Pennsylvania category, Page 224
Orphaned bear cub rescued behind Rite-Aid in Pottsville
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...
Gov. Wolf to honor Fred Rogers with ‘143 Day’ in Pennsylvania
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” —...
Three Mile Island nuclear plant to proceed with closure
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...
Royal baby is dubbed Archie — here are the most popular names in Pa.
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...
Philadelphia-area school drops ‘God bless America’ after pledge
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...
Lancaster County man reels in record breaking catfish
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...
Wolf commutes life sentences of 3 more Pennsylvania inmates
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...
Philadelphia commission probing ‘disturbing’ video
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...
Gun rights activists fill state Capitol for Second Amendment rally
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...
Prom night slayings lead to life terms for suburban Philadelphia man
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...
Pa. agencies collect 39K pounds of medication in Take Back Day
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...
Muslim society: ‘Disturbing’ video of children wasn’t vettedVideo
A video showing children speaking in Arabic about sacrifice and chopping off heads wasn’t vetted before being posted on the Facebook page for the Muslim American Society’s Philadelphia chapter, and it does not represent their values, the executive director of the national group said Sunday. Executive Director Ayman Hammous said...
Pressure grows to loosen party grip on Pennsylvania primary
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...
Pa. Turnpike toll evader named Stiff to pay up; had $128K in tolls, fines
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...
Longtime married Erie couple dies within minutes of each other
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...
With new strategy, Pennsylvania State Police graduates large cadet class
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 urges state to invest in cybersecurity for school districts
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...
Pa. lawmaker’s ‘Nazi’ remark over pipeline fight draws criticism
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...
Appalachian Basin’s methane emissions fall despite increase in gas production
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...
AG Josh Shapiro vows to appeal ruling that spared Graham Spanier from jail
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...
Ruling on Spanier conviction could open the door to renewed defamation suit against Louis Freeh
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 teacher salaries rank 10th in the nation
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 College fraternities disband amid protests
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...
Study: Elder fraud costs Pennsylvanians an estimated $1.2 billion per year
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...
Judge throws out ex-Penn State president Graham Spanier’s conviction
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...
