Pennsylvania category, Page 125
Pa. legislature ends coronavirus disaster declaration, keeps waivers
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 — The Pennsylvania legislature has voted to immediately end Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus disaster declaration using a new power granted...
Pa. GOP proposes major election overhaul, including stricter voter ID and in-person early voting
This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy. Pennsylvania Republicans unveiled their first proposal for overhauling the state’s election system Thursday, with lawmakers in the state House...
Penn State ex-president reports to jail in Sandusky scandal
BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Former Penn State president Graham Spanier has reported to jail early to begin serving his sentence for child endangerment in a case stemming from the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal. Spanier reported to Centre County Correctional Facility, several miles from the Penn State campus, on Monday...
Pennsylvania pension system sued over access to documents amid probe
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania state senator is suing Pennsylvania’s largest public pension system amid a federal investigation into aspects of the agency’s undertakings, saying agency officials have refused to share documents with her, even though she is a board member. The effort by state Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery, is being...
Allegheny, Westmoreland see rapid drops in new covid cases
New covid-19 cases continued their rapid declines in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. Allegheny County recorded 183 cases in the past week — including just 15 on Wednesday — for a seven-day daily average of 26. It hasn’t been that low since hitting 24 on June 24, 2020. For perspective, the...
Jobless in Pa. livid over new unemployment system errors as state declares victory
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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. A long-delayed upgrade of Pennsylvania’s computer system for unemployment benefits made a glitch-filled debut Tuesday, frustrating some jobless workers and confirming...
Pa. House votes to end Wolf’s pandemic disaster declaration
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives voted on party lines Tuesday to put an end to the governor’s pandemic disaster emergency declaration, less than a month after voters dramatically expanded lawmakers’ powers to control such declarations. The 113-90 vote sent the Republican-penned measure over to the Senate, where the GOP...
Pa. House sends local gun law pre-emption bill to state Senate
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that would leave cities and towns that have tried to craft local gun control laws on the hook for all court costs associated with a successful court challenge to those ordinances. Carried by 112 of the 113 Republican votes and 12...
Pa. House advances ban on abortions over Down syndrome diagnoses
HARRISBURG — Republicans in the Pennsylvania House pushed through a bill Tuesday that would ban abortions that are prompted by a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis, although the Democratic governor has vowed to veto it. State representatives voted 120-83 for legislation that the prime sponsor, Republican Rep. Kate Klunk of York...
With $10B to spend, advocates press Wolf, Pa. lawmakers to prioritize poor people
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 — As Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-led legislature begin the final month of budget negotiations, a coalition of groups...
Pennsylvania man accused of fatally stabbing woman, gambling with her money
Police had little to go on at first as they investigated the stabbing death of a Lackawanna County woman in March, but they announced on Monday that an arrest has been made. The Pennsylvania State Police say Jerry Koezeno of Mayfield has been charged in connection with the killing of...
Philadelphia to give away nearly $400,000 in vaccine prizes
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced Monday that the city will be giving away cash prizes as part of a multiweek lottery to entice residents to get vaccinated for covid-19. The sweepstakes will include three drawings with chances to win up to $50,000 and is a partnership between the...
Medical marijuana law changes get through Pennsylvania House
HARRISBURG — The state House on Monday approved a set of revisions to Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law, seeking to make permanent some of the changes put in place temporarily because of the coronavirus pandemic. Representatives voted 164 to 38 for the bill, which would permit dispensing a three-month supply at...
Baby dies after driver strikes mother, stroller crossing street in Central Pa.: police
A 15-week-old baby has died after police said the baby’s mother and stroller were hit by a car in Lebanon on Monday morning. Lebanon City police said the crash occurred just before 11 a.m. at the intersection of North 10th and Lehman streets. Police said a vehicle, driven by a...
Leslie Rossi, Abby Major break records as they take office in Harrisburg
Pennsylvania’s newest lawmakers, state Reps. Leslie Rossi, R-Unity, and Abby Major, R-Ford City, are breaking molds with every step they take. The two, who won special elections last month to fill unexpected vacancies, were sworn into office Monday in Harrisburg. They are the first women to represent, respectively, the 59th...
Gun rights supporters rally outside Pennsylvania Capitol
HARRISBURG — A couple hundred gun rights enthusiasts attended an annual pro-gun rally on the Pennsylvania Capitol steps Monday, with many pushing for a proposal to let anyone who can legally possess firearms to conceal them without a license or permit when carrying them in public. The organizer of the...
Philadelphia teen dies after being shot 13 times
A Philadelphia teen died after he was shot 13 times while riding his bike on Sunday. The shooting occurred on the 1700 block of 68th Avenue around 4:39 p.m., NBC 10 is reporting. The teen’s mother, Shineka Crawford, told CBS 3 that her son, Shaquille Barbour, 18, was riding home...
Summer tourism proves lucrative for Seven Springs, other winter mountain resorts
While mountain resorts are primarily known for picturesque skiing and snowboarding during winter months, summer tourism can be just as lucrative for business. For more than 20 years, Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Somerset County has offered “Summer Adventures” to offseason guests, which include attractions such as the Alpine Slide,...
Advocates push for citizen input and transparency in new congressional and legislative maps
Jim Brewster, the McKeesport Democrat, has vivid memories of going to bed in December 2011 in his Allegheny County home and waking up to find his 45th Senate District had been moved across Pennsylvania to the Poconos. Strange things can happen when politics collides with the need to resketch district...
No shirts, pants or undies needed on Philly bike ride, just a mask
Philadelphia bike riders won’t need their shirts, pants, skirts or even underwear — just a mask. Organizers of the annual Philly Naked Bike Ride say this year’s event will take place Aug. 28 and will require masks, based on the city’s earlier coronavirus restrictions. The city lifted most of its...
Bill would force Pa. to post online how lawmakers spend millions in tax dollars each year
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 — Millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded expenses incurred by state lawmakers each year would be required to be posted online...
Christian college near Philly ends program citing gender, sex guidelines
A small Christian university outside Philadelphia shuttered its highly regarded social work program partly because school officials say the accrediting agency was attempting to impose sexuality and gender values that don’t align with the university’s religious mission. According to those officials, the decision by the Cairn University Board of Trustees...
Allegheny County hospitalizations drop to 10th of December’s peak
Covid-19 hospitalizations in Allegheny County dropped to 88 on Friday, just a tenth of the county’s peak total in December. On Dec. 16, 881 patients were hospitalized in the county. Just a month later, the county’s total had fallen by 50%, hitting 425 on Jan. 17. The total stood at...
GOP fight over 2020 election audit brews in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — A key member of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is flatly rejecting talk of any sort of audit of the 2020 presidential election, a day after three fellow Republican state lawmakers toured the Arizona Senate GOP’s audit. Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, who chairs the committee that handles election matters,...
Allegheny County’s covid hospitalizations dip below 100 for 1st time since October
Nearly all covid-19 numbers in Pennsylvania continue to drop to levels not seen since before the fall surge. On Thursday, Pennsylvania added 656 new covid-19 cases to its total, with nearly 20% of them coming from one county: Philadelphia (123). The next highest reporting county was York with just 36...
