LeeAnn Marie Kapanick, Pennsylvania’s dairy princess who hails from Crawford County, spoke before members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on June 23 during a visit to Harrisburg. Pictured with LeeAnn are (from left): House Speaker Keith McCall (D-Carbon); Rep. John Maher (R-Allegheny), Republican chairman, House Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee; Rep. Michele Brooks; Rep. Brad Roae; and Rep. John Evans. LeeAnn is the daughter of John and Stephanie Kapanick and a recent graduate of Saegertown High School. She plans to attend Penn State in the fall to study agribusiness.

Gov. Ed Rendell is not backing away from his call for a 16% income tax increase after two days of wrangling with top legislators over proposed spending cuts.On Wednesday, Pennsylvania became 1 of several states that lack the legal authority to pay all their bills.

A partisan stalemate over resolving a multibillion-dollar deficit is stalling approval of Pennsylvania’s budget for the new fiscal year.

Some of Rendell’s fellow Democrats say they won’t vote for an income tax increase, and Republicans who control the Senate are dead set against it.

Rendell says there’s no way to balance the budget without it.

In the meantime, the state will delay payments to vendors, although Rendell says residents will notice little difference in government operations for now.

Talks are to resume Monday.

The National Earthquake Center says a small earthquake felt Wednesday in the Wilmington, Del. area had its epicenter in southern New Jersey.The center says the earthquake measured 2.8 on the Richter scale - up from an earlier estimate of 2.7. That’s big enough to feel, but too small to cause much damage.

The epicenter was near Mannington Township, near the Delaware River.

Salem County deputy administrator Robin Weinstein says he felt shaking in his emergency management office soon after the quake began at 9:46 a.m. No injuries or damage were reported.

A spokesman for PSE&G Nuclear, which operates three nuclear power plants in Salem County, says the quake was too minor to register on the plant’s monitoring devices.

Vice President Joe Biden has announced a loan and grant program so companies can develop infrastructure to deliver broadband, or high-speed, Internet access to rural areas.Biden, appearing Wednesday at a high school in Wattsburg, several miles outside of Erie, says Internet access is crucial so that all of America can compete economically.

He says America lags behind a dozen other countries in Internet access and that has to change.

Biden says providing high-speed Internet access will enable rural areas to compete and develop jobs without losing their rural character.

Though the Seneca school district has broadband access, Biden says many students don’t have it at home.