Pennsylvania category, Page 234
5 facts: James Buchanan, not the best president, but Pennsylvania’s only
Despite Pennsylvania’s prominent role in the American Revolution and the founding of the United States — it even had the nation’s capital for a time — the Keystone State has produced only one U.S. president. Meet James Buchanan. Buchanan served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857...
Pa. school threat system fields thousands of tips in first month
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A threat reporting system now required for all Pennsylvania schools fielded more than 4,900 tips in its first month, about a third of them considered serious enough to pass along to local police and school officials. The goal of the Safe 2 Say Something program, which funnels...
Officials: Centralia sinkhole unrelated to underground fire
CENTRALIA, Pa. — State environmental authorities say a 100-foot sinkhole found in a central Pennsylvania town almost completely emptied by a decades-long underground fire is unrelated to the blaze. The (Bloomsburg) Press Enterprise reports that a Department of Environmental Protection crew started work Friday to fill the sinkhole near Route...
Uncertainty shadows Pennsylvania’s debate over nuclear power
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Four decades after Three Mile Island became shorthand for America’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, financial rescues of nuclear power plants are stirring the highest levels of government. In Pennsylvania, nuclear power plant owners have been working for two years to build support for the kind of...
Pennsylvania to figure high in Vatican abuse summit this week
Fallout from last summer’s Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse is settling 4,500 miles away. When Catholic leaders gather in Rome this week for an international summit on sexual abuse scandals that have plagued the church, there will be a distinctive Pennsylvania presence — both among the assembled...
Man convicted of 2nd-degree murder in deaths of mother, son
WILLIAMSPORT — A man has been convicted of second-degree murder in a Halloween night 2016 home invasion in central Pennsylvania that left a mother and son slain. Jurors in Lycoming County also convicted 37-year-old Joseph Sentore Coleman Jr. on Friday of robbery, conspiracy and attempted robbery in the deaths of...
Penn State’s THON poised to raise millions to fight childhood cancerVideo
Penn State University students are pulling in funds from communities throughout the state and the world while it hosts THON, a 46-hour dance marathon. The student-run philanthropy is “committed to enhancing the lives of children and families impacted by childhood cancer,” according to its website. “Our mission is to provide...
Study ranks Pa. in lower third of states for senior safety
Pennsylvania placed 35th among U.S. states in a study ranking them and Washington, D.C., according to safe living conditions for senior citizens. The study, which considers both physical and economic security, was released Friday by The Senior List, a site focused on the needs of baby boomers and older adults....
Student newspaper column about ‘white boys’ makes waves at Pennsylvania college
Leda Fisher wanted to start a conversation. The Dickinson College senior, however, didn’t anticipate that would involve professors including it in lectures in class or that it would go viral online, with national organizations posting it to their websites. “I certainly did not expect my article to go viral,” Fisher...
150 people lose jobs as UPMC Pinnacle hospital closes in Lancaster
About 150 employees are losing their jobs with UPMC this month as the Pittsburgh-based health giant closes a hospital in Lancaster. UPMC Pinnacle, a 185-bed hospital, stopped taking new patient admissions from physicians on Friday. Scheduled surgeries and procedures and emergency room referrals will continue as needed through 7 a.m....
Man living in U.S. illegally sentenced for rape of girl, 12, in Lancaster County
LANCASTER COUNTY — A Guatemalan national who is living in the United States illegally will serve between six and 12 years in prison for the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Quarryville, according to the borough’s police department. Magdilio Diaz-Vasquez, 22, was sentenced on Jan. 18, the same day he...
Pa. man gets life for murder, attempted rape of teen cousin
CROYDON — A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to the murder and attempted rape of his 14-year-old cousin who was stabbed dozens of times and also shot inside a home where they both lived. Colin Haag III entered his plea Thursday and was sentenced to life in prison without parole....
Pa. husband accidentally runs over, kills wife in their driveway
PALMER — Authorities say a man accidentally ran over and killed his wife in the driveway of their Pennsylvania home. Palmer Township police say the accident occurred around 3 p.m. Thursday, moments after 66-year-old Debra Mitchell got out of the car. Mitchell was walking toward the back of the vehicle...
