Pennsylvania category, Page 196
Wolf administration lays off about 2,500 state employees amid coronavirus outbreakVideo
HARRISBURG — The Wolf administration has laid off about 2,500 part-time and seasonal employees and interns as the financial fallout from the coronavirus deepens, straining Pennsylvania’s cash flow, Spotlight PA has learned. The affected workers, which include temporary clerical staff and employees who help out in departments across state government...
With an eye on ICU beds, Pa. hospitals prep for surge in coronavirus patients
As coronavirus cases continue to grow, hospitals across the state are doing what they can to prepare for a surge of critical patients that officials fear could overwhelm the health care system. More than half of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, however, have fewer than 20 intensive care beds, according to data...
Gov. Wolf orders Beaver, Centre, Washington County residents to stay home
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf has extended his order for residents to stay at home in most circumstances to almost one-third of Pennsylvania’s counties amid an increase in coronavirus cases and a dozen more deaths that brought the total to 34 for the outbreak. The governor on Saturday extended the...
For Pennsylvania’s Amish, the coronavirus and the call for social distancing are a challenge
The Amish do their best to keep outside troubles from entering their daily lives. That’s not so easy when the trouble is an invisible virus spreading across the globe. People familiar with the Amish community in Pennsylvania say many are taking the coronavirus and subsequent business closures and calls for...
Pennsylvania reports 12 more deaths, 533 new cases of coronavirus
Twelve more people in Pennsylvania have died from covid-19, increasing the statewide coronavirus death toll to 34, state health officials said Saturday. Confirmed cases now are present in at least 56 of the state’s 67 counties, Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said. “We are seeing this virus rear its ugly...
Gov. Wolf vetoes petrochemical plant tax break bill
Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday followed through on his threat to veto a bill to provide potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for petrochemical plants that use natural gas extracted in Pennsylvania. In his veto message, Wolf said he could support awarding an incentive like the one...
Pennsylvania reports 531 new coronavirus cases as total tops 2,000Video
Coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania rose by more than 500 from Thursday to Friday, bringing the total statewide to more than 2,000. The state Department of Health reported 531 new positive tests, the second day in a row in which new cases topped 500. The total stands at 2,218. That total...
Pa. state universities anticipate up to $100M loss from providing students refunds for room and board
Pennsylvania’s 14 state universities are facing a severe financial hit because they won’t resume in-person classes for the last half of the spring semester because of the coronavirus. The State System of Higher Education is projecting a loss of $100 million in total for the universities, due to refunding tens...
Feds close Title IX investigation at Penn State, nearly a decade after Jerry Sandusky scandal
Nearly a decade after state prosecutors charged former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky with multiple counts of child sexual abuse in and around campus facilities, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has closed its Title IX investigation. That portion of the Civil Rights Act prohibits...
Gov. Wolf pledges $50M toward supplies for virus-battered Pa. hospitals
Gov. Tom Wolf said he will spend up to $50 million to get equipment into the hands of medical workers to help fight the continued spread of the coronavirus. “We’re not fighting a battle here, we’re fighting a war,” Wolf said Thursday. “We need to do everything we can to...
Pennsylvania reports 560 new coronavirus cases as state total tops 1,600
Coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania jumped by more than 500 from Wednesday to Thursday, according to state health officials, and five more people have died. The state Department of Health tallied 560 new cases, bringing the statewide total to 1,687. That’s a 50% increase in 24 hours. That total includes 45...
Pa. grocery store dumps $35,000 worth of food after woman coughs on it
A grocery store in Hanover Township in Luzerne County said it dumped $35,000 worth of produce, meat, bread and other groceries after a woman coughed on the products. Gerrity’s Supermarket posted on Facebook Wednesday that the woman, “who the police know to be a chronic problem in the community, came...
Gov. Wolf extending stay-at-home order to 2 more counties
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration reported more coronavirus-related deaths in Pennsylvania on Wednesday and ordered residents of Lehigh and Northampton counties to stay home, with few exceptions, as more of the state is put under the directive in an effort to slow the virus’ spread. Wolf’s office said the order will...
