Pennsylvania category, Page 213
Local, state entities raising money ahead of 2020 census
Organizations across the state are ramping up efforts to ensure a complete count during the 2020 census, and a $1 million award could help outreach efforts toward hard-to-reach populations. The William Penn Foundation, a Philadelphia-based group focused on improving education for low-income children and creating a sustainable environment, awarded the...
Gov. Wolf announces new fees for Pennsylvania charter schools
Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced that the state Department of Education will enact new fees directed at charter schools. The “fee-for-service model” will charge charter schools to resolve payment disputes with local school districts. It is part of a sweeping charter school reform plan that Wolf announced earlier this...
Lack of interest thwarts latest Pennsylvania casino auction
HARRISBURG — Lack of interest has thwarted Pennsylvania’s latest casino expansion attempt. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board received no bidders Wednesday in a casino license auction ordered by lawmakers as part of an aggressive gambling expansion launched in 2017 by a cash-hungry state government. It was Pennsylvania’s second failed effort...
Police chase ends when SUV hits bus in Philadelphia; 9 hurt
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say an SUV being pursued by police crashed into a commuter bus in Philadelphia, injuring nine people. The pursuit started in Upper Merion, as police tried to capture three robbery suspects. State police soon joined in, and the SUV eventually rear-ended the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s bus...
Authorities: Socks help solve 28-year-old Philadelphia cold case murder
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say a pair of socks helped lead to an arrest in the killing of a Pennsylvania woman nearly 30 years ago. Philadelphia authorities say Theodore Dill Donahue is charged with murder and numerous other counts in the 1991 death of his 27-year-old girlfriend, Denise Sharon Kulb. His...
Attorney: Fine imposed on man convicted in Penn State hazing case was ‘excessive, irrational’
The former house manager of a Penn State fraternity where a pledge repeatedly fell during a night of drinking and later died filed an appeal Tuesday seeking to vacate his conviction and fine. Braxton Becker, 23, of New York, was found guilty in May of one misdemeanor count of hindering...
Gov. Wolf to visit Auschwitz memorial to honor Tree of Life victims
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s governor will be traveling next week to visit National Guard troops stationed in Lithuania and to honor the victims of last year’s Squirrel Hill synagogue shooting during a stop at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. Gov. Tom Wolf’s office announced Tuesday he will spend time with some of the...
CDC awards Pennsylvania $2.25 million grant to study maternal mortality
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced Tuesday it has received a $2.25 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the cause of maternal deaths in the state after an increase in recent years. Officials said the state Department of Health will receive the grant over five...
Philadelphia police: Man kills girlfriend while she’s at friend’s home
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say a man who had been having “domestic problems” with his girlfriend stabbed her to death while she was staying at a friend’s home in Philadelphia. The stabbing occurred early Tuesday. Authorities say three children were in the home at the time, including one who is related...
For chronic Lyme patients, every day can be a struggleVideo
It was bad enough that Amy Wiester of Bell Township contracted Lyme disease at age 6 after suffering a tick bite at her family’s farm. But Wiester, 36, was bitten twice more by Lyme-carrying ticks, in 2004 and 2018. The disease — and the co-infections that frequently accompany it —...
Cops: 19-year-old extorted girls into sending nude photos
BETHLEHEM — A 19-year-old Pennsylvania man is accused of extorting nude photos and money from underage girls and was arrested while he was trying to extort more photos from a teen while police were interviewing her. Police say they immediately went to the Bethlehem home of Charles Cummings and took...
Pennsylvania law doesn’t prohibit children on ATVs
It’s not against the law for children to ride on or drive all-terrain vehicles in Pennsylvania, but there are certain rules they must follow depending on their age and where they’re riding them, according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “There are guidelines for operating ATVs with...
New Jersey law could open up Boy Scouts to abuse lawsuits from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania survivors of alleged sexual abuse decades ago at the hands of Boy Scout leaders could take advantage of a New Jersey law set to take effect later this year that allows them to sue. A bill signed in May that will take effect Dec. 1 gives sex abuse survivors...
