skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, July 7, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

National Weather Service defends its flood warnings amid fresh scrutiny of Trump staff cuts; Poll: Majority of West Virginians support renewable energy policies; MI fellowship trains justice-involved youth as community leaders; Measles outbreak hits central Kentucky.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Deadly Texas floods draw a federal response as the administration reduces emergency and weather services. States prepare to deal with cuts to schools, health care and environmental protections, while Elon Musk launches a new political party.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Farmers may abandon successful conservation programs if federal financial chaos continues, a rural electric cooperative in Southwest Colorado is going independent to shrink customer costs, and LGBTQ+ teens say an online shoulder helps more than community support.

PA Lehigh Valley economic stability at risk with Project 2025 proposals

play audio
Play

Monday, November 4, 2024   

Ahead of tomorrow's presidential election, a nonprofit is raising concerns Project 2025 and its proposed rollback of federal aid could disrupt economic growth in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

Pennsylvania is set to receive more than $15 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for more than 450 projects.

David Kieve, president of EDF Action, the advocacy partner of the Environmental Defense Fund, said the Inflation Reduction Act has made Pennsylvania cleaner and greener, and is boosting the Lehigh Valley economy.

"They're incentivizing and attracting private sector investment to communities like the Lehigh Valley," Kieve pointed out. "Mack Trucks has received $208 million in IRA funding, which is going to create nearly 300 union jobs."

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has allocated $11.1 billion for transportation, including roads, bridges, public transit, ports, and airports and $859 million for water infrastructure.

Kieve pointed out many people would feel the effects of Project 2025, including more than 200,000 in Lehigh Valley's Hispanic community. The proposed cuts could result in lost jobs and investments from recent federal legislation.

"These are communities that have sort of had fallen on hard times because of President Trump's spectacular mishandling of the COVID pandemic, but that are digging out and that are recovering," Kieve noted. "Project 2025 and the Donald Trump agenda would pull the rug right out from under those communities."

Pennsylvania is set to receive around $172 million over five years from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand electric vehicle charging. Allentown, within the Lehigh Valley, has 122 public charging ports, most of which are Level 2, which are more powerful than home units and charge vehicles more quickly. Some offer free charging.

Disclosure: The Environmental Defense Fund contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Energy Policy, Environment, Public Lands/Wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
In addition to affecting hospice services, the new federal budget is estimated to significantly increase health care costs for more than 1 million low-income Medicare enrollees. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A former Wisconsin mayor said the new federal budget will only worsen the current aging crisis families like hers have already been facing. Analysis …


Environment

play sound

Tributes and memorials are pouring in for victims of the deadly flooding along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County. The storm stalled over the Texas …

Social Issues

play sound

While cuts to food support programs and Medicaid gained attention as the debate over the budget bill went on, there is also a long-term likelihood it …


The federal government has not released a timeline for disbursing $6.8 billion in grants to school districts nationwide. (Monkey Business/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Panic has set in at school districts across the Golden State as the Trump administration continues to withhold federal funds. Tony Thurmond…

play sound

A controversial bill on how best to clean up the air at California ports gets a hearing today in Sacramento. Senate Bill 34 would place limits on …

Social Issues

play sound

Now that President Donald Trump's big budget bill has been signed into law, Arkansas nonprofits that rely on federal funding to help people in need …

Social Issues

play sound

Oregon lawmakers would have to find an extra $850 million in the state budget starting in 2028 to cover cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021