Upcoming Events

Get the Support You’ve Earned: Veterans Service Officer Appointments Available!

Our next Veterans Services Officer (VSO) office day is coming up soon! We have appointments available on Wednesday, August 27th from 11 am - 2 pm in our Natrona Heights Office. We offer VSO appointments in both our Ross Township and Natrona Heights offices every month so if August doesn’t work for you, call to schedule a date this fall.

Our VSO can answer questions about your or a family member’s benefits or review what you already have to ensure you’re receiving all of the benefits you’ve earned!

Contact us at 412-364-0469 (Ross), 724-224-2131 (Harrison), or email us at [email protected] to book your one-on-one session - appointments fill up quickly, so don’t delay!

East Deer Summer Celebration
Saturday, August 16, 2025, 12-8pm, 700 Front St., Creighton PA 15030

Join us at East Deer’s upcoming Summer Celebration tomorrow, Saturday, August 16th from 12-8pm for a day of fun in the sun!

 

Scare Up a Few Costumes
September 1 - 30, 2025

Our annual Halloween Costume Drive with North Hills Community Outreach is starting soon! Help make a little ghost, goblin, or princess’s holiday a little spookier or sweeter by donating your gently used or new Halloween costumes. 

Costumes will be distributed at North Hills Community Outreach’s coat annual coat distributions in October.

Donations are accepted at our McKnight Road and Natrona Heights offices all throughout the month of September!

Good News

Blue Catfish Stocking to Restore Water Quality to the Three Rivers!

In July my staff joined the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission at the Leetsdale Boat Ramp to stock the Ohio River with juvenile Blue Catfish. This is part of a comprehensive, multiyear plan to restore this beneficial native species by stocking them in the Allegheny, Ohio, and Monongahela rivers.

Historically, Blue Catfish were found throughout the Three River System but, due to pollution and habitat alteration, they were eliminated from Pennsylvania in the early 1900s.  Restoring their numbers will improve our water quality and support a diverse fish population in the region.

You can read more about the restoration plan at: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/fishandboat/newsroom/pfbc-to-begin-blue-catfish-restoration-in-the-ohio-river. 

Confirmation Hearing for Acting Secretary of Education Carrie Rowe

On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee held a confirmation hearing for Acting Secretary of Education Carrie Rowe. I was grateful that the Committee had the chance to hear directly from the Acting Secretary about her experience and qualifications, and her commitment to public education in Pennsylvania. 

As the Minority Chair of the Senate Education Committee, I’ve had the chance to meet with the Acting Secretary once a month since her nomination.  It’s a valuable opportunity to get into the policy weeds on a range of issues that I care about. I regularly encourage school leaders to bring me questions that I can raise with her– and she welcomes these questions, which we all appreciate.

I get a lot out of those meetings and in the past six months working together, I have only looked more favorably on Acting Secretary Rowe’s nomination. I look forward to her consideration by the full Senate.

New Library Book Lockers

Our staff attended a ribbon cutting on Wednesday morning for the Sharpsburg and Cooper-Siegel Community Libraries’ new Library Book Lockers that allow residents to pick up their holds anytime, even when the library is closed. You can literally “unlock your next read”. 

There is a book locker in front of the Sharpsburg Community Library and two in Blawnox. At least 50 books a month are returned back into the system without anyone picking them up. Open 24/7, these lockers will be a real game-changer for patrons and staff! 

2 local libraries introduce new book pickup lockers to expand public access to materials - WPXI

You can watch the Library Book Locker in action below:

Legislative Update

Fighting for a State Budget for All Pennsylvanians

On Monday, I joined advocates from Pittsburghers for Public Transit, 412 Justice, and Just Harvest and my colleague Senator Jay Costa to advocate for a PA Budget that invests in transit, food assistance, and education for all Pennsylvanians.

The next day, with the Pennsylvania budget nearly six weeks late and transit agencies across the state facing catastrophic route cuts, Senate Republicans returned to Harrisburg for a one-day stunt that cut public transit funding across the Commonwealth instead of supporting it.

I voted against both bills that the Senate Republicans pushed through the chamber on Tuesday. The first, House Bill 257, steals money from urgently needed and already committed transit capital improvement projects to fund daily operations– robbing Peter to pay Paul. Pittsburgh Regional Transit alone has a nearly $2 billion backlog of infrastructure projects, an amount that grows each year due to underinvestment. With the funding cuts in HB257, our transportation infrastructure will be impossible to maintain, let alone improve. Public transit will be less safe, less secure, and more difficult to run.

Moreover, this legislation mandates fare increases for multiple years. It punishes transit riders across the state – the same riders that help cut down on traffic, reduce wear and tear on our roads, and decrease air pollution.

We have revenue options on the table that will allow us to fund public transit operations without stealing from already underfunded capital projects. They include the “Transit for All PA” package that I introduced with my colleague Senator Nikil Saval (D – Philadelphia), which would help fund transit by raising the state’s car rental and leasing fees and establishing a 6% fee on ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. We also could finally tax “skills games”. The Senate Republicans are choosing to turn a blind eye to revenue options and claim they do not have the money to do what our economy needs to thrive.

The transit legislation that Senate Republicans pushed today does not provide the sustained, predictable funding that public transit needs to serve communities across Pennsylvania. Instead, it disregards the lives and livelihoods of Pennsylvania residents – students and workers, the elderly and our disabled neighbors – who use public transit every day.

But Senate Republicans did not just fail public transit on Tuesday. By pushing through Senate Bill 160, their version of the FY2025-26 budget, they signaled their unwillingness to pass an agreed-upon budget that responsibly funds public education, food assistance, healthcare, human services, first responders, and other critical needs of Pennsylvanians.

The ongoing budget impasse means that many of our school districts, human service providers, and counties have already missed critical state payments since June – at the very time that federal funding is being pulled out from under them.

We cannot afford to wait. Students head back to school next week. Cuts to bus and train routes are imminent. Pennsylvanians deserve real solutions and meaningful negotiations towards a final budget agreement, not the political theater that they got today.

You can read learn about the budget impasse and its impact on transit, education, and more here:  Negotiations continue between Pa. lawmakers over public transit funding

The Big K Morning Show with Larry Richert - Listen to my interview during the 7:05 am chapter

News You Can Use

SUN Bucks - Summer Funds That Feed Children

School meals are one of our biggest tools in the fight against childhood hunger.  But even though school takes a summer break, hunger doesn’t take a vacation. That's why the SUN Bucks Program helps offset the cost of groceries during the summer months when school is not in session.

This federally run program offers $120 per eligible child on a prepaid EBT card. Funds are loaded onto the card in mid-August/September. Students currently receiving SNAP are automatically enrolled, other students and families may still be eligible!

Check eligibility and benefits now at https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/summer-ebt before the August 31, 2025 deadline.

Free Ross West View EMS Car Seat Event

Get your car seat installed or inspected for free at Ross West View EMSA’s annual car seat event on Wednesday, September 10th from 2 to 6 p.m. at 5325 Perrysville Ave. Ambulances and Rescue 40 will also be available for tours during the event!

Call 412-931-8200 or email [email protected] to register.

Fall Internships Available!

We're hiring Fall Interns! These part-time, paid positions are open to college juniors and seniors in relevant fields starting as soon as this month.

Please apply at https://senatorlindseywilliams.com/Internships. 

Questions? Email [email protected]. 

Summer Office Hours

This August, staff will be working remotely from 9 AM - 5 PM on Fridays. Call us at 412-364-0469 or 724-224-2131 or email us at [email protected] for assistance!