Latest news with #BuildBackBetter
Technical.ly
3 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
With federal support for robotics and defense, this Pennsylvania town is reinventing itself
The New Economy Collaborative of Southwestern Pennsylvania announced a $62.7 million Build Back Better grant toward workforce development in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Follow coverage of the 11-county project here. If you're a company looking for defense manufacturing, Southwestern PA is the place to be. For the 34th year in a row, major corporations from around the world joined government officials and local organizations in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to attract defense contracts to the region. Called the Showcase for Commerce, the annual event has long served as a hub for collaboration, where attendees from around the world come to exchange ideas, forge partnerships and ink defense contracts that fuel the regional economy. But Johnstown faces a growing challenge — who will do the work to fulfill these defense contracts? 'We're losing young people,' said David Grimaldi, director of workforce development at JARI, a nonprofit economic development organization in Johnstown. 'We just want to keep the people and provide a workforce for our manufacturers who are in desperate need of it because of the contracts they have.' The Johnstown metro area ranked as the third fastest-shrinking city in the country in 2017, and in the years since, it has struggled to reverse that trend. The most recent figures put the population of Johnstown proper at 17,668, a nearly 4% decline since the 2020 Census, or a drop of nearly 1% per year, according to data from the World Population Review. With local defense manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Martin-Baker America landing big contracts in recent years, demand for entry level workers trained in basic manufacturing skills is growing, according to Grimaldi, and federal dollars are already flowing into Johnstown to address this problem. The New Economy Collaborative (NEC) of Southwestern Pennsylvania, an organization tasked with administering $62.7 million of the federal Build Back Better (BBB) Regional Challenge, is providing grants to organizations in the region to expand pathways to entrepreneurship and new manufacturing jobs. That $62.7 million is part of a broader $1 billion BBB initiative, launched in 2021 through the American Rescue Plan to spur post-pandemic economic recovery and revitalize communities impacted by decades of industrial decline. Southwestern Pennsylvania was fortunate to receive federal funding to supercharge robotics and automation, according to Jackie Erickson, the senior director of federal government affairs for the Allegheny County Conference on Community Development, which is part of the NEC. 'For many years, most of the funding for robotics went into Carnegie Mellon University, and a lot of that was geared towards the defense sector,' Erickson said. But in recent years, partially thanks to NEC funding, robotics adoption is spreading beyond the city of Pittsburgh, out into more rural areas of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The NEC is deploying funds through five projects across 11 counties in the region, including Cambria County, where Johnstown is located. The projects focus on adopting robotics in manufacturing, upskilling the regional workforce and commercializing new technologies for the advanced manufacturing sector. Helping people find work, helping companies find skilled labor JARI recently received a $144,000 grant from the New Economy Collaborative to support workforce development programs aimed at underemployed and unemployed residents in the region. 'We go directly into the Johnstown Housing Authority units and provide work readiness skills to those people that are underemployed or unemployed, giving them the skills that they need to get into the workforce,' said Grimaldi, the organization's workforce director. The initiative is already showing results. In the first cohort of JARI's Work Readiness Program, a mother and daughter participated together, Grimaldi said. After her father's recent death, the daughter had been working part time at a local Dollar General, while her mother was unemployed. Completing the program helped the daughter get into Drexel University, while her mother enrolled at the Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center to train as an automotive technician. Without NEC and BBB funding, JARI wouldn't be able to offer as many economic development opportunities in the area, Grimaldi said. Down the street, a local makerspace called Made in Johnstown is using the same federal funding to change residents' lives through workforce training bootcamps, certification classes and entrepreneurial mentorship. Director Michael Rottam received federal funding routed through the NEC to help him launch the makerspace and provide programming. Since opening Made in Johnstown's doors, he's seen the space make a tangible impact on the community. 'One gentleman who went through our bootcamp, he was working at the local Walmart and had three children and wanted to better his life,' Rottman said. After attending the makerspace's workforce training bootcamp, the father enrolled in a local vocational school to become a robotics technician and now works for a local manufacturer. 'Robotics and defense go hand in hand' JARI and Made in Johnstown were featured at last week's event, where government officials from both sides of the aisle, including US Sen. John Fetterman and US Rep. Glenn Thompson, were able to see their work firsthand. The showcase has a rich history, according to Allegheny Conference's Erickson, who helped coordinate the showcase for a number of years while working for Bob Casey, Pennsylvania's former senator. Over 30 years ago, former US Rep. John Murtha established the showcase to promote job creation and advanced manufacturing in the region, Erickson said. Since his death in 2010, the event has continued with strong bipartisan support. The showcase has helped introduce large and small manufacturers from around the world to the region, helping develop a strong defense supply chain in Cambria and surrounding counties. And Southwestern Pennsylvania is well positioned to advance the defense sector moving forward, Erickson said. 'Robotics and defense go hand in hand,' Erickson said. 'As we look towards what the Defense Department is doing with different and new capabilities for future national security reasons, robotics is going to be at the heart of that.'