Pennsylvania lawmakers vote to delay primary until June 2 over coronavirus
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lawmakers voted Wednesday to delay the state’s primary election by five weeks to June 2, potentially past the spike of the state’s spreading coronavirus cases. The measure passed both chambers of the Republican-controlled state Legislature on Wednesday and Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said he will sign...
Pa. buying ventilators, N95 masks as hospitalizations due to coronavirus grow
Of the more than 1,000 coronavirus patients across Pennsylvania, 38 have been admitted to an intensive care unit, state health officials said Wednesday. Hospitals statewide have a collective 3,400 ICU beds, according to Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, and about 40% of them are available. Covid-19 cases reached 1,127...
Pa. coronavirus cases top 1,000; 4 more deaths reported
Coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania crested 1,000 Wednesday, health officials said, and four more patients have died. From Tuesday to Wednesday, 276 new cases were identified, according to Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. The cases now total 1,127. She noted 11 deaths in the state, up from seven reported deaths...
Pennsylvania saw 400K jobless claims, labor leader saysVideo
HARRISBURG — More than 400,000 Pennsylvanians filed for unemployment compensation benefits last week amid a tidal wave of coronavirus-related business shutdowns, eclipsing the high-point during the recession a decade ago, the state’s top organized labor leader said Wednesday. Rick Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the AFL-CIO, said Gov....
Pennsylvania House votes to delay primary election for 5 weeks
The House voted preliminarily on Tuesday to delay Pennsylvania’s primary election on April 28 for five weeks, until June 2. The House is expected to send the bill to the Senate with another vote on Wednesday. The Republican-sponsored amendment would also let counties consolidate polling places, in part because some...
Erie Mayor Joe Schember declares state of emergency over covid-19
Erie Mayor Joe Schember on Tuesday issued a state of emergency declaration for the city, effective immediately, because of the covid-19 pandemic. Schember said the declaration is necessary to protect city residents. He also said that by officially declaring a state of emergency “it helps ensure that we can be...
Penn State confirms case of covid-19
Penn State reported its first case of covid-19 on its University Park campus on Tuesday. An alert was sent to students and the rest of the university community. No information about the individual was immediately available. “It is up to public health authorities to determine what information is shared publicly...
Fake meme claims hunting and fishing seasons are canceled in Pennsylvania
A meme circulating on social media channels falsely claims that the Pennsylvania Game Commission has canceled all hunting and fishing seasons for 2020. But as the commission noted on its official page, it “has not suspended, altered or changed any hunting regulations, seasons or bag limits in response to the...
Pennsylvania reports 207 new coronavirus cases, bringing total to 851
Pennsylvania recorded more than 200 new cases of the coronavirus in one day, state health officials said Tuesday. The 207 new cases brought the statewide total to 851, including 58 cases in Allegheny County. Deaths in the state are now at seven — a second person in Allegheny County died...
Corrections officers push Pennsylvania to stop inmate transfers
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state corrections officers’ union wants the state prison system to stop all transfers of inmates as a preventative measure against potential spread of the new coronavirus from one institution to another. Meanwhile, more businesses are challenging Gov. Tom Wolf’s order closing the physical locations of businesses determined...
PennDOT reopens 23 rest stops on Pennsylvania interstates
PennDOT has reopened 23 of the state’s 30 rest areas, which had been closed to slow the spread of coronavirus. The department partially reopened 13 facilities last week but kept indoor restrooms closed while providing portable restrooms and handwashing facilities. Those 13 are among the 23 rest areas returned to...
Confusion and objections still rampant over Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown order
Confusion is the order of the day in businesses across the Pennsylvania seeking clarity on Gov. Tom Wolf’s sweeping order closing non-life-sustaining businesses. Even as State Police prepared to begin enforcing the governor’s order Monday at 8 a.m., many insisted it was ill-constructed and could have unintended consequences. Greensburg lawyer...
