HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls are scheduled to increase this weekend. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said Wednesday most cash-paying customers will see a 10 percent increase, while E-ZPass users will pay 2 percent more. Motorists on the Southern Beltway in the Pittsburgh area will see a steeper increase in cash tolls.

The increases take effect Sunday. The commission has been expanding the differential between cash and electronic tolls since 2011. E-ZPass travelers saved up to 17 percent last year, and the pending changes will widen that to 25 percent in 2013. As part of a campaign to convert the Turnpike to all-electronic tolls, officials have reduced fees in the E-ZPass program.

HARRISBURG — Generally strong tax collections in December helped keep Pennsylvania's state budget in the black halfway through the budget year.The Revenue Department said that tax payments for the six months ending in December totaled $12.2 billion or 1.4 percent above projections. December collections alone were running nearly five percent above estimates.Collections of income tax totaled $4.8 billion, about 1 percent higher than projections for the six-month period. But the other major state levy — the sales tax — lagged projections by $125 million or nearly 3 percent.The department said corporate tax collections totaled $244 million during the first half of the fiscal year — about 20 percent above estimates.

WASHINGTON — Under intense pressure from angry Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner agreed Wednesday to a vote this week on aid for Superstorm Sandy recovery.The speaker will schedule a vote Friday for $9 billion for the national flood insurance program and another on Jan. 15 for a remaining $51 billion in the package, Republican Rep. Peter King of New York said.