Pennsylvania category, Page 175
Protesters in Harrisburg rally against mask mandates, Gov. Wolf’s coronavirus restrictions
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...
Report: Veterans home failed to protect residents from coronavirus
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...
Lebanon County sues Gov. Wolf for withholding $13M in virus funding
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...
Pennsylvania health department looking to hire more contact tracers, nurses
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...
Pennsylvania adds 25 coronavirus deaths, 631 new cases
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...
Pennsylvania hopes to encourage 10,000 landowners to create stream-side buffersVideo
The riparian buffer at the headwaters of Steele’s Run in Murrysville mostly offers aesthetic benefits. But, each year, its physical value will continue to grow as it protects the cold-water fishery stream from erosion, provides shade, cools the stream and offers a habitat for native wildlife. Officials with the state’s...
Pennsylvania announces new grant recipients to fight opioid epidemic
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...
Man charged with raping 4 Penn State students over 2010-17
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...
Ex-DHS Secretary Tom Ridge: ‘It would be a cold day in hell’ before ‘personal militia’ would be welcomed uninvited in Pa.
Former Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge ripped his former agency’s current actions in Portland, saying it is not the office’s mission to act as domestic law enforcement. Ridge, a two-term Republican governor from Pennsylvania and President George W. Bush’s first head of DHS, said Tuesday the Trump administration’s decision...
Pa. attorney general vows to back schools threatened with loss of funding over distance learning
As schools across the region continue to finalize arrangements for a return to class next month, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has added his voice to the debate. In a letter this week to district superintendents, Shapiro threatened to intervene on behalf of schools should the federal government withhold money...
Bloomsburg Fair denounced for dunk tank mocking Pa. Health Secretary Rachel Levine
A fair in Eastern Pennsylvania was criticized this week for perceived mocking of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine in a dunk tank. At the Columbia-Montour County Fireman’s Relief Carnival, hosted by the Bloomsburg Fair, a man wearing a dress and wig sat on the dunk pedestal, claiming to resemble Levine....
Pa. Turnpike drivers without E-ZPass face 45% higher tolls next year
Turnpike travelers who have not made the switch to E-ZPass will face a hefty increase in the cost of tolls beginning next year. The 45% average increase for drivers who use the toll-by-plate option is necessary to cover the high cost of collecting those tolls, Pennsylvania Turnpike Chief Executive Mark...
Pennsylvania reports 1,027 new covid-19 cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 1,027 new coronavirus cases and 20 new deaths Tuesday. Tuesday’s reported cases represent the second time in the last six days that cases surpassed 1,000 cases, as 1,032 cases were reported Friday. However, cases in the 700 range were reported four times in that...
Former Pa. senator sentenced to prison for child pornography possession
A former state senator from Lebanon County was sentenced to one to two years in prison for possessing child pornography and related offenses, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Tuesday. Mike Folmer was charged in September 2019 after an online tip led investigators to discover images of child pornography on...
Walmart shopper in northeast Pa. accused of spitting on fellow shopper who asked him to wear a mask
A northeastern Pennsylvania man is accused of spitting in the face of a fellow shopper inside a Wayne County Walmart after she asked him to follow the store’s mandatory mask policy. The incident happened Monday when Evan Spangenberg and his girlfriend were shopping in the Texas Township store without face...
Pitt, CMU and IUP land spots on Pennsylvania college ranking list
In yet another in the long list of college rankings — this one naming the top 10 colleges in Pennsylvania — Pitt, Carnegie Mellon and Indiana University of Pennsylvania all earned places of honor. But the top spot on College Magazine’s Top 10 Colleges in Pennsylvania goes not to Pitt,...
Baby sitter charged in death of missing Philadelphia boy, 2Video
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say a baby sitter has been arrested in the death of a 2-year-old Philadelphia boy reported missing earlier this month. King Hill, last seen July 5 and reported missing three days later, had been entrusted to the care of Tianna Parks by his stepfather, authorities said Monday....
Police: SUV crashes, hits pregnant woman, killing her child in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Police say a sport utility vehicle rear-ended another vehicle and then struck a pregnant woman sitting on a wall in north Philadelphia, killing her baby and leaving her in extremely critical condition. Police say the SUV and another vehicle were heading north on Broad Street at high speed...
Pennsylvania adds 711 new coronavirus cases
Pennsylvania on Monday continued its run of days with new cases counts in the 700s. With 711 new cases of covid-19, the state has now posted a count in the 700s in four out of the past five days. To date, there have been 101,738 cases of coronavirus in Pennsylvania....
Pennsylvania offers grants to help preserve, inventory historical records
As an Export councilwoman and a member of the borough’s historical society, Melanie Litz has access to a treasure trove of the town’s history. She has handwritten letters of interest for council seats when the borough’s independent government was being formed in 1911. She has council’s original handwritten book of...
White supremacists stage brief demonstration; no arrests
WILLIAMSPORT — A small group of white supremacists staged a brief demonstration in a central Pennsylvania park over the weekend but disbanded as police arrived in force to break up the event, which was conducted without a permit. More than a dozen members of the National Socialist Movement, some of...
Pennsylvania reports 786 new cases, 8 new coronavirus deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest data added 786 new cases and eight new covid-19 deaths to the state totals on Sunday. The statewide totals now stand at 101,027 cases and 7,015 deaths. More than 926,352 people have tested negative for the virus, state numbers show. Westmoreland County saw an...
Pennsylvania surpasses 100,000 covid-19 cases, 1 million tests
Pennsylvania achieved an unwanted trifecta after the Department of Health released the state’s coronavirus case results Saturday. As of July 18, the Keystone State had surpassed 100,000 positive cases and 7,000 deaths after administering more than 1 million tests. There were 763 new cases and 15 new covid-19 deaths reported...
Pa. teams ask state to allow fans in the stands
HARRISBURG — As Pennsylvania approached 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus Friday, several professional, semi-professional, amateur and college sports teams have submitted plans to the state Department of Health to have fans in the stands, the agency said. The Wolf administration declined to reveal which organizations, teams or colleges have...
June jobless rate slid down in Pennsylvania, payrolls jumped
Pennsylvania’s unemployment slid a bit down in June after hitting a pandemic peak in April, but it was well above the national rate even as payrolls rebounded by more 230,000, the state reported Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 13% in June, down four-tenths of a percentage point from May’s adjusted...
