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Budget includes tax credits for startups, mental health

Pennsylvania’s new state budget includes numerous items big and small reflecting a series of political compromises. Gov. Josh Shapiro outlined some of them ranging from mandatory student recesses at schools to nursing home assistance when he signed the budget Sunday. The budget items are contained in House Bill 2400, the General Fund budget; Senate Bill 146, the Fiscal Code and House Bill 1550, the Public School Code. Here’s a rundown of some of the funded items in the budget: Education - Schools will provide at least 30 minutes of recess to students in full-day kindergarten ...

Taylor Farms recalls lettuce

Taylor Farms has expanded a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico because of a potential link to the multistate cyclospora outbreak that has sickened people across the U.S. Products with the potential to be contaminated with the diarrhea-causing parasite ...

Region struggles with poor air quality

Since the invention of the telegraph in the 1830s and the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable in the 1860s, we have lived in a technologically connected world. This week, Pennsylvanians are once again experiencing a different kind of connectivity — the airborne kind that has ...

Local colleges embrace AI with new minors

Instead of dismissing a rapidly changing technological landscape, many national and local colleges are offering artificial intelligence minors to the next generation of workers. There are currently 74 majors and 89 minors in AI being offered at American colleges, according to the New York Times. Only five schools offered the major about five years ago. Now, institutions are developing their own AI courses and degrees, including local colleges like Penn State University, Saint Francis University and Juniata College. The Pennsylvania College of Technology, a Penn State affiliate ...

Shapiro’s budget boosts public education funding

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a $50.8 billion state budget bill into law on Sunday, including a record $11.8 billion for public schools across the Commonwealth — roughly a 6% increase from last year’s budget. But school choice advocates saw a budget that preserved existing programs and offered little expansion. The education debate comes as Pennsylvania continues to grapple with improving student outcomes, addressing funding disparities between school districts and balancing investments in public schools with expanding school choice options. The final budget includes a third ...