Defense Department must resume use of PLAs, judge says

Zachary Phillips

A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., has granted a preliminary injunction against the Department of Defense and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for not following a Biden-era executive order mandating the use of project labor agreements on some federal jobs.

Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled in favor of North America’s Building Trades Unions and the Baltimore-D.C. Metro Building and Construction Trades Council on May 16, ordering the DOD to set aside PLA-avoidant guidance, even for projects not related to the plaintiffs.

Contreras’ order sides with the plaintiffs and says that the DOD must resume the practice of using PLAs. The agency did not respond to requests for comment.

The case is the latest news in a legal back and forth wherein an executive order from former President Joe Biden remains in place, despite opposition from the current administration and numerous contractor groups.

On Feb. 7, the DOD ordered its contracting officers to halt the use of PLAs on “large-scale construction projects,” according to a memo obtained by Construction Dive. That contrasted with a still-on-the-books executive order from Biden’s time in the White House, which mandated use of PLAs on projects receiving $35 million or more in federal funds.

Then, on April 9, NABTU and the Baltimore-D.C. Metro Building and Construction Trades Council filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia., claiming the exclusion “interferes with Plaintiffs’ ongoing practice of negotiating such agreements with contractors bidding on federal large-scale construction projects.”

NABTU President Sean McGarvey praised the ruling.

“PLAs aren’t political gimmicks or special-interest carveouts,” McGarvey said in a statement. “They are proven workforce development tools that undergird strong economic growth in communities across the country.”

Despite the injunction, the landscape around federal PLAs remains unclear.

For one, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Ryan Holte ruled in January in favor of employers on seven contracts that Biden-era order would be anti-competitive and relied on “arbitrary and capricious” presidential policy. Nonetheless, the ruling applied to only those specific bid protests, which would mean any other contractors wishing to receive an exception to a federal contract requiring a PLA would need to file their own protest.

On top of that, President Donald Trump has yet to remove Biden’s executive order, despite signing one of his own guiding rulemaking at agencies away from using PLAs and other collective bargaining agreements.

Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and workforce for Associated General Contractors of America, said that the May 16 ruling demonstrates the need for the Trump administration to revoke what he called President Biden’s “unlawful” executive order.

Kristen Swearingen, vice president of government affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors, also called for the revoking of the Biden-era order.

“ABC respectfully disagrees with the court’s reinstatement of illegal and costly project labor agreement mandates on a wide range of federal construction projects critical to America’s national security,” said Swearingen in the statement. 

She also said the executive order discriminates against non-union workers and discourages competition. Swearingen alleged that PLAs force non-union contractors to sign collective bargaining agreements and coerce workers who don’t wish to be in unions to join.

McGarvey pushed back on that remark.

“The Associated Builders and Contractors’ statement on this matter reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how the construction industry actually works,” McGarvey wrote in his statement. “PLAs aren’t exclusive to union contractors. In fact, countless traditionally non-union contractors work on PLA projects across the country.”

Worker safety is in jeopardy if we don’t protect NIOSH

Sandra J. Domeracki

Sandra J. Domeracki is a clinical professor in the Community Health Systems Department in the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. Opinions are the author’s own.

On April 1, thousands of Health and Human Services workers arrived at work to find their identification badges failed to let them into their jobsite.

They were placed on administrative leave with a letter of termination set for June 2. Employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health were among those affected; 85% of that workforce was eliminated. 

As a nurse practitioner working in the field of occupational health for three decades and teaching new NPs in this role for two decades, I have seen and experienced firsthand the power NIOSH has in keeping our nation’s workers healthy and safe. 

Recently, the date of termination was changed to June 30. NIOSH has been annihilated. Worker safety is in danger if we do not speak up now.

Why does this matter?

There are over 160 million workers in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is about 48% of the population. Workers spend most of their time on the job doing combinations of activities — such as prolonged sitting, prolonged kneeling, heavy lifting and being exposed to toxins — sometimes with fatal results. In 2023, 5,283 workers died on the job, according to BLS data.

NIOSH is an agency created and funded by Congress. When it started as part of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970 it had about 1,400 staff across the U.S., according to the American Industrial Hygiene Association. 

The agency’s budget was only $363 million in fiscal year 2024, reported Safety + Health Magazine. This amounts to a little over two dollars per year per U.S. worker. 

NIOSH staff do some of the most important public health and labor safety work in the U.S. For more than 50 years, NIOSH has been an essential resource for workers to help ensure their health and safety at many essential work sites. 

For example, NIOSH inspects and certifies respirators and other personal protective equipment that saves countless construction workers’ lives. NIOSH staff help prevent injuries and illnesses and investigate hazardous situations workers face, such as falls and trench collapses. It studies the effects on workers’ exposure to toxins such as silica. 

The knowledge, expertise and resources it provides empower construction workers to understand how to protect themselves. But with recent cuts, construction workers and employers have a good chance of losing the development, testing and evaluation of future PPE that is upgraded and certified. 

