The federal government has finalized tracts in Central Pennsylvania where investors can reap tax savings under a tax-abatement program created in 2017. The federal Opportunity
In March, Pennsylvania’s Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed legislation phasing in hikes to the state’s minimum wage. The bill has sat ever since in a committee in the GOP-led Senate. With Democrats poised to take a majority in the Senate and expand their edge in the House, is a minimum-wage hike inevitable following more than a […]
A bill to strengthen Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage Act passed last week and was signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro. “Senate Bill 908 closes a long-standing gap in state law by extending prevailing wage protections to off-site custom fabrication work performed for public construction projects,” said a news release about the bill sponsored by State Senator Christine […]
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday has raised antitrust concerns over two mergers that critics fear will jack up prices for goods that are often funded by taxpayers. One involves manufacturers of commercial playground equipment. The other involves providers of asphalt. In both cases, Sunday said he is taking action to prevent potential cost increases for […]
Developers and government agencies have focused on adding to the stock of affordable housing in Central Pennsylvania. Another challenge lies in wait: maintaining what’s already affordable. Over the next 10 years, thousands of housing units around the region could lose their federally supported status as affordable, according to a report released yesterday by a state […]
Over the last few years, influencers on social media have been pitching loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration as an easy path for taking over boring but profitable businesses from owners looking to retire. It was probably never that easy. But it is going to get harder – or at least slower – thanks […]
Inside a 22-story building that once housed hundreds of state workers, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced millions of dollars in state funding for an effort designed, in part, to replace the economic impact of those now-absent state workers. The funding includes $11 million for a new hotel planned for a portion of that 22-story building, which […]
In a speech last week in Pittsburgh, Gov. Josh Shapiro tried to stake out a middle ground in the raging national debate over regulating the most advanced forms of artificial intelligence. Advocates of stricter regulation warn unrestrained development could end in the destruction of humanity. Opponents say the fears are overblown and that onerous regulation […]
Could more time on the clock help state lawmakers meet a looming deadline to develop a regulatory framework for skill games, slot-like devices endangered by a court ruling this summer? State Rep. Brad Roae, a Republican from northwestern Pennsylvania, thinks so. He is seeking support for legislation that would give lawmakers another six months to […]
The U.S. Small Business Administration said yesterday it suspended 870,000 borrowers across the U.S. who allegedly defrauded emergency loan programs rushed into place during the Covid-19 pandemic. Individual borrowers were not identified, but they were said to have taken out $39 billion in loans through the Paycheck Protection and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs. […]