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Report: 2 in 5 Pennsylvanians Financially Insecure

State-by-state data is shedding new light on the problem of financial insecurity.  While 13% of Pennsylvanians live in poverty as defined by their incomes, more than 37% live in what’s known as liquid asset poverty.

“We need to encourage residents to build savings and prepare for the unforeseen,” says Lyn Kugel of PathWays PA, “so that fewer residents are one incident away from financial devastation.”

While the numbers are alarming, Pennsylvania’s liquid asset poverty rate still falls below the national average.  This is just one data point that can be found in the Corporation for Enterprise Development’s Assets & Opportunity Scorecard.

Overall, the scorecard ranks Pennsylvania 15th among states, based on five key areas including personal finances.

CFED and local advocates like Kugel say a number of things can be done to encourage asset building in Pennsylvania, including the adoption of a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the elimination of asset limits on things like foods stamps, which they say is a disincentive for savings.

Pennsylvania Releases February Unemployment Report

Pennsylvania’s jobless rate ticked down in February.

It’s still half a point higher than it was a year ago and four-tenths above the national average, but the unemployment rate dipped one-tenth of a point last month to 8.1 percent.

Department of Labor and Industry secretary Julia Hearthway says the state continues to see job growth and a particularly positive sign is in the gain in manufacturing, which added 44 hundred jobs in February.

The state’s over the year growth was most pronounced in the private sector. The largest gains were in professional and business services and education and health services.

Nationally, the jobless rate stood at 7.7% in February.

New Study Looks at Election Performance State By State

How long do voters have to wait, can they register on line and how often are registrations rejected?  Those are some of the issues reviewed in a new Election Performance Index.

The first ever study of election performance by the Pew Charitable Trusts find Pennsylvania in the middle of the pack for both 2008 and 2010. Numbers were not available yet for 2012.

David Becker, director of Election Initiatives for the Pew Center on the States, says Pennsylvania needs to work to reduce its registration rejection rate, but it is doing well in its rate of accepting military, overseas and absentee ballots.

Becker says they hope decision makers and the public take a closer look at the index.

RadioPA Roundtable

Radio PA Roundtable 02.01.13

On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman & Matt Paul bring you the governor’s plan to privatize liquor sales in Pennsylvania and the reaction from opponents of the plan. Also, a fight over cyber charter school funding…

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/Roundtable02-01-13.mp3]

URGENT – President Obama Carries Pennsylvania

President Barack Obama has won Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes. As expected, the President won strong support in the southeast, including Philadelphia where Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 6-to-1 in the state’s largest city.

The President also saw strong support in the Pittsburgh area while Mitt Romney did well in the so-called “Pennsylvania T,” consisting of central PA and the northern tier.

Pennsylvania Still in Top Five States for Deer Collisions

Pennsylvania drivers are among those with the highest risks of crossing paths with a deer while driving.  But your biggest risk of running into a deer is in West Virginia.

State Farm Insurance says drivers in West Virginia have a one in 40 chance of a collision with a deer. Pennsylvania’s rank has dropped from fourth to fifth place, at 1 in 76.

Deer vehicle collisions are three times more likely to occur in November, October is the second most likely month and December is third.

Nationally, the number of deer-related collisions is up almost 8% over the last year.

The number of deer-related claims paid by the insurer has increased almost 8% over the last four years, while similar auto claims have dropped more than 8%.

 

Power Outages Remain from Thursday Storms

Utility crews worked into the morning on Friday attempting to restore service to thousands of Pennsylvania customers. Electric service was knocked out in numerous counties as a strong storm front knocked down trees and power lines late Thursday afternoon and evening.

In the PPL service area, Berks County reported to most outages remaining Friday, but residents in at least 25 eastern Pennsylvania counties were still in the dark. PECO is attempting to restore service to customers in the five-county Philadelphia region, as well as a small area of York County.

There are reports of at least one fatality from the storms as a woman in Potter County was struck by a falling tree. The storm front continued on into New England Thursday evening, causing more damage.

 

Santorum Ends Presidential Bid in Pennsylvania

Former Pennsylvania U. S. Senator Rick Santorum has suspended his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination in the same state where he started it last June.  Santorum announced on Tuesday in Gettysburg that he would suspend his race for the White House.

Santorum won 11 primaries, but front runner Mitt Romney had won the largest share of the delegates so far. His exit comes just two weeks before the Pennsylvania primary.

Santorum told reporters while the presidential race is over for him, he won’t give up the fight to keep President Obama from achieving a second term. Santorum did not endorse Romney at his press conference and left without answering questions from reporters.

Pennsylvania’s Jobless Rate Declines in December

For the third straight month, Pennsylvania is seeing improvement in its unemployment rate. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry reports that December’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 7.6%, down three tenths from November and nearly a full point compared to the previous year.  The state’s rate also remained below the national average for the 62nd month in a row.

 The civilian labor force was down by 2 thousand in December but resident employment rose by 11 thousand. The state’s labor force was 25 thousand above December 2010.

Goods producing industries accounted for the majority of the increase. Construction was also up for the month as nine of the state’s 11 supersectors added jobs.

112th Annual Christmas Bird Count Starts This Week

 A citizen science project more than a century old will continue later this week- the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

Keith Russell, Science and Outreach Coordinator for Audubon Pennsylvania, says birds are a great indicator of environmental health. He adds the bird count can even highlight some of the impacts of climate change and it helps identify bird species most in need of conservation action.    It also helps spot trends in loss of bird habitat.

Russell says birds do respond to changes in temperature and other environmental changes.  He says as climate change has progressed, they’ve seen some shifts in the distribution of a number of species of birds.  He says some species are wintering farther north than they used to winter.

Russell says the count also gives them a number of data points to use to get a bead on how abundant a particular species is, and where they’re occurring.  He says this allows them to  adopt good management strategies to help a particular bird species.

Bird counts are conducted by established circles and many do require preregistration. You contact your local Audubon chapter, or you can learn more at birdsource.org.  The Christmas Bird Count runs from December 14th through January 5th. Many circles in Pennsylvania have counts scheduled this weekend.

The Audubon Society is also using social media.  You can follow them on Twitter at Audubon Society, #xmasbirdcount.

**Photo by Judy Howle, courtesy National Audubon Society