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New York Post
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Pittsburgh is poised to be at the heart of America's second Industrial Revolution
PITTSBURGH — It was the site of America's first industrial revolution. Now it's prepared to usher in a second one, when the country's leaders in innovation, technology, energy and artificial intelligence meet at Carnegie Mellon University on Tuesday for the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit. President Donald Trump, in an interview with me ahead of the summit, said the event is going to 'open the eyes of a lot of people of what is about to be unleashed in Pennsylvania.' Senator David McCormick, the Pittsburgh Republican who assembled the July 15 event, said the energy and AI summit will feature Trump, several cabinet members, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, big Tech leaders from OpenAI and Meta as well as energy leaders from all over the country, including the natural gas powerhouse EQT's Toby Rice. 3 Industrialist Andrew Carnegie turned Pittsburgh into the steel capital of the world. ASSOCIATED PRESS 'And what is about to happen here in Pennsylvania, with the technology experts from our universities, the natural resources, the ability to turn around long dormant industrial communities and our unparrelled workforce is a game changer,' McCormick said. He compares the moment to 1859, when Edwin Drake became the first American to successfully drill for oil. Drake's Well, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, ushered in an energy revolution. Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie was an early investor in this oil boom, which he then used to build the largest steel company in the world in western Pennsylvania. Carnegie became one of the richest men in American history, and donated most of it — including to the Pittsburgh research university that bears his name. 'People will quickly see we are on the brink of America's next industrial revolution, just in the same way Pennsylvania led the first one when Drake's oil was discovered,' McCormick said. 'We are at that moment right now, thanks to the technology that comes from [Carnegie Mellon] and the hubs of companies that surround it, as well as our incredible work force to build these AI data power centers, and the tradesmen and women who will supply the energy needed for them,' he said. Darrin Kelly, the President of the Allegheny-Fayette Labor Council, said if the investments in projects all line up, his men and women will be ready to go. 'We have the best workforce in the world and no matter what it is, we'll shine when the time comes.' 3 Workers at the the McKeesport steel mill in 1949. ASSOCIATED PRESS The event comes on the heels of a boom in the labor force in Pennsylvania that kicked off last month when Trump announced the partnership and $11 billion investment from Japanese-owned Nippon Steel. That investment not only kept the American steelmaker in the U.S., but also protected more than 100,000 jobs through investments in steelmaking in Pennsylvania as well as in other plants in Indiana, Arkansas, Minnesota and Alabama. That announcement was quickly followed by Amazon pledging $20 billion in Pennsylvania for AI infrastructure. Shapiro told me that the investment will establish multiple high tech cloud computing and AI innovation campuses across the Commonwealth, 'It will create thousands of new jobs that will build, operate and maintain the first two data center campuses in Luzerne and Bucks counties,' he said, adding, 'look for more investment soon.' Western Pennsylvania sits in the sweet spot for the growth and development of the AI boom; both the University of Pittsburgh and CMU are heralded for attracting and training some of the brightest minds in the country when it comes to engineering, research and artificial intelligence. Western Pennsylvania has had its troubles. After the end of the steel boom, the area decayed, unemployment was rampant — still-vacant coal fired power plants, steel mills and manufacturing plants stand as ghostly sentinels of an era that has long vanished. But things started to turn around about 15 years with a natural-gas boom and oil fracking technology. McCormick says between the access to massive amounts of energy, both natural gas, nuclear as well as coal that will turn things around in a way no one has seen for generations. In April, in Homer City, the stacks of a former coal fired power plant were imploded, and the site is being redeveloped into a $10 billion AI and data center. In the two years since the Homer City coal fire plant had been closed down, the tiny western Pennsylvania village had already started to show signs of depression — but the new investment changed everything. 3 Sen. Dave McCormick assembled the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit that will be hosted in Pittsburgh this week. AP Photo/Steven Senne McCormick said this isn't just about the potential tens of thousands of construction jobs to build these AI data centers. 'These jobs will also include chemists, scientists, engineers, AI experts, physicists,' he said. McCormick said people have asked him why Pittsburgh? His answer: 'The energy production is incredible, it is the number two energy producer in the country which is the first necessary step to power the AI revolution and to really power the energy revolution. We have incredible skilled labor, with the welders, steam fitters, pipe fitters, construction workers and electricians, but we also have incredibly sophisticated technologists.' 'I think it's arguably CMU is the best AI university in the country. It's got incredible tradition with computer science and technologists, which is why in recent years, Google and Apple and Airbnb and everybody else, Tesla all have offices around here because they're trying to draw on that talent,' he said. Trump, Shapiro and McCormick all expressed great excitement about what people learn from this summit, but also to show the turn around for the region. 'Too often the stories have been about what once was, well this is a moment about how great things will be,' said McCormick, adding, 'We are only beginning.' Salena Zito is the author of 'Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland,' out now.
