Pennsylvania category, Page 118
Theft charges brought down a state lawmaker. But Pa.’s taxpayer-funded system for perks was already ripe for abuse.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Theft charges against a Philadelphia-area Democrat highlight Pennsylvania’s lax rules for reimbursing lawmakers with taxpayer and donor money, two...
Pa. patients swear by cannabis as tool to fight opioid addiction. The research still isn’t there.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. BERNVILLE — The back pain started when Luke Shultz was a teenager, and it got worse. When he was in his...
More than 300 people will be laid off from Cumberland County plant beginning next month
It’s no surprise that GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, will close a manufacturing facility in Carlisle. Last February, the company said it would transfer operations at the plant site off Allen Road would transfer to Puerto Rico. At the time, the company said the decision would impact...
In-person visits being canceled for unvaccinated state prison inmates
State prison inmates who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer will be allowed to have in-person visits from friends and family, according to Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel. Also, inmates now will be housed in Pennsylvania’s prisons based on their vaccination status. The new policy takes effect...
Erie teen dies after being pulled from Presque Isle Bay near Convention Center
An 18-year-old Erie man has died after rescue crews pulled him from Presque Isle Bay on Wednesday night. The man, whose name was not released as of Thursday afternoon, was pronounced dead at UPMC Hamot on Wednesday at 9:55 p.m., about 30 minutes after Erie Bureau of Fire divers pulled...
Police: Perry County woman killed after being attacked by dogs she was watching over
State police at Newport said a woman was killed after three dogs, for which she was caring, attacked her for unknown reasons in late July. Police reported Thursday morning that Rhoda Marie Wagner, 60, of Newport was found dead in the first block of Henry Road in Miller Township on...
Penn State University requires masking at all campuses
STATE COLLEGE — Penn State University will require students, staff and visitors at all its campuses to wear masks while indoors, the school announced Wednesday, responding to a statewide surge in coronavirus cases. The masking rule will apply to everyone, regardless of vaccination status, Penn State officials said. “As we...
Feds roll back ‘confusing’ addiction funding rules that had deadly consequence in Pa.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — A federal agency that sends billions of dollars to states to help them respond to the opioid crisis is...
Coroner: Blair County woman killed by house explosion blast, not fire
TYRONE — A coroner has ruled that a woman killed in a house explosion in Pennsylvania last month was killed by the explosion itself rather than the ensuring fire. The (Altoona) Mirror reports that Blair County Deputy Coroner Samantha Kimberling said “injuries from the blast” that occurred July 26 in...
UPMC Magee and Pitt to study covid-19 vaccines immune response in pregnancy and postpartum
A top medical facility and university are joining in a study looking at covid-19 vaccines, pregnancy and postpartum. UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine will participate in a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases study of the immune response to covid-19 vaccines among pregnant...
Ex-Penn State President Graham Spanier released from jail after serving sentence in Sandusky scandal
Former Penn State President Graham Spanier was released from jail Wednesday morning after serving a nearly two-month sentence for child endangerment in a case connected to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Spanier reported to Centre County Correctional Facility, about 6 miles from the Penn State campus, on June...
With school opening almost here, Pa. scrambles to prepare for covid
The federal government dropped new face mask recommendations for students just as school districts’ plans for dealing with covid-19 came due in Pennsylvania. State Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam described the timing as “challenging” during a discussion with the PennLive/The Patriot-News editorial board on Wednesday. The U.S. Centers for...
Library book returned in Pennsylvania after 50 years with $20 bill
PLYMOUTH — A book checked out a half-century ago has been anonymously returned to a library in northeastern Pennsylvania, officials said. The Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice reports that the 1967 copy of “Coins You Can Collect” by Burton Hobson arrived last month at the Plymouth Public Library in Luzerne County along...
Powerball to increase drawings to 3 nights a week
Pennsylvania Lottery officials Tuesday announced that Powerball players will soon get the chance to play for a big jackpot one extra night a week. In addition to the drawings held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the multi-state game will offer drawings on Mondays. This change to three drawings per week will...
Roadwork firm to pay $20M in workers’ retirement theft caseVideo
HARRISBURG — A major Pennsylvania heavy equipment contractor entered no contest pleas to four theft counts on Tuesday and agreed to pay restitution of more than $20 million over allegations it illegally diverted pension money and other benefits from its workers. Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. has agreed to have a...
2 seamen get prison terms in plot to smuggle 20 tons of cocaine through Port of Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Two cargo ship crewmen tied to one of the largest drug busts in U.S. history told a federal judge Monday that they initially resisted but were ultimately powerless to turn down efforts to recruit them into a conspiracy to smuggle 20 tons of cocaine through the Port of...
Harrison parent, injured W.Va. player describe harrowing escape from Lancaster sports facility
A 16-year-old boy from West Virginia required several stitches in his arm after getting hurt during the chaos of a frantic crowd fleeing a Lancaster County youth basketball tournament over the weekend. Rafael Barcinas of Morgantown — whose team included a dozen high-schoolers from the Alle-Kiski Valley, Penn Hills and...
Construction firm expected to resolve huge wage-theft case
STATE COLLEGE — A Pennsylvania construction contractor is expected to resolve a massive wage-theft case in which it was accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars from its own workers by systematically violating state and federal prevailing wage laws on taxpayer-funded public infrastructure projects. Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. of...
Tracking Pa.’s pandemic spending, by the numbers
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. Spotlight PA’s tallying of Pennsylvania’s pandemic-related spending led us to the state’s emergency procurement program — a faster and, critics say,...
2nd Penn State student dies of covid-19 complications
Students and staff at Penn State are mourning the coronavirus-related death of a second student from the university. Neil Patel, 20, a sixth semester Penn State Honors College scholar from Upper Merion Township, died Sunday at a Philadelphia hospital, where he was taken in mid-April with severe effects of covid-19....
PennDOT opens survey to learn about drivers’ safety habits
PennDOT is seeking input on drivers’ safety habits in an annual online survey. The responses to the department’s Highway Safety Survey will help officials determine ways to make roads safer for motorists. “The results from this annual survey help us gauge participants’ attitudes on highway safety and potentially allow us...
Pennsylvania reports 2,283 new covid cases since Friday
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 913 additional coronavirus cases on Monday, and 2,106 total cases for Saturday and Sunday, for a three-day total of 3,019. Northampton County’s 131 additional cases since Friday were enough to give it the highest population-adjusted seven-day case rate among the state’s 67 counties. Northampton...
Pa. college to use stimulus money to erase unpaid student bills
CHEYNEY — Cheyney University, the nation’s oldest historically black college, has announced that it will erase unpaid student bills since the start of the covid-19 pandemic. The southeastern Pennsylvania university said on its Facebook page Friday that, in light of the hardships students and their families have experienced, it will...
Pennsylvania Lottery sets record for sales, profit
Pennsylvania Lottery officials on Monday announced that the Lottery generated a record profit of more than $1.3 billion during the 2020-21 fiscal year. Officials said this is the tenth consecutive year that it has generated more than $1 billion for senior programs, which include property tax and rent rebates, free...
Erratic scooter driver arrested in Erie store robbery; pockets stuffed with cash
A pursuit by Erie police of an erratic scooter driver led to his arrest in the Sunday night robbery of a downtown convenience store, police said. Police said officers found cash stuffed in the scooter driver’s pockets. The 49-year-old man was in police custody Monday morning awaiting arraignment on robbery...
