Here’s a quick, digestible take on today’s stories in the Post-Gazette.
_____________
After September, no more
coal-fired plants in Allegheny County
The only coal-fired power plant in Allegheny County will permanently close in September, its operator announced Wednesday.
The Cheswick Generating Station in Springdale, a 51-year-old facility that has long drawn the ire of environmental groups, will shutter on Sept. 15.
Houston-based GenOn Holdings said in a statement that in addition to the 565 megawatt power plant in Pennsylvania, it will also retire the 627-megawatt Avon Lake Generating Station in Ohio. Two units at the 1,1229-megawatt Morgantown Generating Station in Maryland also will be retired in the summer of 2021, the company said.
GenOn said these retirements were “driven by unfavorable economic conditions, higher costs including those associated with environmental compliance, an inability to compete with other generation types, and evolving market rules that promote subsidized resources.”
_____________
From lawns to lectures
During a Zoom hearing Wednesday on plans to reduce the number of free-standing state universities in Pennsylvania, all eyes suddenly turned to the guy on screen and outdoors cutting grass to pay off his student loan.
For the record, Nicholas Marcil, a graduate student at West Chester University, said he opposes the merger plan and urged a delay. In fact, all but one of the dozens of faculty, students and others who spoke expressed a similar view, including those from California, Clarion and Edinboro universities.
But Mr. Marcil’s say-so that spanned 2 minutes and 51 seconds was — let’s just say — different.
It unfolded as State System of Higher Education Board Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira, Chancellor Daniel Greenstein and other executives listened in silence during the first of four sessions Wednesday and Thursday. By day’s end, upward of 40 commenters had weighed in — all but one against, or at least seeking a delay in what they called a flawed plan.
A banner on the campus of Clarion University in Clarion, Pa., on Oct. 21, 2020. The university is one of the State System of Higher Education schools facing a potential merger due to budget shortfalls.
The nagging question: How much more is Pennsylvania willing to spend on higher ed?
Speaking from an undisclosed lawn, and at one point apologizing for being out of breath, Mr. Marcil said State System leaders need to press the General Assembly and governor harder to extract the commonwealth from its near-the-bottom standing in support for higher education, 47th per capita.
“That’s why I’m cutting grass,” said Mr. Marcil, who finished his undergraduate studies $16,000 or so in debt and is now studying higher education policy and student affairs. “We don’t demand more funding for higher education. ... We’re not trying to demand more from the Legislature.”
_____________
PSERS pension trustees begin revolt against top execs
Six trustees for Pennsylvania’s largest pension fund have called for the full 15-member board to vote Friday to fire the $64 billion chief executive and top investment officer, as the fund grapples with an FBI investigation and management mistakes.
On Thursday morning, the dissidents delivered a detailed letter sharply criticizing the leadership of PSERS Executive Director Glen Grell and Chief Investment Officer James H. Grossman Jr. Grell has led the fund for the last five years after serving 11 years as a Republican lawmaker in the state House of Representatives. Grossman, the highest-paid state employee, heads a 50-member unit overseeing the fund’s investment strategy, which is at the core of the complaints against him and Grell.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Spotlight PA and The Inquirer, was unchanged from the draft obtained Wednesday by the newsrooms. It mounts a detailed case against the leaders’ investments choices, blasting them as high-fee, poor-performing creations that serve the interests of venture capital and private equity.
It also portrays the 350-employee PSERS as a topsy-turvy agency, where the managers run roughshod over the board, cutting out the appointed and elected panel of educators and politicians from key decisions even as overall fund performance has lagged behind similar public funds.
The letter was signed by State Treasurer Stacy L. Garrity, a Republican, and went out on her letterhead. In a bipartisan twist, she was joined by a Democratic board member Joe Torsella, whom Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf put back on the PSERS board this year after Garrity defeated Torsella for treasurer last fall.
_____________
Pa. Senate votes to end Wolf's pandemic disaster declaration
Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature moved Thursday both to end Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic disaster emergency declaration and to extend hundreds of regulatory waivers his administration approved over the last 15 months.
A bill to extend the regulatory waivers across a wide swath of government functions and the economy would keep the regulations suspended until Sept. 30, unless Wolf’s administration ends the waivers sooner.
It passed the Senate unanimously and still required approval from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Wolf, a Democrat.
On the other hand, the resolution to end Wolf’s disaster emergency declaration drew bitter recriminations from Democrats, who accused Republicans of undertaking an experiment that could hamstring a state response to a resurgence in COVID-19 and risks losing millions in federal emergency food aid for the poorest families.
Perhaps the biggest immediate effect is wiping out the Wolf administration’s authority to avoid procurement rules in contracting and buying during a disaster declaration.
_____________
Murder trial starts today for Sheldon Jeter Jr.
A Beaver County man who had romantic ties to a slain Aliquippa schoolteacher is scheduled for trial Thursday in a separate case in which he is accused of killing his friend last year.
Sheldon Jeter Jr., 23, of Aliquippa, was charged with homicide in connection to the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Tyric Pugh in May 2020. Police and prosecutors allege Mr. Jeter pulled the trigger along Kiehl Street after the two got ice cream together.
Mr. Jeter was charged with Mr. Pugh’s death in May of 2020, and police said surveillance video shows Mr. Jeter leaving the scene of the crime just minutes after the victim was shot and killed.
_____________
A weekend full of frothy goodness
Normally, there are so many beer festivals on so many weekends that they’re not even news. But coming out of a pandemic that shut down such big events, it’s a big deal that the French Creek Brewfest is happening Saturday.
The host site is the big outdoor spread at Riverside Brewing Co. in Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, a town through which the famous waterway wiggles on its way to the Allegheny River at Franklin.
But several other breweries with and without creek connections, established and new, will be pouring their liquids at the event: Grist House Craft Brewery in Millvale; John Russell Brewing and Lavery Brewing in Erie; Boxcar Brew Works in DuBois; Trails to Ales in Franklin; North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock; Voodoo Brewery in Meadville; Clarion River Brewing in Clarion; Cellar Works Brewing in Sarver; Union Brothers Brewing in Harmony; New Trail Brewing in Williamsport; Burgh'ers Brewing in Zelienople; Mortals Key Brewing in Jamestown; and Arboretum Trail Brewing in Pleasant Hills.
_____________
Ju-Ju’s new role?
JuJu Smith-Schuster could be anywhere in the world as he prepares for another season, but he’s here in Pittsburgh as the team goes through OTAs on the South Side.
That’s probably a good thing as he tries to figure out exactly who he is and what he’ll look like — on and off the field — in 2021. Is he a tough, physical slot receiver willing to run over defenders for an extra yard? Or is he a true No. 1 wideout, lining up on the outside and making splash plays downfield? And what color is his hair these days, anyway?
Maybe it’s not a full-blown identity crisis for the longest-tenured Steelers pass-catcher, but Smith-Schuster is back with the only franchise he’s ever known on a one-year, $8 million deal that will cost just $2.4 million against this season’s salary cap. Most NFL players shut it down when questions about their contract come up, but, as we’ve seen time and time again, Smith-Schuster isn’t most players.
He’s spoken openly all offseason about his options, or lack thereof, this year in free agency. And he doesn't mind disclosing that it came down to the Steelers, Chiefs and Ravens for his services, all offering similar one-year deals but with more money possible in incentives. Smith-Schuster admitted Wednesday that everyone has a price, but for him, it appears that price is more than what two AFC rivals were offering.
First Published: June 10, 2021, 12:25 p.m.
Updated: June 10, 2021, 7:46 p.m.