Japan Today
3 days ago
- Business
- Japan Today
U.N. official looks to Japan as leader in disaster resilience efforts
The focus of work related to natural disaster recovery must shift from rapid rebuilding to long-term resilience and inclusivity, and Japan can play a leading role in such efforts, according to the chief of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. "We must stop building back fast with big promises and start building back better and more resilient," said Kamal Kishore, special representative of the U.N. secretary general for disaster risk reduction, in a recent interview with Kyodo News. "Japan has been a key promoter of resilient recovery" under the idea of "Build Back Better," Kishore said, adding that when Japan calls for action in the realm of disaster risk management, "other people take it seriously." The tag line was mentioned in a key document adopted in the 2015 U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held in Sendai, a city in northeastern Japan that was hit hard by the 2011 mega earthquake and tsunami. Kishore said that poorly planned reconstruction often reproduces vulnerabilities and increases inequalities. When leaders lack sufficient capacity for recovery planning, he added, they can make unrealistic promises to their communities in what he called a "tyranny of rush," such as saying all disaster-affected houses will be rebuilt in three to six months. In June 2024, Kishore visited the Noto Peninsula, central Japan, which was jolted by a magnitude-7.6 quake on New Year's Day of that year. Recalling his conversation at a temporary shelter with an 85-year-old woman who had been affected by the temblor, Kishore said she talked about her future "with a great sense of hope" even after being displaced from her home. He described her as having been relocated well, with the placement taking into account her disabilities, her friend networks and the shops she frequented. Kishore advocated for local engagement in reconstruction, citing an example from Nepal, where 900 women received training and became masons in the aftermath of a powerful earthquake in 2015. "They not only rebuilt houses, but generated new livelihoods and generated skills for people that will serve them for a long time," he said. Kishore praised Japan's openness in sharing both its successes and failures, saying the country is "already sharing its experience with a great degree of generosity and openness." As the United States has reduced its financial contributions to U.N. organizations, the UNDRR will lose 15 percent of its funding this year, Kishore said ahead of the June 3-6 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva. Kishore expressed concern that the ongoing trade and tariff conflicts between Washington and Beijing may increase reconstruction costs due to rising prices for building materials, as well as drive up expenses for new construction aiming to ensure postdisaster resilience. © KYODO
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Republicans wrestle with possible failure of ‘big, beautiful bill'
The last time one party tried cramming all of its priorities into one bill was four years ago, when the Democratic 'Build Back Better' plan sank under its own weight. Some Republicans are starting to worry that their own BBB — President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' — could face the same fate. One week away from a possible House floor vote, the GOP's massive tax and spending bill is facing opposition from enough lawmakers to defeat it and criticism from senators eager to rewrite it. The party doesn't have to look back far for its nightmare scenario. Former President Joe Biden's Build Back Better proposal passed the House only to collapse in the Senate and ultimately become a far more modest law than its trillion-dollar-plus price tag. To avoid an implosion, House Speaker Mike Johnson needs near-unanimous support from his members for legislation touching everything from tax cuts to the debt ceiling to border security to health care. He doesn't have it yet — and it's not clear what will happen if he can't get it. 