Pennsylvania category, Page 218
Chaos erupts in Pennsylvania Senate over welfare billVideo
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Senate devolved into partisan shouting, name-calling and bare-knuckled procedural tactics Wednesday over a bill to end a decades-old program that offers $200 a month to people deemed unable to work. The bill ultimately passed the GOP-controlled chamber, 26-24, with two Republicans siding with Democrats against it,...
Pennsylvania Senate votes to allow hunting on 3 Sundays
HARRISBURG — A proposal to end Pennsylvania’s ban on Sunday hunting has the approval of the state Senate. Senators voted 36 to 14 on Wednesday for a bill that would permit hunting on one Sunday during deer rifle season, one during deer archery season, and on a third day. The...
Pa. Senate passes bills to change emissions testing in Westmoreland, statewide
A slate of bills passed this week by the state Senate could bring sweeping changes to vehicle emissions test requirements in Pennsylvania. The five-bill package would exempt vehicles less than eight years old and eliminate seven counties — including Westmoreland — from the emissions program. Drivers with older vehicles in...
Chaos erupts in Pennsylvania Senate over welfare bill
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Senate devolved into partisan shouting, name-calling and bare-knuckled procedural tactics over a bill to end a decades-old program that offers $200 a month to people deemed unable to work. The bill ultimately passed the GOP-controlled chamber, 26-24, with two Republicans siding with Democrats against it. The...
Pennsylvania Auditor General plans to revisit dog-law enforcement audit
A 2013 audit that found Pennsylvania lax in dog-law enforcement will be revisited, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced this week. The 2013 performance audit of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Dog Law Enforcement Office found several problems, including: $8 million from the restrictive dog law account being spent for unrelated...
Report: Pa. students would have to do triple time to work their way through college
Once again, Pennsylvania is ranked No. 1 — only of a list no one wants to top: college costs. The state’s public universities are among the priciest in the nation and landed Pennsylvania at the top of a list that calculated how many hours a week a student would have...
Pennsylvania highway deaths slightly increased last year, despite national dip
The number of highway fatalities dipped nationally last year even as Pennsylvania’s overall traffic deaths saw a bump, federal and state data analyzed by the Tribune-Review shows. Early estimates show 36,750 people died in motor vehicle crashes nationally in 2018, a roughly 1% year-over-year decrease, according to the National Highway...
Assembly eyes open primaries, end to straight ticket voting
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania voters would be able to vote in primaries even if they aren’t Democrats or Republicans and have easier absentee ballot deadlines under election law changes being considered by the Legislature. The Senate on Tuesday voted 42 to 8 on Tuesday for a bill that would let unaffiliated...
Pennsylvania House passes pyramid scheme protection bill
A bill designed to protect consumers against pyramid schemes unanimously passed the Pennsylvania House Monday. House Bill 1534 amends the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law and highlights the distinction between direct-sale companies with a pyramid-like structure and “fly-by-night” operators attempting to rip off the public. “My bill would...
Pa. GOP chair Val DiGiorgio resigns after report of sexually explicit messages
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Republican Party chairman stepped down Tuesday as a result of a published report that he had traded sexually charged text messages with a Philadelphia City Council candidate and also sent her an explicit photo. Val DiGiorgio’s resignation was announced by the state Republican Party. In a letter...
Philadelphia police must use transgender person’s chosen name, new policy says
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police must use a person’s chosen name and pronoun when interacting with transgender people, regardless of what is listed on their government-issued identification card. The change is part of a new police department policy announced Tuesday that addresses how police should interact with transgender and non-binary people....
Pa. woman uses shovel to kill cobra slithering on her patio
FALLS, Pa. — A Pennsylvania woman used a shovel to kill a cobra she saw slithering on the patio of her apartment. Kathy Kehoe says the squawking of some blue jays outside her unit caught her attention Monday. When she looked outside, she saw a 4 to 5-foot-long serpent. Kehoe,...
Owners of banned fraternity house sue Penn State
More than two years after the February 2017 death of Timothy Piazza, a Penn State student who died of injuries he sustained during an alcohol-fueled fraternity pledge event, the lawsuits just keep coming. The Associated Press is reporting the fraternity corporation that owns the shuttered Beta Theta Pi fraternity house...
