Upcoming Events
Summer Celebration in East Deer
East Deer Memorial Field,
Saturday, August 19, 2023, 12 PM - 8 PM
East
Deer Township’s Summer Celebration is this Saturday, August
19! You’ll be treated to live music, activities for the kids,
auctions, food, and games. We’ll be there to celebrate the
community and encourage you to come by our tent with your questions
for Senator Williams or her staff.
Nature Walk with Senator Williams
Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve,
Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 9 AM - 10 AM
Join Senator Williams next month for a morning ‘Birds and More
Nature Walk’ with the Audubon
Society of Western Pennsylvania at their Beechwood
Farms Nature Reserve. The short walk is free and you can share
issues that matter to you as we learn about the flora and fauna on the
Reserve.
Register for this event at Audubon
Society of Western PA (aswp.org) or call us at 412-364-0469
(Ross) or 724-224-2131 (Harrison). We hope to see you there!
Investing in Women Event
Virtual or Kingsley Association,
Larimer, Thursday, September 7, 6 PM - 8 PM
Mark your calendars for the Pennsylvania
Department of Banking & Securities Investing in
Women event I am hosting in September with Rep.
Latasha Mayes! The presentation will cover essential elements of
banking, credit, saving and investing to help women navigate their
finances and their future. It is never too late for financial
education!
Register for this event with the QR code above or
at Events
- Senator Lindsey Williams. If you have questions, please call us
at 412-364-0469 (Ross) or 724-224-2131 (Harrison) or email [email protected].
Community Wellness Initiative’s Wellness
Fair
Kingsley Association, Larimer, Saturday, September 9,
2023, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Join us at
the Community
Wellness Initiative of Pittsburgh Wellness Fair at
the Kingsley
Association on September 9th. The Wellness Fair is a great
opportunity to get health screenings, information on a wide range of
health and wellness topics, and even see a yoga or Tai Chi
demonstration. My staff will be there if you need assistance with
state services.
You can register for this event with the QR
code above or by clicking here.
Hope to see you there!
Good News
New
Sidewalks Along Perry Highway, McCandless
Last
Tuesday I joined Town
of McCandless Council President Mike Tarle, Council Member
Jack Casey, and residents to celebrate the opening of a new sidewalk
on Perry Highway! Sidewalks are all about connecting communities, and
this one will protect pedestrians as they walk to school, shopping,
and entertainment.
This was one of the first grant projects
that I helped advocate for when I became a Senator in 2019, so getting
to attend the ribbon cutting was especially exciting!
https://senatorlindseywilliams.com/williams-joins.../
Upper
Allegheny Valley Community Gardens
Rep.
Mandy Steele and I had the chance to tour some of the Upper
Allegheny Valley's community gardens in Sheldon Park, Natrona, and the
Greg Blythe Community Garden in Tarentum. Thank you to volunteer Drew
Jonczak for sharing his knowledge on the gardens and challenges facing
urban agriculture efforts!
Shaler
Area HS PIAA Champs!
Last Wednesday I joined
County Council Members Anita
Prizio and Bethany
Hallam, and members of the Shaler, Millvale, and Etna Councils to
congratulate the three historic Shaler
Area High School teams who made it to the PIAA finals this
spring! Congratulations again to the girls' softball, boys'
volleyball, and boys' baseball teams on your amazing 2022-23
seasons!
New
Bulletproof Vest Funded for K-9 Officer Theo
Last Wednesday, I was also able to meet Theo, the K9 officer
from Northern
Regional Police Department as his human officers received a
generous donation from the RichMar Rotary to purchase him a
bulletproof vest. Thank you to all of the community members who
contributed to keeping Theo safe on the job!
Sheldon
Park Community Day
We had great weather last
week for the annual Sheldon Park Community Day in Harrison
Township! Thank you to all of the families who came out to have
fun and say hello!
https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/sheldon-park-holds-26th-annual-community-day/
Aspinwall’s Big Night Out!
We had a blast last week at Aspinwall's
Big Night Out 2023! Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to
make this annual event such a success!
Legislation
The Importance of the Basic Education Funding
Commission
Our most recent budget increased
Basic Education Funding by $567 million. This is a historic investment
in education, but it’s still a drop in the bucket of what we
need to create the comprehensive, effective, and contemporary public
system of education guaranteed to our students by the Pennsylvania
Constitution.
One of the ways that the legislature can address
closing that gap is through the Basic Education Funding Commission,
which I serve on. The Commission is a bipartisan group of state
officials who are tasked with making recommendations about how to
improve our system of funding public education. You can follow along
with all of the BEF Commission’s actions, including livestreams
of all hearings and copies of all available testimonies, on my website
at https://senatorlindseywilliams.com/befc/.
The work of this Commission is an important part of addressing the
Commonwealth Court decision in
William Penn School District, et al. v. Pennsylvania Department of
Education et al. In that case, Judge Jubelirer found that the General
Assembly has failed to meet our constitutional duty to provide a
“thorough and efficient system of public education” by
both underfunding and unfairly funding public schools across
Pennsylvania.
In order to fulfill our constitutional
obligation, Pennsylvania public schools must have both adequate and
equitable resources – like smaller class sizes, up-to-date
textbooks, and safe school buildings – so that every child has a
meaningful opportunity to succeed academically, socially, and
civically.
