Pennsylvania category, Page 233
Wells Fargo announces consumer redress program
Wells Fargo has launched a program to review claims from consumers who think they were harmed by the bank violating consumer protection laws. The program is designed for people who believe they were affected by the bank but weren’t eligible for previous restitution programs. Consumers could be entitled to relief...
Cops: Gunman broke into home, fatally shot pizza deliveryman
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say a pizza deliveryman was shot and killed when he made a delivery to a home under construction in Philadelphia. The shooting occurred around 7 p.m. Tuesday just outside the home. Authorities believe the gunman broke into the home so he could arrange for the delivery there...
Pennsylvania court collections, disbursements rise by nearly $30 million over last decade
Pennsylvania’s courts increased their annual disbursements of collected fees, fines and restitution by more than $29 million over the past decade, a trend explained in part by use of case management computer systems, state judicial officials say. According to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, those disbursements jumped from $453.8...
Scam calls expected to spike in Pa. as tax season approaches
If you dread answering your phone because of the onslaught of robotic spammers and scammers, you’re not alone. And it could get worse very soon. An analysis of U.S. Federal Trade Commission statistics by AllAreaCodes.com found unwanted calls tend to spike in March and April, as scammers impersonating the IRS...
Sen. Bob Casey throws support behind raising federal minimum wage
Proposals to raise the minimum wage appear to be gaining traction this week at both the state and federal level. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, said he plans to cosponsor a bill to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2024. Pennsylvania’s senior senator held...
Mother and daughter charged in ‘atrocious’ killing of five family membersVideo
MORRISVILLE — No one answered when a social worker knocked on the door. Not Shana Decree or her three children. Not her sister or her three children. All was quiet inside unit S-7 at Robert Morris Apartments — because most of the people who lived there were dead. It’s not...
Pennsylvania GOP lawmaker opens door to minimum-wage deal
HARRISBURG — A top Republican lawmaker is opening the door to raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, but he also insisted Monday that Democrats lower their sights from a proposal by Gov. Tom Wolf that would give the state among the nation’s highest. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, would not define...
Cyber charter school costs are under the microscope
Tiffany Nix, superintendent of Leechburg Area schools, watched in frustration for years as hundreds of thousands of dollars went out the doors of her small, cash-strapped district with families who enrolled their children in cyber charter schools. “We were paying $13,000 to $24,000 a year for each of them. It...
Vietnamese catfish recalled after missed inspection
A California company is recalling nearly 30,000 pounds of catfish imported from Vietnam that wasn’t presented for import re-inspection into the United States. The recall, announced by federal officials Friday , applies to Yellow Hito catfish shipped to a distributor in Chicago and to other locations nationwide by TV Food...
Deal near in civil rights lawsuits over Pennsylvania prison mail policy
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania prison officials said Friday they were close to settling two federal lawsuits over how the system processes mail sent to inmates by their lawyers. The Department of Corrections and civil rights groups involved in the lawsuits announced a settlement was being finalized after a trial was stopped...
Ex-Lackawanna County prison guard gets probation for sex with inmate
SCRANTON — A former guard at a Pennsylvania prison has been sentenced to nine months of probation for having sex with an inmate while she was out on work release nearly a decade ago. Jeffrey Staff was one of seven guards to be charged with sexually abusing inmates at Lackawanna...
PHEAA board re-elects Fontana and Peifer
The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) board Thursday re-elected two long-serving members to lead the multi-billion dollar agency’s oversight panel as it navigates the evolving world of student debt. State Rep. Mike Peifer, R-Pike County, a CPA and member of the board since 2010, was re-elected chairman, while state...
Penn State ex-president Graham Spanier’s request for appeal denied
HARRISBURG — Penn State’s president when the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal erupted may soon be going to jail after Pennsylvania’s highest court declined Thursday to hear the appeal of his conviction for child endangerment. The state Supreme Court ruled it will not take up Graham Spanier’s appeal of the...
