Deb Erdley stories, Page 33
Pennsylvania teacher salaries rank 10th in the nation
Pennsylvania teachers average the 10th-highest salaries in the nation, according to a National Education Association annual pay analysis. While Pennsylvania teachers ranked below colleagues in New York, New Jersey and Maryland, they were well above teachers in West Virginia (who ranked next to last) and the bordering states of Ohio...
CCAC to host enrollment open houses
Officials with the Community College of Allegheny County said it’s not too late to start thinking about taking summer classes or enrolling for this fall. Information about such options will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 11 at CCAC open houses at all eight of its locations....
Westmoreland County 2019 high school rankings released
The top Westmoreland County high school ranked 63rd among public schools in Pennsylvania, according to new rankings released by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine did not provide specific rankings for schools listed from 516-673. Rankings are based on college readiness, math and reading proficiency, math and reading performance,...
Retired Pitt professor honored for lifetime achievement in math education
Margaret “Peg” Smith, a retired University of Pittsburgh professor, was honored Tuesday with a lifetime achievement award for distinguished service to mathematics education from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Officials with the group said Smith dedicated herself to mathematics education and furthering the knowledge of other educators in...
Speaker Mike Turzai calls for boost in tax credits for private schools
A bill to increase the amount Pennsylvania forgoes in taxes to underwrite private school scholarships and public school foundations from $160 to $260 million a year is moving through the state House. House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, penned the measure that was reported out of committee Monday with 43...
Pennsylvania joins U.S. Climate Alliance efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
Pennsylvania is now the 23rd state to sign on with the U.S. Climate Alliance, as Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday announced the release of the new Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan. Calling for a renewed commitment to uphold the tenants of the 2015 international Paris Climate Accord that President Trump eschewed,...
Pitt graduate student workers’ union vote ruled inconclusive
Union organizers at the University of Pittsburgh on Friday were dealt their second setback in a little more than week when graduate student workers failed to prevail in a union vote, a preliminary count showed. Organizers tallied 675 yes votes for the union to 712 no votes, but they still...
Campaigns embrace tradition of political yard signs
In a world where Twitter and Facebook often dominate political discourse, 2-by-3-foot yard signs are hardly a sign of the times. But when it comes to local elections, those roadside placards rule. As the primary campaign season heats up in anticipation of May 21 balloting, they are as much an...
Duquesne University to honor the legacy of Fred Rogers at commencement
Duquesne University will honor the legacy of the late Fred Rogers at 2019 undergraduate commencement ceremonies on May 10. University officials said Maxwell King, the author of “The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers,” and Joanne Byrd Rogers, the widow of the renowned children’s television pioneer, will...
PHEAA will tap surplus for student grants
Pennsylvania college students could receive up to $4,123 in need-based grants next year under the new grant formula the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) adopted Thursday. The agency that oversees state grant aid to more than 132,000 Pennsylvania students approved maintaining the grant cap at this year’s level for...
Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro says clergy abuse shadows Catholics’ Notre Dame response
Pennsylvania Attorney General Joshua Shapiro was impressed with the response of the Catholic Church and Catholics around the world when Notre Dame went up in flames last week in Paris. But he’s disappointed in what he sees as the church’s lackluster response to protecting clergy abuse victims. In an op-ed...
Federal Clean Slate law unveiled with bipartisan support
A proposed federal law designed to seal nonviolent criminal records is drawing from the kind of bipartisan support that ushered a similar measure to law in Pennsylvania last summer. The federal Clean Slate Act, H.R. 2348, includes sponsorship from U.S. Reps. Guy Reschenthaler, a Peters Township Republican, and Delaware Democrat...
Terence Carter, great-great grandson of Cal U’s first African American graduate, to keynote commencement
Terence Carter, a 20th Century Fox Television executive with deep family roots at California University of Pennsylvania, will keynote both graduate and undergraduate commencement ceremonies next month, university officials announced Wednesday. Carter is the great-great grandson of California’s first African American graduate, Elizabeth “Jennie” Adams Carter, who graduated with a...
