Daily Archives: April 5, 2012

elections

Court orders quick hearing on state oil and gas law challenge

Leave a comment

Court orders quick hearing on state oil and gas law challenge

By Timothy Puko, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Several suburban communities will get to challenge the state’s new oil and gas law in a Harrisburg court next week because Commonwealth Court today allowed for an expedited hearing on their lawsuit.

The communities and other plaintiffs are trying to stop the law from going into effect before April 15. Beating that deadline is critical to any effort to stop the law’s implementation and to get breathing room for municipal governments that are trying to regulate the location and setup of well sites, several lawyers said today.

The court assigned the hearing for 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to an order obtained from the plaintiffs’ lead attorney. It also dismissed a request from an for immediate ruling, saying the expedited preliminary hearing was enough for now.

Continue reading Court orders quick hearing on state oil and gas law challenge →

Community, Infrastructure, trade unions, Youth and students

Occupy Pittsburgh and Transit Union Join Forces vs. Cuts

Leave a comment

Protesters Demand More Public Transit Funding

By Noah Brode
Essential Public Radio

April 4, 2012 – Several dozen protesters gathered outside the City-County Building in downtown Pittsburgh Wednesday to decry proposed public transit cuts.

Occupy Pittsburgh and the local Amalgamated Transit Union teamed up to demand that the state provide more funding to the Port Authority of Allegheny County. PAT is facing a $64 million budget deficit, and plans for a 35% service cut to take effect this September.

ATU Local 85 President Patrick McMahon said Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett must take action to fund public transit.

“After the public hearings for the next round of service cuts, our governor made some comments about our contract, and he was going to ‘wait and see’ what happens before he does anything with transit,” said McMahon. “We should not be waiting to see. I wrote a letter to him asking him to get involved.”

Continue reading Occupy Pittsburgh and Transit Union Join Forces vs. Cuts →