Community solar panel legislation promoted as a potential boon for Pennsylvania farmers

Virus Outbreak Pennsylvania
A message is printed on bales near a farm is in Lebanon, Pa., Tuesday, May 12, 2020.Matt Rourke / AP photo

By Christen Smith | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Proposed legislation enabling electricity credits for community solar panels may just benefit Pennsylvania’s struggling farmers the most.

At least, so say the clean energy groups testifying in favor of House Bill 531 this week. The proposal, under consideration in the House Consumer Affairs Committee, would allow residents to invest in solar panels installed on open land and receive a credit on their electricity bill as if the units were on their own roofs instead.

“There is no question that HB 531 would help farmers to diversify their profits and productivity, and take advantage of the unused open space on hillsides, on the roofs of barns, chicken houses and other structures,” said Chad Forcey, executive director of the Pennsylvania Conservative Energy Forum. “On the land itself, farmers can take advantage of temporary development enhancements. Soybeans, pollinator-friendly crops and even beehives can flourish underneath solar panels.” 

Leslie Elder, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the Coalition for Community Solar Access, said investors will move forward with more than 220 “shovel-ready” projects in over 40 counties – as soon as the bill passes. The deals have already secured between $3 and $4 million in land leases for farmers. 

She said the legislation provides a lifeline to farmers, hit hard by tanking milk prices and broken supply chains. 

The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau likewise lent their support to the legislation in 2019, recognizing that agriculture can “play a key developmental role.”

“This is a case where there is strength in numbers,” Consumer Affairs Committee Chairman Brad Roae, R-Crawford, said. “When people work together and pool their resources, they often can accomplish more together than they ever could while they were apart.”

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Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock dies at 81

Lou Brock at bat on August 7, 1979 against the New York Mets in New York

By HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press

NEW YORK — Hall of Famer Lou Brock, one of baseball’s signature leadoff hitters and base stealers who helped the St. Louis Cardinals win three pennants and two World Series titles in the 1960s, has died. He was 81.

Dick Zitzmann, Brock’s longtime agent and friend, confirmed Brock’s death on Sunday, but he said he couldn’t provide any details. The Cardinals and Cubs also observed a moment of silence in the outfielder’s memory before their game at Wrigley Field.

Brock lost a leg from diabetes in recent years and was diagnosed with cancer in 2017.https://27b191f9f3bb314b295c47bb95145b8e.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

“Over my 25-plus years of being his agent, he was perhaps the happiest Hall of Famer I’ve ever encountered,” Zitzmann said.

The man later nicknamed the Running Redbird and the Base Burglar arrived in St. Louis in June 1964, swapped from the Cubs for pitcher Ernie Broglio in what became one of baseball’s most lopsided trades.

Brock stole 938 bases in his career, including 118 in 1974 — both of those were big league records until they were broken by Rickey Henderson.

Brock’s death came after Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver died Monday. Brock and Seaver faced each other 157 times, the most prolific matchup for both of them in their careers.

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Northeastern University boots 11 students who met in hotel room

Students walk on the Northeastern University campus in Boston. (Rodrique Ngowi/AP)

By Derek Hawkins and Marisa Iati
September 6, 2020 at 8:03 p.m.

Northeastern University says it has dismissed 11 students who gathered in a hotel room in violation of the school’s coronavirus policies and will not refund their tuition, marking one of the most severe punishments college students have faced for breaking pandemic rules.

University staff members found the first-year students hanging out last week in a room at the Westin Hotel in downtown Boston, which Northeastern is using as a temporary dorm for about 800 students, according to a university statement. Officials instructed them to take a coronavirus test, then leave campus within 24 hours.

The students, who were part of a study-abroad program that was held in Boston this semester, will not be reimbursed for their $36,500 tuition payments, according to the university. They will be allowed back on campus in the spring. In the meantime, the university said, they can appeal the punishment in an expedited hearing.

