Pennsylvania category, Page 84
Pa. Capitol rioter turned in by his ex-girlfriend after he called her a ‘moron’ gets 9 months in prison
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania man who was turned in by his ex-girlfriend after he called her a “moron” for not believing Democrats had stolen the 2020 presidential election was sentenced to nine months in federal prison Tuesday for participating in the Capitol riot. Richard Michetti, 29, of Ridley Park, was...
Oz, Toomey call on Fetterman to debate in Pa. Senate raceVideo
HARRISBURG — Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz teamed up with U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey on Tuesday to publicly call on his Democratic rival, John Fetterman, to participate in a debate in their high-profile Pennsylvania race. Oz and Toomey, holding a news conference in Philadelphia, also questioned Fetterman’s fitness for...
Pa. roads, bridges to get extra $175M as funding is freed up from state police
An adjustment in Pennsylvania’s state budget will free up an additional $175 million this fiscal year to improve roads and bridges. For years, a portion of the state’s Motor License Fund — intended to provide money for public transportation and highway infrastructure — was instead allocated to the Pennsylvania State...
Pa. lawmakers spent at least $3M on private lawyers, experts during redistricting battle, invoices show
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania state lawmakers spent at least $3 million in taxpayer money on outside law firms and experts as they...
Trump moves to general election mode with Wilkes-Barre rally
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Larry Mitko voted for Donald Trump in 2016. But the Republican from Beaver County in western Pennsylvania says he has no plans to back his party’s nominee for Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz — “no way, no how.” Mitko doesn’t feel like he knows the celebrity heart surgeon,...
4-year-old accidentally shot by grandmother inside Pa. home
A 4-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the stomach by his grandmother Thursday, according to a report from WPVI. It happened around 8:30 p.m. on the unit block of East Penn Street in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. According to WPVI, the grandmother owns the gun and has a valid...
Biden administration awards $1 billion for economic projects; Pa. to get nearly $63M
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo are announcing on Friday $1 billion worth of federal grants for manufacturing, clean energy, farming, biotech and other sectors that will go to 21 regional partnerships. The winners were chosen from 529 initial applicants vying for grants that were part...
Doug Mastriano sues Jan. 6 committee over deposition authority
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor on Thursday sued the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, contesting its legal ability to force him to answer questions about it. The lawsuit filed by Doug Mastriano contends that the committee lacks appointees of House Minority...
Gov. Wolf starts process to pardon lower-level pot convictions
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvanians with minor, nonviolent marijuana criminal convictions could be pardoned beginning Thursday in a period until the end of the month under a joint effort from Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. The so-called “one-time, large-scale pardon effort” will allow anyone who has been convicted of...
Thousands of Pa. nursing home workers may strike despite $600M for care in state budget
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Months after the state approved hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to bolster caregiving in nursing homes, thousands of...
Fetterman says no to Oz offer to debate, calls list of ‘concessions’ insulting
John Fetterman isn’t about to debate opponent Mehmet Oz, saying the GOP candidate’s campaign thinks “it is funny to mock” his recovery from a stroke. “I’m eager to put my record and my values up against Dr. Oz’s any day of the week,” Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, said in a...
More Republicans backing Josh Shapiro for Pennsylvania governor
The ranks of Republicans rejecting State Sen. Doug Mastriano, their party’s nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, grew this week as a former national security Cabinet member and a former Trump administration lawyer endorsed the Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Michael Chertoff, who served as secretary for the U.S....
Biden defends FBI, promotes ban on assault-style weaponsVideo
WILKES-BARRE — President Joe Biden on Tuesday forcefully defended the FBI as the agency and its employees have come under withering criticism and threats of violence since executing a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence earlier this month. “It’s sickening to see the new attacks on the...
Court: Pennsylvania can’t keep guns in trooper ambush case
Pennsylvania may not keep a cache of weapons seized from the parents of a gunman who killed one state trooper and permanently disabled another eight years ago, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The parents of Eric Frein sued after authorities refused to return 25 rifles, 10 pistols and two...
Fetterman says Biden should decriminalize marijuana ahead of Pittsburgh visit
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman has called on President Joe Biden to reclassify marijuana before Biden visits Pittsburgh on Monday. Fetterman, a long-time champion of recreational marijuana, also said he would like for Biden to decriminalize the drug at the federal level. “It’s long past time that we finally...
Pa.’s unreliable lobbyist disclosure website is getting a user-friendly upgrade
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — An initiative to improve the online system that lobbyists use to disclose which organizations have hired them and how...
Pa. hunting seasons for smallest, largest game birds to start Sept. 1
Pennsylvania’s 2022-23 hunting seasons will get underway Thursday with the openings days for birds that rank among the smallest and largest game birds, respectively: the mourning dove and the Canada goose. The mourning dove weighs in a bit heavier than 4 ounces, while an adult male Canada goose can tip...
Josh Shapiro breaks with Democrats on covid policies in governor’s race
HARRISBURG — As attorney general, Josh Shapiro went to court repeatedly to defend Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration against legal challenges to his pandemic-era mandates and shutdowns. Now, as he’s running to succeed Wolf as governor, Shapiro says he is against some of the same covid-19 containment measures that his...
Surprise: Pa. borrowers may end up paying state taxes on forgiven student loans
Residents of Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and 10 other states could end up with a surprise tax hit of hundreds of dollars next year on forgiven student loans. President Joe Biden’s announcement that the government would forgive some student debt for individuals earning less than $125,000 was welcome news to...
Gov. Wolf proposes $2K checks for some Pa. residents to help fight inflation
Gov. Tom Wolf and Democrats are hoping to help low- to middle-income Pennsylvanians as inflation has still led to increased costs of gas, groceries, and other goods over the last two years. Wolf visited Sharpsburg on Monday to campaign for his program to provide Pennsylvanians who make $80,000 or less...
The Philadelphia Police Department is short 1,300 officers. Here’s why the situation is about to get worse
The Philadelphia Police Department has faced a critical shortage of officers for months — one that’s all but certain to get worse as hundreds more cops plan to leave. With the police force already operating about 20% below its target staffing level, more than 800 officers and civilian employees have...
Doug Mastriano wore Confederate Army uniform in Army War College faculty photo
PHILADELPHIA — State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, appeared during his time on the faculty of the Army War College in an official photograph while wearing a Civil War Confederate Army uniform. That photograph, first reported Friday night by Reuters, was recently removed from the...
USDA scattering rabies vaccines for wildlife in Pennsylvania, 12 other states
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun scattering millions of packets of oral rabies vaccine from helicopters and planes over 13 states from Maine to Alabama. The major aim is to keep raccoons from spreading their strain of the deadly virus to states where it hasn’t been found or isn’t...
Mehmet Oz pounces on John Fetterman for not committing to debates: ‘Come talk to us’
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz’s campaign has seized on Democratic opponent John Fetterman’s silence on debates to continue attacking Fetterman for supposedly hiding from voters. Oz has agreed to five debates, including one scheduled in less than two weeks, but Fetterman, who suffered a stroke on May 13...
Pennsylvania court loosens rules on where malpractice cases can be filed
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s highest court on Thursday reversed its own two-decade-old rule that required medical malpractice cases to be filed in the county where the alleged harm occurred, a win for civil plaintiffs and the lawyers who represent them but a potentially costly change for health care providers. The decision...
