Pennsylvania category, Page 5

A bill to fully repeal Pennsylvania’s ban on Sunday hunting passed the state Senate on Thursday. The proposal, House Bill 1431, gained approval June 11 in the state House of Representatives. However, a provision to allow the use of natural deer urine as an attractant was amended in the Senate...

A team of researchers from Penn State University found that 18% of sampled private wells in the state had levels of PFAS that was higher than drinking water standards. Penn State announced the research findings Wednesday, and the study will be in the July issue of the Journal of Environmental...

PHILADELPHIA — Marie Scott, 71, who has spent more than half a century in prison for murder after she and her then-boyfriend robbed a gas station store and he killed the cashier, will be eligible for parole after Gov. Josh Shapiro approved the commutation of her life sentence. Last month,...

Pennsylvania’s new license plate design is now available for order, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Tuesday. Sports teams mascots across the state showed off their very own versions of the new plates in a promotional video released online. Shapiro initially unveiled the new “Let Freedom Ring” license plate and state welcome...

A man who brought a fully loaded gun, several magazines, knives and more to a No Kings rally in West Chester over the weekend also had a pipe bomb in his home, police said. Police said Kevin Krebs, 31, of Malvern was walking along the 100 block of North High...

Meagan Paul of Lower Burrell would have loved to have had a paid leave program when her son, Sullivan, was born and she was working. “I didn’t have it. … You feel like you are committing a crime by taking 12 weeks of unpaid leave,” Paul said during a recent...

Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward spent part of her Saturday afternoon installing more security cameras around her Hempfield home. Another act of political violence inspired the home project. And yet, in today’s turbulent political climate, Ward says no amount of home security will be able to put her...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and state lawmakers are getting down to crunch time, with big questions still outstanding about how to balance the Democrat’s spending request. A push is also on to make Pennsylvania the 25th state to legalize marijuana for adult use, raise the minimum wage and...

PHILADELPHIA — A Malvern man was arrested on firearms charges for bringing a loaded handgun and a bayonet to a “No Kings” protest in West Chester on Saturday, police said. Kevin Krebs, 31, was charged with carrying a Sig Sauer P320 without a concealed-carry permit, according to the affidavit of...

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 — Low-income Pennsylvanians could lose access to medical coverage for popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy as state lawmakers search for savings in...

Gov. Josh Shapiro called the state of Pennsylvania the “golf capital of the United States” during a visit Friday to the Oakmont Country Club for the U.S. Open. The Keystone State has hosted the most United States Golf Association championships compared to any other state — at 95 as of...

MEADVILLE — A jury convicted a 53-year-old truck driver Thursday of shooting to death a pregnant Amish woman inside her rural Pennsylvania home early last year. Shawn Christopher Cranston was charged a few weeks after Rebekah Byler, 23, was found dead in the living room of her rural Spartansburg home....

U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick have introduced bipartisan legislation to move a Department of Energy office to Pennsylvania. The bill would move the department’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) from Washington, D.C., to Pittsburgh. In a joint statement, McCormick said it makes sense for the...

Opening up more Sundays to hunting in Pennsylvania is one step closer to reality. The state House of Representatives on Wednesday passed House Bill 1431 that would completely lift the prohibition on Sunday hunting. The 131-72 vote sends the proposal to the state Senate for consideration on the way toward...

Pennsylvania naturalists are keeping an eye on a disease that has been killing beech trees in the eastern U.S. for more than a decade, but has begun spreading more rapidly in the past three years. Beech leaf disease is believed to be caused by a particular type of nematode, which...

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 — A group of bills aimed at boosting electricity production and regulating clean energy has rare, bipartisan support in Pennsylvania’s divided legislature. But a...

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman slammed fellow Democrats who have not condemned incidents of violence and vandalism that have marred protests in Los Angeles over the Trump administration’s immigration raids there. “I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations and immigration — but this is not that,” Fetterman, D-Braddock, said in...

HARRISBURG — Proposals that would let survivors of childhood sexual abuse file lawsuits in Pennsylvania beyond the state’s current statute of limitations passed the state House on Monday, the latest development in a yearslong lobbying campaign. One of the two bills is a common piece of legislation that now heads...

HARRISBURG — Amazon said Monday that it will spend $20 billion on two data center complexes in Pennsylvania, including one it is building alongside a nuclear power plant that has drawn federal scrutiny over an arrangement to essentially plug right into the power plant. Kevin Miller, vice president of global...

Federal authorities are moving to drop a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Sheetz convenience store chain, part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to halt the use of a key tool for enforcing the country’s civil rights laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces workplace anti-discrimination...

Absentee and out-of-state property owners who acquire real estate as an investment might have little interest in their tenants or the quality of their homes. State Rep. Brandon Markosek, D-Monroeville, said such a site can impact an entire neighborhood if it isn’t addressed quickly. His House Bill 1062, which passed...

Police are looking for help in finding a 24-year-old man accused of shooting a stranger after bumping into her in downtown Harrisburg last month. Donnell Rhodes Jr., of Harrisburg was charged May 29 in connection with a shooting that injured a 22-year-old woman in the early hours of May 10...

A new Pennsylvania law aimed at cracking down on distracted driving is set to go in effect Thursday, one that could lead to citations for what have become common driving behaviors. Paul Miller’s Law makes it illegal to use a handheld cellphone while driving. Texting while driving has been illegal...

Another top aide is leaving U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s staff. The departure of chief of staff Krysta Sinclair Juris, first reported by Axios, is the latest in a string of departures from the Braddock Democrat’s office staff. “I’m grateful for Krysta’s work. She’s been an invaluable member of the team...