Pennsylvania category, Page 7
Debate swirls around Trump’s call to end unrestricted mail-in voting
Nearly one in five Pennsylvanians who voted for Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election cast their ballots by mail, and the GOP spent millions to promote mail-in voting in the run-up to the election. Now, President Trump says he wants to end the practice of allowing people to vote...
Villanova says report of campus shooter was a ‘cruel hoax’
VILLANOVA — A report of a shooter on Villanova University’s campus that sparked panic among students and drew a heavy police presence was a “cruel hoax,” the school’s president said Thursday. Earlier in the afternoon, students had received a text from the Villanova alert system that told them to lock...
Oklahoma to screen would-be teachers from N.Y., Calif. to keep ‘leftist propaganda’ out of schools
For now, Pennsylvanians looking to land a teaching job in Oklahoma won’t have to take a test designed to weed out “woke indoctrinators” seeking classroom work in the conservative Sooner State. Oklahoma soon will begin administering what Ryan Walters, the state’s elected superintendent of public instruction, calls the “America First”...
When the ground gives way, homeowners are often left with the bill. Pa. lawmakers propose safety net
A version of this story first appeared in Talk of the Town — a daily newsletter from the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. BELLEFONTE — When landslides and sinkholes damage Pennsylvania houses,...
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General recovering from cyber incident
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General announced Monday that, following the cyber incident last week, access is being restored to employee email accounts. Outages affected the website and disabled office email accounts and landline phones. The website was rebooted early Wednesday afternoon but still had outages on the home improvement...
Republican Stacy Garrity seeks to challenge Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s reelection bid
HARRISBURG — Stacy Garrity, Pennsylvania’s two-term elected state treasurer, said Monday that she will seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro ‘s reelection bid, setting up what could be a contest between a low-profile officeholder and a potential White House contender in 2028. Garrity said in a...
Pa. Senate leaders look to skill games tax as transit funding debate continues
The highest-ranking Republican in the state Senate described the looming service cuts and fare hikes at Pennsylvania’s largest transit agency as a “manufactured crisis” that doesn’t need to happen. “This is (the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) wanting exactly what they want and holding everyone hostage,” said Senate President Pro Tempore...
Penn State suspends fraternity accused of hazing, abuse
Officials at Penn State University announced they have suspended a fraternity following an investigation into accusations of hazing and abuse. The Lambda Lambda chapter of Phi Beta Sigma will be suspended for four years, effective Aug. 4, according to a press release from the school. During that time, the chapter...
GOP plans to address budget impasse, transit shot down in Democratic-led House committees
A pair of committees in the Democrat-led state House on Wednesday shot down proposals from the GOP-controlled state Senate to end Pennsylvania’s budget impasse and address funding problems at the state’s transit agencies. Now, with the budget impasse standing at 44 days and Pennsylvania’s largest transit agency preparing to begin...
Armed robbers in latest Philadelphia-area Brinks truck heist took $700,000 or more, police say
PHILADELPHIA — Police are investigating whether the armed robbery of a Brinks truck outside a Philadelphia-area store is related to four other attacks on armored vehicles in and around the city this summer. Two armed males got away with between $700,000 and $800,000 in the midday Tuesday heist at an...
Penn State ramps up lobbying, but it’s difficult to tell who or what it’s trying to influence
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for Talk of the Town, a daily newsletter of local stories that dig deep, events, and more from north-central PA, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. Penn...
GOP-controlled Pa. Senate advances budget, transit plans
The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate advanced proposals Tuesday to end the state’s budget impasse and address funding problems at transit agencies for the next two years. Both proposals passed along party lines, with all of the chamber’s 27 Republicans voting in favor and the 22 Democrats present opposing. For the measures...
‘Cyber incident’ shuts down Pa. attorney general’s website, phone system
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General announced Monday evening that its email, website and phone lines are down because of a systems outage. The office said in a statement posted on Facebook that the network that hosts their systems “is currently down.” The office said they are working to determine...
