Pennsylvania category, Page 201
Report: 21% drop expected in 2020 natural gas impact fee
A state agency is predicting a 21% drop in natural gas impact fee revenue in 2020, largely because of falling natural gas prices. The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office estimates that impact fee collections will total $198.2 million this year — down from $251.8 million last year. The 2019 fee must...
Pennsylvania orders gas well plugged in fight over methane
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration on Monday told Range Resources that it must fix a Marcellus Shale natural gas well “once and for all” that it maintains has leaked methane since 2011 and contaminated groundwater and streams in north-central Pennsylvania. Wolf’s Department of Environmental Protection in 2015 issued —...
Pennsylvania cranks up PR campaign to boost census response
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s second lady, Giselle Fetterman, will help lead a campaign to raise awareness of this year’s Census Bureau count and encourage residents to respond to the census, state officials said Monday. Fetterman, whose husband is Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, said she will tour the state, making stops in...
Violence claims 6 lives in Philadelphia, including 15-year-old boyVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Police say violence claimed the lives of six people over the weekend in Philadelphia, including a 15-year-old boy. A police spokesman said the youth, originally thought to have been 18 to 25 years old, was found shot twice in the chest in north Philadelphia just after 1:30 p.m....
2 New Yorkers aboard helicopter die in Pennsylvania crash
MECHANICSBURG — Two upstate New York business men aboard a helicopter were killed when the aircraft crashed in a Pennsylvania backyard, authorities said. No one on the ground was injured in the Thursday night crash, Cumberland County spokesman John Bruetsch told news outlets. The helicopter’s pilot, Mark D. Croce, 58,...
Shapiro heads into reelection year with $3M in account
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro will report that he headed into his 2020 reelection year with more than $3 million in his campaign bank account, about 40% of what he spent to get elected in 2016 to his first four-year term. In a preliminary report his campaign gave...
Mother of 5 found beaten to death in Philadelphia home
PHILADELPHIA — Police on Friday were searching for a suspect who killed a mother of five inside her Philadelphia home. The 25-year-old’s mother called police after finding the back door kicked in on Thursday night and officers discovered the woman dead in an upstairs bedroom, police said. There were signs...
Bill Cosby asks Pennsylvania high court to review conviction
Comedian Bill Cosby filed an appeal Thursday of a court decision last month that upheld his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home. The latest appeal — filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which does not have to take the case — focuses on four key...
Ex-Pa. mayor on prison life: Spin class, teaching and law books
The former mayor of a Pennsylvania city who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for public corruption told a newspaper his life behind bars is “kind of like being mayor but for a lot less money.” Former Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski has spent more than a year at a low-security...
Republicans ‘got greedy’ in drawing Pennsylvania congressional maps, documents say
PHILADELPHIA — A trove of documents recently released by the daughter of a deceased GOP strategist includes some clues about what Republicans were thinking almost a decade ago when they redrew Pennsylvania’s congressional maps in a way that was later ruled unconstitutional. The documents, compiled at least partly amid the...
Allegheny County judge says parents can sue diocese over abuse reporting
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that parents of children in the Roman Catholic Church and survivors of sexual abuse by clergy members can move forward with a lawsuit against the Diocese of Pittsburgh alleging that it has not fulfilled its obligations under state law to report child sexual...
Pennsylvania’s senators split on reasons behind killing of Iranian general
A lengthy closed-door briefing by top Trump administration officials Wednesday left senators deeply divided along party lines over whether the president’s assertions of imminent threats were sufficient grounds for killing Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, told reporters that Trump’s decision was merited and undoubtedly saved...
Ag secretary announces $1 million grant program at Pa. Farm Show
If agriculture is to remain one of Pennsylvania’s top industries, then farms have to succeed as businesses. That was the message at the Pennsylvania Farm Show’s Public Officials Day in Harrisburg, where Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding announced the latest grant to be funded by the 2019 Farm Bill. The $1...
