Pennsylvania category, Page 198
5 firefighters injured battling Pa. apartment building blaze
RED LION — Authorities say five firefighters were injured battling a blaze at an apartment building in Pennsylvania. Crews were called to the Hilltop Apartments in Red Lion at about 11:45 p.m. Saturday and quickly extinguished a basement fire, York County officials said. But fire crews then realized that the...
Attorney threatens to sue Lt. Gov. Fetterman over blocking users on Twitter
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has seven days to apologize to two men over blocking them on Twitter, according to the attorney who is representing them. Sean M. Guay, of Hummelstown, and Jason Lindemuth, of Harrisburg, hired Marc Scaringi to represent them. They say they have a First Amendment Right...
At a Pa. Catholic seminary, hope for church beyond scandals
WYNNEWOOD, Pa. — The seminarians walk along a hallway lined with photos of classes of priests who came before them. Some are pious alumni who have become their teachers and mentors; others climbed the Catholic hierarchy to be revered as bishops and cardinals. But there are others: Raymond Leneweaver, Class...
Investigators target sexual abuse cover-ups among Jehovah’s Witnesses
Brian Chase listened carefully from his Tucson, Ariz., home in July as an investigator from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office introduced himself over the phone. After some idle chitchat, the investigator asked: Was Chase familiar with the office’s 2018 grand jury report, which showed that priests had sexually abused thousands...
Experts wonder if proposed scholarship requirements are realistic for recent grads
Gov. Tom Wolf has said his proposed Nellie Bly Scholarship could rescue schools in the State System and build the state’s workforce, but some experts doubt it is realistic — or even fair to students. For students to be eligible for a slice of the proposed $204 million scholarship fund...
Tom Wolf’s scholarship proposal targets low- and middle-income students at Pa. state schools
It’s a far cry from “free college for all” — or even “tuition-free public college” — but Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed Nellie Bly Scholarship echoes facets of those proposals. The idea for the new scholarship is included in Wolf’s state budget proposal. He said it would help low- and middle-income...
Greene County prosecutor fights child welfare agency over drug testing him
HARRISBURG — A lawyer who was recently sworn in as district attorney in southwestern Pennsylvania wants the state Supreme Court to rule that county child welfare officials investigating complaints about him do not have legal authority to compel him to take a drug test. David J. Russo, Greene County’s top...
Gisele Fetterman dressed in Carnival costume creates testy debate
A bit of a storm brewed across the Keystone State earlier this week — courtesy of Twitter — after Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman tweeted a photo of his wife, Gisele, suited-and-booted (not really) in a Carnival costume. “Waiting on confirmation from our PA Historian, gonna go out on a...
Pennsylvania Senate President Joe Scarnati will not seek re-election
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati will not seek re-election, he told The Associated Press on Wednesday night. Scarnati, 58, a fifth-term Republican from Jefferson County in northwestern Pennsylvania, said he wrestled with the decision to step down after 14 years in a job steering a Republican...
Berks County mother will stand trial in hanging deaths of her two childrenVideo
Lisa Snyder will stand trial on charges of killing her two children by hanging, a district judge ruled Wednesday after hearing nearly four hours of testimony from relatives, friends and first responders. The 37-year-old Berks County woman is charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in the September killings of...
Transgender felons seek to ease Pennsylvania rules on name changes
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania court this week will consider a legal challenge by three transgender women to a two-decade-old state law that prohibits people who have committed serious felonies from ever changing their names. Commonwealth Court will hear oral arguments Thursday in the lawsuit brought by plaintiffs who live as...
Penn State suspends Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity over ‘serious misconduct’ allegations
Penn State’s Office of Student Conduct suspended the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity Tuesday morning, citing “multiple allegations of serious misconduct made against the fraternity,” according to a Penn State News release. The fraternity allegedly held an unregistered social event Jan. 30 that the university said “potentially endangered students” and contained...
