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Pennsylvania could continue to work with a partnership headed by an Australian firm to replace nine major bridges across the state and maintain them for for 30 years. It just has to find another way to pay for the work now that adding tolls of $1 or $2 per vehicle is off the table. The state Department of Transportation continues to review how it will replace the bridges, which are estimated to cost $2.5 billion. They are considered economically important structures, but the state said it doesn’t have the funds to replace them. One possibility is that the state continues...

Study found that taxpayers shelled out $4 for every $1 in wages and benefits received by workers from the Paycheck Protection Program. Taxpayers paid $4 for every $1 in wages and benefits received by workers in jobs saved by the federal government’s pandemic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The Fed study also found PPP didn’t support jobs at risk of disappearing, and money flowed disproportionately to wealthier households. “The PPP was a very large and very timely fiscal-policy intervention, saving about 3 million jobs at its peak in...

A Las Vegas callgirl who comes up repeatedly on Hunter Biden‘s laptop hit the jackpot with a $20,207 check from the federal government for her “female owned sole proprietorship” shortly after her well-connected client’s father moved into the White House, according to federal records. The check Uncle Sam cut to Cheryl Deboves was part of the coronavirus Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) bailout, and she listed it as saving one job in the field of “Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers.” But unless she changed professions after President Joe Biden’s troubled son abandoned his laptop in a Delaware computer repair shop, her...

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will negotiate with a nine-member group of contractors headed by an Australian firm to replace nine bridges proposed for tolling at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion. The group — which calls itself Bridging Pennsylvania Partners — lists Macquarie Infrastructure Developments LLC of Sydney as the lead contractor and includes FCC Construccion, S.A., of Spain, as well as six Pennsylvania companies. They include Joseph B. Fay Co. and Shikun & Binui America Inc., of Pittsburgh. The contract will require that 65% of the work be done by Pennsylvania firms. State Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Johnstown...

A transportation company owned by Mike Collins, a Republican running for Congress in Georgia’s 10th District, received a $920,000 loan in April of 2020 as part of the Trump administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The next year Collins personally loaned his political campaign a total of $465,000, none of which has been repaid by the campaign.

The toll lanes for Florida’s I-4 Ultimate, a seven-year, $2.4 billion project, are now open, with 21 miles of rebuilt highway and new express lanes between Orange and Seminole counties. It is the largest road project in state history. Highlights of the project: Reconstruction of I-4 lanes and adding four new tolled I-4 Express lanes – two in each direction; Reconstruction of 15 major interchanges; Replacement of 74 bridges, widening of 13 bridges, and adding 53 new bridges. The I-4 Express lanes, the centerpiece of the project, are now open on the interstate’s center lanes and separated by concrete barriers....

Construction on Interstate 35W between North Tarrant Parkway and Eagle Parkway has officially crossed the half-way mark. The project, from public-private partnership North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners, is improving existing toll-free lanes and building two toll managed lanes in each direction. North Tarrant Infrastructure is the general contractor on the project. “This latest project on 35W is on track and will produce extra capacity and congestion relief north into Denton County by late 2023,” said Francisco Galdeano, COO of North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners Segment 3.

Several non-profit organizations that distribute crack pipes as part of smoking kits received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Daily Caller analysis of loan filings found. The Daily Caller identified eight organizations that received PPP loans and distribute kits with pipe components or a fully assembled smoking device. Those organizations received more than $5 million in PPP loans during the pandemic, including two organizations that received more than $1 million each. The federal government distributed $800 billion in PPP loans during the pandemic, with the majority going to business owners, shareholders, creditors, and suppliers, according to...

After years of work, shifting lanes, blocked exits and delays, the I-4 Ultimate Construction project is finally almost done. The new system will bring new lanes and tolls, and will offer a road that should be safer and faster. Advertisement Lynden Turnquest works for Truly Nolen, and for more than six years he's weaved his way through construction, hoping for relief, but not betting on it. "Once it opens up and the construction is done it'll be like WOOHOO!!! And then it's back to traffic again," Turnquest said. But how did we get to the point where officials felt we...

Celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church buckled to pressure and will repay $4.4 million in COVID-19 disaster loans meant for small businesses, according to a new report. In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, Lakewood — whose pastor Osteen is reportedly worth $50 million — defended its decision to seek support from the Paycheck Protection Program and insisted neither Osteen nor his wife received any of the money. “Like many organizations temporarily shuttered by the pandemic, this loan provided Lakewood Church short-term financial assistance in 2020 ensuring that its approximately 350 employees and their families would continue to receive a...

