iI would plunge the country’s economy into one of its worst post-financial crisis recessions.
By Neal FreymanMorning Brew
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the EU has paid more than $37 billion for Russian energy supplies—a big chunk of that by the bloc’s No. 1 economy, Germany. While pressure is mounting on the country to stop financing Putin’s war efforts with energy purchases, politicians there say the economic toll is just too large to do so immediately.
That toll: The country’s central bank reported yesterday that an embargo on Russian gas would plunge it into a recession. Instead of Germany’s economy growing by 3% this year, it would shrink by 2%, amounting to one of the worst recessions in the country since the financial crisis.
The war in Ukraine has intensified interest across Europe in building new nuclear energy plants or extending the lives of old ones to liberate the continent from its heavy reliance on Russian oil and natural gas.10 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint
Belgium made an about-face, deciding to keep open a pair of reactors slated for closure. The Czech Republic invited Western companies to deliver nuclear fuel to replace Russian supplies. Poland is negotiating to build new reactors in a quiet seaside town. The war has reversed the tenor of the nuclear debate, just when its prospects had seemed to dim.
“They’re all doing it for the same reasons: decarbonization, energy security and national security,” said David Durham, president of Westinghouse’s energy systems business, which as of early April had signed memorandums of understanding with 19 different companies or government agencies in a dozen countries, including Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic.
The heightened interest comes as the war in Ukraine shows the dangers of building nuclear reactors on NATO’s front line. Fighting around Ukraine’s nuclear sites raised alarms about damage that enemy troops, drones and missiles might inflict on installations — damage that could lead to radiation releases, which have been linked to a range of cancers years later.
The first case of highly pathogenic bird flu has been found in Pennsylvania, the state Department of Agriculture said Saturday.
The case was found in a flock of chickens at a poultry farm in Lancaster County, the department said.
The strain of avian influenza, or HPAI, is highly contagious and can be fatal to domestic birds. Poultry and eggs are safe to eat if cooked properly.
So far no human cases of bird flu have been detected in the United States, and there is no immediate threat to public health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Patient Access Solutions has acquired Tela Mental Health LLC. This acquisition allows PASO to offer mental health services remotely.
Other HPAI cases have been confirmed in South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Kentucky, Indiana, New York and Maine. Symptoms in birds include sneezing, coughing, walking or swimming in circles, and swelling of the legs and feet.
Tony Iannelli, CEO and president of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, addresses the crowd Thursday, April 14, 2022, during The Lehigh Valley Real Estate Development Outlook and Awards, presented by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, at the Delta Hotel by Marriott in Breinigsville. (Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call)1 / 12
Optimism certainly wasn’t in short supply during the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Real Estate Outlook program. Thursday’s presentation featured plenty of lofty numbers as the Valley’s economy continues to recover from the COVID downturn.
Becky Bradley, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, said the region could see more than 27 million square feet of new warehouses approved by the end of this year.
Of that number, she said, 11.1 million square feet were added to the pipeline for the first quarter of 2022.
By comparison, over the last five years, 27.3 million square feet of new warehouse space has been approved by local governments in the Valley.
Of course, there was growth in other sectors, including housing, which can’t be built fast enough for a growing population. LVPC figures have 5,746 residential units reviewed in 2021, the most since 2007, and 1,332 more have been proposed so far this year.
New Jersey Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen)
By Carl Golden Insider NJ
What could have been, and should have been, a relatively smooth path to legislative approval of the proposed 2022-23 fiscal year state budget, one free from controversy and the usual haggling over spending priorities, has — thanks to a remarkable strategic blunder by the Administration — produced acrimony, bruised feelings and a sense of betrayal.
The Administration’s decision to cut the Legislature out of any role in deciding how to spend $3 billion in pandemic relief aid under the multi-trillion-dollar American Rescue Plan roused even the soft-spoken Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) to lecture state treasurer Elizabeth Muoio that restoration of the Legislature’s oversight authority was “non-negotiable,” before budget deliberations could proceed.
Sarlo’s reaction was an extraordinary warning reflecting a sense that Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration had misled the legislative leadership by deleting from the proposed budget language that provided the Joint Budget and Oversight Committee with approval authority over the expenditure of the Federal funds.
The authority was included in the current fiscal year budget but eliminated from that submitted by the governor for the approaching fiscal year.
While Muoio was unable to provide an explanation for the change in the Administration position, Sarlo — with the support of Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) — made it clear that budget consideration would not proceed until the language was reinstated.
Striking the language providing for legislative involvement in the decision-making process — whatever rationale the Administration may come up with — was a foolish and unnecessary act that could only infuriate the legislative leadership while offering no conceivable benefit to the governor.
It signaled the prevailing Administration view that the Legislature could not be trusted with the authority to decide when and where the federal aid would be disbursed.
It smacked of an arrogance that relegated the Legislature to a subordinate role, a message that the Administration should be the final authority reaching decisions on its own and expecting the Legislature to follow without complaint.
Deleting the language cannot be dismissed as a bureaucratic oversight; its inclusion in the current fiscal year budget is clear evidence that the Administration was well aware of its existence. It required a deliberate decision to single it out and eliminate it, presumably in the belief that it would either not be noticed or, if it was, could be dealt with and explained away quickly and quietly.
It was an astonishingly poor decision, one which might be more likely made by an Administration in its initial year and still feeling its way through legislative relationships.
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