Tue May 12, 2015
Radio Ad Campaign on Highway Trust Fund Targets Congressional & Tax Committee Leaders
Two of the nation’s leading transportation advocacy organizations have joined forces to launch a radio campaign urging key members of Congress to stop playing games with federal transportation funding and find a permanent solution for the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF)....
Mon May 11, 2015
Construction Jobs Fueled April Employment Gains
WASHINGTON (AP) - Construction and manufacturing - two bedrock sectors of the American economy - landed on opposite ends of April’s jobs report. Construction companies added 45,000 jobs during the month, bringing their year-to-date total to 108,000....
Melinda Deslatte - ASSOCIATED PRESS - Fri May 08, 2015
Louisiana Borrows $335M to Continue Construction Projects
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Despite budget question marks and the collapse of a recent LSU bond sale, Louisiana borrowed $335 million Wednesday without running into problems with investors. The state sold the general obligation bonds to low bidder Wells Fargo Bank, with the money slated to replenish the state’s construction project fund....
LAURYN SCHROEDER - ASSOCIATED PRESS - Fri May 08, 2015
Governor Signs Bill Repealing Construction Wage Law
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Local boards will no longer set minimum wages for public construction projects in Indiana under a law signed Wednesday by Republican Gov. Mike Pence. The bill will eliminate the boards that set what is known as the common construction wage that workers must be paid on most state or local government projects....
Tue April 28, 2015
Philadelphia Ironworkers Union Agent Gets 8 Years in Prison
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A top official at an ironworkers’ union was sentenced on Thursday to eight years in prison in what federal prosecutors say was a campaign of violence and intimidation to coerce building contractors into hiring his workers over non-union competition....
Tue April 28, 2015
NYC Launches Massive Affordable Housing Program
NEW YORK (AP) New York City aims to lift 800,000 people out of poverty within a decade in its OneNYC program - a blueprint for making the city more resilient and equitable. City administration officials on Thursday outlined Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal of pulling nearly 10 percent of New York’s 8.5 million residents out of poverty or near poverty, with a sweeping plan that will utilize a potpourri of proposals, not all of them yet well-defined, and a significant reliance on a steep minimum wage increase that is far from guaranteed....
Tue April 28, 2015
Hackers Hit Hawaiian Telescope Project
HONOLULU (AP) - An apparent cyberattack Sunday temporarily disrupted the main website of Thirty Meter Telescope, the organization trying to construct one of the world’s largest telescopes near the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island....
Thu April 23, 2015
State of New York Approves Toro Equipment for Use Through The Cooperative Purchasing Network
The State of New York has approved a contract for Toro equipment through The Cooperative Purchasing Network (TCPN) for use by all state agencies and other authorized users. The contract was approved by the State of New York on April 13, 2015, and the new agreement provides state agencies competitive pricing for the entire portfolio of Toro products, including mowers, irrigation systems, utility vehicles and more....
Dan Elliott - ASSOCIATED PRESS - Thu April 23, 2015
VA Probes Hospital Cost Overrun - Without Construction Expert
DENVER (AP) - The Veterans Affairs Department has no outside construction expert helping with its investigation into massive cost overruns at its new Denver hospital, according to congressional testimony and internal emails obtained by The Associated Press....
Thu April 23, 2015
The Good and the Bad News on March Job Numbers
Even as construction firms added jobs in 41 states between March 2014 and March 2015, construction employment declined in 29 states and the District of Columbia between February and March, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Associated General Contractors of America....
