Pennsylvania category, Page 156

PHILADELPHIA — In a stunning decision that could test the legal framework of #MeToo cases, comedian Bill Cosby has won the right to fight his 2018 sexual assault conviction in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The 82-year-old Cosby has been imprisoned in suburban Philadelphia for nearly two years after a jury...

There were 38 new covid-19 deaths and 510 new cases reported Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The statewide total is now 82,696 cases and 6,464 deaths, with 631 patients considered probable cases. According to the Department of Health, the most severe cases are seen in patients 65 or...

Faced with the coronavirus pandemic and the prospect of long lines at sharply reduced polling places, Allegheny County voters led the state in embracing Pennsylvania’s new mail-in voting option. A new report by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania found nearly one in three Allegheny County voters requested a mail-in ballot...

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House turned to a seven-term Republican member Monday to become its next speaker, elevating him to the chamber’s top job a week after his predecessor stepped down in mid-term. The vote for Rep. Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County made him the House’s presiding officer, one step...

State police in North Central Pennsylvania said Sunday they are confident they are getting closer to solving the cold case of a toddler missing since the 1980s, according to newspaper reports from across the region. Corey James Edkin was 2 years old when he vanished from a home in White...

Pennsylvania state health officials on Sunday reported four more covid-19 deaths and 464 additional cases, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 81,730. A total of 6,423 people have died from the virus. There are 631 patients who have a positive serology test and either covid-19 symptoms or a...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 504 new coronavirus cases and 20 new covid-19 deaths. The new numbers brings the total case count to 81,266 and 6,419 deaths. The state considers 631 patients as probable cases but not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state...

Lawmakers in the General Assembly are reviewing potential legislation that would allow election officials to begin counting mail-in ballots before 7 a.m. on Election Day, a provision that advocates say will be crucial in getting timely election results in November. While voting-by-mail election reforms have faced political pushback from Republicans...

More than 4,000 people who were exposed to covid-19 have been identified through contact tracing efforts throughout the state, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Friday. “We are now equipped with hundreds of contact tracers that can help us mitigate the spread of this virus,” Secretary of Health Rachel Levine...

Citing long lines at polls on primary day in Eastern Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Conference of the NAACP is suing the state, seeking to ensure additional protections for voter access are in place in time for the November presidential election. The suit, filed Thursday in Commonwealth Court, charges the state’s decision...

Parts of Pennsylvania that were among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic will move next week into the less restrictive “green” zone for reopening businesses and restarting group activities, the Wolf administration announced Friday. The 12 counties going from yellow to green under Gov. Tom Wolf’s color-colored reopening system...

More than 34 million criminal cases have been removed from public records under the Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law, state court officials say. The law, the first of its kind in the United States, was implemented last June and provides for the automatic expungement of public records pertaining to low-level crimes...

There is a growing movement afoot to declare June 19, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday. The date marks the day in 1865 when Union Gen. Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, informing former slaves of their freedom provided by the order President Abraham Lincoln issued on Jan....

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday reported 526 new coronavirus cases and 38 new covid-19 deaths, bringing the total case count to 80,762 and 6,399 deaths. The state considers 630 patients as probable cases but not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state are in patients...

Pennsylvania’s Department of Health is pursuing a $301 million federal grant to strengthen its ability to respond to the covid-19 pandemic, and will earmark $100 million for local health departments if the grant is awarded. “This funding is essential to our future response to the covid-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania,” Secretary...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment began sliding down from its pandemic peak in May, even clocking in at below the national rate as payrolls grew by almost 200,000, the state said Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 13.1% in May, down 3 percentage points from April’s adjusted rate, the state Department of...

PHILADELPHIA — A 24-year-old Philadelphia man has been charged with using explosives to blow up a cash machine as demonstrations rocked the city this month. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it would oppose bail for David Elmakayes at a hearing scheduled for Friday. Elmakayes was charged Thursday with using an...

Counties may not ban people on probation or parole from using prescription cannabis if they are registered in Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court said that people holding a valid medical marijuana card are immune from “arrest, prosecution or...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday reported 42 new covid-19 deaths and 418 new cases in the state, bringing the total case count to 80,236 and 6,361 deaths. The state considers 630 patients as probable cases but not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in the state are...

PHILADELPHIA — As demonstrators shouted, fires burned outside City Hall and Philadelphia convulsed with outrage over the death of George Floyd, television news helicopters captured footage of a masked woman with a peace sign tattoo and a light blue T-shirt setting a police SUV ablaze. Now, more than two weeks...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s two major political parties have nominated candidates of color for state auditor general, a historic step that means that voters will for the first time elect a racial minority to lead a statewide executive branch office. Nina Ahmad, who came to the United States from Bangladesh as...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s highest court on Wednesday granted the Democratic governor’s request and took over a lawsuit by legislative Republicans that could end his pandemic shutdown order. The Supreme Court announced it will decide the case filed by Senate Republicans, seeking to enforce a resolution that both chambers passed last...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 43 new covid-19 deaths and 335 new cases in the state Wednesday. That brings the state’s total case count to 79,818, with 6,319 deaths. The state considers 629 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in...

Derry Township is sitting on a gold mine of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus shale, which drillers have tapped to the great benefit of the municipality — to the tune of $2.4 million in gas well impact fees since 2012. The township will get almost $232,000 from the 2019...