Pennsylvania category, Page 215
‘American Pickers’ seeks Pennsylvania antiques
History Channel’s “American Pickers” will be perusing Pennsylvania this autumn for interesting characters and old items worthy of a TV episode. If you’d like to suggest an antique collection or fascinating old item for show hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz to “pick,” send a photo to americanpickerscineflix.com or call...
Pa. seeks growers for medical marijuana researchVideo
Pennsylvania is looking to bolster homegrown cannabis research by finding more medical marijuana companies to partner with medical schools for cannabis research. The state this week released applications for clinical registrants — entities which grow, process and dispense marijuana for research institutions. Applicants must either have permits to grow and...
Sen. Ward appointed to Veterans’ Center Advisory Council
State Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, has been appointed to the Advisory Council for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Veterans’ Center in Pittsburgh. Ward, in her third term, was elected to the state Senate in 2008. She said she is anxious to learn more about the center and will tour the facility in...
U.S. investigation of priest sex abuse produces first charges
PHILADELPHIA — Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia have charged a former Roman Catholic priest with lying to the FBI about whether he knew an accuser and his family. The charges against 81-year-old Robert Brennan are the first from a sweeping Justice Department investigation into child sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania....
State prison at Retreat could close
Pennsylvania, which has shuttered state prisons in Hempfield, Pittsburgh and Cresson over the last six years, may be on the verge of closing yet another massive state lock-up. Faced with a $140 million budget deficit and declining prison population, Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel has proposed closing the State...
Labor Day weekend vehicle crashes down slightly from last year
The Pennsylvania State Police reported 5% fewer crashes on state-patrolled roads over the four-day Labor Day holiday compared to last year. This year’s holiday weekend saw 684 crashes that injured 204 people. In 2018, there were 722 crashes that injured 224 people. Across the state’s southwest region, which includes Allegheny...
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...
