Pennsylvania category, Page 130
Republican Sen. Kim Ward endorses covid vaccine for return to normalcyVideo
State Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward is encouraging constituents to get the covid-19 vaccine. The Hempfield Republican, who has been at odds with Democratic leaders over the covid-19 shutdown for the past year, went public with her endorsement in a radio interview with 90.5 WESA, Pittsburgh’s NPR news station. “It’s...
Pennsylvania GOP wants to restore work-search rule for jobless benefits
HARRISBURG — Republicans in Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled Legislature are advancing legislation to reinstate work-search requirements for people claiming unemployment benefits, with one survey showing that workers aren’t taking open jobs at a record rate. The bill cleared the House Labor and Industry Committee on a party-line vote Tuesday. Lawmakers suspended the...
Allegheny County reports 2nd-lowest covid case total in past month
The Allegheny County Health Department on Wednesday reported its second-lowest covid-19 case total in the past month. The county added 158 new cases Wednesday. Only the 94 cases reported April 26 was lower. It’s also the second-lowest total dating back to March 15, when 124 were reported. The county’s coronavirus...
Report: Barbecuing his dog lands Bucks County man behind bars on $1 million bailVideo
A Bucks County man is facing charges after police say he shot his dog and barbecued it. Nikolay Lukyanchikov, 49, is facing charges of aggravated cruelty to animals, discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure and related offenses after the incident on Friday, NBC 10 is reporting. Lukyanchikov remained...
2 Bucks County women charged with trying to vote for deceased mothers
DOYLESTOWN — Two suburban Philadelphia women are facing misdemeanor voter fraud charges after authorities allege they completed mail-in ballots for the November 2020 election by signing the names of their deceased mothers. Bucks County prosecutors say Danielle Dooner, 56, of Buckingham Township and Melissa Ann Fisher, 51, of Quakertown were...
Wolf: Covid restrictions end Memorial Day; mask mandate ends when 70% of Pa. adults fully vaccinated
Pennsylvania plans to lift its covid-19 mitigation orders on Memorial Day, and Gov. Tom Wolf said the state’s masking order will be dropped once 70% of Pennsylvanians 18 and older are fully vaccinated. Mitigation measures that remain in effect until Memorial Day include capacity limits on restaurants, theaters, indoor and...
Declining covid hospitalization streak ends in Pa., Allegheny County
Recent covid hospitalization numbers have been declining for several straight days in the state and Allegheny County. But those streaks ended Tuesday, when both saw increases to its current covid hospitalization total. The state saw its first increase to its current covid hospitalization total after having 12 consecutive days of...
One ritzy fundraiser shows how tough selling lobbying reform in Pa. will be
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. HARRISBURG — For the first time, the Pennsylvania legislature’s top leaders are expected to throw their weight behind reining in the...
Pa. Supreme Court picks former Pitt chancellor to chair powerful redistricting commission
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — A former University of Pittsburgh chancellor will chair the committee...
GOP: Wolf should fire vendor that mishandled virus data
Pennsylvania should immediately terminate the no-bid state contract of a company that performed covid-19 contact tracing and exposed the private medical information of tens of thousands of residents, Republican state lawmakers said Monday. GOP leaders also called for state and federal probes into the Atlanta-based contractor’s mishandling of the data,...
Philadelphia man gets life term in parking lot slaying of ex-girlfriend
NORRISTOWN — A Philadelphia man who prosecutors said stabbed and ran over his ex-girlfriend in the parking lot of her suburban workplace has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Lawrence Crawley, 36, apologized Monday in Montgomery County Court before the mandatory sentence was imposed, The Philadelphia...
New covid cases continue statewide drop, rise in Allegheny and Westmoreland
It was a mix of good and bad news in the latest coronavirus reports in the state and Western Pennsylvania region. For a fifth straight Monday, Pennsylvania’s two-day covid-19 case report has shown a decline week over week. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported a two-day count of 4,381 new...
