Pennsylvania category, Page 3

Spotted lanternflies, targeted by stomping feet wherever they’re found, have a new enemy: Congress. U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, and three of his colleagues have introduced legislation that would authorize the nation’s agriculture chief to make grants available for lanternfly research aimed at stopping the spread of the invasive insect....

Ten lifeguards were watching the wave pool at Hersheypark when a 9-year-old girl drowned, officials said. A spokesperson for the theme park confirmed the incident occurred at the wave pool within the Boardwalk at Hersheypark, on Thursday, as reported by NBC10 Philadelphia. At the time of Sophia Subedi’s death, the...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. Editor’s note: Sue, Robert, and Jonathan are pseudonyms. Their names and some details have been changed to protect their...

Doug Mastriano might run for governor. He also might not. However, two things are certain for Mastriano — he’s not going to stop teasing an entrance into the gubernatorial race on his social media accounts, and he’s not going to listen to Republican magnates telling him not to run. Unless...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Public transit is a key issue holding up Pennsylvania’s budget, but top Republicans have said they don’t want to spend more money on...

A 9-year-old died Thursday after an incident at the Boardwalk at Hersheypark, the theme park’s CEO said. Hersheypark lifeguards immediately performed life-saving efforts after finding the child who was in distress, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company CEO John Lawn said in a late-night statement Thursday. The child was taken to...

PHILADELPHIA — Ken Silver knows beef because he knows Philly cheesesteak. He hopes that a summer spike in how much he pays for his restaurant’s main product doesn’t cause heartburn for him or his customers. Silver, president of Jim’s South St. in Philadelphia, said he might have to raise prices...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Hundreds of pharmacies across Pennsylvania have gone out of business in recent years, data obtained by Spotlight PA show, and pharmacists say legislation...

Hunters could get up to 10 additional Sundays to hunt this fall under a proposal going before the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s board of commissioners on Monday. The new dates are being proposed by the agency after Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a law earlier this month fully repealing the longstanding ban...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Despite a pressing need for lawmakers to find new revenue sources, recreational marijuana won’t be part of this year’s state budget. But the...

The granddaughter of Allentown grandfather Luis Leon says he is recovering from pneumonia in a Guatemala hospital, weeks after he was taken in handcuffs from a Philadelphia immigration office and driven two days by bus to a detention center in Minnesota. However, the Guatemalan Institute of Migration, which tracks migrants...

Tower audio from a fatal plane crash on Sunday morning near Lancaster Airport in Warwick Township, Lancaster County, shows the pilot had communicated with air traffic control minutes before takeoff. Just two and a half minutes after the plane was cleared for takeoff, air traffic control started calling out for...

Announcements are easy. Following through could be the hard part for companies that pledged more than $90 billion in investments across the state Tuesday during the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University, organized by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh. At least a quarter of that money is...

A new report appears to support what many political and business leaders asserted at Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit: The state is well-positioned to be a key player in the growing artificial intelligence economy. The Brookings Institution report, released Wednesday, rated Pittsburgh as one of 14 “emerging centers” in...

PHILADELPHIA — Crowds stood outside the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice chanting “say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.” The Friday morning rally organized by Juntos, a community-led immigrant organization in South Philadelphia, follows a string of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainments outside courthouses, including...

A private event billed as a dinner and fireside chat featuring U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and his wife at the Carnegie Museum of Art has generated backlash and raised concerns about the propriety of the museum offering space for such a gathering, which cost $5,000 to attend. The dinner occurred...

A bill recently introduced to the state Senate would ban fluoride in Pennsylvania’s public drinking water, part of growing skepticism toward the naturally-occurring mineral that dental health experts have considered essential for decades. The Fluoride Choice Act, introduced by Sen. Dawn Keefer, R-York, would prevent fluoride from being added to...

GETTYSBURG — An American extradited from France to face charges that he sexually assaulted a fellow Pennsylvania college student in 2013 — and later sent her a Facebook message that said “So I raped you” — pleaded guilty Thursday. Ian Cleary, 32, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault more than...

Tuition for state universities is set to increase by 3.6% for students this fall, but that figure could decrease if state funding increases, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education said Thursday. In-state undergraduate tuition for this academic year will increase by $139 per semester, to $3,997 per semester, according...

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman described the flurry of development deals announced at Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh as “huge wins and investments” in the state. Companies attending the summit at Carnegie Mellon University, organized by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, announced plans to invest more than $90...

A lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court alleges the state’s property tax assessment process is unconstitutional, harming low- income homeowners who are typically overassessed. Filed by Mon Valley Unemployed Committee Inc., the complaint names as defendants the commonwealth, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Attorney General David Sunday. “The General Assembly’s failure...

WEST PITTSTON — Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday made the Trump administration’s first big pitch to sell the public on President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget-and-policy package in the swing political turf of northeastern Pennsylvania. The vice president, whose tiebreaking vote got the bill through the Senate, touted the legislation’s...

A Penn State University fraternity is facing criminal charges after police said its members subjected its pledges to physical and emotional abuse. The Lambda Lambda chapter of Phi Beta Sigma was charged last week with conspiracy organizational hazing by Ferguson Township police, according to StateCollege.com. The charge is a misdemeanor...

HARRISBURG — Voters hoping to open up Pennsylvania’s closed primary system to independents asked the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to declare the current system violates the state constitution’s right to free and fair elections. Four independent voters asked the justices to take up the case directly, arguing that in...