Pennsylvania category, Page 46
Philly City Council bars hospitals from carrying out ‘medical deportations’ of undocumented immigrants
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia City Council enacted what immigration advocates say is a landmark law to stop so-called medical deportations, in which hospitals spirit seriously ill, undocumented patients out of the country to deeply uncertain futures. Critics call it international patient dumping, an attempt by health systems to avoid the cost...
Ohio man indicted on sex-trafficking charges involving Monroeville hotel
An Ohio man was indicted by a federal grand jury Friday on charges that he transported a minor to a Monroeville hotel to engage in “commercial” sex acts, U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan said in a news release. Donte Lashawn Cole, 39, of Euclid, an Ohio suburb of Cleveland, allegedly used...
Weighing in on social, political issues has become a minefield for college presidents
University presidents increasingly opine on the thorniest social and political issues even if they unfold beyond their campuses — from immigration policy to gender identity to war. On one level, their diverse campuses seem to demand it. A message carefully crafted with help from campus speechwriters and delivered online can...
New Pennsylvania law targets ‘porch pirates’ with tougher penalties for package heists
December is high season for so-called “porch pirates” stealing people’s Christmas gifts before they make it under the tree. But a bill that Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Thursday creates a new criminal offense specifically targeted at home delivery package thieves. What it does: Creates a “theft by mail” crime that...
Carnegie Mellon graduate alleges ‘cruel campaign of antisemitic abuse’
A Jewish woman and graduate of Carnegie Mellon University is suing the school in federal court, alleging she faced “a cruel campaign of antisemitic abuse” by campus faculty and administration. Yael Canaan, 23, a New Jersey resident of Israeli ancestry, filed her complaint in U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania...
Pennsylvania passes laws to overhaul probation system, allow courts to seal more criminal records
HARRISBURG — More criminal records in Pennsylvania can be sealed from public view and fewer people might be kept on probation or in county jails, under legislation signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday. Both bills passed the House and Senate with large majorities Wednesday amid a flurry of end-of-year...
For the first time, Pa. will provide counties with funding to help indigent defendants
For the first time in Pennsylvania’s history, the state next year will provide funding to counties for indigent legal defense. While the proposed $7.5 million in funding passed earlier this year with the budget, it wasn’t until Wednesday night that the funding mechanism to allow the money to be allocated...
Pennsylvania House back to a 101-101 partisan divide with the resignation of a Democratic lawmaker
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is back to a 101-101 partisan split with the resignation of a Democratic lawmaker Thursday, teeing up another special election to determine the chamber’s majority early next year. The resignation of Rep. John Galloway, of Bucks County, had been expected for months after...
Pa. lawmakers free up funding for community colleges, public libraries
Lawmakers in Harrisburg agreed Wednesday night to release almost $262 million for the state’s 15 community colleges that had been held up for almost six months, plus $70 million for public libraries. The breakthrough on the last scheduled day for legislators to meet this calendar year also means K-12 school...
Pennsylvania is in its Taylor Swift era, her home state decides
HARRISBURG — She’s Time magazine’s person of the year. She’s the most-played artist globally on Spotify. She’s helmed the first tour to gross more than $1 billion and then the highest-grossing concert film of all time. And now Taylor Swift can add one more accolade: A state House of Representatives...
Pennsylvania lawmakers defeat funding for Penn amid criticism over school’s stance on antisemitism
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Wednesday night defeated legislation to send more than $33 million to the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school after the university’s president resigned amid criticism that the school has tolerated antisemitism. The legislation won a majority in two different votes, but it failed to...
Private schools, child care legislation pass in Pennsylvania as lawmakers move past budget feud
HARRISBURG — Lawmakers moved past a monthslong budget feud Wednesday in Pennsylvania’s Capitol, with the House and Senate advancing legislation to tie up loose ends and send millions more to subsidize private school tuition and child care tax credits for parents. After days of negotiations that typically play out before...