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation took the next step toward replacing and charging tolls on as many as nine bridges Monday, but motorists won’t pay to use the bridges until 2023 at the earliest. PennDOT announced it has selected three firms to submit proposals for finishing the design of the nine bridges and propose whether to bundle them together under one contract, replace them individually or a combination of the two. The department’s goal is to turn the bridges over to private firms to design and replace them, then maintain them for 30 years with the tolls covering the costs....

State officials plan to allow a private company to set toll rates and keep the revenue from the proposed I-285 express lanes — a move that will affect hundreds of thousands of metro Atlanta commuters. The firm would invest in the design, construction and maintenance of the new lanes, currently set for construction beginning in 2023, then recover its investment by collecting toll revenue for 50 years. Many details — including which company will operate the lanes, how much it will invest and any limits on its tolling authority — have not been determined. Georgia transportation officials say private investment...

The Paycheck Protection Program has run out of money for most borrowers before its planned May 31 end, the Small Business Administration said. Going forward, the program will only accept new applications from community financial institutions, which typically serve minority borrowers, as about $8 billion in funding was set aside for such businesses. The SBA will continue to fund outstanding approved PPP applications from other lenders but won’t accept any new applicants. The exhaustion of funds, which was announced Tuesday, comes just weeks after the PPP was extended through the end of May to allow borrowers more time to apply...

A former Massachusetts pizza shop owner is accused of using illegally obtained federal coronavirus relief funds to buy an alpaca farm, federal prosecutors said. Dana McIntyre, 57, who used to own Rasta Pasta Pizzeria in the city of Beverly, received a $600,000 loan by allegedly lying about his number of employees and falsifying an official tax form, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston. On his application for a Paycheck Protection Program loan, McIntyre allegedly said he employed about 50 people.

BEVERLY, MA —A large pepperoni with a side of warm and fuzzy mittens? The former owner of Rasta Pasta Pizzeria in Beverly is facing federal fraud charges after the U.S. Attorney's Office accused Dana McIntyre of using $660,000 in Paycheck Protection Program funds for personal purposes, including to buy alpacas for a farm in Vermont. The Grafton, Vermont resident, who previously lived in Beverly and Essex, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. McIntrye was scheduled to appear virtually in federal court on Tuesday. The U.S. Attorney Office said in April, McIntyre submitted...

Sen. Rand Paul and a group of Republican senators are demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland and officials from the Small Business Administration (SBA) open investigations into what they call the "unlawful participation" of Planned Parenthood affiliates in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Fox News has learned. Fox News exclusively obtained letters that Paul, R-Ky., the top Republican on the Senate Small Business Committee, sent to Garland, SBA Inspector General Mike Ware and SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman, calling for their "immediate attention" to the matter, claiming that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) applied for PPP loans with "full knowledge...

Maryland transportation officials announced Thursday that they have selected Australian toll road operator Transurban to develop high-occupancy toll lanes for the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, potentially cementing the company’s dominance in the Washington region. If Transurban and its partner, Australian investment bank Macquarie Capital, ultimately reach a 50-year deal with the state to build and operate the lanes, Transurban eventually would control 102 miles of express toll lanes around the nation’s capital — 37 in Maryland and 65 in Northern Virginia. Connecting high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in the two states would mark the beginnings of a regional network of...

A woman who took out a loan trying to save her small business during the pandemic now says that loan could cause her to shut down. The owner just found out she owes thousands more dollars than she expected. CBS 2’s Tara Molina is Working for Chicago, helping people navigate these challenging times. She reports that owner says she just can’t afford to pay it all back. She’s on the hook for $36,000 today. Money she says she doesn’t have, and can’t be forgiven, all because of what she calls bad communication with the bank she turned to for help....

The massive Interstate 70 construction project in central Denver is not only going to take almost a year longer than planned to complete, the state highway agency has now indicated that it’s also going to end up costing between $100 million and $150 million dollars more than the originally-planned $1.2 billion price tag. Taxpayers are only on the hook for $12 million in extra costs, thanks to a refinancing arrangement between state and federal highway agencies and the construction company working on the project that will cover the rest. Colorado Department of Transportation officials refuse to provide the precise cost...

The foreign-headquartered company that recently purchased the leading U.S. electronic voting firm is boasting that it was highlighted in a report on how technology is making the election process more efficient, secure, transparent, accessible and reliable. The report, WND has learned, was authored by a firm with links to billionaire activist George Soros. The information comes after WND reported two weeks ago that SCYTL recently acquired the software division of a non-profit election organization tied to Soros’ Open Society Institute. Yesterday, WND reported SCYTL announced its technology will be deployed at more U.S. jurisdictions ahead of the 2014 midterm elections....