Pa. House passes transit funding bill, but critics give it little chance of advancing in Senate
The Democratic-controlled state House voted Monday to pass a transit funding bill, with support from several Republicans, that the legislation’s prime sponsor said could help stave off sweeping service cuts and fare hikes at Pennsylvania’s two largest transit agencies. “If they become reality, these service cuts will hurt real people,...
Trump administration seeks more Pa. voter information, raises potential legal concerns
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. The U.S. Justice Department is asking Pennsylvania to turn over its complete voter rolls, a request that appears to encompass voters’ personal information, including Social Security and driver’s license...
Hidden talents of Pa. lawmakers: The legislators lurking in episodes of ‘Succession’ and ‘Cheers’
This story first appeared in PA Local, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA taking a look at the people, places, and foods that make Pennsylvania so unique. Months before launching his bid for a Schuylkill County state House seat, Tim Twardzik spent an entire day on the set of The...
Wounded Pennsylvania troopers recovering after chaotic shooting that left gunman, neighbor dead
A man fatally shot his neighbor in rural Pennsylvania and then unleashed a hail of gunfire on first responders, wounding two state troopers, running an EMT off the road and sniping a police drone from the sky, officials said. The chaotic scene unfolded Thursday morning after Thompson resident Lori Wasko’s...
Advocates call for closure of ICE facility near Philipsburg after detainee’s death
A coalition of several local and national immigration rights groups on Thursday called for the closure of the Moshannon Valley Processing Center — the largest federal immigration detention center in Pennsylvania and the rest of the Northeast — after the death earlier this week of a 32-year-old Chinese national. Chaofeng...
Woman killed by neighbor before responding state troopers were ambushed by gunfire, police say
THOMPSON — A 61-year-old man fatally shot a neighbor Thursday in rural Pennsylvania and then ambushed responding state troopers, wounding two while firing dozens of rounds from a semiautomatic weapon, police said. Lori Wasko’s boyfriend called 911 after 11 a.m. from their home near Thompson to report shots fired, state...
Pa. Turnpike execs get 5-figure pay raises, including CEO’s $86K boost
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission approved $367,107 in pay raises for the organization’s chief officers during a closed-door executive session in March. The raises were recommended by a wage study commissioned in February, which offered two options that resulted in the same total cost for salary increases. CEO Mark Compton received...
Gov. Shapiro says U.S. has ‘moral obligation’ to get food to starving Gaza residentsVideo
Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday that the United States has a “moral obligation” to make sure that starving Gaza residents get the aid they need to survive. While saying that the terrorist group Hamas needs to release the nearly 50 hostages it still holds, Shapiro said he also wants food...
Pa. budget impasse reaches 36 days, with sides still at odds on several key issues
As Pennsylvania’s budget impasse reached 36 days Tuesday, the highest-ranking Republican in the state Senate said lawmakers should consider adopting a six-month spending plan that maintains last year’s funding levels for many essential services while negotiations continue on thornier budgetary issues. “If we can’t come to agreement (on an overall...
Most popular meteor shower, full moon to peak soon over Pennsylvania. Here’s when to look
A full “sturgeon” moon will peak soon over Pennsylvania, and residents can also enjoy viewing the peak of a popular meteor shower soon after. This month’s moon is referred to as the “sturgeon moon” because of the abundance of fish typically found in late summer, according to the Farmers’ Almanac....
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board opens summer whiskey lottery
Nine whiskey lotteries are now open for Pennsylvania liquor connoisseurs. The lottery, run by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, allows consumers to enter into a drawing for the opportunity to purchase special liquor with limited quantity but high demand. Among the bottles up for grabs are two varieties of Blanton’s...
Voting machines rarely malfunction during Pa. elections, new data show
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. Sign up for Votebeat’s free newsletters here. Pennsylvania voters encountered only scattered voting-machine malfunctions that rarely affected their ability to cast ballots in recent elections, according to a Votebeat...