New state fund will underwrite counseling for victims with old sexual abuse claims
Survivors of sexual abuse now can access trauma counseling and therapy under a provision quietly inserted in a Pennsylvania statute of limitations reform bill late last fall. In addition to extending the time for survivors of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits until their 55th birthday and eliminating the statute...
Pennsylvania hemp farmers look to future at conference
Pennsylvania hemp farmers saw a lot less green than they were hoping for in 2019. A sudden glut of supply and lack of infrastructure caused national hemp prices to plummet throughout the year. “We had a bunch of people who threw hemp in the ground and expected at the end...
Legal sportsbooks in U.S. take $13 billion in action in 2019; Pa. 3rd with $1.5B
Last year marked the first full year of legal sports betting in the United States, and Pennsylvania was one of just three states to take in more than $1 billion in wagers in 2019, according to the American Gaming Association. Pennsylvania was one of the first states to launch legal...
Lawsuit: Scranton school district knew about lead, asbestos contaminationVideo
SCRANTON — Current and former employees of a Pennsylvania school district claimed in a lawsuit filed Monday that officials knew for years that unsafe levels of lead and asbestos posed potential health risks for students and staff but never disclosed the information to them or the public. The plaintiffs are...
Pennsylvania sues Juul over marketing e-cigarettes to teens
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office sued electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. on Monday over how its products are marketed and sold to teenagers. The agency is seeking an injunction from Philadelphia courts to halt Juul’s e-cigarette sales in Pennsylvania or force it to dramatically change business practices....
Police say homicide suspect hired Uber to take victim to hospital
PHILADELPHIA — A man accused of beating his girlfriend to death and calling an Uber to take her to a hospital was charged with murder, according to police records. Police said Nicholas Forman buckled 22-year-old Sabrina Harooni’s injured body into an Uber on Monday and had the driver take them...
Officials: Gun discharge at church security office injures 2 in Lancaster County
LEOLA — An accidental discharge of a gun at a Pennsylvania church on Sunday morning injured two people, church officials said. Officials said the firearm “was accidentally discharged” inside the security office at Worship Center in Upper Leacock Township at about 10 a.m. Sunday. LNP newspaper reported. One of the...
Pennsylvania’s big higher education problem gets a spotlight
HARRISBURG — Gov . Tom Wolf’s proposal to start a major new scholarship program for students at Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities caused a stir over his idea to divert the money from a sacred cow, but it also spotlit an uncomfortable truth about Pennsylvania’s ragged performance on higher education funding. By...
Trump used Philly girl’s story to attack ‘failing’ schools. But she’s at one of the city’s most desired charters
PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump turned a Philadelphia fourth grader into a poster child for the school-choice movement Tuesday when he told the nation thousands of students were “trapped in failing government schools” and announced that she was finally getting a scholarship to attend the school of her choice. But...
Study: Pa. roads average 1,030 litter items per mile
Pennsylvania state agencies are declaring war on litter. On Wednesday, the agencies released the results of the first statewide study on litter — the cost of cleaning it up, public attitudes toward litter — and announced the formation of a working group to shift Pennsylvania’s strategy from cleanup to prevention....
Groundhog Day 2020 sets attendance record in Punxsutawney
That Punxsutawney Phil really brings people together, and in big numbers. This year’s Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney had attendance that exceeded 40,000, according to PennLive citing estimates from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. According to PennLive, the previous Groundhog Day attendance record was 35,000 in 1997, with average attendance coming...
Vice President Pence to mix politics, education policy in Pennsylvania swing
HARRISBURG — Vice President Mike Pence is making a swing through Pennsylvania on Wednesday to tout the Trump administration’s support for funding tuition for private school students and, on the campaign side, to make an appeal to women voters. He will be with U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and senior...
Police: Street shooting in Philadelphia leaves 3 men wounded
PHILADELPHIA — A street shooting in Philadelphia left three men wounded early Wednesday, including one who was hospitalized in critical condition. Police officers responding to numerous reports of shots fired found the three victims around 12:30 a.m. Two people were seen running from the scene, but police said it was...
