Pennsylvania category, Page 43
Appellate court says state attorney general, and not local DAs, had authority to settle opioid claims
A Pennsylvania appellate court on Friday said that the state Attorney General’s Office had the authority to settle claims against opioid manufacturers over the harms caused by the abuse of the medication. The Commonwealth Court ruling, against the district attorneys of Allegheny County and Philadelphia, wrote in their opinion that...
Shapiro’s higher education overhaul plan and $1,000 tuition proposal draws intrigue, skepticism
Already there are questions about the cost to cap tuition and fees for many state university students at $1,000 a semester and who would pay — not to mention bringing state universities and community colleges under one umbrella. There are regulatory, legal and logistical hurdles, all in a state whose...
Gov. Shapiro pitches plan to restructure state-owned universities, community colleges
Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday will propose uniting Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities and its 15 community colleges under a new governance structure to make higher education in the state more efficient and affordable. The move is part of a blueprint for reform that emerged from a working group Shapiro assembled...
Pennsylvania lawmakers file lawsuit against Shapiro, Biden over election-related orders
A group of conservative Pennsylvania lawmakers have filed suit against President Joe Biden and Gov. Josh Shapiro over their use of executive authority in election matters. In the 33-page complaint filed in U.S. Middle District Court, the Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus asks the court to halt activities authorized through executive orders...
Congress demands records from Penn on school’s ‘abysmal’ handling of antisemitism
PHILADELPHIA — A congressional committee investigating the University of Pennsylvania’s handling of antisemitism sent a 14-page letter to the school’s board and interim president Wednesday, requesting a massive amount of information detailing the university’s response to antisemitic incidents on campus. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R.-N.C., chair of the House Committee on...
Judge OKs state motion to ban Lancaster County ‘raw milk’ farm from producing, selling products
The owners of a Lancaster County farm accused of selling raw milk and raw milk products without the required permits and licenses can no longer manufacture, process, market, sell, or distribute their products after a county judge approved the state’s emergency motion Wednesday. A lawsuit — brought against Amos and...
Philadelphia-area woman charged with torturing and killing animals live on the internet
UPPER DARBY — A Philadelphia-area woman has been charged with animal cruelty after police allege videos she posted show her torturing and killing animals while soliciting encouragement on social media. Anigar Monsee, 28, of Upper Darby, was charged with four felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals — torture, according...
State university workers reach tentative contract with Pa. university system
The union representing 700 state university employees who work in admissions and financial aid, residence life, career services and other student support has reached a tentative contract agreement with the State System of Higher Education. The pact involving members of the State College and University Professional Association (SCUPA) would span...
Pennsylvania state police, pension agency lost some online records, officials say
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania State Police is working to recover access to online records of how it handled evidence, state officials said, blaming the loss of the records on a mistake during routine server maintenance The same mistake also affected the State Employees Retirement System, which said online users temporarily...
PennWest plans to transfer Clarion’s Venango campus to economic growth nonprofit
For decades, the modest hillside campus embodied the State System of Higher Education’s promise to deliver a public university education wherever needed — in this case, a small satellite location in the heart of Pennsylvania’s oil region. Students attending what was then the Venango branch of Clarion University in Oil...
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration blames ‘human error’ for deletion of state police records
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Thousands of records, including evidence logs from the Pennsylvania State Police’s crime labs, were accidentally deleted from state servers at the start of...
7-year-old girl among 3 killed in central Pennsylvania house fireVideo
Cynthia Weatherholtz called 911 and made it outside the burning home in Lebanon County early Sunday. But the 60-year-old wouldn’t flee — not with two people still inside, according to emergency officials and neighbors. She went back inside the one-story home the first block of Patton Road in North Londonderry...
In Pennsylvania’s Senate race, McCormick elevates the Israel-Hamas war in a bid for Jewish voters
HARRISBURG — A Republican running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania is escalating criticism of Democrats over the Israel-Hamas war and has traveled to the Israel-Gaza border to make the case that the Biden administration hasn’t backed Israel strongly enough since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. The criticism by...
