Schools in Pennsylvania are back in full swing—students have new classes, new teachers, new material to learn and perhaps even a new school to attend. But with the excitement of school, comes growing concern to ensure our school communities are kept safe from gun violence.

In March, a statewide survey found that nearly half of Pennsylvania parents are more worried about gun violence at school than they are about their children “being behind academically.” When asked about a range of gun safety proposals, an overwhelming number (84%) supported “holding gun owners legally responsible if a firearm is not properly secured in their home and is used by a child…to harm or kill themself or others.” 

Other survey findings further suggest the majority of Pennsylvania parents (and in many cases strongly) support the following policies:

• Requiring criminal background checks of individuals on all gun sales;
• Increased funding to enhance the physical safety of school buildings as long as it does not negatively impact the learning environment;
• Raising the minimum age of a person who can own or purchase a semi-automatic weapon from 18 to 21; 
• Prohibiting people who have been convicted of domestic abuse from buying or owning a gun; and
• Banning the civilian sale, manufacture, and purchase or transfer of military-grade weapons, such as the AR-15.

It should come as no surprise then that the survey also found Pennsylvania parents overwhelmingly prefer politicians committed to adopting and strengthening these types of gun safety policies. This sentiment may partially explain why this summer, our state legislature passed Act 55 (formerly Senate Bill 700), which increases school safety by requiring all school districts in the state to have at least one school security employee on duty during the school day.

We commend the legislature for acting because providing our students with more safety from gun violence remains a top priority for Pennsylvania parents. 

At PTA, we have long demanded that more is done to protect our children and youth from gun violence and save lives. PTA members in Pennsylvania and across the country have played a critical role in advocating for common sense solutions to gun violence. It remains a top priority of our association to prevent and eliminate gun violence, promote the safety and well-being of all children, and ensure every child has every opportunity to reach their full potential. 

In the last year, our association has tripled our efforts to make school communities safer from gun violence. In March, our association launched a collaboration with Everytown for Gun Safety to better advocate for gun violence prevention in our school communities. The research cited above was the first product of this collaboration. And in June, PTA nationally adopted an amendment to our association’s Safe Storage of Firearms resolution that calls for our association to support legislation requiring adults to be accountable for storing their firearms safely.

At Pennsylvania PTA specifically, we are focused on the PTA mission – to advocate for all children – which means that improving the safety in all schools in our Commonwealth is a priority for our state association.

Gun violence prevention is a critical priority for all parents, educators, students and community members. Those of us at Pennsylvania PTA and with PTA across the country are working hard to drive common sense gun safety improvements in our school communities. Join us in demanding action and change to protect children and families from gun violence by becoming a member of PTA or taking action on our website at PTA.org/Advocacy

By taking action and working together, we can return to the days where we worried about ‘normal’ things when it comes to school, not whether our child will return home safe each day.

Bonnie Fagan is Secretary of the Pennsylvania PTA. 

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – This past week’s drought monitor continues to show much of Western PA and Northern West Virginia in moderate to severe drought conditions. 

In Pennsylvania, 98.71% of the state is in at least abnormally dry conditions. Roughly 44% of the state is in moderate drought or worse, which is the greatest area coverage since late June 2023. 

There have only been four other times since 2000 when greater than 98% of the state was abnormally dry or worse: May 2001, July 2002, September 2002, May 2006, and June 2023.

In West Virginia, conditions are much worse statistically speaking with nearly 100% of the state in moderate or worse drought. This year also marked the first time West Virginia has seen exceptional drought conditions—the highest categorization of drought–since the drought monitor emerged in 2000. 

During the summer, when this drought emerged, it was categorized as “short-term”, meaning that impacts were primarily limited to grasslands and agriculture. Now, we are categorized with both “short-term” and “long-term” drought which means impacts are extending beyond dried-out plants and soils—we are seeing increasing impacts to hydrology along with ecology. 

Recently, water levels in Yough Lake in Somerset County have dropped so low that remains of the town of Somerfield and a bridge that used to run through it have been exposed.

Yough Lake is the only water source that is running well below normal in our region due to the ongoing drought. The entire Youghiogheny River basin from Sutersville, PA, to Friendsville, MD is running much below normal in terms of streamflow with some stream gauge sensors reporting flow in the lowest 10th percentile. 

This means that there is only a small percentage of available records lower than what is being observed now. Other creeks and rivers that have reported severely low streamflow in the last two weeks include Loyalhanna Creek from the Loyalhanna Dam to Kingston, PA; the Beaver River from Wampum to Beaver Falls, PA; the Shenango River from Sharpsburg to Transfer, PA; and French Creek from Meadville to Utica, PA. Even the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers have reported below-normal streamflow on average over the last few weeks. 

This is a regional-wide drought as much of the East Coast is experiencing its driest fall to date. Philadelphia recorded no measurable rain during the entire month of October making it the driest ever recorded. New York City also recorded its driest October on record which has led to the explosion of severe drought and some wildfires in that area.

The rain that fell on Sunday, November 10, provided some soil moisture but did not help hydrological issues much. Most of Western PA and Northern WV received between 0.5″ to 1″ of rain according to Doppler Radar estimates. 

This is a far cry from what is needed to end the drought. Gridded rainfall analysis maps show large swaths south of Pittsburgh receiving only HALF of their normal rainfall since the middle of May and in need of 5-8+” of rain to make up the deficit. 

Officially in Pittsburgh, our deficit has increased more so during the fall after some localized rainfall events kept us above average during the summer. Pittsburgh Airport is in need of 3.66″ of rain to make up the fall 2024 deficit.

Looking ahead, there are signs the long-range weather pattern will become more active during the third week of November. This may finally bring a more consistent buy of precipitation to our drought-stricken region.