'I'm hopeful we can get there in the timeframe — but if not, I'd be really seriously concerned on what the actual Plan B is, because I haven't heard about it,' said Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla. The next few weeks present a potent test of one-party rule in Trump's Washington: With little room for error, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have to somehow forge a deal that unites 217 House Republicans and 50 GOP senators while also pleasing Trump. And the bill's catch-all design adds its own risk: With each tweak to one section, Republicans risk denting their whip count elsewhere. Conservatives want more spending cuts, which might lose moderate votes. Some Republicans want more aggressive changes to Medicaid; others say those changes amount to benefit cuts that can't pass. Then there's the precarious House talks about ending Trump's 2017 cap on state and local tax deductions, where an agreement that might bring on blue-state House Republicans would likely lose GOP senators. 'I'm not investing anything in it until we see it,' said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a key swing vote. 'I'm not going to get too excited about what's happening there until you see the final.' It's a messy equation that will almost certainly require Trump's intervention — and already has some Republicans grumbling about a need to change their tactics. The House Freedom Caucus wants to break out the bill's national security provisions, along with a debt ceiling increase; Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., wants to go back to his chamber's original two-bill approach. Meanwhile, Democrats are dangling a bipartisan fallback plan. They already support provisions in the bill like tax breaks for tipped workers and boosts to the child tax credit, plus tax credits for child care, paid leave and low-income housing. 'It's a fair bet that [Republicans are] not going to be able to get there. Then they have a choice,' said Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and chairs the moderate New Democrat Coalition. 'Would they rather sink in the middle of the ocean and bring us all down together? Or look to Democrats and say, 'Hey, let's row together,'' he added. The top Democrat on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, Richie Neal of Massachusetts, said this week that his party agrees with Republicans on 'probably 98% of' what's in the bill, save for increasing taxes on the wealthy. Plenty of Democrats doubt they'll ever get a chance to work with Trump's party. 'They don't want to work in a bipartisan way … I've seen no evidence. None,' scoffed Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Yet Freedom Caucus member Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., said he would 'be open to' collaborating with Democrats on some of the bill's tax provisions. 'We all knew this was going to happen: It was probably too much to do in one bill,' Burlison said. There's emerging unity on the right in favor of boosting the bill's spending cuts beyond the current $1.5 trillion level — which doesn't exactly help GOP leaders. 'It's not just me, there's a lot of us' pushing for that, said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. 'In its current form, I can't support it,' echoed Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md. GOP tax writers pushed through the bill's tax provisions Wednesday morning, but Johnson still hasn't struck a deal with House Republicans who are insisting on a SALT cap higher than the $30,000 the Ways and Means Committee approved. The party's SALT advocates have another problem: no big allies in the Senate. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, called Republicans' SALT push 'stupid,' adding that 'I don't think we need to be giving rich people tax breaks.' Moreno previously warned against benefit cuts to Medicaid but seemed open to the House's slimmed-down changes, which include requiring copayments from some beneficiaries and limiting states' use of provider taxes on hospitals. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., however, said the House changes still go too far. 'That's not going to pass. … I have serious concerns about the co-pay. It's like a sick tax on poor people,' Hawley told Semafor. Perhaps the biggest problem for Johnson and Thune right now, though, is conservatives pushing for deeper spending cuts — when the existing bill's cuts inordinately hit Medicaid. One House Republican described 'a huge delta here' and expressed skepticism leadership could close the gap in time. 'If they don't want to cut spending, it's going to be hard to support,' fiscal hawk Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, said. 