Want to know snow, ice conditions at a Pennsylvania state park? Here’s how
Winter is upon us, and despite the occasional warmup, snow- and ice-related activities are out there. Let’s say you’re in the mood to head out to a nearby Pennsylvania state park for a day of, say, cross-country skiing. How would you check on the conditions? Well, the state has made...
Survey: Fewer Pa. households entered 2019-20 winter without heat
Fewer Pennsylvania households entered the current winter season without heat than in the two previous years, according to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. More than 18,350 households across the state entered the winter season without heat-related utility service or using unsafe heating sources, PUC said in its 2019 Cold Weather...
Report: This is Pennsylvania’s wealthiest county
In Chester County, the median household income is nearly $100,000 — making it the richest county in the commonwealth, according to a new report. Financial news and opinion website 24/7 Wall Street has reported that the southeastern Pennsylvania county boasts a median household income of $96,726, compared to the Keystone...
Former Pa. congressman Mike Fitzpatrick dies at age 56
HARRISBURG — Michael Fitzpatrick, a former congressman from suburban Philadelphia who served four terms in the House before handing off the seat to his brother, died Monday morning after a long battle with melanoma, his family said. He was 56. “Michael Fitzpatrick passed away peacefully this morning, surrounded by family,...
Police probe release of bed bugs in Edinboro Walmart
EDINBORO — Pennsylvania State Police and store management apparently are itching to get their hands on who released live bed bugs Thursday in the changing room of the men’s department inside the Walmart at Edinboro. As of Saturday afternoon, investigators still were scratching their heads trying to find the suspect...
A look at other deadly bus crashes in the U.S., Pennsylvania
Five people were killed in a violent bus crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike early Sunday, adding to a long history of deadly bus crashes across Pennsylvania and the United States. Deadliest U.S. bus crashes Sept. 17, 1963: Fifty-three farm workers were on a flatbed truck being used as a makeshift...
Coca-Cola truck crashes into home in Quakertown
Two families were displaced Saturday in Quakertown after a tractor trailer crashed into their home on Route 313, borough police said. The Coca-Cola truck drove into the twin home at 656 and 658 W. Broad St. just before 6:45 a.m. after missing a sharp turn on that part of the...
Soup for toddlers sold online recalled due to undeclared allergens, USDA says
A Massachusetts business is recalling about 200 pounds of lentil and beef soup for toddlers shipped to Pennsylvania and four other states and Washington, D.C., the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced. Kettle Cuisine Midco is recalling the ready-to-eat product because of misbranding and undeclared allergens, the department’s Food Safety and...
Pennsylvania requires permits for hemp growers and processors in 2020
Like hemp growers, facilities that process the crop also will have to get permits in 2020 as Pennsylvania’s emerging industry enters its second year, state officials said. The commercial cultivation of hemp, which had been banned by the federal government for 80 years, took off in Pennsylvania last year after...
2020 predicted to have a super Groundhog Day
Feb. 2 is a loaded date this year. The usual celebration of Groundhog Day has some company in 2020. The day starts with Punxsutawney Phil’s 134th prognostication set to run 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. Then, the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Washington Capitals at 12:30 p.m. on NBC. Groundhog...
Ex-teacher in Bucks County charged with taking up-skirt photos of students
OTTSVILLE — A former high school teacher has been charged with secretly taking indecent photos of three students and posting them online. Francis Reppert, 26, of Quakertown in Bucks County, outside of Philadelhia, was arraigned Thursday on charges of indecent exposure and invasion of privacy. He was released on $500,000...
State Rep. Valerie Gaydos introduces bill to shrink state legislature
After being in office for about a year, state Rep. Valerie Gaydos, R-Allegheny, thinks there might be a few too many seats in the chamber. Gaydos, 53, of Aleppo, recently introduced legislation which would cut legislative districts in Pennsylvania from 203 to 151, a move that would require amending the...