Are Pa.’s state House and Senate maps gerrymandered? Depends on how you measure them
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — When Amanda Holt was preparing to vote in 2010, she...
Firefighters rescue man trapped in portable toilet in Gettysburg
GETTYSBURG — Authorities say a man was rescued after a tree that fell during high winds trapped him inside a portable toilet at Gettysburg National Military Park in south-central Pennsylvania. The Barlow Volunteer Fire Department said on its Facebook page that the crew was called to Little Round Top shortly...
Pa. covid hospitalizations decline for 10th straight day
Hospitalizations for covid-19 dropped in Pennsylvania for the 10th straight day, according to data released Saturday by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Saturday’s total of 2,207, is down 76 from Friday. That’s is a decline of almost 23% from the 2,842 who were hospitalized on April 21. In the state,...
Pa. man admits to voter fraud in casting dead mother’s ballot
MEDIA — A Pennsylvania man who illegally voted for Donald Trump on behalf of his long-dead mother in last year’s presidential election was sentenced Friday to five years of probation. Bruce Bartman, 70, of Marple pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of perjury and one count of unlawful voting. Besides...
Pa. leaders deadlock on final member of district-drawing panel
HARRISBURG — The Republican and Democratic floor leaders of the Pennsylvania House and Senate said Friday they can’t agree who should be the tie-breaking fifth member of the panel that will redraw the state’s legislative district lines. The announcement means the chairperson of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission will be selected...
Backlog of covid cases contributes to rise in Pennsylvania; Allegheny, Westmoreland also up
Pennsylvania on Friday saw an uptick in covid-19 cases, with similar rises reflected in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. The increase comes as nearly half the state’s population has at least one dose of covid vaccine. Cases The state added 4,607 cases of covid-19, the most reported in a single day...
Pennsylvania Senate OKs bill to halt plans to toll bridges
Republicans in Pennsylvania’s Senate are trying to make Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration start over on its plans to toll up to nine major bridges, approving a bill Tuesday to require the state Department of Transportation to undergo a new process that includes approval from the Legislature. The bill passed the...
Addiction treatment providers in Pa. face little state scrutiny despite harm to clients
This investigation is a joint project of KHN, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues, and Spotlight PA, an independent, collaborative newsroom dedicated to producing investigative journalism for all of Pennsylvania. When Ian Kalinowski was at work, his mom usually texted him. So when he saw her...
Nearly half of all Pennsylvanians have at least 1 covid vaccine shot
Over 6 million people in Pennsylvania (47.3% of residents) have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and more than 3.8 million have been fully vaccinated (30.3% of residents), according to the data posted by the state on Thursday. And locally, the state reported that 655,660 of Allegheny County...
Pa. drug overdose deaths rose in 2020, likely fueled by pandemic, officials say
Overdose deaths in Pennsylvania ticked upward in 2020 after two years of relatively stable numbers, something officials say is likely the ripple effect of a pandemic that caused an influx of stress and isolated people from their support systems. “The uncertain, stressful and isolating nature of the pandemic has caused...
Pennsylvania sending covid-19 vaccines to more providers
HARRISBURG — Covid-19 vaccines will be sent to more providers in Pennsylvania, widening the distribution network this week to include doctors, small pharmacies and others as part of its effort to overcome lingering hesitancy among residents who have yet to get the shot. The Health Department said Wednesday it allocated...
How Pa. troopers use sweating, stuttering during traffic stops to launch vehicle searches
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 — When Brandon Neely was pulled over in August 2020 for crossing into the area between a highway lane and...
Westmoreland County reaches 100,000 fully vaccinated against covid
Westmoreland County surpassed 100,000 residents fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to information released Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Westmoreland is the 10th county in the state to hit that mark. In total, there are 100,080 fully vaccinated in the county and 49,232 partially vaccinated. Overall in the...