Shorter weeks, longer days? Pennsylvania poised to give schools flexibility on minimum requirements
HARRISBURG — A bill that would give Pennsylvania school districts greater flexibility to have shorter school weeks or longer days, as long as students meet an annual minimum of instructional time, is headed to the governor’s desk for his approval. The legislation passed both chambers unanimously. It changes Pennsylvania law...
Expansion of Pennsylvania permits to grow, sell medical marijuana headed to governor’s desk
A bill that will allow more of Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana growers and processors to also act as retailers — and vice-versa — fully cleared the legislature on Tuesday and will head to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk. Despite some legislators’ predictions earlier this year that the bill could — or should...
Housing juveniles charged with crimes a growing issue in Pa.
When a 16-year-old charged with second-degree murder fled from house arrest in November, Westmoreland County authorities scrambled to find a place to house him. The county’s juvenile detention center had closed temporarily in June amid staffing shortages. Calls to numerous private and publicly owned facilities throughout Pennsylvania that house children...
Pennsylvania school choice program criticized as ‘discriminatory’ as lawmakers return to session
HARRISBURG — Public school advocates in Pennsylvania are criticizing publicly funded programs that help underwrite tuition at private and religious schools, saying many of the eligible schools discriminate by cherry-picking the students they want to teach. Pennsylvania’s Capitol is already gripped by a broader and mostly partisan debate over how...
Can the Pa. legislature finish the budget before a leaky roof closes the state House for months?
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 — State lawmakers will return to Harrisburg next week in hopes of finally ending nearly six months of partisan deadlock on the last pieces...
Lawmakers consider declaring 2023 ‘Taylor Swift Era’ in Pennsylvania
Taylor Swift’s widespread popularity could soon be commemorated by the Pennsylvania state legislature. Three Democratic state representatives from suburban Philadelphia — Danielle Friel Otten of Chester County, Jennifer O’Mara of Delaware County and Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz of Berks County, where Swift grew up — introduced a resolution Friday to declare 2023...
Liz Magill, University of Pennsylvania president, resigns as antisemitism testimony draws backlash
PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania’s president has resigned amid pressure from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing during which she was unwilling to say under repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy. The departure of Liz...
Repairs to Pennsylvania House chamber prompt 3-month hiatus for lawmakers
After lawmakers leave Harrisburg for winter recess next week, the state House chamber will close for three months as a costly repair is made to its ornate and historic ceiling. While the House will convene on Jan. 2, as required by the state Constitution, and on Feb. 6, for Gov....
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry makes early witness list in Trump’s Georgia election case
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry is on an exhaustive list of potential witnesses that prosecutors in Fulton County, Ga., have prepared for a potential 2024 criminal trial against former president Donald J. Trump and 14 co-conspirators for alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential vote in that state. The list, first...
Ex-Philadelphia labor leader convicted of embezzling from union to pay for home renovations, meals
PHILADELPHIA — Former Philadelphia labor leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty and a codefendant were convicted Thursday of using more than $650,000 in union funds for personal use, marking the second conviction federal prosecutors have secured against the long-powerful figure since a sweeping 2019 indictment. Dougherty, who led Local 98 of...
UPenn president says calling for Jewish genocide allowed ‘in context,’ then issues correction
Embattled University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill is under fire yet again for her problematic response to antisemitic speech on campus, telling a congressional hearing that calling for Jewish genocide is allowed depending on its “context.” Then, after 24 hours of backlash, Magill released a video refuting her previous statement....
Late Homer City astronaut and IUP graduate receives space mission name
Dr. Patricia Hilliard Robertson, a 1985 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, devoted her life not only to medicine but to the advancement of human spaceflight. She never made it into space herself, dying months shy of a mission. On Wednesday, the space industry became the latest to honor the...
Court filing gives rare look inside FBI seizure of Pa. Rep. Scott Perry’s phone in 2020 election probe
HARRISBURG — Just how hard did some Republican members of Congress work to keep Donald Trump in office after his 2020 election loss? A court case is providing a few tantalizing clues. Snippets and short summaries of texts and emails sent by Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, a top Trump...