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Typhoon Haishen: Japanese urged to stay alert as storm blows in

Some eight million people were asked to evacuate in the path of the storm.

By the BBC

The storm is pummelling the region with high winds and drenching them with heavy rain, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes.

After passing over Japan, Haishen is expected to make landfall on Monday in South Korea, which is also on alert.

The storm comes days after Maysak, one of the region’s strongest typhoons in years.

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‘Kiln-like,’ record-setting heat as California fires rage, causing injuries

Creek Fire explodes in size, trapping and injuring campers

By Andrew Freedman Washington Post
September 6, 2020 at 1:17 p.m.

Sunday will be one of the hottest days in recent memory across much of California, the day after scorching temperatures set scores of records and intensified destructive wildfires erupting in the state.

Heat and red flag warnings are in effect statewide into the coming week as the heat will continue to fuel the fires already burning and could cause any new blazes to rapidly grow out of control.

The most serious wildfire situation has developed with the Creek Fire in the Sierra National Forest, about 290 miles north of Los Angeles, which was first detected Friday night and rapidly grew to at least 45,000 acres by Sunday morning.

That fire trapped about 1,000 people near Mammoth Pool reservoir as flames crossed the San Joaquin River, including about 150 people who became trapped at a boat launch, the AP reports.

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California wildfire traps campers in Sierra National Forest

An air tanker drops retardant as a wildfire burns at a hillside in Yucaipa, Calif., on Saturday.
An air tanker drops retardant as a wildfire burns on a hillside in Yucaipa, Calif., on Saturday. 
(AP)

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEP. 6, 202012:55 AM UPDATED 7:17 AM

SHAVER LAKE, Calif. —  Three fast-spreading California wildfires sent people fleeing Saturday, with one trapping campers at a reservoir in the Sierra National Forest, as a brutal heat wave pushed temperatures into triple digits in many parts of state.

The wildfire burning near Shaver Lake exploded to 56 square miles, jumped a river and compromised the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground, national forest spokesman Dan Tune said. At least 2,000 structures were threatened in the area about 290 miles north of Los Angeles, where temperatures in the city’s San Fernando Valley reached 117 degrees.

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Penn State sees 174 new COVID-19 cases

By Sean Adams pennlive.com

A total of 174 students at Penn State’s University Park campus have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a news release from the university.

Testing results from the campus for the week of Aug. 28 showed 115 positive COVID-19 tests from among the on-demand screenings, and 59 positive results from the random screenings done at the university.

The university is attempting to use contact tracing to notify any at-risk individuals. All of those impacted thus far are students, and are either isolating in their on-campus housing, at home or in single-occupancy off-campus residences. According to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard, 58 students are in on-campus isolation, and another 29 are in on-campus quarantine.

“We know the virus is here, and I am of course concerned by the numbers and trends we are seeing,” said Penn State President Eric J. Barron in a news release. “Our ability to manage transmission and rate of growth of positive cases is critically important. Next week, we will assess data following the holiday weekend, and determine whether we need to take mitigation steps at University Park including temporary or sustained remote learning.”

Barron reiterated the importance of social distancing, particularly in advance of the Labor Day holiday weekend, and discouraged “social gatherings, parties or barbecues” both on and off campus for students.

In the news release, epidemiologist and Penn State associate professor of biology Matt Ferrari said that “this is a very critical moment.”

“It’s vital that students, especially, socialize closely only with roommates, if possible,” Ferrari said. “This is not the time to have friends over, or visit other apartments. Don’t attend gatherings with folks outside your immediate household; wear a mask and maintain distance when you go out.”

Reports from colleges and universities across the state are showing similar outbreaks among the student body.

Earlier this week, students at Gettysburg College were quarantined to their rooms due to COVID-19 cases on campus, and both Temple University and Lock Haven University suspended in-person classes. Bloomsburg University also suspended in-person classes the previous week.

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