Pennsylvania category, Page 204
Pennsylvania warns Dauphin County over defying voting machine edict
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania county is being told it would lose out on millions of dollars in aid and almost certainly be sued by the state if it refuses to take action to buy new voting machines before Dec. 31, county officials said Monday. Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries said...
Prosecutor warns public after cluster of drug overdoses around Reading
READING — A district attorney in southeastern Pennsylvania issued a public health warning Monday in the wake of a series of drug overdoses, some of them deadly, believed to involve the same substance. Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said that a dozen people overdosed over the weekend in...
Police: Hunter killed in Wayne County propane explosion
HONESDALE — State police say a Florida man was killed while hunting in northeastern Pennsylvania when his portable propane heater exploded. Police in Wayne County say 81-year-old Gregory Scheer of Chiefland, Fla., was hunting from a stand on the ground and using a portable propane heater in Texas Township. Police...
Lawmakers call for alternatives to indefinite drivers’ license suspensions
Ever-soaring traffic fines have created a new class of desperadoes in Pennsylvania. Young drivers who fail to pay traffic fines are then slapped with indefinite drivers’ license suspensions, and they risk even higher fines when they get behind the wheel. Make no mistake, this is a large class. A pair...
Cartoon Network Hotel opening in LancasterVideo
There’s a hotel coming to Lancaster that you might want to check out. Cartoon Network Hotel will open Jan. 10, according to Lancaster Online, which attended a media tour of the site Dec. 6. The hotel’s website says a stay at Cartoon Network Hotel is like “having a sleepover in...
Pennsylvania puppy abandoned in plastic-wrapped crate ‘improving every day’
A 10-week-old puppy is recovering after being left outside of a south-central Pennsylvania animal shelter in a crate wrapped in plastic with no ventilation holes. The Presa Canario puppy was dropped off about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday at the end of the Adams County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to...
Husband-wife duo accused of bilking Pa. out of $10M by faking 20 companies in tax credit scheme
A husband-and-wife team is accused of bilking Pennsylvania out of more than $10 million by obtaining tax incentives for 20 sham companies, then selling the state-issued tax credits for cash, a grand jury found. “Christopher” Wing-Tat Chiu, 47, and Ivy Li — former Bucks County residents who prosecutors say have...
Philadelphia Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell, accused of theft from charity, announces resignation
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania lawmaker accused of bilking a charity she founded out of more than $500,000 announced Thursday she was resigning. Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell, D-Philadelphia, told House Speaker Mike Turzai in a letter that her resignation will take effect on Dec. 13, adding that she disputes many of the...
Police: Berks County man believed to have killed 2, died in fire ID’d
DOUGLASSVILLE — State police say a man who they believe beat an eastern Pennsylvania couple to death with a hammer and was then found dead in a fire in the garage has been identified as the woman’s adult son. Police in Berks County said Wednesday that DNA tests identified the...
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale to audit Pennsylvania LotteryVideo
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced a new performance audit of the Pennsylvania Lottery on Wednesday, with a special emphasis on studying the state-run gameing franchise’s protections against being ripped off by players or retailers who are intentionally gaming the system. “Last fiscal year, Pennsylvania Lottery players bought $4.5 billion...
Pennsylvania Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell charged with stealing from nonprofitVideo
HARRISBURG — Prosecutors charged a state representative from Philadelphia on Wednesday with enriching herself by stealing money from a nonprofit organization she founded to serve the mentally ill and poor who were fighting addiction. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office accused Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell of perjury, tampering with public records,...
Penn State student severely injured after pedestrian-vehicle crash, police say
A Penn State international student was severely injured Tuesday evening after being struck by a vehicle on the 800 block of South Atherton Street. State College police, Alpha Fire Co. and Centre LifeLink EMS were dispatched at 5:04 p.m. Tuesday for a report of a pedestrian who was struck by...
