Pennsylvania

Nippon Steel fight points to industry's uncertain future in Pennsylvania

Published

6 months ago

June 30, 2024

Nippon Steel fight points to industry's uncertain future in Pennsylvania

The Edgar Thomson steel plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania, which has been producing since 1875, would go to Nippon Steel under a proposed buyout of United States Steel.
Photo: Rebecca DROKE / AFP
Source: AFP

Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of United States Steel has been a source of unease in Pittsburgh, where the metal once dominated the economy and still looms large in the collective psyche.

Critics such as the United Steelworkers (USW) see the transaction as the latest threat to come along in a years-long struggle to keep the industry alive after plant closures in 1970s and 1980s battered the American rustbelt.

“There’s just so much history here and a lot of pride that comes with that,” said the USW’s Bernie Hall, a 4th generation metals worker. “It wouldn’t be western Pennsylvania without steel.”

In December, US Steel sealed a $14.9 billion deal to sell itself to Japan’s Nippon Steel, which has promised investments to keep Pennsylvania factories competitive with foreign producers and newer “mini mills” in the American South that are less taxing on the environment.

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Bernie Hall, the District 10 Director for the United Steelworkers, outside the US Steel Mon Valley Works Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania.
Photo: Rebecca DROKE / AFP
Source: AFP

But Hall, head of the Pennsylvania chapter for the USW, said the Japanese company had been evasive about specific plans for Pittsburgh-region plants in an area called the Mon Valley, the earliest of which dates to 1875.

Both President Joe Biden and challenger Donald Trump have vowed to annul the deal as the two compete for blue-collar votes, putting the transaction into limbo, probably until after the November election at least.

At stake are the Pittsburgh region’s last remaining steel factories, located just outside the city.

City transformed

For most Americans, Pittsburgh remains virtually synonymous with steel, partly owing to the prominence of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football team.

The US Steel Mon Valley Works Clairton Plant is situated along the Monongahela River in Clairton, Pennsylvania.
Photo: Rebecca DROKE / AFP
Source: AFP

But the complexion of a metropolis once known as the Smoky City changed fundamentally after the last plants shuttered in the 1980s.

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Steel “is still part of our identity, but we’re disconnected from that identity,” said former steelworker Edward Stankowski Jr., whose memoir “Memory of Steel” details his exit from the industry with thousands of others in the early 1980s.

Stankowski, whose childhood Pittsburgh home looked out onto steel plants, started in the industry out of high school in the 1970s when many young men viewed the job as a ticket to the middle class, trading hard labor in a hazardous setting for good wages and a solid retirement.

The land where Stankowski’s factory once stood in Pittsburgh’s South Side has been repurposed and now includes apartments named “Hot Metal Flats” and a Cheesecake Factory restaurant.

“I do not miss it,” said Stankowski, who went to university after leaving steel and is now a professor at La Roche University. “I like having clean air. I like having clean water.”

Steel was well suited to western Pennsylvania, a region with waterways and an abundant supply of coal, but “there’s been a fundamental, almost tectonic shift in the geography of steel,” said regional economist Chris Briem of the University of Pittsburgh.

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The Mon Valley plants “have been around a long time,” Briem said. “If they don’t get a lot of new reinvestment, they probably won’t be competitive much longer.”

Locals see symbolism in the renaming of US Steel tower downtown as the UPMC building after the region’s biggest employer, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Long-term commitment?

Once owned by Andrew Carnegie, the Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock is one of three western Pennsylvania factories that US Steel manages together with a fourth plant in eastern Pennsylvania in an operation known as “Mon Valley Works.”

Nippon has promised to keep the plants open and invest $1.4 billion in USW-represented facilities through 2026 when the current labor contract expires. The company has also vowed to keep US Steel’s 1,000-worker office in downtown Pittsburgh.

“You cannot tell the story of US Steel without Pennsylvania playing a leading role, and Nippon Steel will keep it that way,” Nippon vice chairman Takahiro Mori wrote in a June 9 op ed in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

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Nippon has hinted that odds for US approval could improve after November. Backers of the transaction argue that US Steel could be broken up if the deal dies, adding more uncertainty to US Steel’s 3,000 hourly workers in Pennsylvania.

But the USW says Nippon’s plans are vague and give the company an out in a downturn.

“They’re saying they’re going to invest in the plants,” Hall said. “What does that mean?”

Edward Stankowski, Jr., a former steelworker, stands on the Hot Metal Bridge above the Monongahela River, a waterway once teeming with iron ore and coal barges for Pittsburgh steel mills.
Photo: Rebecca DROKE / AFP
Source: AFP

Workers want a sign that whoever runs Mon Valley “is interested in running these mills for the long-term and really investing in this community,” Hall said. “That’s exactly what they’re not hearing from either Nippon or US Steel.”