Authorities: Pa. man built bomb to warn about alien threat
MYERSTOWN — Authorities say a man who allegedly put a bomb in a parking lot behind a Pennsylvania hotel told them he did it to warn police about aliens bent on destroying the planet. State troopers responded to the Bahney House in Myerstown on Sunday. They discovered a suspicious package...
2 killed, 3 hospitalized following Philadelphia shootings, stabbing
PHILADELPHIA — A domestic dispute in a Philadelphia neighborhood ended with a man stabbed and three people shot, one fatally. Authorities say the incident may have also spurred another shooting that killed a 24-year-old man. The domestic dispute occurred around 9:40 p.m. Monday. Authorities say a 26-year old man was...
Woodpeckers die when stuck on Spotted Lanternfly traps
Bands of sticky tape installed on trees to ensnare and kill the pesky and invasive Spotted Lanternfly are backfiring and killing some birds, bats and other wildlife that inadvertently get stuck, according to media and other accounts. The Morning Call reports the sticky tape is entrapping woodpeckers, squirrels and other...
Pa. adds Tree-of-Heaven to noxious weeds list, bans sales to combat spotted lanternfly
Members of the Pennsylvania Noxious Weeds Committee are hoping that adding a new species to its list will help address another invasive issue: the spotted lanternfly. The committee has added Tree-of-Heaven to the state’s Class B noxious weeds list. “Class B includes species that are so widespread, it would be...
Pa. commemorates anniversary of women’s vote with document display
One hundred years ago this month, on June 24, 1919, Pennsylvania became the seventh state to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. As part of Monday’s 100th anniversary commemoration of that event, Pennsylvania’s document ratifying the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will be on display...
Bills aim to end Pennsylvania’s straight-party voting option
HARRISBURG — Legislation advancing in Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature would eliminate the ballot option for voters to simply select a straight-party ticket in elections, although House Democrats are objecting to it. Bills to eliminate it emerged from committee in both chambers this week. The Senate bill is sponsored by Democratic Sen....
Pennsylvania warns of phone scam targeting elderly, disabled
Phone scammers posing as state Department of Revenue employees are targeting senior citizens and people with disabilities in an effort to obtain people’s bank information, according to the state agency. The phone scammers are falsely telling residents they will deposit their property tax or rent rebate checks into their bank...
Pa. woman wins cemetery property rights Supreme Court case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is siding with a Pennsylvania woman in a case that gives citizens another way to pursue claims when they believe states and local governments have harmed their property rights. The high court ruled Friday in the case of Rose Mary Knick. She tried to bring...
Pa. couple convicted in beating death of 4-year-old who spilled his cereal
WILLOW GROVE — A suburban Philadelphia couple has been convicted of murder in the death of a 4-year-old who was beaten for spilling his breakfast cereal. A jury returned the verdict Thursday night against the boy’s mother, Lisa Smith, and her boyfriend, Keiff King. The Abington couple also was convicted...
No injuries in explosions, fire at Philadelphia oil refinery
PHILADELPHIA — A fire at a 150-year-old refinery complex in Philadelphia turned the early morning sky a bright orange and yellow and awakened startled residents with explosions that shook homes Friday. The fire broke out at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining Complex around 4 a.m., spokeswoman Cherice Corley said. “Refinery...
Disagreements remain as Pennsylvania’s budget deadline nears
HARRISBURG — Top Pennsylvania lawmakers are assembling a budget package that’s due ahead of the July 1 start of the fiscal year, but behind-the-scenes disagreements remain and rank-and-file lawmakers are awaiting details. The first votes on budget legislation are expected Monday. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and leaders of the Republican-controlled...
Divided Pa. House votes to end $54M cash welfare program
HARRISBURG — Republicans in the state House voted Wednesday to end a Pennsylvania cash welfare program, a year after it was revived following a court decision. The Republican-majority House voted 106-95 to eliminate the $54 million in payments, bundled in the bill with a subsidy for Philadelphia hospitals. The cash...
