7%. Median spending is expected to increase slightly.

It’s the third increase in holiday travel this year.  AAA projects that 33 million Americans will make trips of 50 miles or more during the last holiday weekend of summer. As the holiday weekend approaches, further shifts in gas prices could encourage, or discourage travel.

Report Provides Roadmap to Grow Manufacturing Jobs

/in /by

The manufacturing sector has actually posted employment gains in two consecutive years.  It currently employs 574,000 Pennsylvanians, but Governor Tom Corbett says we can do better.  Corbett and key members of his administration unveiled the Governor’s Manufacturing Advisory Council report at four, statewide events Tuesday afternoon.

The 24-member panel decided upon 15-recommendations that range from better career and technical education, to a statewide energy plan and tax policy changes.  “We have a cross-agency, public-private team of folks working on implementation going forward,” says Team Pennsylvania Foundation president & CEO Matt Zieger.  “So those [recommendations] that are not underway, will be underway very soon.”

Team PA has been funding and facilitating the council since Governor Corbett created it late last year.  Zieger says the report is unique because many of the recommendations aren’t just about how the state can help the manufacturers, but how the manufacturers can help themselves.

One of the key issues raised in the report is the “skills gap” that was reported by 82% of Pennsylvania’s 15,000 manufacturers.

“My goal is straight forward; a healthy economy and a job for every Pennsylvanian that wants one,” Governor Corbett said.  “This report provides a solid roadmap for us to work together and achieve that goal.”

The statewide jobless rate now stands at 7.9%, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor & Industry.