Legislation before the House and Senate would amend the state Constitution and allow for Philadelphia to charge higher real estate taxes for business properties than residential properties.

This is the second consecutive session with such legislation. As required to alter the Pennsylvania Constitution, it must pass a second time and then be approved by voter referendum.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella held a third hearing Thursday that outlined the severity of the state’s lack of private sector retirement security.

On the heels of this week’s announcement that fiscal-year-to-date revenues are ahead of estimate, the Commonwealth was the subject of more positive economic news Friday in that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January declined to 4.6 percent.

An annual pre-Labor Day report issued by the Keystone Research Center Thursday gave Pennsylvania poor marks in terms of economic performance and job growth.

The 2014 State of Working Pennsylvania looked at four areas—called “buckets” by the researchers—of the economy: job growth, joblessness (including unemployment and underemployment), wages, and income.