Pennsylvania category, Page 110
House votes to halt PennDOT plan to toll bridges for repairs
HARRISBURG — A plan to add tolls on nine bridges suffered a setback Tuesday when the Pennsylvania state House passed a bill to void the proposal, although the legislation requires one more Senate vote and faces opposition from Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. The tolling plan would pay for the bridges’...
Pa. school mask mandate will expire Dec. 4 if state Supreme Court doesn’t issue new stay
The school mask mandate in Pennsylvania will end on Dec. 4 unless the state Supreme Court grants a stay to Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court granted a motion to lift a stay of its order from last week that found the acting secretary of health...
Philadelphia labor leader, city council member convicted in corruption trial
PHILADELPHIA — A powerful Philadelphia labor leader and a city council member were found guilty of conspiracy charges Monday in a corruption trial. Prosecutors said John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty kept Bobby Henon, a union electrician-turned-Philadelphia City Council member, on the payroll to help his union keep a tight grip on...
Father, daughter survive plane crash in Pennsylvania woods
BEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP — Personal electronic devices helped lead rescuers to a father and daughter who survived a plane crash in Pennsylvania, authorities said. According to state police, the aircraft had taken off from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport on Sunday night when it went down in a wooded area of...
CDC says 95% of Pa. adults have gotten at least 1 covid vaccine dose. That’s wrong.
PHILADELPHIA — The CDC’s color-coded vaccination map showed Pennsylvania had hit an impressive milestone this week: 95% of adults had gotten at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine. Hours later, Gov. Tom Wolf touted the figure at a news conference. The staggering number would put Pennsylvania ahead of every...
Group to again lobby Harrisburg lawmakers for ‘People’s Maps’ over traditional Pa. politics
A citizens group that solicited public input to create “People’s Maps” to guide officials in drawing new legislative districts for the Pennsylvania General Assembly will make a final pitch on Monday. Carol Kuniholm, executive director of Fair Maps Pennsylvania, will make her pitch for the House and Senate maps, created...
Pennsylvania will fully ban sale of Japanese barberry by fall 2023
State agriculture officials have had it with Japanese barberry. After considering it previously in 2018, Pennsylvania officials have added the invasive shrub to their list of noxious weeds, and merchants will not be permitted to sell it by the fall of 2023. The shrub is popular with landscapers. Unfortunately, it...
Pa. lawmakers look to expand parole eligibility for aging, sick inmatesVideo
Avis Lee, convicted of second-degree murder for serving as the lookout in a robbery-turned-fatal shooting, served 40 years, six months and 12 days in prison. In February, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf commuted her sentence of life without the possibility of parole to life with parole. She was released from prison...
Pa. woman sues over slot game payout; 13 others make same claim
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A Pennsylvania woman is suing the manufacturer of a popular online slots game, claiming it wrongly refused to pay her a $100,000 jackpot due to “a bug” in the product. New Jersey regulators revealed Friday that 14 gamblers have filed the same complaint against the company,...
New limits would curtail lobbyist perks for Pa. lawmakers, but one leader could stand in the way
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 lawmakers and other elected officials have for years been able to pocket almost anything sent their way by...
Experts say Pa. mask mandate appeal seeks broader precedent
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced last week that it was prepared to lift the school mask mandate by Jan. 17. Why then, after the Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday that Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam didn’t have the authority to issue the order in the first place, would the administration even...
Recount triggered for open Commonwealth Court seat, with Democrat Lori Dumas leading
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 — A close race for one of two open seats on a key Pennsylvania appellate court has triggered an automatic...
Pennsylvania to begin counting covid reinfections
Thousands of new covid-19 cases could appear in the state Department of Health’s Monday report as Pennsylvania begins counting reinfections, officials said. For the past 19 months, state health officials have counted only one case per infected person, even if that individual contracted the virus again at some later time....
‘They’re priceless’: Pa. Treasury program reunites unclaimed military medals with veterans, families
More than 500 military medals and memorabilia items — from Legion of Merits to Bronze Stars — sit unclaimed inside the country’s largest working vault in Harrisburg. It is Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s mission to return those decorations to their rightful owners. “As a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Army...
Former Philadelphia priest pleads guilty to lying to investigators
PHILADELPHIA — A defrocked priest pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of making false statements to FBI agents investigating clergy abuse. Former Philadelphia priest Robert Brennan, 83, changed his plea to guilty Wednesday in federal court, according to court documents. The charges stem from a federal investigation undertaken after Pennsylvania...
TV’s Dr. Oz considers jumping into Pennsylvania’s crowded U.S. Senate race: reports
Dr. Mehmet Oz, a surgeon and TV personality who became famous 20 years ago after being deemed “America’s doctor” by Oprah Winfrey, is looking into joining Pennsylvania politics, according to reports. People magazine quotes a spokesperson from ” The Dr. Oz Show ” (which focuses on health and wellness) as...
A massive probe of Pa.’s largest pension fund is nearly done, but taxpayers may never know the results
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 — After months of work, prolonged silence from pension fund management, and more than $175,000 in legal bills, a law...
Pennsylvania court throws out state’s school mask mandate
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday that the state’s acting health secretary did not have authority to issue a mandatory school mask mandate at the beginning of this academic year. In a 31-page opinion, the court found that because there was no emergency declaration in place governing covid-19 in Pennsylvania at...
GOP state Sen. Jake Corman to run for governor
HARRISBURG — Jake Corman, the ranking Republican in Pennsylvania’s state Senate, will run for governor in next year’s election, a political adviser said Wednesday, entering a huge and wide-open GOP field of candidates that is unlike anything party officials have seen in at least decades. For weeks, Corman has been...
Pennsylvania Senate backs bill to allow guns to be carried without permit
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state Senate on Tuesday approved two veto-bound firearms bills, including one to allow people to carry a loaded gun openly or concealed, without a permit, and another to punish municipalities that impose firearms ordinances that are stricter than state law. Despite a certain veto from Gov. Tom...
Top Pa. House Republican wants to greatly expand lawmakers’ power over governor, executive branch
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 — The top Republican in the state House wants to give the legislature the ability to block regulations or administrative...
Pennsylvania’s home care program has big problems, advocates say
Advocates for people with disabilities gathered at the state Capitol on Tuesday to protest what they say is the eroding quality of home care services under Pennsylvania’s new managed care system, problems being accelerated by the pandemic. Part of the problem, they say, is the increased difficulty in getting direct...
Easton Area school bus goes into creek; driver, 8 kids sent to hospitals
An eastern Pennsylvania school bus went off the road and ended up with its nose in a creek, sending the driver and eight students to hospitals, but no serious injuries were reported, authorities said. Easton Area School District officials said about 30 middle school students were on the bus when...
Democrat appears poised to snare state Commonwealth Court seat as tight race flips
Pennsylvania Democrats appear poised to pick up a seat on the state’s Commonwealth Court. As provisional and mail-in ballots were tallied late last week, preliminary returns showed Democrat Lori Dumas, a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge, slightly ahead of Drew Crompton, a Republican judge who was running for a full...
Officials: Gov. Wolf to let Pa. schools set mask rules in January
Pennsylvania school districts will be allowed to modify or end the mask mandate for K-12 students in January, Gov. Tom Wolf was set to announce Monday, according to two education officials who were briefed on the plan. The Democratic governor plans to turn over decisions about masking to local school...
