The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

Related Photos

August 13, 2007

Specter isn’t taking a stand on I-80 tolls

By Matt Snyder

GREENVILLE — On the issue of tolling Interstate 80 in order to raise bridge and road revenue — plus shore up money for mass transportation in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh — U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said he is taking a hands-off stand.

Specter, R-Pa., said at a town hall meeting at Thiel College on Monday that Pennsylvania legislators and not Washington, D.C., politicians should decide the fate of the interstate.

There are 510 congressmen who are not from the commonwealth, he said, adding, “I would leave it up to the state of Pennsylvania to decide (whether to toll I-80).”

Specter met applause from the audience on that and other issues as he took almost 30 questions in the crowded lecture room in Howard Miller Student Center.

The plan to toll I-80 would provide nearly $1 billion a year for highway and bridge repairs, plus pour money into mass transit in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It calls for more than $13 billion in borrowing by the state Turnpike Commission. Tolls would take a decade to put in place and must be approved by the federal Department of Transportation.

U.S. Reps. Phil English, Erie, R-3rd District, and John Peterson, Titusville, R-5th District, have pushed legislation aimed at stopping the tolling plan on the federal level.

Among those plans are an amendment to a transportation bill that would ban the use of federal money for placing tolls on the interstate and another bill that would use the tax code to pull state money raised by the tolls and shift it all into a federal program that helps workers whose jobs are moved overseas.

The amendment will have to survive the Senate and the conference report that reconciles the Senate and House versions of the bill and the toll tax must get through a Democrat-controlled Congress.

The crowd brought forward questions and criticisms on Iraq, immigration, wire-tapping, funding for diseases, education, and health care. “You are all political activists by being here,” Specter said.

He told the crowd the purpose of the meetings was to take the temperature of the public. He said they were running a temperature of “about 213 degrees” on immigration and the embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and “about 250 degrees” on Iraq.

Specter said he would wait for a September report from Gen. David Petraeus. If there is no light at the end of the tunnel in Iraq by then, he said a policy change was in order.

He emphasized stiffer penalties on businesses which hire illegal immigrants and a registration policy that would come down harder on unscrupulous employers who abuse those workers.

Text Only
Local News
  • Recycling program a bit too popular

    The  county’s effort at going green by encouraging recycling in rural areas has been a tremendous success by most accounts, but isn’t without a few glitches. In Wilmington Township, residents often only have a window of a few minutes to get cardboard recyclables in before the bin is full, prompting a discussion among Mercer County Commissioners Wednesday morning.

    May 25, 2012

  • District will tap reserve fund

    Reynolds school directors plan to fill a $374,567 hole in the 2012-2013 budget with money from the district’s fund balance.

    May 25, 2012

  • School board mulls change to sports chaperone policy

    In order to comply with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, the Sharpsville Area School Board is looking to adjust a chaperone policy it implemented six months ago.

    May 25, 2012

  • Afternoon crash hurts 3 high school students

    Three Jamestown High School students were injured – one seriously – when their pickup left a roadway in southwest Crawford County and crashed into a tree Tuesday afternoon.

    May 24, 2012

  • Board sells some, holds some

    Brookfield Board of Education members voted Tuesday to accept only the bids for the elementary school and the middle school, for a total of $97,050.
    The decision came after an hour-long executive session.

    May 24, 2012

  • Levey: Kohl’s project died with school vote

    Stripped of the necessity of voting for a tax incremental finance plan by Hermitage School Board’s unwillingness to participate, Mercer County commissioners said Wednesday they would like to meet with school board and Hermitage city officials to discuss other ways they can help Levey and Co. build a retail development in the city.

    But Levey spokeswoman Jeffrey A. Mills said there is nothing to discuss.

    May 24, 2012

  • Warden expects hectic season at county jail

    With the unofficial start of summer just a few days away, Mercer County Jail officials are preparing for a busy season.

    May 23, 2012

  • Levey officially drops TIF request

    Levey & Co. has officially ended its request for a tax incremental financing plan to build a retail development anchored by a Kohl’s department store.

    May 23, 2012

  • Grant will pay to fix 12-15 homes



    The City of Farrell will be able to fix up about a dozen homes in the city thanks to a $300,000 HOME grant from the state.

    May 23, 2012

  • Hard budget choices yet to come


     
    Hermitage School Board has been fortunate in many ways during the economic downturn that has been so hard on many other schools.

    May 23, 2012