SAP RETURNS: Hal Harmon of Bradford got in touch with The Bradford Era to fill us in on the surprising age of trees used in a feature photo of sap collection recently.

According to Harmon, “The tree with the sap buckets on them and the background in the picture on the front page (of the Bradford Era, 3/12/18) looked familiar. Those trees are in the yard of what used to be my grandparents’ house.”

The trees were in front of a West Washington Street home.

Harmon went on to note that his grandfather “tapped those same trees 70 plus years ago. He was retired and it was a hobby. The trees are at least 100 years old and were large even then.

“My grandfather saved those trees, convincing the state not to cut them when the road was widened back around 1950, give or take. I think the trees were planted when the house was built.”

WAGE GAP: Women in Pennsylvania who are employed full-time and year-round lose over $35 billion each year. According to a new analysis conducted by the National Partnership for Women and Families, data from The U.S. Census Bureau shows that Pennsylvania is 23rd in the nation when it comes to the cents-on-the-dollar gap. This means that women who are employed in the state of Pennsylvania would be able to afford 80 more weeks of food for a family, seven months of mortgage AND utilities payments, one year of fees and tuition for a four-year university or the full cost for a two-year college (including tuition and fees), a full year of rent and 14 more months of childcare — if they were paid equivalent to men.

The study goes on to further break down comparative wages, noting that every mother makes 71 cents for every full dollar earned by a father; white non-hispanic women earn 79 cents for each dollar earned by a white, non-hispanic man; and black women and latinas make 63 cents and 54 cents, respectively compared to each full dollar earned by a white, non-hispanic man. Meanwhile, Asian women are faring the best, as they earn 87 cents for each dollar earned by a non-hispanic, white male.

Some legislation in progress that might help balance these serious gaps include the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Fair Pay Act, the Healthy Families Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.