Pennyslvania Budget

The University of Pittsburgh faced a tough battle this year in Harrisburg for its annual appropriation, and lobbying disclosure reports now show just how tough it was. The school spent more than nine times its usual amount to finally get the state funds it normally receives, according to reports filed with the Department of State.

County programs will get their first significant increase in over a decade — though some details remain uncertain.

On today’s episode of The Confluence: The state budget was passed, a week late, so what’s the bottom line?; we learn what happened with the Pittsburgh Penguins at the National Hockey League draft; and a look at how performing arts groups are recovering in finances and audience numbers after staging full seasons for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic.Today’s guests include: Sam Dunklau, WESA’s capitol bureau chief; and Mike DeFabo, Penguins beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Pennsylvania’s new fiscal year began last Friday, but state lawmakers and the Wolf Administration have yet to agree to a new spending plan.

Most Pennsylvania lawmakers are absent from the state Capitol five days into the new budget year. There's no state government spending agreement in place, although the fiscal year ended last week. Leaders are hoping negotiations will wrap up over the coming days and the House is planning to hold voting sessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

On today’s episode of The Confluence: We hear the latest about the state budget; a worker and union organizer with Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania shares what they're seeing following the repeal of Roe v. Wade; and a conversation about how school buildings can become more climate resilient.Today’s guests include: Stephen Caruso, capitol reporter with Spotlight PA; Jocelyn K., a union representative with Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania; and Vivian Loftness, researcher and professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon University.

Pennsylvania’s new fiscal year will begin without a state budget in place, as Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration and top Republican lawmakers planned to work through the deadline to hammer out a roughly $42 billion spending plan whose details were still largely being kept secret.

Pennsylvania’s state House of Representatives and Senate are returning to session, as the Republican-controlled chambers work to get an agreement on a roughly $42 billion budget plan with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf with just three days left in the fiscal year.

Republican state house lawmakers pass an amendment requiring Pitt to halt medical research involving fetal tissue or lose an annual state grant

Data that paints a gloomy economic outlook over the next few years has majority GOP budget makers worried about committing too much money to programs and services in the upcoming state budget.