'It's not even remotely in the range of what we should be talking about.' Some of the GOP talk about tanking the bill is surely bluster. But party-line budget reconciliation bills are not guaranteed wins: Eight years ago, the GOP failed to repeal Obamacare even after its proposal passed the House's brawnier majority. Then, four years ago, the Build Back Better bill failed (though a slimmed-down version did eventually pass). Even during those failures, plenty of lawmakers who talked tough eventually fell in line. It was singular political figures like John McCain and Joe Manchin who stopped Obamacare repeal and the Democratic BBB. It will take a similar show of force, and the moxie required to stand up to one's own leaders, for critics of the 'big, beautiful bill' to truly stop it. Trump is widely expected to strong-arm Republicans into backing the bill, even if it doesn't check all of their boxes. And the Senate's pushback could end up helping: Some Republicans said colleagues argued on the House floor Wednesday that they may as well vote yes if the upper chamber is going to change the bill anyway. 'They wrote me off a long time ago,' but 'they'll eventually get most of the people in the Freedom Caucus,' said fiscal hawk Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. 'How do you vote against the wall, and the Golden Dome, and tax breaks for seniors? Think about all those ads.' But almost a year and a half into Johnson's speakership, members are watching closely to see if he can pull this off without Trump. 'It's the speaker's job to get this done,' Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said. 'It's not somebody else's job.' Most of the bill's new tax cuts will last only through 2028, creating a new cliff, per the New York Times. More than 20 House Republicans told that they are questioning whether they can trust Johnson as he looks to steer the conference.
San Francisco Chronicle
13-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Biden slogan costs San Ramon $120,000
The city of San Ramon has paid $120,000 to settle a suit by an activist who was criminally prosecuted in 2021 after projecting the words Build Back Better, President Joe Biden's label for his proposed economic and environmental legislation, onto the wall of City Hall. Alan Marling of Livermore was held by San Ramon police after refusing their order to take down his message. After a brief detention, he was charged with creating a public nuisance by posting a sign on city property and with obstruction of a public right-of-way. Superior Court Commissioner Jill Lifter acquitted him of both charges after a non-jury trial, saying his message was not a sign and did not block the sidewalk. Marling's civil suit accused San Ramon of violating his constitutional rights by illegally arresting him and threatening to confiscate his light projector. The city did not concede any violations in the settlement but has paid him $120,000, which includes his legal expenses in the case, attorney Donald Wagda said Monday. His actions 'did not break any law then in effect, and he never should have been criminally prosecuted for his speech,' Wagda said. For a short time on an evening in November 2021, before being halted by police, he shined #BuildBackBetter on the front wall of City Hall, above a stream of the legislation's goals: 'Affordable care, child meds, paid leave, green energy.' Marling said he wasn't trying to send a message to the city of San Ramon, which was not involved in the federal legislation, but only to use the wall, widely visible from the street, to urge the public to support Biden's plan. The settlement is 'as much of an apology as I'm going to get for infringing my freedom of speech, hopefully discouraging them from taking similar actions in the future,' he said. San Ramon City Attorney Martin Lyons said the city disagreed with Commissioner Lifter's ruling that Marling committed no violations but has reworded its ordinances to make them clearer. San Ramon agreed to the settlement after considering the costs of litigation and "the best interests of the City and its constituents," Lyons said. Build Back Better was a legislative package that included increases in health care programs for the poor and elderly, COVID-19 treatment, roads and bridges, and climate-related measures such as funding for electric vehicles and tax credits for clean energy production. Parts of it were approved by Congress, including COVID and electric-vehicle provisions, while others were blocked by Republicans and conservative Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Marling's other projections have included a flashing of 'lawless oligarch' onto the San Francisco headquarters of Elon Musk's X Corp., which Musk has since moved to Texas.
Technical.ly
07-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Pittsburgh is one of the country's top robotics hubs. Is Nebraska next?