Middle East Eye
08-07-2025
- Business
- Middle East Eye
Greek dock workers will refuse to unload Israel's 'murderous cargo'
Dock workers at the port of Piraeus have said that they will refuse to unload the Ever Golden, a container ship carrying military-grade steel to Israel, when it arrives in Greece. 'We will not unload a single inch of this murderous cargo,' Enedep, the union of dock workers at Athens's port city, said on Tuesday. 'The dock workers of Piraeus will not be complicit. We will not unload military steel from the Ever Golden - no to Greece's involvement - freedom for Palestine,' the workers said. According to the ship and container tracking site Vessel Finder, the Ever Golden, which is Japanese-owned and sails under the flag of Panama, was sailing off the coast of West Africa on Tuesday morning. It is expected to reach Piraeus on 14 July. Once it arrives there, its cargo is intended to be moved to another container ship, the Folk Dammam, and taken on to Israel. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The Ever Golden, which was built in 2018 and is carrying 75 bundles of military-grade steel originating in India, stopped into a port in Singapore for six hours between 12 and 13 June. Last week, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Israeli occupation movement posted on social media that the vessel, 'carrying steel to Israel in the middle of its ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians', was on its way to Greece. 'The port of Piraeus is not an advanced outpost of the US, Nato, the EU or the war profiteers' - Dock workers at the port of Piraeus 'There, the cargo is set to be transferred to the Folk Dammam, which flies the flag of Saudi Arabia.' The Folk Dammam is then scheduled to take the steel to the port of Haifa in Israel. A container ship, the Folk Dammam, was bought by Saudi Arabian operator Folk Maritime, which is owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), on 14 May. According to BDS, the transshipment of military-grade steel was arranged when the vessel was called Vega Coligny and was sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands. On Tuesday, shipping tracker Marine Traffic placed the Folk Dammam at the port of Mundra on the west coast of India. 'We call on activists and people in Greece and Saudi Arabia - as well as Japan, Panama, Taiwan and all coastal states - to pressure their authorities not to aid this (or any) illegal military transfers to genocidal Israel - and, instead, to stop it,' the BDS movement said. The Ever Golden's manager, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, which is part of Imabari Shipbuilding, is based in Japan. It flies under the Panamanian flag and its operator, Evergreen Marine Corporation, is based in Taiwan. Middle East Eye has asked Evergreen Marine Corporation and Folk Maritime for comment. 'United against imperialist involvement' Piraeus dock workers said the Ever Golden was expected to arrive at docks two and three on 12 July carrying military-grade steel. 'This is a war cargo that, if unloaded and transferred, will end up being used to strike children, civilians, hospitals, and schools in the massacre carried out by the murderous state of Israel against the Palestinian people,' the Enedep union said. Watermelon Index names and shames companies complicit in Israel's war on Gaza Read More » 'The port of Piraeus is not an advanced outpost of the US, Nato, the EU or the war profiteers. It is not a transshipment station for deadly cargo. It is a place of work and struggle for the working class. As we have done in the past, we will not unload a single inch of this murderous cargo.' Enedep called on all dock workers to 'refuse any assignment related to this vessel. Let us stand united against imperialist involvement'. 'We refuse to be tools of the US, Nato, the EU, Israel, or China, who use our country's infrastructure to reshape the world redrawing borders with the blood of nations of the Palestinian people,' the union said. 'We stand on the right side of history and refuse to become targets of retaliation ourselves.' Dock workers against Israel The declared action at Piraeus follows in the wake of a series of similar acts of organised resistance at European ports. On 4 June, French dockers in the CGT union discovered that 19 pallets of submachine gun spare parts were to be loaded at the port of Marseille-Fos onto a Liberian-flagged container ship bound for Haifa. The dockers located the container, set it aside and refused to load it onto the ship, saying they would "not participate in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government". Following their lead, the port workers of Genoa, through their union USB, coordinated a garrison at the Port of Genoa, with the aim of preventing the docking of the same ship, the CONTSHIP ERA. The Italian dock workers said that they, too, did not want to "be complicit in the genocide that continues in Gaza".