Research and strategies to prevent opioid overdose and suicides and loss of life due to falls will not exist. This all leads to increased financial costs for the industry and workers.

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As a doctoral student, my work focuses on construction workers. Anecdoteally, I can share findings in my studies from experts that indicate productivity is the focus instead of worker safety in the U.S., whereas in Europe and Canada, worker safety is the priority. 

For workers, their quality of life, family life and financial well-being are impacted by the injuries and exposures they sustain at jobsites. This illustrates the continued need for ongoing improvement in PPE, safer work processes and updated tools, which NIOSH and its staff are the only agency that can help us with.

What’s next?

Although it was announced on May 14 that 328 NIOSH employees have returned to work, there are nearly 600 who have not, NPR reported.

We have until June to answer the question “What’s next?” 

Unions, professional organizations, centers doing research funded by NIOSH and more have written letters to President Donald Trump and are taking legal action to save NIOSH.

If we are to Make America Healthy Again, does that not apply to all U.S. workers? We must act now for this vision to come true. I challenge you to take this next step now for workers’ health and safety.

Hartford, Conn.'s 50-Year-Old XL Center Closes for Latest Renovation, Set to Cost $138M

As of May 20, 2025, the XL Center on Trumbull Street in Hartford, Conn., is closed for construction to overhaul the arena — a project more than a decade in the making.

That means Hartford's XL Center will not host any games, concerts or other events this summer.

"This is our troubled child of all the properties we manage," Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), said to NBC Connecticut television affiliate WVIT in nearby New Britain.

First opened in January 1975, the building was initially called the Civic Center. In its heyday, the venue was home to the National Hockey League's Hartford Whalers and played host to big musical acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner and Elton John.

After the Whalers left Connecticut in 1997, Freimuth said the building failed to keep up with the demands of shows that required more technology and elaborate sets.

Discussions about renovating the arena began in earnest around 2010. That year, the arena got a new sound system and set of Jumbotrons. The state legislature also set aside $35 million in bonding for repairs to begin in 2014.

Freimuth described those actions as a "band-aid."

"We thought it would buy us a window, roughly 10 years. Honestly, we're pretty close to that," he said. "During that time, we explored replacing the property. You wouldn't build this building in today's world. To [do so] today would [cost] north of a billion dollars."

In 2017, Connecticut's then-Gov. Dannel Malloy pitched a $250 million overhaul of the Hartford arena. The plan was eventually scaled back in response to push back from state lawmakers.

Legislators did approve another $40 million in bonding to replace the aging ice system for hockey games and the old arena floor, in addition to building a sportsbook on the Ann Ucello Street side of the building.

The latest investment includes $118 million from the state and $20 million in private funding from Oak View Group, which operates the XL Center for CRDA.

Freimuth said the private investment will offset the building's losses, which are typically $1 million to $2 million a year.

Some critics, however, believe the state should have abandoned the XL Center a decade ago.

"We should not be dumping millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, into a facility that we don't own, we don't manage and loses money every year," said state Rep. Doug Dubitsky.

Connecticut officials put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the purchase of the building in 2018 but said it did not receive any acceptable offers.

Updated XL Center Will Again Meet NHL Standards

NBC Connecticut was able to get a look at the construction under way, which will include creating new locker rooms for the University of Connecticut Huskies when they play at the XL Center.

The facility also will have new commercial kitchens, and five premium "bunker" suites with access to the arena floor.

Freimuth expects the upgrades to extend the building's life another 15 to 20 years.

"We essentially will rebuild the lower bowl ... as well as [the] back of the house," he said.

"If you don't have the right suites, you don't have the right seats, you don't have the right foods, you don't have the right facilities to attract the right artist, [meaning] you don't get the business," Freimuth said.

Renovations are expected to be completed in fall 2025, NBC Connecticut reported.

When the updated XL Center reopens, Freimuth hopes to attract approximately 30 concerts a year — five times more than it currently hosts.

Len Besthoff, NBC Connecticut's chief investigative reporter, asked an expert at the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA) if the new Hartford venue must turn a profit in order to be considered a success.

"What you'd really like is for people to say, ‘Oh, there's a great concert at the XL. Let's go down to Connecticut," said CCEA Director Fred Carstensen. "And while we're there, there's some great restaurants, there's some great cultural institutions.'"

He said there are some other considerations too.

"[Do] the things that it contributes, not just financially and not just in terms of tax revenue from these other activities, … impact the quality of life?," he said. "There are things that we want to subsidize because they engage us in community. They give us a better sense of participation, a better sense of ownership."

Freimuth said he is frequently asked about the possibility of bringing the Whalers back to Hartford and told NBC Connecticut that the new Hartford arena will be upgraded to meet NHL standards.

But while Freimuth and the CRDA will not rule it out, they also are not holding their breaths.

Study: Expansion of Tweed New Haven Airport will have $444M economic impact by 2027

Harriet Jones

Anew study commissioned by the Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport Authority projects that the planned expansion of the airport will generate some 2,400 jobs by the end of the decade.