Sewickley Creek spill among those cited in $313K Sunoco Pipeline fine
Energy Transfer subsidiary Sunoco Pipeline LP has agreed to pay $313,000 in fines for environmental violations related to building the Mariner East 2 pipeline, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced Thursday. DEP said construction of the pipeline through Pennsylvania in 2018 resulted in spills of drilling fluid that got...
Pennsylvania court: Making gun-like hand gesture is a crime
LANCASTER COUNTY — A Lancaster County man convicted of disorderly conduct for making a shooting gesture with his hand has lost his bid to have it overturned. A state appellate court made the ruling Tuesday on the appeal brought by Stephen Kirchner, 64. The man from Manor Township made the...
Pennsylvania to close another prison as inmate ranks shrink
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is planning to close another prison, as the inmate population continues to decline and prison costs rise, lawmakers and union officials said Wednesday. Prison officials briefed lawmakers and Retreat state prison staff in northeastern Pennsylvania about their plans to close the facility in March, but have not...
Suits allege abuse, cover-up in Pennsylvania diocese
SCRANTON — Frustrated by the Pennsylvania Legislature, four men are taking advantage of a shifting legal landscape to file suit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton over decades-old allegations of clergy sexual abuse. The plaintiffs, who range in age from 45 to 57, cite a recent Pennsylvania appeals court...
Defense: Man who mounted Pa. blast furnace has mental health issues
ALLENTOWN — A defense attorney says a man who climbed atop the rusting blast furnace at a former eastern Pennsylvania steel mill last month, prompting evacuation of an arts and entertainment venue now at the site, has mental health issues. The (Allentown) Morning Call reports that defense attorney Rory Driscole...
Farmers’ Almanac predicts ‘Polar Coaster’ winter for Pennsylvania, Northeast
A “Polar Coaster” of temperature changes, from above-average highs to frigid lows, is coming this winter, according to the 2020 Farmers’ Almanac, with the eastern part of the country potentially facing the worst of it. “We expect yet another wild ride this winter,” almanac editor Pete Geiger said. That wild...
Hearing set on expanding take-out beer, wine for restaurants in Pennsylvania
Diners wanting to buy more beer and wine to-go from a restaurant could do so if a bill to revise the restaurant liquor license rules becomes law. Representatives from the state Liquor Control Board, the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, and Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial...
Philadelphia street shooting leaves 3 wounded; teen in critical condition
PHILADELPHIA — A street shooting in Philadelphia has left three people wounded, including a teenager who is hospitalized in critical condition. But it’s not yet known what sparked the shooting, which occurred around 3 p.m. Monday. Authorities say a 17-year-old boy was shot twice in the stomach and twice in...
Little League plans World Series expansion for baseball, softballVideo
Each year, a select few Little League baseball and softball teams get the rare experience of playing in Little League World Series competitions in Williamsport, Pa., and Portland, Ore. Beginning in 2021, Little League International officials want to give a few more children that chance, expanding the baseball series’ teams...
Police shoot 2 dogs attacking man on Philadelphia street
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police shot two dogs that were attacking a man on a city street, killing at least one of the animals. The attack occurred around 4:40 a.m. Monday. The dogs were biting the man around his arms and legs when three police officers arrived and shot the animals....
Items collected from Erie day care where 5 children died in fire
ERIE — Authorities have collected electrical cords and other items from the scorched scene of a Pennsylvania day care center fire that killed five children. The Erie Times-News reports that an electrical engineer, an Erie Bureau of Fire inspector, Erie police detectives and agents from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol,...
Green energy firm founder gets 22 years in fraud cases
PHILADELPHIA — The founder of a green energy company who authorities say ran a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of millions of dollars has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison. Troy Wragg, 37, was sentenced last week in federal court to 22 years in prison and...