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
World's top businesses, Lee Company receive biggest Tennessee tax rebates
The Lee Company, owned by Gov. Bill Lee's family. received Tennessee's biggest business tax rebate. Lee's office has consistently said his company interest is in a blind trust. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) Some of the world's largest companies and the governor's family business received Tennessee's biggest new business tax rebate, according to a listing released by the Department of Revenue. Lee Company, a mechanical engineering and HVAC, plumbing and electrical services company owned by Gov. Bill Lee's family, joined Amazon, FedEx, Nissan, Hankook Tire, 84 Lumber, AT&T and utilities such as Atmos Energy and Alabama Power in netting franchise and excise tax rebates of more than $10,000 each created by a 2024 state law. Memphis-based FedEx, with 13 subsidiaries, landed the maximum rebate for each one, and Japanese-owned Nissan filed for six subsidiaries that each received the rebate. A governor's spokesperson did not respond to questions Monday, but his office consistently says he put his interest in Lee Company into a blind trust during his governorship, though he could benefit when he leaves the post late in 2026. Other notable companies among the 16,000 receiving the state's maximum break in its business property tax include Bridgestone, Ingram Partners, Aegis Sciences, Ajax Turner, Ascension Care, BNSF Railway Co., Carhartt Inc., Ford Motor Co, Volkswagen, Coca-Cola Bottling, Denso Manufacturing, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Gannett Co., Frito-Lay Inc., Pilot and Pilot Travel Centers and Brown-Forman, the owner of Jack Daniel's. Popular Nashville spots such as Frothy Monkey, Jeff Ruby's, Von Elrod's and Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar took the rebate as well. In all, about 60,000 companies received three-year refunds ranging from less than $750 to between $750 and $10,000. The estimated $1.5 billion in refunds and tax cuts, a large number of them made to out-of-state companies, appears to be having an immediate impact on the state budget. Tennessee's business tax collections on property and earnings are $335 million short of projections through the first four months of the year — 11% off the mark — according to the Department of Finance and Administration. The tax cut amounts to more than $400 million annually. Tennessee lawmakers approved the refunds and franchise tax break in 2024 when Department of Revenue officials said the state faced legal threats over its business taxes. Despite the shortfall, Republican Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said in a Monday statement: 'I believe now, as I did at the time, that the rebates were the most responsible course due to the strong probability that the state would be in a worse fiscal position after impending litigation. Based on the advice of the attorney general, we were simply not willing to take that kind of risk with Tennessee's financial future on the line and I stand by that decision.' Other lawmakers such as House Majority Leader William Lamberth, a Portland Republican, said last year they supported Gov. Bill Lee's legislation because it was good policy, not because of legal threats. Some 80 companies reportedly sent letters to the state requesting rebates. 'Conservative budgeting and fiscal responsibility over the past decade have placed our state in a strong financial position,' Lamberth said in a statement Monday. 'The significant tax cut we approved last year reinvested dollars right back into the businesses, communities and workers that fuel the Volunteer State's economy.' The state's lists, which will be on the Department of Revenue website for only 30 days, don't detail the exact amount of rebates, but the largest amount could run from $10,000 to $75,000. State Sen. Heidi Campbell, a Nashville Democrat, blasted the move as a 'corporate tax refund scheme' and encouraged people to check the list to see which companies are benefiting. Campbell said lawmakers approved the measure without a lawsuit or court ruling, Tennessee's largest companies secure sales tax exemptions for everything from jet fuel to water 'Just a letter from corporate attorneys and a political class eager to please.' Campbell added the state is dealing with its biggest budget deficit of the year as a result. The legislature refused to take action this year on grocery sales tax reductions, one sponsored by Democrats accompanied by an effort to go after offshore accounts used to hide income and one backed by Republicans that offered no way to offset the revenue loss. 