The report, prepared by UConn’s Center for Economic Analysis, also forecasts $100 million in construction impacts by 2030, and $444 million in total economic impact to the state by 2027.

The study considers two potential scenarios. The first assumes continued operation by Avelo and Breeze, the airlines currently flying out of Tweed. The second assumes additional economic activity including an expansion of medical tourism at nearby Yale New Haven Hospital, and the development of an airport hotel.

The expansion, first announced in 2021, includes lengthening the runway from 5,600 to 6,575 feet, constructing a new terminal building and increasing parking capacity.

The release of the economic impact study comes as there continues to be significant opposition to the expansion plan from both environmental campaigners and local residents.

Yale Daily News reports that neighbors in the residential neighborhood that surrounds the airport are concerned about both increased traffic and environmental impact, particularly the extension of the runway and construction of new facilities on wetlands close to Long Island Sound.

In November, Save the Sound appealed the Federal Aviation Administration’s finding that the expansion would have “no significant impact” on the environment.

Last month the airport submitted an environmental permit application to the state, the latest step toward completion of the plan.

The project’s backers say the expansion will play a critical role in the region’s economic future.

“We’re looking at the creation of good jobs, renewed investments in our neighborhoods, and long-term, sustainable growth across the region,” said Robert Reed, chairman of the Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority. “These studies make clear that Tweed will help drive the next wave of development in Southern Connecticut.”

West Hartford Center master plan shows potential changes to South Main Street, town green

Michael Walsh

WEST HARTFORD — As work continues on the $10 million reconstruction of West Hartford Center, the town has released a draft of the area's master plan, giving a broader glimpse of the popular dining and shopping destination's future.

Right now, construction crews are tearing up and replacing sidewalk on LaSalle Road, part of the first phase of the reconstruction plan that will widen sidewalks, replace aging trees and make the roadway safer for pedestrians. Next year, that same construction plan will move to Farmington Avenue.

But beyond that, West Hartford town leaders will have to make further decisions that will shape the way visitors interact with the area, including what to do with South Main Street, Unity Green and the busy Farmington Avenue and Main Street intersection. The plan shows several possibilities for that, including various roundabouts and plans that would attach Unity Green to the front doors of businesses on South Main Street.

"There are some great thoughts and ideas and conceptual plans on how we integrate North Main, South Main, Unity Green and the intersection into what's happening with the infrastructure plan," said Town Manager Rick Ledwith at Wednesday's Community Planning and Economic Development meeting.

Planning for that future began in 2022 with consultant Stantec engaging with the public on various ideas for the area, contemplating everything from shutting down LaSalle Road to cars to installing a roundabout at the Farmington Avenue and Main Street intersection. Plans for LaSalle Road and Farmington Avenue then went through a few modifications, with some versions turning parking spaces from angled spaces into parallel spaces, which would have given more space for sidewalks. Eventually, the town landed on largely maintaining angled parking spaces in plans released last year.

Jason Schreiber, of Stantec, ran through part of the firm's master plan Wednesday, detailing ways the town could continue to enhance the area beyond the work that is already planned.

Part of that, he said, is linking surrounding neighborhoods to the area, which he said is an important economic development driver.

"The surrounding neighborhoods are really essential and vital to what's happening in the community, but especially in the town center, and how to maintain those linkages and grow over time smartly," Schreiber said. 

Similarly, the plan lays out gateway entrances to both West Hartford Center and Blue Back Square, areas that greet visitors to the area with wayfinding signage and traffic calming.

"This is a very typical public realm opportunity to announce better to people that ‘Hey, you’re here,'" he said. "Even if they are just passing through, their mental map gets them to remember that cool place they just drove through is West Hartford. It's a great source of community cohesion."

The plan also runs through basic improvements like more seating, tree enhancements, implementing public art and how restaurants might set up outdoor dining on sidewalks. The plan also extends upon the mobility hubs that the town announced it would include in West Hartford Center last year, which are designated locations that could offer rideshare pick-up zones, bike parking, bike rentals, seating, electric vehicle charging and more.

Stantec is also recommending that the town experiment with changes to parking fees, including raising prices — even as low as 25 cents more per hour. But they also recommend introducing variable pricing, meaning the more in-demand spaces — like street parking — would cost more than less desirable parking.

"When a town’s most desirable public parking spaces are priced the same as those which are farther away, people naturally hunt for spaces in congested areas first," the plan reads. "By making the most desirable spaces more expensive and those further away slightly less expensive, a varied pricing system creates availability while dispersing parking demand from core locations."

When it comes to transportation, Ledwith said the town is currently working on a grant that would connect its Trout Book Trail to the town center. Previously, town leaders have floated the idea of having a protected bike lane that would take cyclists safely from the trail to the center. Bike West Hartford tested that system last summer during its Center Streets event.

The Town Council will finalize the master plan later this year.