Pennsylvania category, Page 201

HARRISBURG — Gun rights advocates packed the rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capitol on Monday for an annual Second Amendment rally, pushing their legislative priorities and cheering a call for the Pittsburgh mayor’s impeachment. Gun owners roared when the event’s organizer, Republican Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, announced that he will ask fellow...

BRISTOL — A man has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms without possibility of parole in the murders of two men during a prom night altercation last spring in suburban Philadelphia. Nineteen-year-old Joseph Williams was convicted of killing Zyisean McDuffy and Tommy Ballard, both 19, during an argument in...

More than 39,000 pounds of unwanted prescription medication was collected in Pennsylvania during the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Take Back Day last month. That amount was collected at 323 sites coordinated by 234 local police agencies across the state. The DEA holds National Take Back Days in the spring and...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania: Land of Disenfranchisement? It’s not the state slogan, but Pennsylvania is in the minority of states with closed primary elections as the number of independent voters grows quickly and sparks a debate in Pennsylvania’s Legislature for the first time in memory about opening up party primaries. It...

PHILADELPHIA — The worst toll evader in Pennsylvania is being ordered to pay up. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Jarrett Stiff didn’t pay for trips on the Pennsylvania Turnpike 2,264 times from 2012 to 2017, more than anyone else in the state. The 36-year-old from suburban Philadelphia racked up nearly...

ERIE, Pa. — Family members say a Pennsylvania couple that had been married for almost 45 years passed away within minutes of each other. Clair “Cos” Vance had made daily visits to a care center where his 70-year-old wife, Jeanne, lived due to mobility and medical issues. But those visits...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Police is graduating one of its larger classes, and it might be because of an effort to get prospective cadets accustomed beforehand to what 27 challenging weeks of academy training is like. The agency graduated 103 cadets in the 155th graduating cadet class Friday....

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale on Thursday urged legislators to invest in helping school districts strengthen cybersecurity as part of the next state budget. DePasquale said that despite a 2017 survey by his office showing a majority of Pennsylvania school districts were concerned about the increased risk of cyber attacks, no...

A Pennsylvania state lawmaker who opposes a gas pipeline project says she meant no harm when she said “Nazis were just doing their jobs too” in response to complaints that protesters were preventing workers from doing their jobs. Democratic Rep. Danielle Friel Otten, of Chester County, contended Wednesday that she...

Two new reports have put some wind in the sails of the oil and gas industry at a time when Pennsylvania is trying to tighten the rules on methane emissions. The reports show a dramatic decline in methane emissions even as natural gas production has been on the increase. “It...

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro vowed Wednesday to appeal what he described as a “last-minute and highly unusual” ruling that overturned Graham B. Spanier’s child endangerment conviction just hours before the former Pennsylvania State University president was scheduled to report to jail. In a statement, the state’s top...

A federal judge’s order dismissing a child endangerment conviction against former Penn State President Graham Spanier if it stands could open the door to another civil suit in the long-running legal imbroglio stemming from the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal. Spanier, 70, was scheduled to report to jail this...

Pennsylvania teachers average the 10th-highest salaries in the nation, according to a National Education Association annual pay analysis. While Pennsylvania teachers ranked below colleagues in New York, New Jersey and Maryland, they were well above teachers in West Virginia (who ranked next to last) and the bordering states of Ohio...

SWARTHMORE, Pa. — The only two fraternities at Swarthmore College have opted to disband amid outrage over years-old documents containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi announced their decisions in separate Facebook posts Tuesday night. “We cannot in...

Elderly Pennsylvanians are being defrauded to the tune of an estimated $1.2 billion per year, according to a recent study, and when it happens, many do not report it to the authorities. Research company Comparitech released a study that ranks Pennsylvania among the top 10 states in the nation in...

HARRISBURG — A federal judge threw out former Penn State President Graham Spanier’s misdemeanor child-endangerment conviction on Tuesday, less than a day before he was due to turn himself in to begin serving a jail sentence. The decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick in Scranton gave state prosecutors three...

Tuesday was the deadline for Pennsylvania farmers to apply for a permit to grow industrial hemp. Farmers already in the application process have until May 21 to sign a final agreement with the state Department of Agriculture. Although legalized by the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp is still a regulated crop...

As measles continues to spread across the nation, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe rallied support Tuesday for a bill he introduced in January that would prevent doctors from denying care to children whose parents have chosen not to have them vaccinated. House Bill 286, also known as the Informed Consent Protection...

Much like the split vote to allow deer hunting to start the Saturday after Thanksgiving, differences of public opinion has the Pennsylvania Game Commission already agreeing to re-examine the controversial issue after this year. After 55 years of opening the Monday after Thanksgiving, the commission voted 5-3 on April 8...

PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say nearly two dozen people are facing charges following last week’s raid on a north Philadelphia home where police said a cockfight was being held. Officials said roughly 40 roosters and chickens, some of them dead, were found in the home late Friday night. Authorities say officers...

PEN ARGYL, Pa. — A mother who was under the influence of drugs when her disabled 2-year-old son drowned in a bathtub has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Michelle Wallace entered her plea Monday as part of a deal with the Northampton County District Attorney’s office in Pennsylvania. It calls...

A rally and lobbying day in support of legislation aimed at reforming police procedures is planned at the state Capitol in Harrisburg Tuesday. A coalition of state lawmakers have unveiled bills in the wake of the March acquittal of former East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld in the death of...

A bill to increase the amount Pennsylvania forgoes in taxes to underwrite private school scholarships and public school foundations from $160 to $260 million a year is moving through the state House. House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, penned the measure that was reported out of committee Monday with 43...