Some Mon Valley workers interviewed by AFP slammed the deal as a money grab by US Steel management, expressing fear about their jobs. But others are open to it.

Alex Barna, a machinist at the West Mifflin plan, described himself as “on the fence” as he weighs his hopes and worries, saying of Nippon, “they might be in it for the long haul.”

Source: AFP

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Pennsylvania

Ticket sold in Pennsylvania worth $1M as Mega Millions swells to $1.15B for post-Christmas draw

Published

11 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Ticket sold in Pennsylvania worth M as Mega Millions swells to .15B for post-Christmas draw

Billionaire dreams continue through Christmas after no ticket purchased in the $1 billion Christmas Eve 2024 Mega Millions draw hit the jackpot.

The jackpot rolled again — this time to $1.15 billion — after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024.

Léelo en español aquí.

Don’t throw away your tickets just yet as one sold in Pennsylvania is worth $1 million, according to Mega Millions.

What were the winning Mega Millions numbers drawn on Christmas Eve?

The Mega Millions draw for Dec. 24, 2024, went like this: The white balls drawn were 11, 14, 38, 45 and 46, plus the gold Mega Ball 3.

Ticket sold in Pennsylvania strikes $1 million prize

In total, fours tickets sold matched all five white balls, but missed the gold Mega Ball, the lottery said. Those tickets sold in California, Missouri, Wyoming and Pennsylvania are worth $1 million a piece.

NBC10 has reached out to Pennsylvania Lottery to find out where the Keystone State winner was sold. However, the state lottery offices are closed for Christmas, so the winning store won’t be revealed until Thursday at the earliest, a spokesperson said.

Nearly 4.3 million tickets sold around the country in Tuesday’s draw matched at least the gold Mega Ball and are worth $2 or more.

Once again, the winning numbers in the Dec. 24, 2024, draw were 11, 14, 38, 45 and 46, with a Mega Ball of 3.

If you or someone you know has a gambling addiction, please call the National Council on Problem Gambling at 1-800-522-4700 to speak to a counselor. Help is also available via an online peer support forum at www.gamtalk.org, and additional resources can be found at NCPG website.

When is the next Mega Millions draw?

Get out $2, jump into office pools and gift tickets to family as the next Mega Millions draw on Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, is worth at least $1.15 billion for the annuity and $516.1 million lump sum cash value, Mega Millions said.

That massive jackpot is the fifth largest in the game’s history, Mega Millions said.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a Christmas news release. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays – whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or any other way people choose to celebrate the season – than by helping fulfill the dreams that come with a prize like this and prizes that will be won at all levels of the game.”

What are the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot?

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, plus the Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

When did someone last hit the Mega Millions jackpot?

It’s been since Sept. 10, 2024, since a ticket sold in Texas hit all five numbers and the Mega Ball to win an $810 million jackpot.

Good luck!

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Pennsylvania

Future Oscar Hammerstein Museum in Doylestown gets $500K in Pa. funds

Published

20 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Future Oscar Hammerstein Museum in Doylestown gets 0K in Pa. funds

Junker said members of the executive committee have launched their own matching challenge, donating $100,000 once the same amount has been raised.

The museum bought Highland Farm a year ago from the previous owner who operated it as a Rodgers and Hammerstein–themed bed-and-breakfast. Hammerstein lived in the farmhouse for the last 20 years of his life, a period when he and composer Richard Rodgers created some of the most enduring musicals of American theater, including “The Sound of Music,” “Oklahoma” and “South Pacific.”

“Institutions like this help us to lead lives of purpose and meaning, they enrich our lives and provide opportunities for lifelong learning for folks of all ages,” said state Rep. Tim Brennan, a former board member of the museum. “Investing in this organization is an investment in our future.”

The first RACP grant in 2020 went toward buying the property and doing basic maintenance.

“One of the first things we did was install a security system,” Junker said. “Because we have started to collect some artifacts.”

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Pennsylvania

2 Western Pennsylvania men charged in murder-for-hire plot confession to pastor, police say

Published

1 day ago

December 24, 2024

Press Room

2 Western Pennsylvania men charged in murder-for-hire plot confession to pastor, police say

State police in Western Pennsylvania have charged two men in a murder-for-hire plot after one of the suspects allegedly confessed to his pastor.

NBC News affiliate WJAC reports David Vanatta, 49, and Colton Baird, 32, both of Elk County, were jailed for an alleged plot to kill Vanatta’s ex-wife.

An affidavit obtained by WJAC states Vanetta confessed to a pastor that he paid Baird $2,000 to kill his ex-wife. The pastor then reported the information to police.

Police say the ex-wife was never harmed.

Online court records show Vanatta and Baird are facing several charges, including criminal solicitation – criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide and attempted homicide. Both men are being held in the Elk County Prison without bail.

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