Service cuts planned at two large Pennsylvania transit agencies
If no funding deal is reached by Thursday, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which serves the Philadelphia area, plans to hike fares and cut service this month — moves it calls 'the point of no return.' Pittsburgh Regional Transit officials have approved plans to cut service next year unless the state boosts transit funding.
Transit funding is one of the biggest sticking points holding up Pennsylvania's budget, which was due to be approved by June 30. The problem is especially acute in the Philadelphia region, with SEPTA facing a $213 million deficit.
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'We are past the point of short-term, stop-gap measures. We are past the point of a few months of fixes,' Shapiro said Sunday at SEPTA headquarters in Philadelphia's Center City. 'It is time to have recurring, long term revenue for SEPTA and for the other mass transit agencies across Pennsylvania.'
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Mayor Brandon Johnson's Chicago Public Schools chief resists City Hall borrowing plan, pension payment as budget deadline looms
CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools interim chief Macquline King is resisting pressure from Mayor Brandon Johnson to make a controversial pension payment and borrow millions of dollars to settle the district's budget, a notable twist in what has become a deeply uncertain budget cycle for the fourth-largest school district in the nation. Several city officials met with CPS leadership last Thursday without King to lay out recommendations aimed at helping her close a $734 million deficit by the end of August, according to several board members who spoke to the Tribune. Among their suggestions: taking out a $200 million loan and asking for new state revenue, while accepting responsibility for a controversial $175 million pension payment, previously covered by the city. King initially opposed all of their major proposals, board members who spoke to the Tribune said. King is scheduled to have meetings with aldermen and state representatives on Tuesday, discussing her budget plans. 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Janelle Stelson moves into the 10th District ahead of attempt to unseat Rep. Scott Perry
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