THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Census could move online by 2020
By Karina Yiicel
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
Downtown officials and student
leaders think that moving the U.S.
census online would increase par
ticipation among college students.
University Park Undergraduate
Association (UPUA) President
Christian Ragland said moving
the census online could be both a
positive and a negative.
"One of the things I loved about
the census was that it was person
al, [the Census Bureau] sent peo
ple into the communities and they
got to know the environment,"
Keith Srakocic/Associated Press
Wednesday's explosion at Clairton has led officials to investigate the safety of other steel plants.
Explosion
By Jennifer C. Yates
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PITTSBURGH From the
outside, a typical coke plant looks
like something from a dystopian
science-fiction movie: a maze of
metal buildings, pipes, conveyer
belts and tall smokestacks belch
ing white puffs of smoke and
steam into the air
Inside. there's danger seen and
unseen: ovens that heat coal to
more than 3,000 degrees, massive
steel doors for loading the ovens.
moving cars and chutes for coal,
and gases that can cause cancer
or ignite.
Turning coal into coke, a raw
material used in steelmaking, is a
complicated and dangerous
process, as evidenced by
Wednesday's explosion that
injured 20 people at the country's
largest coke plant. But those
familiar with the industry say it
can be done safely.
"When people ask me, is this is
safe place or is this a dangerous
place? (I say) it's both," said
Michael Wright, head of the
health, safety and environment
department for the United
Steelworkers union. "Our philoso
phy is that anything can be done
safely if you work at it, but clearly
something went wrong here."
The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration was inves
tigating Wednesday's blast at U.S.
Steel's Clairton Coke Works. A
cause was not yet known.
State police must release records
The State police have 30 days
to appeal the ruling.from the
state Office of Open Records
By Peter Jackson
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARRISBURG The Pennsylvania
State Police must release most of its
records about work that its employees per
form while they are off-duty the state
Office of Open Records has ruled.
The office concluded in Wednesday's
decision that the state police erred in with
holding information about employee moon
lighting in response to a right-to-know
request filed in April by the Associated
Press.
The regulatory agency gave the state
police 30 days to release all requests, deci
sions and other records involving outside
work by employees.
State police spokesman Jack Lewis said
the department had not yet received a copy
of the decision.
The department has 30 days to decide
whether to appeal to Commonwealth
Court.
Earlier this year, a moonlighting state
trooper was connected to the off-field
carousing and legal problems of quarter
back Ben Roethlisberger.
The Pittsburgh Steelers star sometimes
used the trooper friend as his personal
assistant.
Office of Open Records appeals officer
Lucinda Glinn said in her decision that
state police may legally black out home
addresses of law-enforcement officers
and Social Security numbers for all
employees.
But she said state police failed to estab
lish that information about outside jobs is
protected by exemption,. , state Right
to-Know Law.
Glinn also rejected claims by the state
police and the Pennsylvania State
Troopers Association that disclosing the
Ragland (senior-political science)
said.
But as a student, he thinks an
online census could be more con
venient.
"It will be better for students.
We pretty much live our lives on
the Internet: ANGEL. Google,
Webmail," Ragland said. "It would
be easier for students to fill out."
Some students agreed that the
switch could be beneficial and
gain more student support.
- Absolutely," Jeffrey Holland
(senior-health policy and adminis
tration) said.
Holland said the Internet would
leaves safety doubts
The plant's largest battery a
structure containing dozens of
coke ovens, was shut down after
the blast. Company officials said it
was operating at a reduced rate
Thursday and expected it to be
fully operational in a week. The
rest of the plant was operating
normally.
Fourteen employees and six
contractors were injured in the
blast. Nine remained hospitalized
Thursday; including two in critical
condition at West Penn Hospital
and three in critical condition at
UPMC Mercy.
About 1,500 people work at the
plant, one of four operating coke
plants in Pennsylvania and 20 in
the U.S.
Clairton, a town outside
Pittsburgh of about 7.800 resi
dents and with a median income of
about $26.000, is perhaps best
known as the setting for "The
Deer Hunter" the 1078 Vietnam
epic that won live Oscars.
It's not clear how many resi
dents work at the plant, which
dominates the city's landscape
and has been owned by U.S. Steel
for a century. Census figures show
that about 12 percent of people in
Clairton work in manufacturing.
Elaine Lawrence's 19-year-old
son, Martin, started working there
in June. He was at the mill during
the explosion but was not injured.
"He's not going to be there for
long. He's going to be going to
school," she said.
To make coke, coal is baked in
location and approximate start and stop
times of outside work should be withheld
for security reasons.
The state police and the troopers' union
had provided examples of officers being
attacked while performing off-duty jobs,
but they failed to show that releasing the
information the AP was seeking would lead
to any similar attacks, Glinn said.
On Thursday, basd on similar conclu
sions, the open-records office also ordered
the release of information about state
police employees' outside work to the
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, which asked
for it shortly after the AP request.
In March, a college student accused
Roethlisberger of sexually assaulting her
in the bathroom of a Georgia bar.
The local prosecutor decided there was
not enough evidence to prosecute, but the
investigation earned Roethlisberger a six
game suspension from the NFL.
Trooper Ed Joyner was with
Roethlisberger on the night of the alleged
attack
The state police are investigating his
actions and have barred him from working
for Roethlisberger.
In an interview among dozens of audio
and video recordings from the Georgia
investigation, Joyner indicated he was
worried about his superiors finding out
about his involvement.
He asked a Georgia investigator to let
him know before she ran his name or
Social Security number.
- It is very imperative that if anything is
going southward, you end up running that,
you have to call me before you do that," he
said in the March 13 interview.