This collaboratively reported story is part of the partnership between and Silicon Prairie News, which focuses reporting on the Omaha and Nebraska innovation ecosystem. Find more at Both Omaha and Pittsburgh are using federal Build Back Better funding to tackle shared challenges like workforce shortages and slow regional growth by focusing on robotics and automation to strengthen their economies. Nebraska's Heartland Robotics Cluster and the New Economy Collaborative of Southwestern Pennsylvania are using similar strategies — investing in education, established companies and startup support — tailored to their regional strengths in agriculture and manufacturing, respectively. Collaborative efforts across government, education and private sectors are key to the success of these regional strategies, highlighting the importance of coalition-based approaches to scaling robotics and economic resilience. Omaha and Pittsburgh, despite being 1,000 miles apart and having different economic engines, are facing many of the same challenges, including workforce shortages and slowing regional growth. Each region received federal Build Back Better funding from the Biden administration to turn that around. The grants provide 'an opportunity to introduce changes and inject new opportunities into systems, programs and organizations,' said Benjamin Pratt, senior VP of business investment at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Both regions are taking a similar approach, even though Nebraska's industry prowess is in agriculture versus Pittsburgh's strength in manufacturing. The Nebraska Heartland Robotics Cluster and Southwestern Pennsylvania's New Economy Collaborative focus on three main routes to improving automation efforts: education, infrastructure and startup support. Three years in, each region is ready to share what it's learned so far, from helping launch new companies to strengthening decades-old firms. Labor shortages and talent gaps inspire regions to lean into robotics Nebraska's robotics strategy gained national traction in 2022 when the US Department of Commerce awarded $25 million to support the development of the Heartland Robotics Cluster. The grant was part of the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, a federal initiative designed to boost innovation and economic recovery in underserved areas. The funding provided an opportunity for Nebraska to formalize and expand an emerging robotics ecosystem centered on agriculture and manufacturing. 'We were already doing some things around agtech,' said Invest Nebraska CEO Dan Hoffman, a key figure in shaping the state's robotics initiative. 'And what we were starting to see was the first few companies … were tech, but they [were] all robotics companies.' Hoffman pointed to Birds Eye, which was developing a robotics solution for labor challenges in poultry barns and Grain Weevil, which focused on grain bin safety. Virtual Incision was working on surgical robotics and Capstone Technologies was building robotic solutions for the mail industry. 'It was the 'aha moment' that we had,' said Hoffman. 'Wow, there's a lot going on around automation and robotics.' While these companies were working in different sectors, the thread connecting them was their use of robotics to address labor shortages and workforce gaps. 'Robotics is going to be a big, big issue for the world going forward,' said Hoffman. Hoffman believes that if Nebraska doesn't invest in developing robotics locally, it risks falling behind. 'Do we want to be the ones to develop those solutions here in Nebraska?' he said. 'Because otherwise we're just going to be adopting somebody else's solutions that have been developed in another state or another country.' He sees Nebraska's strength in knowing its workforce challenges. 'Let's start developing [solutions] in the state,' he said. For Pittsburgh, the grants built on its manufacturing roots and strong robotics presence. From 2017 to 2022, corporate investors and VCs have invested $4.3 billion into robotics companies, plus about $163 million from the federal government between 2015 and 2020. Like Nebraska, Pittsburgh knew its challenges already — largely workforce related — and used the $62.7 million poured into the region from the Build Back Better regional challenge to face them directly. The New Economy Collaborative of Southwestern PA (NEC) targets 11 counties in the region, reaching beyond just Allegheny, with the goal of future-proofing the manufacturing and robotics industry by upskilling locals in automation and other emerging skills to build a sustainable workforce pipeline. 'We saw a really great chance to marry what's happening with our technologists and roboticists with the manufacturers who are looking for a path forward,' said Stefani Pashman, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the co-chair of the collaborative, 'to try to understand how they adopt and adapt and how they can train a workforce for the future.' More than 90 organizations came together across five NEC projects, led by some of the most influential stakeholders in the region: Catalyst Connection, the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Innovation Works and InnovatePGH. Reaching across the region to get those stakeholders together is what has made the project successful so far, according to Pratt. 