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Essential Pittsburgh: Pennsylvania Lawmakers Struggle to Meet Budget Deadline

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Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, speaks to members of the media after Gov. Tom Wolf delivered his budget address for the 2015-16 fiscal year

Today is the deadline for Pennsylvania lawmakers to submit a budget to Governor Tom Wolf. With no compromise in sight, many legislators have already prepped for negotiations to continue into the week. Pennsylvania House Majority Leader David Reed provides his thoughts on the big issues standing between the Republican party and the governor's office.

Reed responds to the accusations that Democrat input was not included in the house budget:

"It’s just not a situation where there’s complete agreement on how to move forward...we have taken the responsibility to meet our June 30th deadline very seriously, so we put together a budget proposal that had majority support in the House and the Senate on increasing funding for education, balancing the budget, and doing so without any new taxes going forward, and we will send it to the governor later on today." -David Reed

Also, the U.S. Women’s World Cup team heads to the semi-finals, including a Pittsburgh-area player. We'll examine soccer's growing fan base in Pittsburgh, then Joe Wos takes a classic and adds a Pittsburgh twist in his new book The Three Little Pigsburghers.

Soccer City (starts at 19:28)

As the U.S. Women's World Cup team prepares for its' semi-final match with Germany tonight, we'll preview the game as well as look at the status of soccer in Pittsburgh. The Riverhoundsrecently sold out a match with D.C. United of Major League Soccer and the area is producing stars such as defender Meghan Klingenberg of the U.S. team. Pittsburgh Post Gazette Sportswriter Megan Ryan and Sportswriter Emeritus Bob Dvorchak share their thoughts on soccer's growing popularity. 
 

 
Three Little Pigsburghers (starts at 38:46) 

 
The classic children’s tale of the three little pigs gets a uniquely Pittsburgh twist courtesy of our pop culture contributor Joe Wos. His book The Three Little Pigsburghers recounts the tale of Lawny, Dawny and Rawny and their efforts to thwart the Big Bad Wuff.
 
More Essential Pittsburgh segments can be heard here.

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