Pennsylvania category, Page 48
Man who wounded 14 in Pennsylvania elementary school with machete dies in prison 22 years later
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A man imprisoned since 2001 for attacking educators and students in a Pennsylvania elementary school with a machete, wounding 14, has died in prison. William Stankewicz died Monday, Pennsylvania prison officials said. He was 78. Stankewicz was found unresponsive in his cell at the State Correctional Institution...
Pennsylvania will require patient consent for pelvic exams by medical students
HARRISBURG — A new Pennsylvania law will require doctors to get a patient’s verbal and written consent before medical students can perform pelvic or rectal exams on someone who receives anesthesia. At a press conference Monday, supporters touted the recently enacted legislation, which goes into effect in January. Tracking how...
Pa. community colleges still waiting for state funding using loans, reserves to get by
Pennsylvania lawmakers who managed to pass a long-overdue appropriation for state-related universities before Thanksgiving left Harrisburg without doing the same for the state’s 15 community colleges. The appropriations for the 2024 fiscal year were due July 1 and are five months late. Some community college leaders say they have begun...
Delaware County’s top prosecutor becomes 5th Democrat to run for Pennsylvania attorney general
HARRISBURG — Jack Stollsteimer, the top prosecutor in heavily populated Delaware County, will run for Pennsylvania attorney general in 2024, seeking an office that played a critical role in court defending Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the presidential battleground. Stollsteimer said he will make an official announcement Tuesday, joining a...
Republican ex-federal prosecutor in Philadelphia to run for Pennsylvania attorney general
HARRISBURG — Former federal prosecutor Katayoun “Kat” Copeland will run for attorney general of Pennsylvania in 2024, she said this week. Copeland, a Republican, recently left her job in the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia ahead of announcing her candidacy for attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement official. The...
Northampton County official resigns as software issues persist during election audit
Following an election process steeped in controversy and software bugs, Northampton County’s administrative director resigned Friday, a news release from County Executive Lamont G. McClure says. The release from the county states Charles M. Dertinger, the county’s director of administrative director for the past six years, says, while the 2020,...
Feral hogs roaming into Pennsylvania from South pose threat to forests, agriculture
Feral hogs are 300-pound, 30 mile-per-hour rampaging, crop-eating machines and they are moving north into Pennsylvania. A recent study by outfitter Captain Experiences using data from the University of Georgia found that about three dozen hogs have been spotted in 14 Pennsylvania counties. An expert at Penn State told WJAC-TV...
Police say some 70 bullets fired in North Philadelphia shooting that left 2 dead, 5 woundedVideo
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia police investigation into the shooting of seven men, including two who died, continued Wednesday but authorities said no arrests have been made. Several guns were recovered from the scene and police said at least 70 rounds were fired around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, leaving bullet holes in...
Automatic pay raise pays dividends, again, for top state officials in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania law that delivers automatic pay raises for state officials will pay dividends next year for lawmakers, judges and top executive branch officials. The law will give more than 1,300 officials — including Gov. Josh Shapiro, 253 lawmakers and seven state Supreme Court justices — a...
Democrats who swept Moms For Liberty off school board fight superintendent’s $700,000 exit deal
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania school board that banned books, Pride flags and transgender athletes slipped a last-minute item into their final meeting before leaving office, hastily awarding a $700,000 exit package to the superintendent who supported their agenda. But the Democratic majority that swept the conservative Moms For Liberty slate...
Pennsylvania governor appeals decision blocking plan to make power plants pay for greenhouse gases
HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said Tuesday that it is appealing a court ruling that blocked a state regulation to make Pennsylvania’s power plant owners pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, even as the Democrat warned lawmakers to get to work on a better alternative. In a statement,...
Pa. lawmakers to get early holiday gift: a pay increase will bump base salary to $106k
Base salaries for lawmakers will soon top $106,000 a year, establishing Pennsylvania again as the third highest paid state legislature in the nation. The 3.5% pay raise starting Dec. 1, pushes yearly salaries to $106,422 — or $8.869 a month — up from the $102,844 received last December when lawmakers’...
