Pennsylvania category, Page 170
Surge in mail-in ballots could delay election results, so Wolf wants to change the rules
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 — Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday unveiled a wishlist of election reforms to address logistical concerns that some county...
Man gets 5 years in prison for lottery scam targeting elderly Pennsylvanians
The ringleader of a Jamaican lottery scheme that bilked senior citizens out of millions of dollars will spend more than five years in prison for the scam that spanned not just Pennsylvania but also reached nationwide, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Friday. Kristoff Cain, who went by Patrick Williams, pleaded...
Pennsylvania adds 835 new covid-19 cases, 20 new deaths
By adding 835 cases, Pennsylvania on Friday posted its highest new covid-19 case count in nearly two weeks. The Pa. Department of Health also announced 20 new deaths related to the coronavirus, bringing the state total to 7,655. The state said there were 156,317 individuals tested from Aug. 21-27, with...
Wolf, Republicans at odds over Pennsylvania election law
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican state lawmakers remained at odds Thursday over how to update Pennsylvania’s voting laws to handle an expected avalanche of mail-in ballots in November’s presidential election in the battleground state, even as Philadelphia moved ahead with an ambitious election plan. Wolf, a Democrat,...
Poll: Most Pennsylvania voters will cast their ballots in person in November
More Pennsylvanians will vote in person than by mail in the November election, but there are strong partisan differences when it comes to the two choices, a new poll shows. A Franklin & Marshall College poll released Thursday said 62% of voters expect to cast their ballot in person, while...
Pennsylvania cities, towns with highest rate of UFO sightings; Pittsburgh is 206th
The skies of Pennsylvania appear to be packed with unidentified flying objects, UFOs. Pennsylvanians haven’t reported sightings at anywhere near the rate of the top reporting city in the country. Residents of Gila Bend, Arizona, about 470 miles west of Roswell, New Mexico, since 1914 have reported UFOs at a...
Pennsylvania reports 620 new coronavirus cases, 11 deaths
Pennsylvania reported 620 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, as the seven-day case count dropped to 602, the lowest the average has been since July 1. The state Department of Health reported 11 new deaths, bringing the state total to 7,635. The new data brings the total cases to 131,156. Officials...
Pa. leaders loosen childcare restrictions as families balance work, online learning
Most children across the state are returning to school in partially online , and Pennsylvania leaders say they are adding more flexibility to childcare options as parents work to balance their jobs with their children now learning from home. That flexibility includes temporarily suspending some regulations in order to create...
Justice Department seeks data about covid-19 nursing home deaths from Pa., 3 other states
The Justice Department is seeking data about “orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents,” sending letters Wednesday to the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Officials say Wednesday that the Justice Department’s civil rights division is evaluating whether to...
Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers hatch new plan to undermine Wolf’s emergency powers
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 — Thwarted by court rulings and vetoes, Republicans in the legislature unhappy with Gov. Tom Wolf’s response to the...
Pennsylvania reports 501 new coronavirus cases, 19 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Wednesday reported 501 additional cases of coronavirus to bring the state’s total to 130,536. Of the total cases, 126,835 are confirmed and 3,701 are considered probable. There have been 1,457,642 negative tests, according to the Department of Health. The daily positivity rate is 3.86%. Pa. coronavirus by dayInfogram...
Retired Allegheny County, state judge praises Donald Trump in Tuesday’s RNC broadcast
Retired Superior Court Judge Cheryl Allen of Hampton was among a half dozen “ordinary Americans” who offered testimonials to President Donald Trump during Tuesday night’s Republican National Convention. A portion of a video that featured conversations with Vice President Mike Pence included Allen. The segment also included testimonials from five...
Gov. Tom Wolf wants Pa. to legalize marijuana, provide more covid-19 relief this fall
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 — Gov. Tom Wolf wants state lawmakers to legalize recreational cannabis this fall and spend $1 billion in federal...
Gov. Wolf asks lawmakers to spend coronavirus funds
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday outlined how he thinks the state should spend much of the $1.3 billion remaining in federal coronavirus relief funds during what’s left of lawmakers’ two-year session. The Democratic governor urged the General Assembly to put $225 million toward hazard pay for more than...
Gov. Tom Wolf: Pennsylvania eviction moratorium to lapse Aug. 31
Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday he does not have the legal authority to extend Pennsylvania’s moratorium on evictions and foreclosures beyond the end of the month, meaning that renters will no longer be shielded from losing their homes for failing to pay rent during the pandemic. In a letter to...
Pennsylvania adds 561 new covid-19 cases, 26 new deaths to totals
Pennsylvania reported 561 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. The state’s covid-19 cases count is now 130,035, as a result. Between resident cases (20,798) and employee cases (4,411), there are 25,209 covid-19 cases from nursing and personal care homes. That accounts for 19% of total...
Pennsylvania to jobless: $300 checks from feds could be weeks away
Pennsylvanians who lost their jobs when covid-19 slammed the economy probably will have to wait weeks before they see a weekly $300 check the Trump administration promised as a replacement for the extra $600 a week they had been receiving until late July, state officials said Monday. The state has...
Gray area of mail-in voting law up to Pennsylvania court
With the Trump campaign’s lawsuit in federal court on hold until October, it could be up to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court to settle crucial questions of election law in the presidential battleground, including whether ballots mailed without secrecy envelopes can be counted. The state Supreme Court could decide as early as...
Pennsylvania adds 426 new covid cases, 1 new death
On Monday, Pennsylvania added the second lowest number of new cases of coronavirus since mid-July. The state’s Department of Health added 426 new covid-19 cases, with 415 of them confirmed and 11 probable. The state reports 157,052 tests were conducted from Aug. 17-23, producing 4,588 positive cases. The state added...
Pennsylvania reports 619 new coronavirus cases, 2 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Sunday reported 619 new coronavirus cases, as the seven-day average case count dropped to 655. The state Department of Health reported two new deaths attributed to coronavirus after posting 18 on Saturday and 20 on Friday. The state total stands at 7,578. The two deaths are attributed to...
Penn State announces 148 covid-19 cases from pre-arrival testing
Penn State on Friday launched its COVID-19 dashboard, which updates weekly — campus-by-campus — its positive cases and testing numbers, while also announcing Friday that 148 positive cases were uncovered during pre-arrival testing. The pre-arrival tests mean those students are not yet on campus, although that underscores a larger concern...
Pennsylvania reports 796 new coronavirus cases, 18 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 796 new coronavirus cases, as the case count inches slowly upward from the weekly average of 688. The state Department of Health reported 18 new deaths attributed to coronavirus after posting 20 on Friday. Sunday’s total of 33 was the highest total of the week. Saturday’s...
Auditor general: Brighton Rehab refused to let state watchdog examine the nursing home’s finances
Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center blocked the state’s chief fiscal watchdog from examining the Beaver County nursing home’s financial records earlier this year, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said . DePasquale disclosed Brighton Rehab’s refusal to cooperate — or even take an initial meeting to discuss the possibility of cooperating...
Dark money mystery: Top Pa. lawmaker helped raise cash for nonprofit whose agenda is largely a secret
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 — In early March, a little-known Pennsylvania nonprofit called the Growth and Opportunity Fund Inc. hosted a gathering of...
Pa. lawmakers concerned ‘guidance’ for schools could open the door to covid-19 lawsuits
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 — As students prepare to begin a highly unusual school year, Pennsylvania lawmakers on Wednesday told Wolf administration officials...
