Archive for December, 2008

By MICHAEL DIVITTORIO
Daily News Staff Writer

Steel Valley School District’s Barrett Elementary students received a slam dunk lesson about character, leadership skills and the importance of an education from some world-famous basketball players.

Harlem Globetrotter legend Fred “Curly” Neal and current Globetrotter Andre “Hot Shot” Branch visited the Homestead school Tuesday afternoon.

The visit was made possible by Sue Hartman, a parent of a first-grader at the school, who entered Barrett in a contest through country music station Y108.

“We’re certainly excited to have them,” Principal Sharon Fisher said.

[ Full story available at: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20217947&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=182121&rfi=6 ]

By KRIS MAHER

WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. — As domestic auto makers consolidate operations with or without a government bailout, the closing of an aging General Motors Corp. metal-stamping plant here shows how blue- and white-collar workers have been treated differently, with the former faring slightly better.

Earlier this year, United Auto Workers union members at the suburban Pittsburgh plant had the option of taking early retirement, a buyout or transferring to another plant. Those who didn’t take one of the choices now face a layoff.

Under the union contract, laid-off hourly workers receive pay from GM to supplement unemployment insurance that brings their income to 72% of their gross pay. After 48 months, workers can enter a “jobs bank” and receive 85% of their gross pay, until another GM job opens up.

Salaried workers at the plant, meanwhile, had the option to transfer or take early retirement, but weren’t offered a buyout if they weren’t yet eligible to retire. A handful of salaried workers will lose their jobs when the plant closes this Friday and receive a severance package.

[ Full story available at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122878314147589917.html ]

Steel Valley school directors got some bad news Monday night when auditors told them the district is not operating with a balanced budget and that a tax increase for next year is a virtual certainty.

Betsy Krisher, a partner with the auditing firm of Maher Duessel, reviewed the firm’s draft audit report for the board’s finance committee and informed the board that it had overspent its general fund budget in 2007-08 by $349,266.

She warned that if a similar scenario exists this year, “you won’t have any fund balance left all.”

To cover the overspending in last year’s budget, the district used money from its fund balance, which now sits at $243,068.

“You have to balance in 2008-2009 or you will be in the red. There is no cushion,” Ms. Krisher told the handful of board members who showed up for the finance committee meeting along with Superintendent William Kinavey and Director of Operational Services Mark Cherpak.

[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08339/932497-55.stm ]

By Eric Heyl
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

If you hurry, you might be able to find some cleanser there, or perhaps a pack of chewing gum.

But the produce is gone, the deli case is empty and don’t even try to locate a quart of milk. Barren shelves provide the unmistakable evidence: Foodlane is going out of business.

After 60 years as a mainstay on Munhall’s Main Street, the small, independently owned grocery will close forever at the end of the day Saturday.

It certainly isn’t a moment that general manager Mark Andrews, who has worked at the store for 22 years, anticipates as anything less than difficult.

[ Full story available at: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/heyl/s_601225.html ]

By Joe Napsha
TRIBUNE-REVIEW