Pennsylvania category, Page 166
Sen. Toomey mum on Trump’s rush to replace Justice Ginsburg; Casey balks at GOP hypocrisy
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey has not said whether it’s critical to let the American people have the chance to “weigh in and select a new president” before filling the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That’s what Toomey, a Lehigh Valley Republican, described as...
Voting victories for Democrats in Pa. might have closed the door on more election reform
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 weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — With less than seven weeks to go, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has significantly altered how the state’s election...
Pennsylvania Lottery officials warn players about new phone scam
Lottery officials are warning Pennsylvanians of a phone scam that claims commonwealth contestants have won a prize — they just have to pre-pay taxes or processing costs, though the cash never comes. The Pennsylvania Lottery issued a release on Monday morning advising residents that they have received notifications of a...
Frances Wolf urges USDA and Congress to extend child food services
Pennsylvania’s First Lady Frances Wolf joined 17 other first spouses and partners to urge federal leaders to continue child nutrition programs for the rest of the school school year. In letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to congressional leadership sent Friday, Wolf and her counterparts asked the entities...
Pennsylvania sees 2-day increase of 967 in coronavirus cases
In the past two days, there were 967 new coronavirus cases added in the state, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Monday. On Sunday, the state added 733 new cases, while on Monday it added 234. All but 21 of those cases are confirmed. From Sept. 14-20, the state reported...
More Biden, Trump visits this week in fight for Pennsylvania
President Donald Trump will make his fourth and fifth appearances in September in Pennsylvania, flying into and out of rallies at two different airports this week. Tuesday’s event is at Pittsburgh International Airport and Saturday’s event is at Harrisburg International Airport. Trump’s visits underscores the importance of Pennsylvania to the...
Small plane crash lands on street in Pennsylvania, 2 injured
MOOSIC — A small plane traveling from Vermont crash landed on a residential street in Pennsylvania, injuring the pilot and a passenger. The single-engine aircraft was trying to land at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport on Sunday night when the pilot apparently had engine trouble and brought the plane down on Stone...
Pennsylvania reports 1,162 new coronavirus cases, 22 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 1,162 new coronavirus cases — a whopping 402-case jump from yesterday’s 760. The state Department of Health reported 22 new deaths attributed to the coronavirus after posting 21 on Friday. Wednesday’s total of 28 deaths was the highest of the week. Of the 22 deaths reported...
Pennsylvania’s cut of $300-a-week jobless aid half gone, apply now before it’s too late, state says
A week after the Trump administration abruptly announced that hundreds of thousands of covid-19-related jobless Pennsylvanians would receive an extra $300 weekly for six weeks only rather than through the end of the year, as initially promised, the state said it already distributed almost half of its allocation. Pennsylvania sent...
Gov. Wolf’s on-site alcohol sales order extended an hour to 11 p.m.
Alcohol sales at bars and restaurants won’t have to end until 11 p.m. starting Monday, according to orders for on-site alcohol consumption from Gov. Wolf and state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. Wolf had earlier said that alcohol sales would be required to end at 10 p.m. Alcoholic beverages must...
Wolf administration asks schools to voluntarily enforce gathering limits
The updated guidance for high school sports and spectators promised by Gov. Tom Wolf was a no-show Friday. Instead, the state Department of Education released an afternoon statement encouraging schools “to voluntarily enforce the 25-person indoor and 250-person outdoor gathering limitations while all of us wait for the court to...
Justices stop Philadelphia from broadcasting trials on YouTube
Pennsylvania’s highest court has put a stop to a local policy that allowed streaming of Philadelphia criminal trials over the internet. The state Supreme Court in an order dated Thursday halted the pandemic-prompted policy. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner asked the justices earlier this week to put an end to...
Philadelphia puts ban on police chokeholds into law
The Philadelphia City Council formally banned police from using certain modes of restraint on crime suspects Thursday, including kneeling on a suspect’s neck, and voted to open contract negotiations with the police union to the public. The contract bill passed by the council requires a public hearing to be held...
Pennsylvania sees big drop in jobless rate in August
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate took a steep drop in August as the labor force shrank and payrolls shot up again in a continuing rebound from shutdowns and the worst economic effects of the pandemic, according to state figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 10.3% in August, down 2.2 percentage points...
Wilkes-Barre hospital accused of altering records wants case sealed
A Pennsylvania hospital wants a judge to seal all records and issue a gag order in a long-running wrongful death suit that alleges hospital officials altered the medical records of a 44-year-old man who died after going to the emergency room with chest pain and breathing difficulties. In an unusual...
Pennsylvania reports 760 new coronavirus cases, 21 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Friday reported 760 new coronavirus cases to raise the state’s total to 148,683 since March. There were 11,530 new negative cases reported, making the daily positivity rate 6.18%. The state’s seven-day average of new cases is 828. There were 172,682 tests administered in the past seven days with...
Why the ruling against Wolf’s covid-19 restrictions faces long odds on appeal, explained
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 weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — A federal judge sent a shockwave through Pennsylvania politics this week when he ruled that several actions taken...
Philadelphia puts ban on police chokeholds into law
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia City Council formally banned police from using certain modes of restraint on crime suspects Thursday, including kneeling on a suspect’s neck, and voted to open contract negotiations with the police union to the public. The contract bill passed by the council requires a public hearing to...
Pa. Supreme Court grants 3-day extension on mail-in ballots; Green Party ordered off ballot
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s highest court gave the Democratic Party a series of victories Thursday, including one allowing repairs to glitches and gray areas in the battleground state’s fledgling mail-in voting law and another that kicked the Green Party’s presidential candidate off the November ballot. The state Supreme Court, which has...
Biden campaign outlines tax proposals ahead of Scranton town hall meeting on CNN
Calling the upcoming election “Park Avenue vs. Scranton,” Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign issued a series of tax policy proposals Thursday ahead of his town hall meeting tonight on CNN. The 8 p.m. event will be held in Scranton. Although they stressed controlling the covid-19 pandemic remains Biden’s top...
Pennsylvania reports 933 new covid-19 cases
Pennsylvania had 933 new covid-19 cases Thursday, according to the state Department of Health. Ten new coronavirus-related deaths were reported, all of which are from September. After Thursday’s new cases and deaths, total cases are at 147,923 and total deaths are now 7,913. Pa. coronavirus by dayInfogram In Southwestern Pennsylvania,...
Real ID issuance resumes in Pa.; deadline next yearVideo
After being on hold for six months, PennDOT is once again issuing Real IDs. State officials first began issuing the cards in March 2019 but temporarily halted them this spring as Driver License Centers were closed throughout the state in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic....
Centre County announces 3rd positive West Nile Virus sample of the season
Centre County has collected its third positive sample of West Nile Virus this season, officials announced Wednesday. The Centre County Planning and Community Development Office and state Department of Environmental Protection Vector Management reported that a mosquito sample recently collected in College Township tested positive for WNV — the leading...
Lancaster County prosecutors respond to outrage over ‘exorbitantly high’ $1M bail set for protestersVideo
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office is trying to set the record straight after outrage erupted over the $1 million bail set for a number of people protesting Sunday night in Lancaster. Criminal justice advocates and politicians took issue with bail set for seven of the 13 protesters accused of...
Top Pa. Republican’s campaign sues journalists over public records costs
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 weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — The campaign committee of the state Senate’s top Republican is suing a publication of LNP Media Group and...