Pa. medical marijuana sales top $130 million in program’s first year
Medical marijuana sales totaled more than $130 million during Pennsylvania’s first year of selling cannabis products to patients — surpassing the first-year sales of several neighboring states combined, state figures released Friday show. Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bipartisan bill to legalize medical marijuana in April 2016, and sales began...
Audit blasts failures in student loan servicers
A new audit by the U.S. Department of Education’s in-house watchdog blasts the agency for failing to ensure oustside contractors entrusted with overseeing the payment of more than $1 trillion in student debt are serving millions of Americans struggling to pay their federal student loans. NPR reported that an audit...
State Police nab 1,800 drivers for ignoring restrictions during winter storms
Pennsylvania State Police issued citations to more than 800 drivers of commercial vehicles — including tractor-trailers, flatbeds, box trucks and buses — for ignoring or violating emergency road restrictions during severe storms this week. Troopers have issued more than 1,800 such citations so far this year, figures provided by state...
‘Roadmap’ puts DEP squarely behind greater use of electric vehicles
It may not be the Green New Deal, but a new report by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection tries to nudge the state toward greater use of electric vehicles. The Pennsylvania Electric Vehicle Roadmap, developed over two years by the Drive Electric Pennsylvania Coalition, attempts to lay out strategies...
3 men, alligator snagged in Pennsylvania drug bust
A drug bust in Coatesville took a surprising turn when police discovered a 3-foot-long alligator during the search of a home. Authorities also found heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana, more than $5,000 in cash, and drug packaging materials, a discovery that led to the arrests of three men. Irvin “Gotti” Hawkins,...
Scientists warn ‘zombie’ deer disease could spread to humans
Just as mad cow disease eventually spread to humans, scientists are concerned that chronic wasting disease, or CWD, could end up infecting people. Speaking last week to lawmakers in Minnesota, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said, “It is...
Thousands speak out on legalizing recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania
Thousands of Pennsylvanians have filed online comments in response to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s call for feedback on the pros and cons of legalizing recreational marijuana. Officials said Fetterman, who recently launched a 67-county statewide listening tour to gauge public sentiment on the issue, drew a crowd of more than...
State bill would add adult sex traffickers, customers to Megan’s Law lists
Sex trafficking is on the rise in Pennsylvania, and state Sen. Kim Ward wants authorities to better keep track of those convicted of the offense. Ward, R-Hempfield, is proposing a change to state law that would require those convicted of the sex trafficking of adults to be added to the...
Authorities: 2 Scranton women sitting in car shot, wounded
WILKES-BARRE — Authorities say two women sitting in a car were shot and wounded in northeastern Pennsylvania. But it’s not yet known what sparked the shooting in Wilkes-Barre, which occurred around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities say the victims — identified only as two Scranton residents ages 19 and 20 —...
Dominion plans to reduce methane emissions 50 percent by 2029
Dominion Energy officials on Tuesday announced their intent to reduce methane emissions from their natural-gas infrastructure by 50 percent over the next decade, the equivalent of taking 2.3 million cars off the road for a year, or planting 180 million trees. The primary focus will be on reducing and eliminating...
Penn State alumni trustees attack Louis Freeh investigation into Sandusky report
PHILADELPHIA — A report compiled by long-standing critics of Louis Freeh’s 2012 investigation into the sex-abuse scandal at Penn State University asserts that the former FBI director didn’t have the evidence to blame the school’s football “culture” as he did, much less prove that its leaders knew or conspired to...
Century-old Catholic church demolished after failing to sell
NANTICOKE — A century-old Roman Catholic church in Pennsylvania has been demolished. Some emotional parishioners were on hand as the cross-topped steeple of St. Joseph’s Church in Nanticoke toppled to the ground on Monday. St. Joseph’s has been closed since 2010, and the parish was consolidated with several other churches....