"You've got to because what will happen
is it will flag. As soon as you run any troop
er's name, it flags."
"You know, my department, I don't really
have to let them know unless I'm the sub
ject of (an investigation)," Joyner said. "As
a witness, there's no reason to. But once
they run your name, they're like, 'lf you're
a witness, what the hell are they running
your name for?"'
make filling out the census form
both smoother and easier to com
plete.
State College is 75 percent col
lege students, and was struggling
earlier this year to motivate that
portion of the population to fill out
the census forms, State College
Mayor Elizabeth Goreham said.
For each person who doesn't fill
out a census form, the state will
lose roughly $l,OOO per year for the
next ten years, Census Bureau
Media Specialist Pamela Golden
said.
Goreham said a lot of students
may have been reluctant to fill out
special ovens for hours at high
temperatures to remove impuri
ties that could otherwise weaken
steel. The process creates what's
known as coke gas made up of a
lethal mix of methane, carbon
dioxide and carbon monoxide.
Because of those and other haz
ards, coke plants must meet feder
al requirements on everything
from how machinery operates to
workers' protective gear.
Employees have flame-retardant
clothing, hardhats, safety boots
and respirators, depending on
their job.
Clairton was last inspected by
OSHA in 2009, and the agency
found no violations. A U.S. Steel
spokeswoman said there was no
one available Thursday to talk
about working conditions at the
plant.
Bruce Steiner, president of the
American Coke and Coal
Chemicals Institute, said more
common accidents at coke plants
involve workers falling, getting
pinched between equipment or
other similar injuries.
"Explosions are pretty rare. I've
only heard of maybe two or three
in the last five years or so," Steiner
said.
One of those explosions hap
pened at Clairton in September
2009. when a maintenance worker
was killed. The blast happened in
a different area from Wednesday's
blast, and OSHA has issued no
citations against U.S. Steel in that
case.
Delivery I Take Out I Dine-In
GIG
"It will be better for students. We pretty much
live our lives on the Internet: ANGEL, Google,
Webmail."
the form because they were either could help participation," she said.
from out-of-state or might have "Some people would be comfort
been worried their landlords able using the Internet, while oth
would out about overcrowding in ers might not be. We would have to
downtown housing. give out the forms multiple ways."
Golden said she believes that to The Census Bureau's best idea
the student population. an online this year was its heavy advertis
census would be very attractive. ing, Golden said, which. included
"Moving to the Internet in 2020 television commercials.
Sestak ads removed
By Marc Levy
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARRISBURG
Pittsburgh-area television sta
tions are pulling a commercial
attacking Democratic policies
and the voting record of
Democratic U.S. Senate candi
date Joe Sestak after he com
plained about its accuracy.
An e-mail message to the
Sestak campaign from sister
stations WPGH and WPMY said
the ad will be discontinued.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
first reported on it Thursday.
Sestak, a second-term con
gressman from the Philadelphia
suburbs, had complained in a
letter to WPGH, WPMY and 14
other TV stations that were air
ing the ad sponsored by the ITS.
Chamber of Commerce.
The ad, which began airing
Monday, says Sestak voted with
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
"100 percent of the tune, - 'for a
government takeover of health
care" and "billions in job killing
energy taxes."
Sestak calls all three state
ments false.
"We'd just like to cite the
facts," Sestak said. "I'm not lib
eral, I'm not conservative. I'm
very pragmatic. I look at the
facts. ... Their ads don't do that.
they're at best misleading."
Sestak is in a competitive race
with Republican Pat Toomey for
an open Senate seat.
The candidates are trying to
portray each other as too
extreme for Pennsylvania's vot
ers.
At least two third-party ads.
including the chamber's ad, are
already airing in Pennsylvania
against Sestak. and many more
are expected in the remaining
months before the Nov. 2 elec
tion.
WPGH and WPMY said in the
message to the Sestak cam
paign that the ad is being pulled
because its claim that Sestak
voted with Pelosi 100 percent of
the time is untrue. campaign
spokesman Jonathon Dworkin
said.
Rich Cook, the executive sales
manager for WPGH and WPMY,
confirmed he contacted the
campaign, but declined further
comment Thursday.
A chamber spokesman, J.P.
iriVel 111 1114
A
KAA UMW. ,
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010 I 5
Christian Ragland
UPUA president
Joe Sestak speaks at a rally
Fielder, on Thursday said the
ad's discussion of Democratic
policies was accurate, but he
said he was still looking into the
other details.
The chamber ad is supposed
to be independent of Toomey's
campaign. On Thursday.
Toomey, a former congressman
from eastern Pennsylvania,
acknowledged that a couple of
Sestak's votes this year clashed
with Pelosi, but he said Sestak's
record was identical to hers in
2009 and that Sestak supports
the broad Democratic agenda.
- The only thing that would be
misleading and deceptive is to
suggest there's any substantive
difference" between Pelosi and
Sestak on policy ideas, Toomey
said.
Last month, Sestak opposed
an amendment that exempts the
National Rifle Association and
certain other lobbying groups
from some of the disclosure
requirements in a bill that
places new limitations on inter
est groups' political activity.
Pelosi supported the amend
ment, although both Pelosi and
Sestak voted for the bill when it
passed the House, Sestak said.
In addition, Sestak said inde
pendent studies by Yale
University, the University of
California and the University of
Illinois of the so-called -cap-and
trade'. pollution-reduction bill he
supported in the House show
the measure would result in the
net creation of jobs.
Meanwhile. the Obama
administration's health care leg
islation passed by Congress ear
lier this year "built on and
improved private insurance
markets," his campaign said.