Pennsylvania category, Page 15
Aggressive plants effective to some, a nuisance to others as growing season begins
The Capets family of Murrysville has a positive relationship with bamboo, a grass native to the Asian continent that grows tall and spreads quickly. They’ve been using it for more than a decade to screen their front yard from nearby traffic on Sardis Road. And it works well, forming a...
Allentown employee planted noose on her desk, faces false report charges, police say
Allentown officials announced charges Monday against a city employee, alleging that she made a false police report and tampered with evidence after reporting she found a noose on her desk in January. LaTarsha Brown, who works for the city’s community and economic development department, faces charges of making false reports,...
Police: Berks County fire chief arrested after dropping 3-month-old, fracturing her skull
A fire chief in Berks County has been arrested and suspended after police said he dropped his three-month-old daughter and fractured her skull. Falls Township Fire Chief Brian Salt, 36, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated assault after police said he admitted to intentionally letting...
Powerful interests poured $18M into top Pa. lawmakers’ campaign coffers
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Power plant operators, gambling magnates, charter school backers, and trade unions are among the interests that gave almost $18 million to Pennsylvania’s top...
Trump administration suspends $175 million in federal funding for Penn over transgender swimmer
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has suspended approximately $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania over the participation of a transgender athlete in its swimming program, the White House said Wednesday. The Ivy League school has been facing an Education Department investigation focusing on in its swimming...
Bus carrying bagpipers from St. Patrick’s Day parade crashes into truck in Lackawanna County
MOUNT COBB — Bagpipers returning from a St. Patrick’s Day parade were taken to hospitals after their charter bus crashed into a tractor-trailer, officials said. The bus was exiting westbound Interstate 84 in northeastern Pennsylvania shortly before 6:30 p.m. Sunday when it ran into the tractor-trailer, which had no one...
Medical cannabis companies are spending big to have a say in Pa.’s legal weed future
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Pro-cannabis interests spent at least $1.6 million lobbying the Pennsylvania legislature in 2024 as lawmakers weighed a legalization scheme that could see major...
Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro says Chuck Schumer should have used ‘leverage’ in government shutdown fightVideo
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Democrats in Washington should have been more strategic in trying to extract concessions from the Republican-led Congress on the government funding bill that passed last week, weighing in on a debate that divided his party over its response to President Donald Trump’s agenda. Senate Minority...
Pennsylvania ‘Box Demon’ identified from Ring doorbell footage
The mysterious, creepy “Box Demon” spotted on Ring doorbell footage in York County has been identified, police said. On Tuesday, a woman called the Northern York County Regional Police Department to report a suspicious person — who showed up unannounced at her home and proclaimed to be the “Box Demon”...
Measles case detected in eastern Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s first measles case of 2025 has been reported in Montgomery County — outside of Philadelphia. The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services Office of Public Health said March 2 that it was investigating a confirmed case of measles in an unvaccinated child in the county. As of...
New Pa. bill would relieve debt from childbirth, other medical care
This story first appeared in How We Care, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring original reporting and perspectives on how we care for one another at all stages of life. Medical debt harms people in different ways. It can lead them to seek payday loans, take money out of...
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry co-sponsors bill to abolish Federal Reserve
A bill in the U.S. House to repeal the 112-year-old Federal Reserve Act and abolish the nation’s central bank has attracted several co-sponsors, including York County Republican Rep. Scott Perry. Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie introduced the bill on March 5 and Perry is one of 10 co-sponsors, all Republicans,...
$30K in counterfeit Estee Lauder, Sharpie markers headed to Pa. seized by customs agents
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized nearly $30,000 in counterfeit cosmetics and Sharpie markers headed to addresses in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County over the past month. The agency said in a news release Tuesday that four shipments of counterfeit objects valued at roughly $28,550, had been seized...
3 victims of Pennsylvania plane crash were taken to a burn unit for treatment, hospital saysVideo
LITITZ — Three of the five people injured in a single-engine plane crash in central Pennsylvania over the weekend were sent from a Lancaster hospital to a burn center for treatment, authorities said Monday. Two patients were flown to the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s burn center and a third was...
A single-engine plane crashes near a Pennsylvania airport and all 5 aboard are taken to hospitalsVideo
A single-engine airplane carrying five people crashed and burst into flames Sunday in the parking lot of a retirement community near a small airport in suburban Pennsylvania, and everyone on board survived, officials and witnesses said. The fiery crash happened around 3 p.m. just south of Lancaster Airport in Manheim...
Facing competition from Big Tech, states dangle incentives and loosen laws to attract power plants
HARRISBURG — Facing projections of spiking energy demand, U.S. states are pressing for ways to build new power plants faster as policymakers increasingly worry about protecting their residents and economies from rising electric bills, power outages and other consequences of falling behind Big Tech in a race for electricity. Some...
More elder abuse transparency, accountability is coming as Shapiro administration denies ‘crisis’
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — The public will soon have easy access to critical information about whether county protective services agencies are keeping at-risk older adults safe from...
Medical plane’s voice recorder likely wasn’t working for years before Philadelphia crash
PHILADELPHIA — The cockpit voice recorder was not working on a medical transport plane that killed seven people when it plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in January and likely had not been functional for several years, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Thursday. The NTSB also...
2.3M birds culled in Pa. this year as flu spreads in commercial, backyard flocks
Ken Pounds has a coop full of turkeys, and with justifiable concerns about bird flu, that’s all he wants in there. No flies if he can help it. Definitely no people who don’t need to be there. And certainly no other birds. “The biggest thing you can do is have...
Fetterman calls out Democrats for ‘unhinged petulance’ during Trump address
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, called out members of his own party for their protests during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night. “A sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance. It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained,” Fetterman wrote Wednesday afternoon on the social media...
Pennsylvania to spend $10 million on new voter registration system
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is spending more than $10 million to replace its electronic voter registration database with an election management system that will also provide election night results and handle campaign finance filings and lobbyist registration. Secretary of State Al Schmidt announced Wednesday the Civix system should be fully in...
Police: Pa. man charged after mistaking hunter for turkey, shooting him in the face
A Huntingdon County man is facing charges after police said he mistook another hunter for a turkey and shot him in the face and head. Scott Huber, 51, is charged with reckless endangerment and violations of Pennsylvania’s hunting laws, according to WTAJ. The incident occurred on Nov. 9 in Barree...
Employees cut by feds could get Pa., Allegheny County jobs
People who lose their federal government jobs are being recruited to fill positions with Pennsylvania and Allegheny County government. It remains unclear how many of the more than 16,000 federal employees who live in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area will be affected by the cuts. But, on Wednesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro...
No limits on Sunday hunting proposed for Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania lawmakers are taking another look at making hunting a seven-day-a-week activity, when in season. State Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, this week introduced Senate Bill 67 to fully repeal Pennsylvania’s prohibition on Sunday hunting. It builds on Act 107 of 2019 that permitted hunting on three Sundays. A similar bill...
Are Pa. residents at risk of a measles outbreak? Here’s what the experts say
Measles, a highly contagious disease that was at one point believed to be largely eradicated in the United States, has seen an increase in cases over the past year. Among the most recently diagnosed cases of measles are several instances in New Jersey in mid-February and a confirmed case in...