'This is the real cost of trickle-down economics: corporate handouts while working families get left behind. It's fiscally irresponsible and morally indefensible,' Campbell said. The advocacy group Tennessee For All, which supports elimination of the grocery tax, criticized the state's refunds, saying companies are exploiting the program. 'Instead of closing loopholes so families can get a break on groceries, the majority of legislators chose more corporate giveaways,' said Angela Wynn, a Rutherford County parent and member of Public School Strong, a partner in the Tennessee For All coalition. The group pointed toward reports by two Democratic lawmakers using state information from 2022 and 2025 that show more than 60% of corporations operating in Tennessee pay nothing in excise taxes on income. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
01-06-2025
- Politics
Ecuador apologizes to plantation workers who were exposed to 'modern slavery' conditions
QUITO, Ecuador -- Ecuador's government issued a public apology on Saturday to a group of plantation workers who were subjected to slave-like conditions according to a ruling issued last year by the country's Constitutional Court. In an event held near the presidential palace in Quito, various members of Ecuador's Cabinet recognized that more than 300 workers of a Japanese-owned abaca plantation were forced to live in conditions of 'modern slavery' with Labor Minister Ivone Nuñez pledging that Ecuador will strive to 'build a state that guarantees the human rights of workers.' The apology issued by government officials is one of the reparation measures ordered by the court last year. In the ruling, the Constitutional Court determined that between 1963 and 2019 workers of the Japanese company Furukawa were forced to live in dormitories without basic services at a plantation in western Ecuador, where accidents were common due to the lack of safety training. Former employees of Furukawa attended Saturday's ceremony along with their lawyers, who have accused the company of not paying reparations to the workers who were affected by the harsh conditions at its plantation in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas province. Furukawa representatives were not immediately available for comment. The company changed owners in 2014, and it has said that conditions have changed since then. Furukawa has also asked Ecuador's government to lift a ban on the sale of its properties in Ecuador so that it can pay reparations to workers. The abaca plant, which is also known as manila hemp, is used to make specialty papers, ropes and fishing nets. The plant resembles a banana plant, but its fruits are not edible.
Korea Herald
01-06-2025
- Korea Herald
Ecuador apologizes to plantation workers who were exposed to 'modern slavery' conditions
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's government issued a public apology on Saturday to a group of plantation workers who were subjected to slave-like conditions according to a ruling issued last year by the country's Constitutional Court. In an event held near the presidential palace in Quito, various members of Ecuador's Cabinet recognized that more than 300 workers of a Japanese-owned abaca plantation were forced to live in conditions of 'modern slavery' with Labor Minister Ivone Nunez pledging that Ecuador will strive to 'build a state that guarantees the human rights of workers.' The apology issued by government officials is one of the reparation measures ordered by the court last year. In the ruling, the Constitutional Court determined that between 1963 and 2019 workers of the Japanese company Furukawa were forced to live in dormitories without basic services at a plantation in western Ecuador, where accidents were common due to the lack of safety training. Former employees of Furukawa attended Saturday's ceremony along with their lawyers, who have accused the company of not paying reparations to the workers who were affected by the harsh conditions at its plantation in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas province. Furukawa representatives were not immediately available for comment. The company changed owners in 2014, and it has said that conditions have changed since then. Furukawa has also asked Ecuador's government to lift a ban on the sale of its properties in Ecuador so that it can pay reparations to workers. The abaca plant, which is also known as manila hemp, is used to make specialty papers, ropes and fishing nets. The plant resembles a banana plant, but its fruits are not edible. Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas and is also among a handful of countries that produces large quantities of abaca.
