Pennsylvania category, Page 166

Many do not agree with Pennsylvania’s order about wearing masks in stores that remain open. In an unscientific TribLIVE.com poll about Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine’s order that essential businesses provide masks for employees and turn away customers who do not have a mask, about 60% of respondents believe...

Special Olympics Pennsylvania has canceled its Summer Games scheduled for June at Penn State University in State College. In a news release, the group cited safety precautions related to coronavirus as the reason for the cancellation. The group said it plans to host Virtual Games during the same time, from...

Federal officials green-lighted Pennsylvania’s request to boost the payments for some food stamp recipients — but rejected the state’s attempt to send extra money to all of them. The state Department of Human Services received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service to issue a limited...

Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday he has not yet decided precisely when to end Pennsylvania’s pandemic-spurred lockdown, and he warned that a persisting shortage of testing capacity remains a major hindrance to doing so. ”I have been considering when we end this phase from the time I put it into...

Hospitals across the region that are looking to recover revenue they lost while preparing to meet a surge in covid-19 cases say they need more help and are seeking a more equitable piece of the pie as the federal government rolls out the remaining $70 billion of a $100 billion...

To help process online orders, workers will be back on the job at many state-owned wine and liquor stores, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said Thursday. The stores will not be open to the public. Gov. Tom Wolf’s office gave the OK to reopen more than 100 of the state...

Another 60 coronavirus deaths were reported across Pennsylvania on Thursday, pushing the death toll above 700 as the case count eclipsed 27,000. The deaths, reported to the state throughout the day Wednesday, bring the total to 707, according to the Department of Health. The 1,245 new cases reported during that...

Gov. Tom Wolf has written to President Donald Trump to back calls from other leading governors for another $500 billion in federal aid for states fighting the spread of the coronavirus, warning that his office is projecting a budget deficit of up to $5 billion. The letter, dated Wednesday, was...

PHILADELPHIA — A fight aboard a bus traveling in Philadelphia early Thursday ended with a man shooting three teenage boys in their legs, authorities said. The 24-year-old shooter was sitting in the back of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus when he was approached around 1 a.m. by two 16-year-olds...

Pennsylvania’s hospitals stand to lose as much as $2 billion every month the pandemic-spurred shutdown goes on, the state’s largest hospital advocacy group said Wednesday. Gov. Tom Wolf’s order canceling elective medical procedures as part of the covid-19 measures is estimated to rack up $1.5 billion in collective monthly hospital...

HARRISBURG — The GOP-controlled Legislature sent Gov. Tom Wolf a bill Wednesday that would force him to allow some businesses to reopen during the pandemic, but its fate was unclear. The Senate approved the legislation on a party-line vote, sending it to Wolf’s desk for his signature. Wolf hasn’t explicitly...

The governor’s office on Wednesday announced a new task force aimed at analyzing and addressing disproportionate coronavirus outbreaks in minority communities across Pennsylvania. The goal of the Covid-19 Response Task Force for Health Disparity is to identify disparities and make recommendations to Gov. Tom Wolf on how to address the...

The office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro partnered with several banks to help Pennsylvanians who face financial hardships as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Banks participating in the PA Care Package initiative will offer a 90-day grace period for mortgages, auto loans and other consumer loans. They will...

Less than a month into a shutdown that forced colleges and universities across the country to transition to online classes, covid-19 is exposing new fractures in higher education. When students were forced to leave campus months before the end of the spring semester, residential campuses had to come up with...

Customers and employees will soon be required to wear masks inside businesses still operating, and those who don’t wear masks will be denied entry, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Wednesday. The order, which includes dozens of other requirements, will go into effect 8 p.m. Sunday. It dictates...

Pennsylvania is now sharing data on cases of coronavirus at long-term care facilities and personal care homes in each county. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine made the announcement during a virtual news conference Wednesday. The information can be found on the health department’s coronavirus page. Levine said the Department...

Coronavirus deaths in Pennsylvania crested 600 on Wednesday, though the total number of new cases remained below 1,200 for the second straight day. In numbers reported throughout Tuesday, 63 more people died from the virus statewide, bringing the death toll to 647. The Department of Health reported 1,145 new cases....

Gov. Tom Wolf said he believes it should be left to state governments — not the president — to decide when and how to loosen restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “We had the responsibility for addressing the needs that we all had, and that involved closing...

Pennsylvania counties have processed about 283,000 absentee and mail-in ballots for the June primary, and requests from Democrats are three times more common than from Republicans, state elections officials said Tuesday. The Department of State said 89,000 absentee ballot requests have already been processed, with the June 2 primary still...

Sixty more people across Pennsylvania died from the coronavirus, state health officials said Tuesday. The Pennsylvania Department of Health said 1,146 new cases of covid-19 were reported Monday, bringing the state’s running tally to 25,345. There were 1,366 new cases reported Monday and 1,178 on Sunday. The death toll now...

Investigators said Kenneth Ruch was going nearly 75 mph in a 40 mph zone when he blew through a yellow traffic light in his Jeep and struck and killed two sisters in a crosswalk. One of the sisters, 19-year-old Kimberly Phillips, was dismembered by the impact. Her body was found...

State Rep. Eric Nelson this week proposed an amendment to state law that will ensure police and firefighters continue to be paid should they have to miss work because of the coronavirus. Nelson, R-Hempfield, said the proposed legislation will expand the state’s Heart and Lung Act that requires certain emergency...

Seventeen more people died from coronavirus in Pennsylvania, state health officials said Monday, and the total case count now tops 24,000. The death toll, which includes two new deaths in Allegheny County, stands at 524. Officials said one inmate from SCI-Phoenix in Montgomery County died. About 1,179 health care workers...

ERIE — Firefighters who extinguished a car fire at an abandoned gas station early Monday found a body in the vehicle, authorities said. The fire in Erie was reported around 2:30 a.m., city police said. The burning vehicle was next to a building and among several vehicles parked between the...

PHILADELPHIA — A fast-moving fire roared through a rowhouse in Philadelphia early Monday, killing two children and leaving three adults hospitalized. The blaze in the two-story home started shortly before 5 a.m. and was brought under control within 30 minutes, according to city fire officials. The bodies were found a...