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North Allegheny ....28 Bethel Park ...............0
Franklin Regional ..42 Montour .................. 21
Seton-LaSalle .......35 Washington ............27
Indiana .................28 Ringgold ................. 14
West Mifflin ..........47 Moon ......................42
Yough ...................57 Kittanning ...............42
VOL. 87, NO. 94 11/2/13 final .
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2013
County drink tax a cash cow, but despised Revenue from levies on alcoholic beverages and rental cars to hit $41.5 million next year
By Andrew McGill
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Six years ago, Allegheny County passed a drink tax that instantly made Dan Onorato, the county executive unlucky enough to propose it, the least popular guy in the bar. Since then, some things haven’t changed. You can still
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find restaurant receipts listing the county’s 7 percent levy on poured booze as “The Onorato Tax.” And the Port Authority, recipient of much of the revenue from it, remains on uncertain financial footing as it awaits state action on a stable longterm funding source. But the drink tax itself is doing like gangbusters. Next
year, revenue from taxes on alcoholic beverages and rental cars is budgeted to hit $41.5 million, the highest anyone’s seen since 2009, when county officials cut the levy from 10 percent. According to the county’s 2014 budget proposal, the Port Authority needs only $29 million to fill its operating budget,
a subsidy the county annually provides. That leaves more than $12 million, handing Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald a hefty surplus. With the extra money, he’s using $4.9 million to help the Port Authority maintain its fleet instead of
SEE tax, PAGE A-3
Penn State trustees keep results of meeting private By Bill Schackner and Mark Dent
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TSA agent shot dead at L.A. airport Gunman, 23, had note that was ‘anti-government and anti-TSA’
Reed Saxon/Associated Press
Transportation Security Administration employees hug outside Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday after a gunman opened fire, killing a TSA agent and shooting two other people. At least four others were injured in the mayhem.
By Jennifer Medina and Ian Lovett
Three days after calling and later canceling a meeting to name a new president, Penn State University trustees Friday emerged from a private session tight-lipped and insistent that the search was proceeding “with vigor.” But gone was any mention of the oft-cited target date of this month to secure a new leader. Instead, a university statement gave — with little fresh explanation behind it — a revised timetable of sometime within the next eight months. “We plan to conclude this process before the end of President Rodney Erickson’s term in office, which is June 30, 2014,” the statement quotes trustees Chairman Keith Masser as saying. He and other Penn State officials, including Presidential Selection Council chairwoman Karen Peetz, did not respond to inquiries asking if a finalist had withdrawn.
SEE PSu, PAGE A-3
The New York Times
LOS ANGELES — A 23-yearold man wielding an assault rifle and carrying 100 rounds of ammunition shot and killed a Transportation Security Administration officer at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday morning, sending travelers fleeing in panic and paralyzing one of the world’s busiest airports for hours. Two other people, one of them a security agent, were shot, and at least four others were injured in the melee. The gunman entered Terminal 3 just before 9:30 a.m., pulled a weapon from a bag and began firing as he forced his way through a security checkpoint, officials said. Airport police officers chased him through the bustling terminal as he continued to fire, before shooting him near a departure gate and arresting him. The TSA agent who was killed was the first to die in the line of duty since the agency was created in the aftermath of 9/11, officials said. Federal officials identified the gunman as Paul Ciancia, 23, of
SEE lax, PAGE A-6
Pittsburgh accent was invitation to eavesdrop By Michael Sanserino Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Associated Press
Police officers stand near a weapon in Terminal 3 of Los Angeles International Airport. A man officials identified as Paul Ciancia, 23, of Los Angeles, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle Friday morning. Flights were disrupted nationwide.
Tom Matzzie could hear it in the stranger’s voice — between words like “black sites” and “rendition.” Mr. Matzzie hadn’t lived in Western Pennsylvania since he graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School in 1993, but he never lost his trained ear for Pittsburghese. Just a few seats away from him on an Oct. 24 Amtrak train from Washington, D.C., sat a man with a recognizable face giving a series of interviews about the National Security Agency. And every now and then, this stranger rounded his Os.
SEE matzzIe, PAGE A-6
Stream of reports says Pakistani Taliban leader died in drone strike By Declan Walsh, Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud and Ismail Khan The New York Times
LONDON — A U.S. drone strike Friday killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, according to Pakistani intelligence officials and militant commanders in the tribal belt. If confirmed, his death would
be a major achievement for the covert CIA program at a time when drones have come under renewed scrutiny over civilian casualties in both Pakistan and the United States. It would also offer relief to many Pakistanis. Under Mr. Mehsud’s leadership the Pakistani Taliban — a group related to the Afghan Taliban,
SEE talIBaN, PAGE A-4
Weather
Cloudy and cool with showers. High 52, low 35.
Page B-8
Dull leaf hues called climate change omen By David Templeton Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Unusually warm October weather and less September rain explain why leaves failed to produce brilliant splashes of gold, orange, red and purple, with many remaining green into the first week of November. It also raises the spectre of climate change. Every year has seasonal variations, but some scientists say this year may be a harbin-
Bridge.........................C-3 Business .................... A-8 Classified ...................C-1 Comics .......................B-6 Crosswords.................C-3 Earthweek .................. A-2
n Panel says climate change puts world food supply at risk, Story on Page A-2 ger of a more likely occurrence in coming years — warmer temperatures pushing back the peak foliage season from the third week of October to later in the month or even early November. Such a trend also forebodes duller leaf coloration. Warmer fall temperatures
SEE leaveS, PAGE A-2
Editorials ..................A-14 Home&Garden...........B-1 Horoscope .................C-3 Local News................. A-9 Lottery ......................A-10 Movies .......................B-2
LifeNews via Rossia 24 TV channel
snowden in europe An image from television released Friday shows Edward Snowden on the Moscow River in Russia in September. In a letter to a German lawmaker, Mr. Snowden is calling for international help to persuade the U.S. to drop its espionage charges against him. Story on Page A-4
Obituaries ................A-11 Perspectives .............A-15 Portfolio...................... A-2 Scoreboard ................D-9 Sports ........................D-1 Television....................B-5
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