Pennsylvania May Get Oil Company Tax Under Rendell Road-Repair Proposals

BloombergPennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell proposed taxing oil companies and increasing motor-vehicle fees to generate an additional $1 billion annually for transportation infrastructure.Oil companies do about $5 billion in business each year in the state while paying some $35 million in taxes, less than their fair share, Rendell, a 66-year-old Democrat, said today. A Republican spokesman said Rendell’s proposed tax is unlikely to pass, and might be unconstitutional.Profits of oil companies doing business in the state would be taxed 8 percent under the proposal, bringing in about $576 million during the first full fiscal year. Motor vehicle fees, some of which haven’t been increased in decades, would be adjusted to reflect the rate of inflation, Rendell said in a press conference in Harrisburg,...

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Rising Enrollment Strains, Crowds Western PA Colleges

Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewDuring her time at the University of Pittsburgh, Sandy Bly has seen the impact of ballooning freshman enrollment.Students living in converted lounge areas. Difficulty in registering for required courses."It's pretty frustrating," said Bly, 20, a senior majoring in accounting and general management.Colleges and universities in Western Pennsylvania and across the nation are coping with similar growing pains. Enrollment is rising because of a lack of jobs, employers' demands for a bachelor's degree and more older students returning to the classroom.At Pitt, where the number of new students increased 12 percent between 2005...

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PA Company has Tombstones Going Digital

Philadelphia Inquirer WAYNESBURG, Pa. - The concept of barcodes on tombstones and interactivity at the cemetery was considered too far-fetched when Glenn Toothman first traveled to funeral industry conferences 10 years ago."Nothing in the death-care business happens too quickly," he said.After years of waiting, technological developments have finally allowed Toothman to get to a point of "rebirth" for his Waynesburg company, the Memory Medallion.The Memory Medallion story began one Sunday evening in 1999, when Toothman, then the district attorney for Greene County, was visited by his father, a retired judge."I spent the day in the cemeteries,"...

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Pittsburgh Commercial Real Estate Market Improving

Pittsburgh Business TimesReal estate research company RealSTATs says the Pittsburgh region's commercial real estate market showed an increase in sales volume for the first half of 2010, compared to the same period last year.RealSTATs data shows the volume of commercial sales in the Pittsburgh region during the first half was $395.98 million, up 54 percent from the first half of 2009, when the volume was at a five-year low of $256.9 million.The average commercial sales volume for the first half of the year in the region over the past five years is $667.3 million.In Allegheny County, commercial sales volume was up 34 percent over the first half of 2009, to $277.5 million. Within the city of Pittsburgh, two sales accounted for almost half of the first half's $160.3 million total: the $38.6 million...

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