Pennsylvania Congressman John Joyce takes back claims of tuberculosis-infected migrants crossing border
U.S. Rep. John Joyce, a Blair County Republican, is walking back his assertion that 12 cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis were being treated last week among migrants who had crossed the Mexican border and sought asylum in Yuma, Ariz. The freshman Congressman’s about-face came after a spokesman for the Yuma County...
Study: Ewing sarcoma rate not higher than expected in Canon-McMillan School District
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Monday attempted to allay concerns about the incidence of a rare cancer in Washington County and the Canon-McMillan School District. A health department spokesman said a new study of a group of Ewing sarcoma cases in and around the district found the rates were...
It’s Alexa versus Big Pharma in Penn State research labs
Could Alexa replace Big Pharma when it comes to pain control? In a news release touting their ongoing programs in information sciences, researchers at Penn State said they believe they can deliver pain control through guided mindfulness practices via Amazon’s Alexa. “In particular with opioid addiction, there has been quite...
Pittsburgh area events focus on female military veterans
Two events next month will focus on female military veterans. The AARP will screen the documentary “Journey to Normal: Women of War Come Home,” at the Hollywood Theatre in Dormont from 6 to 8:30 p.m. May 9. The film focuses on the stories of women who have served in combat...
Pennsylvania college state grant deadline approaches
Pennsylvania college students and most of those who plan to become students in a college, university or college transfer program at a two-year public or private college this fall must file their 2019-20 applications for state grants to the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency by May 1. To apply for...
Rep. Joyce: Immigrant ‘crisis is real’ at Arizona border
Congressman John Joyce, a Hollidaysburg Republican, said he was stunned with what he saw on a congressional trip to the U.S.-Mexico border at Yuma, Ariz., this week. His trip with a contingent of Republican congressmen coincided with an emergency declaration by Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls, who called for a “FEMA-type...
Consumer group sues to obtain PHEAA’s student loan servicing contract
A national consumer group is suing the federal government to obtain access to the 600-page contract that details its relationship with the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA). The National Consumer Law Center, which filed suit in federal court in Massachusetts, maintains the document that outlines PHEAA’s duties and obligations...
Pa. delegation seeks Coast Guard honor for Arnold Palmer
Long before Tiger became the center of the golf universe, there was “the King.” The late Arnold Palmer’s name is attached to a charitable foundation, a Florida hospital, a Unity cancer center, an airport and a soft drink as well as a crew of loyal fans known as Arnie’s Army....
Internet domain battle pits Amazon against the Amazon
Call this battle Amazon versus the Amazon. The New York Times reported Friday that the giant Internet retailer’s seven-year battle with eight Amazon basin countries over the domain name .amazon has come down to the wire. Amazon has until Sunday to submit a new proposal to the Internet Corporation for...
Legal experts predict Mueller Report will trigger new laws
Robert Mueller’s 448-page tome may leave an indelible stamp on American politics as Congress sorts through legal loopholes that allowed foreign powers unprecedented entry to presidential politics, a pair of local legal experts predicted. Duquesne University President Ken Gormley, a legal scholar who penned best sellers on the Watergate and...
Seton Hill Big Table Talk explores town-gown collaboration
The conversation was lively and full of recommendations for building bridges in a stronger community in Greensburg when Seton Hill University convened a pair of “Big Table Discussions” Wednesday evening. Topics ranged from how to encourage diversity, engage with local businesses, improve public transit and leverage the community’s arts and...
Yough welcomes Carnegie Mellon’s free computer science curriculumVideo
Yough Senior High School in Herminie sits amid the rural countryside of Westmoreland County, a world away from the tech hubs that have cropped up in Austin, Silicon Valley and even Pittsburgh. But that hasn’t kept Yough students from accessing a cutting-edge computer science curriculum on Python, a computer coding...
