Pennsylvania category, Page 191
Attorney General, banks offer loan relief during coronavirus pandemic
The office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro partnered with several banks to help Pennsylvanians who face financial hardships as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Banks participating in the PA Care Package initiative will offer a 90-day grace period for mortgages, auto loans and other consumer loans. They will...
Coronavirus pandemic continues to impact financial health of colleges, universities
Less than a month into a shutdown that forced colleges and universities across the country to transition to online classes, covid-19 is exposing new fractures in higher education. When students were forced to leave campus months before the end of the spring semester, residential campuses had to come up with...
Pennsylvania orders businesses to turn away customers who don’t wear masks
Customers and employees will soon be required to wear masks inside businesses still operating, and those who don’t wear masks will be denied entry, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Wednesday. The order, which includes dozens of other requirements, will go into effect 8 p.m. Sunday. It dictates...
Pennsylvania rolls out data on nursing home coronavirus cases
Pennsylvania is now sharing data on cases of coronavirus at long-term care facilities and personal care homes in each county. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine made the announcement during a virtual news conference Wednesday. The information can be found on the health department’s coronavirus page. Levine said the Department...
Pennsylvania coronavirus deaths rise to 647 as total cases top 26,000
Coronavirus deaths in Pennsylvania crested 600 on Wednesday, though the total number of new cases remained below 1,200 for the second straight day. In numbers reported throughout Tuesday, 63 more people died from the virus statewide, bringing the death toll to 647. The Department of Health reported 1,145 new cases....
Gov. Wolf says states — not president — should decide when to lift coronavirus restrictions
Gov. Tom Wolf said he believes it should be left to state governments — not the president — to decide when and how to loosen restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “We had the responsibility for addressing the needs that we all had, and that involved closing...
Pennsylvania’s mail-in, absentee ballot applications surge for June primary
Pennsylvania counties have processed about 283,000 absentee and mail-in ballots for the June primary, and requests from Democrats are three times more common than from Republicans, state elections officials said Tuesday. The Department of State said 89,000 absentee ballot requests have already been processed, with the June 2 primary still...
Pennsylvania reports 60 more coronavirus deaths as total hits 584
Sixty more people across Pennsylvania died from the coronavirus, state health officials said Tuesday. The Pennsylvania Department of Health said 1,146 new cases of covid-19 were reported Monday, bringing the state’s running tally to 25,345. There were 1,366 new cases reported Monday and 1,178 on Sunday. The death toll now...
Speeding driver who killed 2 young sisters in crosswalk gets no sympathy from Pa. court
Investigators said Kenneth Ruch was going nearly 75 mph in a 40 mph zone when he blew through a yellow traffic light in his Jeep and struck and killed two sisters in a crosswalk. One of the sisters, 19-year-old Kimberly Phillips, was dismembered by the impact. Her body was found...
Pennsylvania bill would ensure full pay for first responders stricken with coronavirus
State Rep. Eric Nelson this week proposed an amendment to state law that will ensure police and firefighters continue to be paid should they have to miss work because of the coronavirus. Nelson, R-Hempfield, said the proposed legislation will expand the state’s Heart and Lung Act that requires certain emergency...
Pennsylvania reports 17 more coronavirus deaths as total cases top 24,000
Seventeen more people died from coronavirus in Pennsylvania, state health officials said Monday, and the total case count now tops 24,000. The death toll, which includes two new deaths in Allegheny County, stands at 524. Officials said one inmate from SCI-Phoenix in Montgomery County died. About 1,179 health care workers...
Firefighters find body inside burning vehicle in Erie
ERIE — Firefighters who extinguished a car fire at an abandoned gas station early Monday found a body in the vehicle, authorities said. The fire in Erie was reported around 2:30 a.m., city police said. The burning vehicle was next to a building and among several vehicles parked between the...