Shapiro says unfinished business includes vouchers, more school funding and higher minimum wage
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Monday that his list of unfinished business for the state Legislature includes passing a private school voucher program, increasing the minimum wage and approving bills to curb gun violence. Shapiro also said he wants lawmakers to lift limits that prevent adult victims of...
Satanic Temple after-school club wins $200k settlement from Pennsylvania school district
PHILADELPHIA — The Lehigh Valley school district that tried to ban an after-school Satan Club from meeting on its property this year has agreed to pay $200,000 to cover attorney fees. The school also will give the club the same access to school facilities as “comparable groups.” In the settlement...
Bill Cosby accuser files new lawsuit under expiring New York survivors law
A woman who said Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her when she was a young comedy writer more than 50 years ago filed a lawsuit against the actor Thursday under a soon-to-expire New York law that gave victims of sexual abuse a one-year window for claims that would otherwise be barred...
Former Pa. employee gets nearly $200k over sexual harassment claims against former Shapiro cabinet member
A former state employee will receive nearly $200,000 Friday as part of a previous settlement of sexual harassment claims she made against a former cabinet member in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Treasury, it has received requests for a total of $295,000 in payments related...
Pa. State Police’s K9 who aided hunt for escaped murderer to be honored at National Dog Show
A celebrity of sorts will be honored at The National Dog Show — a Pennsylvania State Police dog who helped in the high-profile search and arrest of an armed escaped murderer near Philadelphia. Rom was heavily involved in the search for Danelo Cavalcante, who was captured Sept. 13 after a...
Pennsylvania expands public records requirements over Penn State, Temple, Lincoln and Pitt
HARRISBURG — Several leading Pennsylvania universities that receive millions of dollars in state aid must publicly disclose more records about their finances, employment and operations, under legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Josh Shapiro. Shapiro, a Democrat, signed the bill a day after it passed the Senate unanimously. For years, lawmakers...
Ban on pelvic, rectal exams on unconscious, unknowing patients passes in Pa.
A ban on pelvic, prostate and similar exams on unconscious patients who haven’t given permission needs only the signature of Gov. Josh Shapiro to become law. The state House and Senate unanimously approved the law, according to a news release from state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, D-Philadelphia, the author of one...
Pennsylvania House passes ‘shield law’ to protect providers, out-of-staters seeking abortions
HARRISBURG — A bill seeking to protect those who travel to Pennsylvania to get abortions by barring public officials from cooperating with authorities in other states that criminalize the practice advanced Wednesday through the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. The legislation passed 117-86. It now goes to the GOP-controlled state Senate,...
Pennsylvania’s Senate approves millions for universities and schools, but rejects House priorities
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Legislature on Wednesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars for universities after a fight that has dragged on five months into the fiscal year, although the politically divided body continued to feud over elements of school funding. Legislation to send just over $600 million to several higher...
Spending on Pa. Supreme Court race broke records, set precedent for outside influence
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 — The candidates for Pennsylvania Supreme Court and their allies spent at least $22 million to influence the race’s outcome, with much of that...
Barring ‘thin blue line’ flag on Pennsylvania township property is unconstitutional, U.S. court rules
A federal court has ruled that a Pennsylvania community’s resolution prohibiting the display of an American flag with a thin blue line on all township property is unconstitutional. The ruling about the flag that’s also used as part of the police union’s logo came down Monday. The dispute in Springfield...
Pennsylvania House OKs $1.8 billion pension boost for government and public school retirees
HARRISBURG — Democrats who control the state House of Representatives on Tuesday advanced an estimated $1.8 billion boost to the pensions of Pennsylvania state government and public school retirees, while some Republicans said taxpayers will unfairly shoulder the financial burden. The legislation passed 140-63, with every Democrat supporting it. It...
Pa. Senate committee has ‘no plans’ to move House-approved gun safety measures
A Democratic-led state House committee on Tuesday advanced two more firearms safety bills despite fresh indications that gun reform remains largely intractable along partisan lines. The measures — requiring secure gun storage around children and imposing parental liability — are the latest pitched in the Democratic-majority House this session. Two...