Survey: Pa. greenhouse gas emissions dropped 19% from 2005 to ’16
Pennsylvania’s net greenhouse gas emissions dropped nearly 19% from 2005 to 2016, according to a new inventory prepared by the state Department of Environmental Protection. Pennsylvania was responsible for 235 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2016, which represented an 18.8% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from the...
Man shot to death in York County movie theater; woman wounded
Authorities say a man was shot and killed and a woman was wounded inside a movie theater in York County. West Manchester Township police said officers were called to the Regal Cinemas shortly before 10:30 p.m. Monday. Police said a single shooter shot both victims in a theater and then...
Man who made thousands of vulgar calls to Pa. women gets prison time
PORTLAND, Ore. — A 50-year-old Oregon man who for years made thousands of anonymous vulgar phone calls to seven women in Pennsylvania has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports each victim received over 200 calls from Bob Ugwa in a two-year period; one woman received...
Berks County mother charged with murder in hanging deaths of 2 children
Authorities are linking the mother of two young children found hanging in a Berks County home to internet searches for suicide and crime shortly before their deaths, according to court documents filed in support of murder charges against the woman. Lisa Snyder, 36, was charged with first- and third-degree murder,...
Gov. Tom Wolf warns of harm from changes to minor league baseball
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf wants Major League Baseball to rethink a restructuring plan that would affect three minor league teams in his state. Wolf on Monday wrote to baseball commissioner Robert Manfred to express concern about the impact on the Erie SeaWolves, the Williamsport Crosscutters and the State...
Hershey hockey fans set world record by tossing over 45,000 stuffed animals on iceVideo
If there’s one thing Hershey, Pa., does right it’s … well, it’s chocolate. But followed closely behind that is tossing stuffed animals onto a hockey rink. If you’ve never experienced the Teddy Bear Toss first-hand or even seen it on video, it’s an incredible sight to behold. The idea is...
Storm bears down on East, promises up to 20 inches of snowVideo
NEW YORK — A wintry storm that made Thanksgiving travel miserable across much of the country gripped the East with a messy mixture of rain, snow, sleet and wind, slowing the Monday morning commute, closing schools and offices, and snarling air travel. Forecasters said the nor’easter could drop 10 to...
Pennsylvania’s sexual abuse laws leave survivors conflicted
HARRISBURG — When Pennsylvania overhauled its child sexual abuse laws this week after a years-long battle, absent from the bill-signing ceremony were some of the people who had worked hardest for the changes. Some sexual-abuse survivors and victim advocates felt conflicted by the compromise package: Missing was a cornerstone of...
‘Strangest thing’: Police say man tried to rob West Manchester bank, then did this …
YORK, Pa. — A man attempted to rob a Wells Fargo bank branch in West Manchester Wednesday morning, then waited for authorities to arrive, West Manchester Township Police said. About 11:30 a.m. Nov. 27, the suspect allegedly jumped over the counter and grabbed money out of the register before throwing...
Pennsylvania creates criminal offense of sexual extortion
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is creating the criminal offense of sexual extortion to help combat what authorities say is a growing crime targeting children, enabled by the internet. The legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Tom Wolf takes effect in two months and had the backing of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape...
Westmoreland chamber President Chad Amond joins transportation commission
Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chad Amond has a new role to fill, as a member of the Pennsylvania State Transportation Commission. The state Senate recently appointed Amond to a six-year term on the 15-member panel, which serves as the board of directors for PennDOT and oversees...
With Wolf’s signature, Sunday hunting coming to Pa. in 2020
Pennsylvania hunters who clamored for a Saturday start to firearms deer season now have another reason to celebrate — Sunday hunting in 2020. Gov. Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 147, lifting the ban on Sunday hunting, on Wednesday. The law allows hunting on three Sundays: one during rifle deer season,...
Warm the holidays with boilo, a favorite of coal miners in eastern Pennsylvania
Earlier this month, HangoverCure.org surveyed 1,000 drinkers and came up with a list of iconic state drinks. The answer in Pennsylvania turned out to be a bit of a mystery, at least on the western side of the state: boilo. So what is it? “Here in the anthracite region, boilo...