Edinboro joins Clarion with pet-friendly dorms
Two is company, but it takes three to make a trend. Earlier this week the Trib reported that Clarion University decided to open a pet-friendly dorm this fall. Now Edinboro, another of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities is following suit. Can the other 12 universities be far behind? “Dogs, cats and...
Authorities: 3 people found stabbed in Delaware County home
FOLSOM, Pa. — Authorities say three people have been stabbed at Pennsylvania home. But it’s not yet clear what sparked the stabbings, which occurred around 10 a.m. Thursday in Ridley. Authorities say the victims are all related. But their names and further details about them were not disclosed. The injuries...
Philadelphia boy, 4, fatally impaled by glass from shattered picture frame
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say a 4-year-old boy was killed when a glass-framed photo fell from a wall at his family’s Philadelphia home, spraying the room with chards that struck him in the abdomen. The accident occurred Wednesday afternoon. Adrian Ortega’s mother was home at the time. Authorities say the boy...
Study finds spike in Pennsylvania child abuse-related deaths
HARRISBURG — A new study says the number of Pennsylvania children killed or nearly killed after abuse had occurred spiked recently, likely driven by changes to state law and heightened awareness in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky and Roman Catholic clergy child sexual abuse scandals. The state Human Services...
Nature’s Path Foods recalls some cereals containing gluten
Nature’s Path Foods has recalled some of its cereals because they may contain gluten. The cereals are supposed to be gluten-free. Some boxes of EnviroKidz Choco Chimps, Gorilla Munch and Jungle Munch cereals have been recalled because they may contain undeclared gluten from wheat and barley that could make people...
Pennsylvania must keep up on voting systems, lawmakers told
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top elections official is warning that failing to replace voting machines by 2020 could make the state the only one without a voter-verifiable paper trail. Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania’s acting state secretary, also told senators Wednesday during an Appropriations Committee hearing that election-security experts agree that moving to...
Pennsylvania among top third of states in taxpayer accuracy
A little under 6 percent of Pennsylvania taxpayers are spot-on when it comes to figuring their federal income tax. That is, when they file their returns with the IRS, they’re neither due a refund nor required to submit a payment. That’s not a very big percentage, but it’s enough to...
Former Philly homicide detective charged with rape, intimidation in course of his investigations
PHILADELPHIA — A former Philadelphia homicide detective was arrested Tuesday and accused of grooming and sexually assaulting male witnesses during criminal investigations, then intimidating them to keep them silent — part of what prosecutors concluded was a pattern of misconduct during nearly a decade in one of the Police Department’s...
Storm prompts vehicle, speed restrictions on PA turnpike, interstates
State transportation officials will prohibit some commercial vehicles and all motorcycles and recreational vehicles from a section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Wednesday morning as a winter storm could bring a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain to challenge travelers. Beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday, the following traffic will...
Man pleads guilty in rape, murder of Pennsylvania teen
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty on Tuesday in the rape, murder and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl, and the victim’s adoptive mother has agreed to plead guilty and serve a life sentence. Jacob Sullivan, 46, pleaded guilty to all charges in the 2016 death of Grace Packer....
Gettysburg College trustee quits over Nazi uniform photo
GETTYSBURG — A Pennsylvania college trustee apologized and announced his resignation Tuesday after a student found a 1980 yearbook photo in which the trustee wore a Nazi uniform at a fraternity event. Gettysburg College President Janet Morgan Riggs said in an email to the college community that Bob Garthwait decided...
Philly man returns wallet (and $600) to a Patriots fan
Alla Kotlyar gets tired of all the “doom and gloom” in the news. That’s why she watches football. “Being a Patriots fan, it’s almost always good news,” said Kotlyar, who runs a gravestone company in Massachusetts. But on Valentine’s Day, while visiting her daughter and 5-month-old granddaughter in Center City,...
