Pennsylvania category, Page 200

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Tuesday that his office has filed a civil lawsuit against drug giant Purdue Pharma claiming the company fueled the state’s opioid epidemic through its sales of the painkiller OxyContin. “Simply stated, Purdue took advantage of addiction to make money,” the lawsuit contends. The civil...

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has filed a lawsuit accusing the company that makes OxyContin of fueling the opioid epidemic. Shapiro announced the lawsuit Tuesday against Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma. Pennsylvania is one of the states hardest hit by opioid addiction. It is at least the 39th state to...

The Piazza family’s nationwide anti-hazing tour may continue, but it might feature a slightly different script after a Centre County judge ruled Tuesday that a 2018 gag order applies to them. Defense attorneys Frank Fina and Steve Trialonas — who represent former Beta Theta Pi fraternity members Brendan Young and...

American and Pennsylvania flags at state facilities will fly at half-staff Wednesday in honor of National Peace Officers Memorial Day, according to Gov. Tom Wolf. The day is meant to honor law enforcement members who died in the line of duty. A memorial service will be held in Washington, D.C....

A new study bolsters evidence that soda taxes can reduce sales, but whether they influence health remains unclear. The research found that Philadelphia’s 2017 tax led to a 38% decline in sugary soda and diet drink sales that year, even when taking into account an increase in sales in neighboring...

Apparently, it’s better in Ohio and West Virginia — or, at least, Sheetz bathrooms are. Sheetz tops the list for the cleanest bathrooms in those neighboring states, according to gas price tracker GasBuddy. But Wawa takes the top spot in Pennsylvania. But Wawa and Sheetz apparently pale in comparison to...

PHILADELPHIA — The transit agency serving the Philadelphia area and a citizens’ crime commission have announced a $6,000 reward for information in the shooting of a conductor on a commuter train platform last week. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority says a train was stopped Friday afternoon at a station in...

SWARTHMORE — Fraternities and sororities will no longer be allowed at Swarthmore College following outrage over years-old documents allegedly written by one fraternity there that contains derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. School President Valerie Smith made the announcement Friday in a letter...

HARRISBURG — A senior Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate said Thursday the state should sell the lieutenant governor’s residence at Fort Indiantown Gap, saying it would save money and the proceeds could help fund housing for military veterans. President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati asked for co-sponsors for legislation he is...

HARRISBURG — Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania are introducing a package of hate-crimes bills that are inspired by a mass shooting at a Squirrel Hill synagogue that killed 11 worshippers. Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa said Thursday the October attack at the Tree of Life synagogue showed that Pennsylvania law has...

Pennsylvania’s State Board of Education is giving its support to proposals by Gov. Tom Wolf to require students start schooling by age 6 and continue until they’re at least 18. The board voted unanimously Wednesday for the Democratic governor’s proposals that he unveiled in February. The Republican-controlled Legislature still must...

CHALFONT, Pa. — A Pennsylvania mother who prosecutors say killed her 11-week-old son with a lethal mix of drugs in her breast milk is not going to prison. Under terms of a plea agreement, a judge has sentenced 31-year-old Samantha Jones to three years’ probation and 100 hours of community...

Don’t we all have that one odd relative that insists on having spotted Bigfoot while camping one time? No? Just me? Turns out, for those living in Pennsylvania it’s not such a far-fetched situation. In fact, Pennsylvania seems to be among the best states to see the big, hairy creature...

HARRISBURG — About a dozen of Gov. Tom Wolf’s senior aides are starting his second term with pay raises that ranged from $25,000 to $33,000. The recipients include members of the Democratic governor’s public relations staff and deputy chiefs of staff who coordinate between the governor’s office and various executive...

Jesy Murcko spent Saturday clearing brush from a hillside at her family’s camp in the Allegheny National Forest, so she wasn’t surprised to find a tick on her. She wasn’t crazy, however, about finding two ticks on her 2-year-old son Wade, who was playing in short grass near the woods...

SCRANTON — Alan Moskin knew he was fighting Nazis. He didn’t know he was on a humanitarian rescue mission. Like most U.S. soldiers fighting in World War II’s European theater, Moskin didn’t understand the breadth and depth of Adolf Hitler’s hatred toward Jewish people until he discovered the concentration camps....

Pennsylvania Game Commission wardens received a call last month about a lone bear cub behind a Rite-Aid drugstore in Pottsville, Schuylkill County. Sure enough, Game Warden James Macunas and state police found the small cub without a mom in sight on April 28, according to a game commission account on...

If you don’t already know why the number 143 was so significant to Fred Rogers, then May 23 will be your day to learn. To get you up to speed, the beloved children’s show host loved the number because it was a sort of code for “I love you” —...

HARRISBURG — The owner of Three Mile Island, site of the United States’ worst commercial nuclear power accident, says it now appears certain it will not get a financial rescue from Pennsylvania and said it will go ahead with a planned shutdown starting June 1. Exelon Corp.’s Wednesday statement comes...

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle — Duke and Duchess of Sussex — gave the world the first glimpse of their baby boy this morning. And after introducing him to the queen, announced his name: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. Throughout Pennsylvania, parents often settle on the same popular names year...

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. — A Pennsylvania school principal will no longer say “God bless America” after leading students in the Pledge of Allegiance. Peter Brigg’s practice at Sabold Elementary School in Springfield led at least one parent to complain to the Freedom for Religion Foundation, whose attorney contacted the district. The...

A Lancaster County angler went fishing in the Susquehanna River last month. He ended up reeling in a flathead catfish that surpassed the state record, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. “It was such an amazing fish,” said Jeff Bonawitz, 54, of East Lampeter Township. The record setting...

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is commuting life sentences of three inmates, bringing his total to eight, more than any of the state’s governors over the past quarter century. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wolf acted last week in the case of a man sentenced in 1988 for standing by...

A Philadelphia city commission said Monday it’s investigating an event last month at which Muslim children were captured on video speaking in Arabic about beheadings and the liberation of Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site. The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations launched a probe into the April 17 gathering at the...