2 children killed, 3 adults hurt in Philadelphia house fire
PHILADELPHIA — A fast-moving fire roared through a rowhouse in Philadelphia early Monday, killing two children and leaving three adults hospitalized. The blaze in the two-story home started shortly before 5 a.m. and was brought under control within 30 minutes, according to city fire officials. The bodies were found a...
Fearing hospital bankruptcy, Gov. Wolf offers $450M in loans to financially strapped providers
Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday announced more than $450 million in low-interest loans meant to keep hospitals afloat as they continue to lose revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals statewide have canceled elective surgeries and nonurgent procedures to free up bed space and limit the spread of covid-19. At the...
Gov. Wolf approves release of up to 1,800 inmates amid coronavirus concerns
Up to 1,800 Pennsylvania prison inmates scheduled for release in the next year could be temporarily released as part of a plan to reduce the spread of coronavirus, Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday. Eligible inmates could start being released to home confinement or community facilities as early as Tuesday, according...
Pennsylvania reports 78 more coronavirus deaths as total case count nears 20,000Video
Seventy-eight new coronavirus-related deaths were reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Health throughout the day Thursday to bring the state’s death toll to 416, according to state health officials. The total coronavirus case count is approaching 20,000, the data show. The state saw three days this week where new deaths...
Dairy industry group working to stop purchase limits on milk
If your local grocery store still has a limit on how much milk a customer can buy, the state’s Department of Agriculture wants to know about it. Despite the covid-19 pandemic disrupting the local dairy supply chain, agriculture officials announced the American Dairy Association North East is working to stop...
State police seize more than $11 million worth of drugs in first 3 months of 2020
State police seized more than 68 pounds of cocaine worth about $1.5 million in the first three months of 2020, according to figures released by the law enforcement agency. That amount is part of more than $11 million in illicit drugs troopers confiscated statewide between Jan. 1 and March 31....
Now hiring: Get a job helping Pennsylvania’s jobless, expediting unemployment payments
Pennsylvanians looking for work during the pandemic-spurred shutdown now have the option to get a job helping the jobless. The state Department of Labor and Industry is hiring a slew of workers to respond to an unprecedented surge in unemployment claims in recent weeks. Applications can be submitted starting Monday...
Pa. Department of Health to provide county EMS agencies more details on covid-19 cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health will release additional information about the location of covid-19 patients to county emergency management agencies beginning Friday. Citing the privacy provisions of the 1955 Disease Prevention and Control Act, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which holds daily briefings on the statewide case count, previously refused...
Pennsylvania issues update on licensing waivers granted during coronavirus response
State officials have issued 30 licensing waivers since the Department of State last month said it would clear hurdles to allow more professionals to respond to the coronavirus disaster declaration. “During this unprecedented emergency, the Department of State is committed to reducing as many burdens as possible for licensees to...
Pennsylvania sees nearly 2,000 new coronavirus cases, but ‘curve has changed’
Nearly 2,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in Pennsylvania, state health officials said Thursday, and 29 more people have died. With 1,989 new cases, the running total of covid-19 cases statewide reached 18,228 since the virus was first identified here on March 6. The latest numbers represent about a 12%...
Gov. Wolf closes Pennsylvania schools for rest of academic year
Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday announced that all schools will stay closed for the rest of the academic year. “We must continue our efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus during this national crisis,” Wolf said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision, but closing schools until...
Map shows how many hospital beds, ventilators Pennsylvania has available in each county
Real-time data on number of hospital beds and ventilators available in every Pennsylvania county are now available on a website launched Wednesday by the state Department of Health. The Hospital Preparedness Dashboard shows, county by county, the number of coronavirus cases, deaths, intensive care beds, medical beds, isolation rooms and...
Gov. Wolf signs order allowing medical supplies to be redistributed to Pa. areas hit hardest by coronavirus
In light of the continued spread of the coronavirus across Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday signed an order that will allow the state’s emergency management agency to take protective equipment and supplies from one medical facility and give them to others with greater needs. “I’m trying to make sure...
