DOGE to end lease on Somerset Borough office used during Flight 93 memorial planning
SOMERSET, Pa. (WTAJ) — A small Somerset Borough office used in the early days of the Flight 93 National Memorial project will soon be vacated, as federal officials move to cut costs tied to its lease.
According to our media partners at The Tribune-Democrat, the 2,300-square-foot space, leased by the National Park Service and located roughly 16 miles from the memorial site in Shanksville, is being cut by the Department of Government Efficiency. The decision is expected to save the federal government more than $86,700 in the coming years, according to DOGE.
The office was originally used during the planning and development of the Flight 93 National Memorial, which opened in 2015. It has since been used occasionally for meetings and off-site educational programming by the Friends of Flight 93, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service.
Although the lease is ending, the nonprofit's efforts to educate the public about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the passengers who fought back on United Flight 93 will continue.
The group's programming, including its Teach to Remember initiative, will now rely more heavily on the memorial's on-site Learning Center for future meetings and events.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The average cost of fast food in Pennsylvania
(WTAJ) — As fast food prices have surged well above the country's inflation rate, many consumers wonder if stopping for dinner on the way home is even worth it. According to a WalletHub study, the average price of fast food has risen 47 percent over the past decade. Value menus at fast food chains have become less and less of a value, and when COVID-19 was surging, 'value' menus were becoming increasingly harder to find. Mississippi sits at the top of the list for money spent on fast food relative to the state's median income, while Massachusetts and New Jersey tie at the bottom. The amount of money Pennsylvanians spend on fast food is relatively low by comparison. In fact, WalletHub ranks the Commonwealth at number 35. According to the study, compared to median monthly household income, Pennsylvanians spend roughly 0.35 percent on fast food. The average cost of fast food in the Keystone State (a burger, an 11 to 12-inch pizza and a fried chicken sandwich) is $22.34. Pennsylvania ranks number 31 for the average price of a burger, 41 for the pizza, and 19 for the fried chicken compared to other states, WalletHub added. It's important to note, these average prices are in-store and do not include delivery or service fees. Apps such as DoorDash and Uber Eats can quickly inflate your cost with fees and driver WalletHub says the average increase is 47 percent across the country, that's just for the burger, pizza and chicken sandwich. A deeper look into a graph by Crews Bank & Trust looks at a bigger fast food picture. When it comes to price increases, McDonald's leads the way nationally with a 100 percent increase since 2014, according to a May 2024 chart. The biggest culprit? The McChicken sandwich, which they said was just $1 in 2014 and is now over $3 at many stores — a more than 200 percent price increase. On the other end, Crews Bank & Trust claims Starbucks and Subway are at the lower end of the decade-long inflation at 39 percent. For those who may be wondering, the super popular Taco Bell is at 81 percent. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


E&E News
15 minutes ago
- E&E News
Senate Republicans eye softer stance on green credits
A top Senate negotiator signaled Wednesday he was open to saving some renewable energy tax credits in the Republican megabill. At the same time, the top Senate Democrat is pulling out the stops to salvage what he can from the landmark climate law. At a closed-door Senate meeting, Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) told senators he wanted to 'extend the runway' for certain tax credits that House Republicans all but scrapped in their budget reconciliation package — though details were sparse. Advertisement Senators said Crapo talked about amending the language for when a project must 'start construction' and preserving a provision that lets a project sponsor transfer tax credits to a third party. The House-passed bill would also drastically phase out renewable incentives and enact strict new supply chain requirements that industry deemed unworkable. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said he thought Crapo was 'very much' open to extending the lifespan of incentives for 'certain types of energy and then other types of energy are going to expire quicker, … and he talked pretty specifically of nuclear of course, to which I said, 'Amen and amen.'' The Finance Committee is expected to release more details Monday night, Cramer added. He said Wednesday's meeting 'was just more conceptual.' But others noted the ethos of the bill is not expected to change much. 'We're trying to keep the intent of the House intact, for the most part,' said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a Finance member, though he's been pushing for some specific changes to soften strict requirements. Schumer a 'perpetual motion machine' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has called on clean energy advocates, tech executives and even 'friendly' Trump officials to save parts of the climate law. | Francis Chung/POLITICO As Republicans continue to inch forward on their megabill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been working to sway them against wholesale repeals of the Inflation Reduction Act. Indeed, after President Donald Trump and Republicans swept the elections last year, Schumer said he knew he had to gear up to protect the IRA. He reached out to clean energy executives and environmental leaders months ago, he said, but no one was prepared for how aggressive the House legislation that passed just before Memorial Day would be. 'No one expected it to be as bad as it was,' he said. 'At the last minute, overnight, they dramatically reduced or eliminated the clean energy provisions. Most of the Republican congressmen didn't know of it, but I called up everyone that weekend, and I said, 'DEFCON 1,'' referring to the highest alert level for nuclear war. In recent weeks, he's been enlisting finance people; clean energy advocates; tech executives; governors with major renewables investments; 'friendly' Trump administration officials; Duke Energy and Southern Co. executives; and Sean McGarvey, president of North America's Building Trade Union, to call their senators. 