Pennsylvania category, Page 186

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — Authorities in Pennsylvania say three people have been hurt in a helicopter crash at a state fair. WNEP-TV reports a pilot and two passengers were in the helicopter when it crashed Saturday about 7:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the fairground in the town of Bloomsburg....

PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined a special petition to review the constitutionality of the death penalty but says it will still consider the fairness of individual cases. The decision Friday comes after the court heard arguments this month from critics who call the punishment cruel and arbitrary...

Natural gas royalties paid to Pennsylvania landowners rose significantly in tax year 2017 due to increased production and higher prices, the state Independent Fiscal Office said in a recent report. The report said $1.06 billion in royalty payments were made in 2017 — a 64% increase from tax year 2016....

Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby, once known as “America’s Dad,” marked his one-year prison anniversary touting his new paternalistic role behind bars, his spokesman said Wednesday. “He’s doing very well regarding this unwanted anniversary,” spokesman Andrew Wyatt told the New York Daily News. “I just ended a visit with him. He...

Citing the results of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s 67-county listening tour on marijuana legalization, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday called on Pennsylvania lawmakers to begin working toward the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of the drug. Wolf said 44,407 Pennsylvanians weighed in on the issues either at town halls...

The debate over guns was revived Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature after a year of shocking violence, although Democrats went away frustrated and warning the process could end up actually loosening gun laws. The day marked the start of a two-day Senate committee hearing on gun violence and a slate...

Pennsylvania’s human services secretary on Monday called the Trump administration’s proposal to cut food stamp eligibility “cruel and unacceptable.” The proposal would force states to scale back the number of people whom they deem eligible for monthly benefits from the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Pennsylvania and...

A rare, potentially deadly virus transmitted by mosquitoes has been confirmed in three Pennsylvania counties. The Pennsylvania departments of health and agriculture issued a warning Saturday after confirming eastern equine encephalitis in Erie, Carbon, and Monroe counties. The virus was found in pheasants, horses and a wild turkey. The virus...

NEW TRIPOLI, Pa. — Thousands of hogs have died in a fire that destroyed two barns on a Pennsylvania farm. Firefighters were called to the farm in Lynn Township, outside Allentown, before 6 a.m. Saturday. Lynnport Community Fire Company Chief Clark Matz says the barns were engulfed when firefighters got...

U.S. Attorney Scott Brady of the Western District of Pennsylvania has been named to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, one of nine U.S. attorneys to be appointed by U.S. Attorney General William Barr. “The U.S. Attorneys who comprise the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee play a critical role in carrying out...

HARRISBURG — The money-losing Three Mile Island, site of the United States’ worst commercial nuclear power accident, has been shut down by its energy giant owner. Friday’s end to the 45-year electricity-producing career of Three Mile Island Unit 1 came after Chicago-based Exelon Corp. tried and failed to get financial...

William Shakespeare and John Milton collided in the Twitterverse this month in a bang-up that set off a trans-Atlantic tweetstorm over a 400-year-old book. The discovery that Milton — he of “Paradise Lost” fame — likely was the owner of a 1623 Shakespeare first folio and made extensive notes in...

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is giving its unanimous approval to toughening penalties for using body-gripping animal traps outside of the waterways for which they’re designed. Lawmakers voted Thursday to send the bill to the state Senate for its consideration. Backers argue the larger penalties may help deter people from...

HARRISBURG — Eighteen agents who investigate violent gun crimes for the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office each cashed $12,500 taxpayer-funded checks last year to settle claims they had been subject to harassment because of their age, The Associated Press has learned. The agency this week disclosed the payments to the current...

College graduates in Pennsylvania shouldered the second-highest average student debt load in the nation in 2018, a new survey found. According to the Institute for College Access and Success survey of 2018 college graduates, only Connecticut graduates, who shouldered an average debt of $38,669, fared worse than their Pennsylvania counterparts,...

HARRISBURG — The final shutdown of Three Mile Island, where 1979’s terrifying partial meltdown became a landmark event in the life cycle of nuclear power in the United States, is imminent. Exelon Corp. officials said the plant will stop producing electricity around noon Friday, following through on a decision the...

If 5G antennas are going to begin sprouting in Murrysville, local officials want to ensure they’re not unsightly. “They’re not just a pole out of the ground with an antenna,” Murrysville Chief Administrator Jim Morrison told council at its Wednesday meeting. “They’re permitted up to 28 cubic feet of cabinet...

A man driving a $284,000 sports car rear-ended a box truck on Route 22 early Thursday morning, injuring a passenger who was thrown from the car, state police said. Route 22 westbound has been closed at Airport Road in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, since the 3:30 a.m. accident, with traffic...

BETHLEHEM — Authorities say an argument between a man and a woman ended when she drove an SUV onto the sidewalk and hit him, then made a U-turn and tried to run him over again. Bethlehem police say 34-year-old city resident Crystal Legrand faces several counts, including aggravated assault and...

A new report shows the number of uninsured people in Pennsylvania declined by more than 5 percentage points under the health care reform of the Affordable Care Act. Conducted by the Urban Institute, the research examined national uninsured rates from 2013 through 2017, using U.S. Census Bureau data. Among the...

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro ignited a firestorm last year when he released his grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse and now lawmakers are learning just how hard it is to clear the smoke with regard to survivors. Pennsylvania Victim Advocate Jennifer Storm announced Wednesday she is seeking testimony...