Pennsylvania category, Page 151

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 800 new cases of covid-19 and four new deaths in the state on Sunday. The new data brings the total cases to 107,425 with a death toll of 7,118. Sunday’s report of 800 cases comes after the state had reported back-to-back days (Friday and...

PHILADELPHIA — Jewish leaders expressed outrage Friday and Saturday over an anti-Semitic meme posted on the Facebook page of Rodney Muhammad, president of the Philadelphia NAACP. They called for Muhammad’s removal as head of the local civil rights group. “This vile behavior from a civic leader is incredibly dangerous for...

PennDOT has again extended the expiration dates on driver licenses, identification cards and learner permits because of covid-19, the agency announced Friday. Driver licenses, photo identification cards and learner permits scheduled to expire from March 16 through Aug. 31 have been extended until Aug. 31. The extensions are in addition...

A week after reaching the milestone of 1 million tests administered, the state of Pennsylvania has reported 1 million negative tests for the coronavirus. Saturday’s report shows a total of 1,016,705 tests have come back with negative results for the new virus in the Keystone State. The commonwealth also reported...

An effort to help Pennsylvania’s nuclear power industry snag an estimated $500 million a year ratepayer bailout should not be hurt by an alleged bribery scandal involving FirstEnergy Corp. in Ohio, a state representative said. Federal prosecutors say the Akron-based company pumped $15 million into a $60 million pot of...

Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday called on lawmakers to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania, which has not been increased in 11 years. The state’s minimum wage was set at $7.25 on July 24, 2009, the last time the federal government raised wages. Prior to that, the minimum wage was...

PHILADELPHIA — The founder of an iconic Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant and one of his sons have been indicted on federal tax evasion and fraud charges for allegedly hiding nearly $8 million in sales over the course of a decade. A spokesperson for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney’s office...

HARRISBURG — The many Pennsylvania school districts that have not settled on how and when they will restart instruction this fall will be making decisions in the coming weeks, and the pandemic plans that have been produced so far are all over the map. That’s by design, the state education...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health posted its highest number of new cases of covid-19 in two and a half months on Friday. The day’s report of 1,213 new cases was the highest new daily total since May 10, when 1,295 new cases were counted. The state has amassed a total...

Gov. Tom Wolf wished the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies good luck for the MLB season. Or at least tried to. Wolf tweeted the message Thursday afternoon, but included the wrong spelling of the Pirates’ nickname, writing “Bucks” instead of Bucs. @GovernorTomWolf That’s a swing and a miss, sir! But...

The percentage of Pennsylvanians being tested for covid-19 is among the lowest rates in the country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The Commonwealth came in 47th out of the nation’s 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with 8,244 tests performed per 100,000 people, the...

Gov. Tom Wolf this week said that he would have backed legislation that aims to require his administration to process Right-to-Know Law requests during emergency declarations if he were a lawmaker. Yet the Democrat still plans, later this week, to veto the legislation that lawmakers recently unanimously approved in both...

Pennsylvanians who identify as non-binary can now make that designation on their driver’s licenses or ID card, and anyone wishing to change that designation can do so without a physician’s or social worker’s signature. Having only male and female as designations “was not meeting the needs of our customers,” PennDOT...

Pennsylvania recorded its first probable human case of West Nile Virus this year, according to state health officials. A resident of Potter County was tested for the virus, with samples sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation. The state recorded seven cases of West Nile in...

HARRISBURG — Every region of Pennsylvania has seen an increase in the rate of positive coronavirus cases and failing to stop that could jeopardize the reopening of schools for the fall semester, the state’s top health official said Thursday. In addition, Health Secretary Rachel Levine said the majority of counties...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday reported 962 new coronavirus cases statewide and 16 additional deaths. The state’s total now sits at 104,358 cases and 7,079 deaths attributed to covid-19. Pa. coronavirus by dayInfogram The number of tests administered within the last seven days is 147,837, with 5,731 cases...

Gov. Tom Wolf came to the defense of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine Wednesday afternoon after her gender identity was again mocked in a public incident. “The covid-19 pandemic has brought hate and transphobia into the spotlight through relentless comments and slurs directed at Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine,...

HARRISBURG — No more masks. No more restrictions. And, they said, no more tyranny. That was the rally cry of several hundred people who gathered Wednesday on the Capitol steps, calling for Gov. Tom Wolf to lift all coronavirus-related restrictions. Organizers called the “Pennsylvania Assemble for Freedom” event a gathering...

HARRISBURG — A state-run veterans nursing home in Pennsylvania where 42 residents have died of covid-19 failed to take steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, state Health Department inspectors concluded. Health inspectors said in a report that Southeastern Veterans’ Center, a 292-bed facility outside Philadelphia, ignored state and...

A Pennsylvania county sued Wednesday to compel Gov. Tom Wolf to release $12.8 million in federal coronavirus relief funding that he withheld after county leaders defied his shutdown orders and sought to reopen on their own. Wolf yanked the funding from Lebanon County, where local Republican leaders voted in mid-May...

State health officials are looking to hire more contact tracers and nurses to better control the spread of coronavirus and prepare for any potential surges in covid-19 cases. Contact tracing is the process of identifying, notifying and monitoring anyone who came in close contact with an individual who tested positive...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 25 coronavirus deaths and 631 new cases on Wednesday. The 25 deaths raise the state’s total to 7,063 attributed to covid-19, while the 631 cases bring the statewide total to 103,396. Wednesday’s report doesn’t include Philadelphia County, whose data wasn’t received. Allegheny County had...

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced new grant recipients to fight the opioid addiction epidemic. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine announced that the latest Pennsylvania Coordinated Medication Assisted Treatment (PacMAT) grant recipients would build medication-assisted treatment programs for uninsured, underinsured or privately insured residents who suffer from addiction. These grants...

STATE COLLEGE — A 36-year-old man was charged Tuesday with raping four young women in State College over several years, and police said DNA was used to identify him as a suspect. Police said genealogical tools also helped lead them to Jeffrey P. Fields of Port Matilda, who worked in...