3 dead, 3 injured in early morning fire in Pennsylvania home
PALMYRA — Three people died and three others were injured in an early morning fire at a home in east-central Pennsylvania on Sunday, authorities said. Officials in Lebanon County said crews were dispatched just after 1:30 a.m. to the home in North Londonderry Township near Palmyra. Three people were pronounced...
Teen fatally shot in broad daylight in the middle of Philadelphia street
A teenager was shot in the head and killed Friday afternoon following an argument in the middle of a Philadelphia street, authorities announced. Police said the incident happened in the Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood of Frankford. The teen was arguing with another person just after 2 p.m. along the 4200 block...
Utility shut-off protections in Pa. would be expanded to summer months under bill
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lawmakers have until the end of 2024 to reauthorize a key area of state law that protects low-income utility customers from sudden...
Man riding on back of garbage truck in Centre County killed after crash into overhanging tree
A man riding on the back of a garbage truck was killed this week when the driver backed into a tree in Centre County, state police at Rockview wrote in a crash report. Nathan Kerstetter, 38, of Milesburg, was hanging off the back of the truck about noon Wednesday when...
Pennsylvania can’t stop young adults from openly carrying guns during emergencies, U.S. court rules
PHILADELPHIA — Young adults in Pennsylvania cannot be arrested for openly carrying guns in public during a declared state of emergency, at least while a court fight over the issue plays out, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The 3rd U.S. Circuit judges, in a 2-1 decision, relied on the...
Faculty union, Pa. university system reach potential labor deal
The union representing 5,000 state university faculty across Pennsylvania has reached “an agreement in principle” with leaders of the State System of Higher Education, both parties confirmed Thursday. The agreement followed a full day and night of negotiating. It comes almost seven months after the existing agreement between the Association...
Man charged in shooting that critically wounded Pennsylvania police officer
SCRANTON — Authorities have announced charges against a man in what they called an ambush-style shooting that critically wounded a police officer in northeastern Pennsylvania last week. Aiden Gabriel Deininger, 20, of Old Forge is charged in Lackawanna County with three counts of attempted homicide of law enforcement officers, criminal...
Gun control measures advance out of Democratic-controlled Pennsylvania House committee
HARRISBURG — Democrats in majority control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives advanced several gun control measures Wednesday, including one that would ban sales of automatic and semi-automatic guns, after years of standstill in the politically divided state government. The bills were passed by the Judiciary Committee on party lines...
5 killed when truck hits minivan crashed in left lane of snowy Pennsylvania highwayVideo
SCRANTON — Five women from New York were killed when a tractor-trailer struck people at the scene of a crashed minivan on Interstate 81 in snowy northeastern Pennsylvania, state police said Wednesday. The minivan, carrying four women, went out of control in the northbound lanes of I-81 in Lackawanna County,...
Sen. John Fetterman to pen political memoir with ‘Friday Night Lights’ author
Pennsylvania’s U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s unconventional political career, along with his many personal battles, sounds like the stuff of Shakespeare. Now, it will be a book that the hoodie-wearing Democrat is planning to write, with the help of “Friday Night Lights” author Buzz Bissinger. All this is according to a...
‘This will be a game-changer’: Duquesne University opens medical college
Students in the inaugural class of Duquesne University’s medical college will learn the intricacies of human anatomy through the time-tested method of dissecting cadavers. But they also will slip on a high-tech headset with eyewear and instantly see before them a hologram of the human body. They can walk around...
Pennsylvania lawmakers seek to tame the ‘wild, wild west’ nature of artificial intelligence in elections
A proposed bill that is drawing bipartisan support in the Pennsylvania Legislature would ban the misuse of artificial intelligence in political campaigns and establish fines for violations. State Rep. Tarik Khan, a Philadelphia Democrat, and several colleagues, including one GOP member, issued a co-sponsorship memo for their bill on Dec....
