Pennsylvania category, Page 177
Pennsylvania draws closer to 100,000 total coronavirus cases
Pennsylvania inched closer to 100,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday, with 781 additional positive test results reported. That brings the state’s total number of cases to 98,446. The state’s department of health also reported 16 additional deaths, bringing the total attributed to covid-19 to 6,973. In the past seven days, between...
Pennsylvania could integrate 6 state universities, including Cal U, Clarion, Edinboro, Slippery Rock
The financially struggling Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education on Thursday took the first step in a two-year redesign process that could see six of its 14 universities integrated into three operating units. The 20-member State System Board of Governors unanimously approved a resolution instructing Chancellor Daniel Greenstein to launch...
About 50% of Pa. nursing homes still have not completed universal testing of residents, staff
With nine days to go before a July 24 deadline, about half of the state’s nursing homes have completed mandated testing of all residents and staff, according to data released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Wednesday. Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine on June 8, about five...
New poll shows Biden leading Trump by 13 points in Pennsylvania
A new poll shows Joe Biden leading Donald Trump by 13 points in Pennsylvania for November’s election. The Monmouth University poll of registered Pennsylvania voters shows Biden, the Democratic candidate, is supported by 53% while the incumbent Trump is favored by 40%. “Even taking into account any polling error from...
Philadelphia schools: Most kids in class 2 days per week this fall
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia school district announced Wednesday that it plans to resume limited in-person instruction in the fall, with most students in class just two days per week and learning remotely the other three. District officials also warned that it’s “highly likely” that evolving COVID-19 conditions will require individual...
Game warden saves bald eagle mired in Lancaster County manure pit
The Pennsylvania Game Commission rescued a bald eagle stuck in a manure pit in Lancaster. The Game Commission said it received a report Saturday that a bald eagle was unable to fly out of a manure pit at a private farm in southern Lancaster County. The large mature male eagle...
Pennsylvania reports 994 new covid-19 cases, 26 new deaths
Pennsylvania added 994 new covid-19 cases to its total Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported. The increase of nearly 1,000 cases represents the second straight day the number was above 900. That last time that happened was in mid-May. On Tuesday, 929 cases were reported. There were 139,819 tests...
New program for young Pennsylvania farmers aims to pump new blood into aging agriculture industry
Adam Mason and his wife, Katie, are in the process of buying a 106-acre farm in Allegheny Township, where they hope to raise chickens, turkeys, pigs and cattle. “It’s a dream come true,” Mason, a 35-year-old California native, said of his plans to own a farm. Mason, who is raising...
Wolf grants 3rd extension for license to carry firearms permits
Gov. Tom Wolf has granted a third extension for licenses to carry firearms, state police announced Wednesday. Permits expiring on March 19 or later are now valid through Sept. 30. The previous extension was set to expire on July 31. The extensions were needed because some county courthouses and sheriff’s...
Trump administration rescinds rule that could have deported thousands of international students
Lawyers for the Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a new rule that would have forced international college students to leave the U.S., transfer to another college or face deportation if their schools held classes entirely online because of the covid-19 pandemic. In the week since it was issued, the rule...
Republicans mount new challenge to Gov. Wolf’s pandemic power
HARRISBURG — The Republican-controlled Legislature on Tuesday mounted another effort to strip some emergency disaster powers from Gov. Tom Wolf, as well as future governors, in the latest partisan fight over how the Democrat has handled the coronavirus pandemic in Pennsylvania. The House of Representatives passed two bills, largely along...
Philadelphia cancels large events through February; Eagles’ games to have no fans
Large-scale events won’t be happening for the rest of the year in Philadelphia, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. On Tuesday, officials announced that big public events would not be permitted through February. Philadelphia health commissioner Thomas Farley said the decision and time frame came because a coronavirus vaccine would not...
Philadelphia protesters sue city over tear gas, ‘extraordinary abuses of police power’
PHILADELPHIA — Citing “extraordinary abuses of police power,” more than 140 Philadelphia protesters and residents sued the city Tuesday over the department’s response to the unrest that has gripped the region in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. In three separate federal lawsuits filed Tuesday, 146 plaintiffs...