'Chuck is spending so much time and energy on this,' Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. 'He's become like a perpetual motion machine.' Specifically, Schumer and his allies are targeting 16 Senate Republicans who he thinks show 'some discomfort' with undoing the IRA. 'I have a list of the one hundred biggest clean energy projects in America,' Schumer said. 'Eighty percent are in red states, it turns out. One of the companies that runs those projects is saying, 'People, call your senator,' and say, 'This will shut me down.' And they are doing it.' Energy price spike? Beside trying to woo Republicans, Schumer and other Democrats have been saying the GOP megabill threatens to raise energy prices. A new analysis from the Democratic-aligned Center for American Progress set to be released Thursday found that slashing the IRA could cut 13 gigawatts of clean power on the grid per year over the next decade. In 2024, the U.S. added 49 gigawatts of new capacity to the grid, with 95 percent from new solar, batteries, nuclear and wind power. 'As much as 72 percent of all clean energy capacity that would have been built over the next decade would disappear,' the report says. Asked if he worried Democrats might be able to run on rising electricity costs in the midterm elections, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), who's running for Senate and has backed a Hyundai vehicle and battery plant in his district, shrugged off the question. 'That remains to be seen,' he said. 'I'm not sure energy costs are going to go up. In fact, I would submit that as we concentrate more on available energy such as natural gas, it might go down. And that's certainly something we're trying to do.' He added: 'So I think that's risky on their part — to say the least.' Intense lobbying Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Wednesday met with some House Republicans who sent a letter to Senate GOP leaders last week urging them to make big changes to the legislation they had nonetheless voted for. 'I think that that was important,' Murkowski said of last week's letter. 'I think they're raising the same kinds of concerns that we are raising on the Senate side. It's much of the same in terms of — how can you allow for a longer phase out for some of these credits, the issue of transferability. I don't think that there's anything new, but I think it is important that it's being reinforced on both sides.' Groups representing a host of interests have been ratcheting up lobbying. Advanced Energy United and Republican-led Built for America are among those running ads. Built for America has been trying to reach the president and his allies on Fox News and Truth Social, POLITICO reported. The Solar Energy Industries Association is planning a rally on Capitol Hill with workers next week. The trucking industry and allied trade associations sent a letter to Senate leaders asking to preserve the 30C tax credit, which applies to alternative fueling equipment installed at homes or businesses. It can include electric charging for cars and heavy-duty trucks. The House version of the bill would phase out the credits at the end of 2025. 'This short runway threatens to strand investments that have already been made in good faith based on the credit's availability, especially for projects that have begun construction but will not be completed by year-end,' the letter said. The GOP is up against a self-imposed Independence Day deadline to send legislation to Trump's desk. Many continue to say publicly that timeline is achievable, though Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) said Tuesday 'a lot of us would be surprised if it passed by July Fourth.' Reporter Mike Lee contributed.


The Hill
26 minutes ago
- The Hill
Coinbase adds former top Obama and Harris adviser Plouffe to advisory council
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior adviser to Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential campaign is joining Coinbase's global advisory council, which already includes several former U.S. senators and Donald Trump's ex-campaign manager, as the cryptocurrency exchange broadens its political reach. David Plouffe, a top Democratic strategist best known as an architect of Barack Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign, is the latest addition to the council, joining as the cryptocurrency industry plays an increasingly prominent role in shaping fast-moving legislation in Congress. The legislation aims to create a comprehensive framework for the regulation of digital assets and comes amid a shift in Washington. President Trump, a Republican, has pledged to make the U.S. the global capital of cryptocurrency, contrasting with what industry leaders viewed as a stifling regulatory approach under the previous Democratic administration. Trump and his family have also been aggressively expanding their personal business into almost every part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, including raising billions of dollars to buy bitcoin, creating a new stablecoin and launching and promoting a Trump-themed meme coin. Chris LaCivita, the former co-campaign manager of Trump's successful 2024 presidential bid, joined Coinbase's advisory council in January. Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent from Arizona, also joined the council, which consists of a number of other high-profile figures from both major political parties. Plouffe previously served on the global advisory board for Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, before joining Harris' presidential campaign as a senior adviser in August. Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase's chief policy officer, described the role of the advisers as being a 'sound board' to discuss policy efforts and business strategy. In Congress, legislation is advancing far more quickly than usual for a new industry — a pace that some involved in shaping the bills say comes amid an all-out pressure campaign from the cryptocurrency sector. On Wednesday, a group of Democrats joined the Republican majority to advance legislation regulating stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar. Final passage through the Senate could come next week. Meanwhile, a more sweeping bill to implement cryptocurrency market structure has begun moving through House committees.