Pennsylvania category, Page 207
Chester County woman charged with faking cancer in fund-raiser scam
PHILADELPHIA — A Chester Springs woman has been charged with netting more than $10,000 in a fund-raising scam in which she falsely claimed she had cancer and needed money. In a criminal complaint, Uwchlan Township Police detectives laid out a months-long investigation of increasingly escalating lies that ended in the...
Marsy’s Law votes won’t be counted, Pa. Supreme Court rules in split opinion
Pennsylvanians still have the right to cast a vote Tuesday on the proposed Marsy’s Law related to victim rights — but officials won’t be counting and sharing the results of votes on that particular measure, the state’s highest court affirmed in a split ruling Monday. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, on...
Video shows water gushing from Philadelphia skyscraperVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Water was seen gushing out from the side of a Philadelphia skyscraper during the weekend for an unknown reason. An onlooker took a video Sunday morning showing the water coming out of the top of One Liberty Place. He says it continued for about five minutes before coming...
5 things to know about Affordable Care Act’s 2020 enrollment period
Western Pennsylvanians shopping for 2020 insurance coverage through the federal health care marketplace can expect to see a small uptick in prices over last year and more plans to choose from. Costs for 2020 individual plans increased statewide by an average of about 4%, state data show. “It’s a slight...
$90M for Pa. voting machines, mail-in ballots signed into law
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is making the most significant changes to its election laws in 80 years and helping counties buy new voting machines ahead of next year’s presidential election. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill Thursday, two days after it passed the Republican-controlled Legislature handily. The legislation was negotiated...
Pennsylvania’s Sunday hunting bill clears last big hurdle
There was a moment of doubt, for sure. But it looks as if expanded Sunday hunting is coming to Pennsylvania in 2020. On Wednesday, members of the House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 147 by a vote of 144-54. That was one day later than expected. Supporters expected things to...
Polling finds Pennsylvania voters break along party lines on Trump impeachment
Pittsburgh retiree Francine Hunter said she worries that President Trump often oversteps the bounds of his office. “I don’t think he sticks to what a president is supposed to do,” said Hunter, 69, a Democrat from Pittsburgh’s West End. That’s one of the major reasons the retired hospital dietary worker...
Judge: Pennsylvania can’t tally Marsy’s Law votes while challenge pending
HARRISBURG — A judge ruled Wednesday that votes in a referendum next week about enshrining victims’ rights in Pennsylvania’s constitution will not be tallied or certified while a legal challenge is pending. Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler issued a preliminary injunction that was requested by the voter and the state...
Work zone speed cameras to be deployed in Pennsylvania
Cameras to detect speeding in Pennsylvania’s roadway work zones will begin limited operation next week ahead of their use statewide early next year. Two cameras will be deployed, one in the Pennsylvania Turnpike system and one on another Pennsylvania roadway, but for 60 days violators won’t be issued warnings or...
Son, 50, accused of killing parents in their home
BELVIDERE, N.J. — Authorities say a 50-year-old son killed his parents in their New Jersey home two months before they retired from their salon business. Warren County’s prosecutor announced Tuesday he is filing first-degree murder charges against Todd Warner in the deaths of Frank and Joyanne Warner. He was taken...
USDA unveils new federal hemp regulations
Almost a year after lifting a ban on commercial hemp production, the federal government unveiled rules that will regulate the crop. “We said we would get it done in time for producers to make planning decisions for 2020, and we followed through,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in...
Pa. woman turns front door into giant cookie monsterVideo
A York Township woman’s Halloween decoration consists of a Cookie Monster that swallows her entire front door. Lisa Boll, a former landscape designer, used blue spray paint to turn her vines into the beloved Sesame Street character, reports ABC News 27. Some Styrofoam eyes and a big chocolate chip cookie...
Auditor General announces extra money for municipal pensions across Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania municipalities are getting $328.2 million in state funding to cover pension costs this year — an increase of about $30 million from 2018. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced the allocations at a meeting of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association. “You’re putting lives on the line every single day …...
10 charged in drug gang slayings, including quadruple murder
READING — Authorities have announced charges against 10 people in what they allege was a violent drug trafficking organization responsible for slayings and kidnappings in eastern Pennsylvania, including a quadruple murder last year. U.S. Attorney William McSwain and Berks County District Attorney John Adams said Monday the new indictment comes...
Bill could usher Pennsylvania elections into new era
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lives in a cave when it comes to modern elections, critics say, but fast-tracked legislation that was quietly negotiated behind closed doors could usher in some advancement. The bill, should it pass, didn’t come easily: Partisan jockeying, 11th-hour blowups and brinksmanship dogged what could be the most...
Pennsylvania won’t give driver’s license records to Census
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s transportation secretary is telling the U.S. Census Bureau that her agency won’t provide driver’s license records as part of a Trump administration effort to gather citizenship information. Secretary Leslie Richards wrote Thursday to a Census Bureau official, saying her department won’t participate in the project. More than...
Pennsylvania to get $53M in opioid treatment drug settlement
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is in line to receive more than $53 million as part of a nationwide settlement with a British company that once distributed a drug used to treat opioid addiction. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Thursday that the money is to settle allegations that the company defrauded...
Pa. man who killed 5-year-old girl is resentenced to life term
ERIE — A man who was teenager when he killed a 5-year-old Pennsylvania girl has been resentenced to life in prison by a judge who said he was “permanently incorrigible” and should never leave prison. Scott Schroat had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 1992 slaying of Lila Ebright....
Pa. company fined after worker’s fatal fall into meat grinder
PENNSDALE — Federal officials have fined a Pennsylvania company for violations found after a worker was killed when she fell into a meat grinder earlier this year. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration issued $49,062 in civil penalties against the Economy Storage Locker Co. in Pennsdale. Authorities say 11 serious...
Philadelphia tops list of cities for bedbugs, Pittsburgh makes list
The City of Brotherly Love beat out the Steel City on a list no one wanted to top. Philadelphia came in at No.1 on Terminix’s ranking of the top 50 most bedbug-infested cities in the country. Further down the list, Pittsburgh landed at No. 16, while Harrisburg came in at...
Bill would dedicate lieutenant governor’s mansion for veterans program, Guard families
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman described a proposal to transfer control of the lieutenant governor’s Fort Indiantown Gap residence to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs as a “win across the board.” State senators voted unanimously Wednesday to pass the bill, which would require that the property be used...
Report: Traffic-related deaths rise in Pa., continue to drop across U.S.
Pennsylvania saw a slight increase in traffic-related fatalities last year despite a national down tick, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Across the state, just over 1,100 traffic deaths were reported in 2018, an increase of 20 fatalities since 2017, data shows. Of those, 34 were reported in...
Jerry Sandusky takes appeal of molestation conviction to U.S. court
HARRISBURG — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is asking a federal court to do what state courts so far haven’t and either grant him a new trial or release him from prison. The 75-year-old Sandusky filed a petition Tuesday that repeats many of the arguments he’s made...
Teen found dead near Penn State campus, fraternity suspended
STATE COLLEGE — Authorities say a 17-year-old male was found dead in an off-campus house at Penn State and a fraternity has been suspended. Penn State officials said Tuesday that the Alpha Delta chapter of Chi Phi has lost all its privileges. Police said the teenager was found Saturday night...
Pennsylvania Game Commission advises hunters to take precautions against EEE virus
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is issuing a warning to the state’s hunters. With a rare mosquito-transmitted virus documented in the state this year, the Game Commission is encouraging hunters and others who spend time outdoors to take precautions against mosquito bites and report to the agency any dead or strange-acting...