'While dramatic change and progress [have] been made to date, don't forget that major changes and results will take time to be fully realized,' Pratt said, 'and have faith on core intent of the coalition-based efforts; the work is strong as long as the coalition remains strong.' Partnerships with local schools are the beginning of the pipeline For both NEC and the Heartland Robotics Cluster, progress toward a resilient economy in their respective sectors starts with training the workforce. 'With 17 new workforce training programs ranging from pre-apprenticeships to master's degree programming,' Pratt said, 'we view the role of building a robust talent pipeline to support the growth of automation and the robotics and deep tech economy of Greater Pittsburgh as foundational.' While working with big local names like Carnegie Mellon University, NEC's five projects also target smaller colleges in the region. It operates programs at Westmoreland County Community College, Butler County Community College and Robert Morris University. The efforts range widely, often with the goal of helping communities historically excluded from manufacturing break into the field, like Katie Lynn, who says she's still the only woman in many of her classes but nonetheless still excelling in the field. Other schools offer tuition at a fraction of the price, provide free, hands-on training that results in real jobs or even pay students for their time while they learn new skills. At the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), the College of Engineering is expanding its robotics curriculum and constructing new research and development lab space for hands-on research and prototyping. The Nebraska Innovation Studio, located at the Nebraska Innovation Campus, is expanding its robotics makerspace to accommodate advanced equipment and increase public access. Northeast Community College is utilizing part of the grant to establish an automation fabrication lab that will serve both students and manufacturers. Metropolitan Community College is introducing robotics training and outreach in urban agriculture, with a focus on serving underrepresented communities. According to a 2024 impact report published by the cluster, over 2,000 students have participated in robotics-related programs at partner institutions, including UNL, Metropolitan Community College and Northeast Community College. New facilities and labs are either completed or under construction, providing students and companies with access to the types of resources typically found in larger innovation hubs. At Nebraska Innovation Studio, expanded robotics tools and prototyping stations have already begun drawing in new users and collaborators from across the state. A strong workforce and cohort of founders with new ideas All together, the educational efforts build a pipeline that feeds directly into supporting local companies to find workers who can support their automation efforts. Decades-old Penna Flame in Pittsburgh, for example, used its NEC support to reduce manual labor and, therefore, cut back on workplace injuries. 'Access to this talent pipeline continues to be a top priority across all segments,' Pratt said. Similarly, in Nebraska, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership will lead efforts to introduce automation and robotics to small- and mid-sized manufacturers across the state. Both regions have strong startup support, too. The Combine, a startup support program led by Invest Nebraska, will increase its technical assistance for agtech startups deploying robotic solutions in fields and food systems. Startups supported by the Combine are progressing through early-stage development, with several agtech robotics ventures now piloting their technologies in real-world environments. These include tools for grain bin safety, poultry barn automation and feed monitoring — each designed to solve persistent labor challenges in agriculture. New ventures with NEC support in Pittsburgh include a new approach to vinyl record manufacturing, a safer way to transport luggage at the airport and turning plastic waste into useful infrastructure. Beyond startups, the efforts have helped bridge gaps between sectors, creating stronger connections among universities, community colleges, private companies and economic development agencies — an essential part of keeping the regions competitive in a national race toward automation, the Heartland Robotics Cluster said. No one group can do it alone Both Nebraska and Southwestern Pennsylvania are using federal investment to build long-term capacity in robotics, targeting gaps in labor, training and commercialization. In Nebraska, the focus is on supporting agtech and manufacturing sectors through applied research, workforce development and startup assistance. In Pennsylvania, the emphasis is on accelerating advanced robotics through partnerships with universities and industry. For other ecosystems considering similar initiatives, the programs highlight the importance of coordination across education, government and private sectors to meet workforce and technology goals. As more regions look to reap the economic benefits of automation, NEC and the Heartland Robotics Cluster show it'll take a wide swath of partners to get there. While there is still overlap on how to uplift the ecosystem as a whole, understanding and addressing the differences build the next generation of robotics and automation, according to Pratt. 'Many hands … have played a role [in] making Greater Pittsburgh the destination to build and scale and robust robotics and technology,' Pratt said, 'while derisking adoption of these next generation technologies that advance our other core industry clusters.