To accomplish this, the BEF Commission will hold
hearings and receive testimony on the current system of funding public
education and what improvements can be made. At the end of this
process, the Commission is expected to issue a report with
recommendations. The General Assembly will then have to take
legislative action to put any or all of these recommendations in place
for the students and families of Pennsylvania.
The current
schedule for the Basic Education Funding Commission Hearings is:
| September 12 in
Allentown September 13 in Harrisburg September 14 in
Philadelphia September 21 in Lancaster September 28 in
Hanover | October 5 in
Hazleton October 11 in Pittsburgh October 12 in Lemont
Furnace November 2 in Enola November 9 in Bedford
|
The public can submit comments to be
entered into the record via the Contact Us section of the
commission’s website: basiceducationfundingcommission.com.
Some
Pa. schools waiting for funding to emerge despite budget passage |
90.5 WESA
LIHWAP
Deadline Extended to August 18!
Are you or
someone you know struggling with water or sewer bills? It’s not
too late to apply for the Low-Income
Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) because the
deadline was extended to Friday, August 18,
2023!
LIHWAP provides eligible
low-income households with one crisis grant for drinking
water service and one crisis grant for wastewater service of up to
$2,500 each! Crisis situations can include past-due water bills,
termination of utility service, or a danger of utility service
termination. Remember, LIHWAP is a grant program and does not
have to be repaid!
LIHWAP household income and size
requirements are below:
| Household Size |
Maximum Annual Income |
|
1 | $20,385 |
| 2 |
$27,465 |
| 3 | $34,545 |
| 4 |
$41,625 |
| 5 | $48,705 |
| 6 |
$55,785 |
| 7 | $62,865 |
| 8 |
$69,945 |
| 9 | $77,025 |
| 10 |
$84,105 |
For every additional person,
add $7,080
Applications can be submitted:
-
Online at COMPASS
HHS Home (state.pa.us).
- Paper: You can
download a paper application, print it, fill it out, and return it to
your local county assistance office.
-
Phone: Request an application by calling the
Statewide Customer Service Center at 877-395-8930 or call PA Relay at
711 for the hearing impaired.
- In-Person:
Applications are available at your local county
assistance office.
Complete eligibility information
and what you need to apply can be found here.
If you have any questions contact our office at 412-364-0469(Ross),
724-224-2131(Harrison), or [email protected].
Summer Storm Tips from the PA PUC
Summer storms continue to roll in, but don't be scared, be
prepared! Remember these tips from the Pennsylvania
Public Utility Commission (PUC)!
Before storms strike:
- Know Your Utility Hotlines - Write
down, print or save toll-free outage hotlines for your electric
utility and/or your natural
gas utility, which are listed on your monthly bills and posted on
the PUC website.
- Save Utility Website
Address - Your utility’s outage reporting system
can provide updates on repair and restoration efforts. Bookmark
these electric
utility outage sites and natural
gas company websites.
- Keep Your Cell
Phone Charged – A well-charged phone will keep you
in contact with your utility, other emergency services and family
members during any power outage.
- Secure
Supplies – Keep necessary food, medicine and other
supplies on-hand, including batteries for flashlights.
For more summer storm tips go to PUC
Offers Storm Safety Tips as Severe Thunderstorms Approach | PA
PUC.
Are You Ready to Resume Federal Student Loan
Payments?
September 1, 2023 marks the end of
the three year moratorium on federal student loan interest and
payments. While billing and interest accrual resume September 1, 2023,
borrowers will not have to make their first payments until
October.
To help smooth the transition back into repayment,
the Pennsylvania
Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) and the Pennsylvania
Department of Education are recommending borrowers reconnect
with their student loan servicers before September 1st. Below are best
practices both agencies recommend for reconnecting with student loan
servicers:
- Log in. Use your FSA ID
to log into StudentAid.gov.
- Confirm. your student loan servicer.
- Update. Log into your student loan servicer
account and update your contact information.
-
Setup. Decide which repayment options work best
for you and enroll in automatic payments.
-
Review. Review payment due dates and the amount
due.
Borrowers are encouraged to follow the
steps above before September 1st to avoid unexpected
issues and to insure they are on the right repayment
plan.
Borrowers can visit the Student
Loan Repayment Toolkit, developed by the National
Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), for
more helpful information and tips.
Explore PA Outdoors
Point State Park, Pittsburgh, August
19, 2023
The Pennsylvania
Game Commission and the Pennsylvania
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources are teaming
up to host Explore PA Outdoors, an educational
event in Pittsburgh’s Point
State Park. Staff will be on hand to share information on the
waters, woods, wildlife and hunting in Pennsylvania. All are welcome
and pre-registration is encouraged.
Register by scanning the
QR code above or by clicking here.
Bird
Hike at Harrison Hills Park
Harrison Hills Park, Saturday, August
26, 2023, 8 - 10:30 AM
Late August is a
special time of year in the Allegheny County Parks. Don’t miss
next Saturday’s bird hike at Harrison
Hills Park led by birder and photographer Dave Brooke. He
will share his expertise on the migratory birds that pass through the
park on a guided hike. RSVP at: [email protected].
As always, please feel free to reach out with any
questions you may have by phone at 412-364-0469 (Ross
Office), 724-224-2131 (Harrison
Office) or by email at [email protected].
My staff will return your call/email within 24 hours
(Monday-Friday).
Senator Lindsey Williams