929 new coronavirus cases, 20 new deaths reported in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania saw a significant increase in new covid-19 cases Tuesday, with the Department of Health logging 929 new cases. Health officials reported 20 more people have now died from the disease in Pennsylvania, bringing the total to 6,931. Of today’s new case count, the state reported 216 were a result...
Gov. Wolf signs bills for use-of-force registry, stronger background checks for cops in Pa.
After an East Pittsburgh police officer shot and killed Antwon Rose II two years ago, critics of the officer wondered how he had been hired so easily after facing previous misconduct complaints. Rose would have celebrated his 20th birthday Sunday The officer, Michael Rosfeld, had a checkered past, Pennsylvania Attorney...
Petrochemical tax break bill speeds through Senate
HARRISBURG — New legislation to extend millions of dollars in tax breaks to turn natural gas into fertilizer and other chemicals won approval in Pennsylvania’s Senate on Monday, barely hours after the measure emerged from closed-door negotiations between Gov. Tom Wolf and top Republican lawmakers. The tax credit legislation had...
Protest in Allentown after officer uses knee to restrain manVideo
ALLENTOWN — Activists against police brutality expressed outrage and pressed their demand for accountability Monday after video emerged over the weekend of an officer placing his knee on a man’s head and neck area outside a Pennsylvania hospital. Allentown police violated their own policy against neck restraints when an officer...
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, students join effort to overturn ICE rule to deport international students
The battle to overturn a new federal rule to deport international college students forced to take all classes online grew Monday as 18 state attorneys general, including the one in Pennsylvania, 26 cities, including Pittsburgh, and a coalition of student government groups from 18 universities filed legal briefs in federal...
Police: Central Pa. man shot, killed as law enforcement served warrant
FORKSVILLE — Authorities say a central Pennsylvania man who reportedly feared going to prison due to the coronavirus was shot and killed as law enforcement personnel were trying to serve a bench warrant last week. State police in Sullivan County said 60-year-old Kevin Michael Norton was shot at about 10:30...
Pennsylvania reports 7 new coronavirus deaths, 328 new cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Monday reported 328 new coronavirus cases and seven new deaths. That brings the state’s total case count to 95,742, with 6,911 deaths. The state considers 635 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. Monday’s state report doesn’t include new numbers for the...
Video shows Allentown police officer kneeling on man’s neck during arrestVideo
ALLENTOWN — The woman who shot a video outside Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown that shows a police officer putting his knee on a man’s head and neck during an arrest said the man was screaming “Mira, mira!” — Spanish for ‘Look, look!’” “That means he knew what was going...
2 dead, 2 critical after group fixing flat tire struck in Berks County
READING — Authorities say a car belonging to two men helping a couple fix a flat tire on an eastern Pennsylvania road was struck by another vehicle, killing two men and critically injuring two other people. Police in Ontelaunee Township Police said a man and woman heading south on Route...
4 more states added to Pennsylvania travel quarantine list
HARRISBURG, Pa. — State health officials in Pennsylvania have added four states — including neighboring Delaware — to the travel quarantine recommendation aimed at stemming the spread of covid-19 in the commonwealth. Officials said people who have traveled to Delaware, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma are being asked to self-quarantine for...
Toomey: Trump’s commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence a ‘mistake’
Sen. Pat Toomey calls President Trump’s commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence a “mistake.” In a statement released Saturday, Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, said while Trump had the “legal and constitutional authority” to take the action, it should be used “judiciously and very rarely by any president.” “While I understand the frustration...
Buses pose particular challenge for Pa. schools’ pandemic plans
HARRISBURG — A proposal to construct plastic barriers around school bus drivers as a covid-19 mitigation tactic was shot down by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, a sign of one particular challenge — among many — schools face as they plan for a fall reopening. The state Education Department told...
