Pennsylvania category, Page 126
Philadelphia to give away nearly $400,000 in vaccine prizes
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced Monday that the city will be giving away cash prizes as part of a multiweek lottery to entice residents to get vaccinated for covid-19. The sweepstakes will include three drawings with chances to win up to $50,000 and is a partnership between the...
Medical marijuana law changes get through Pennsylvania House
HARRISBURG — The state House on Monday approved a set of revisions to Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law, seeking to make permanent some of the changes put in place temporarily because of the coronavirus pandemic. Representatives voted 164 to 38 for the bill, which would permit dispensing a three-month supply at...
Baby dies after driver strikes mother, stroller crossing street in Central Pa.: police
A 15-week-old baby has died after police said the baby’s mother and stroller were hit by a car in Lebanon on Monday morning. Lebanon City police said the crash occurred just before 11 a.m. at the intersection of North 10th and Lehman streets. Police said a vehicle, driven by a...
Leslie Rossi, Abby Major break records as they take office in Harrisburg
Pennsylvania’s newest lawmakers, state Reps. Leslie Rossi, R-Unity, and Abby Major, R-Ford City, are breaking molds with every step they take. The two, who won special elections last month to fill unexpected vacancies, were sworn into office Monday in Harrisburg. They are the first women to represent, respectively, the 59th...
Gun rights supporters rally outside Pennsylvania Capitol
HARRISBURG — A couple hundred gun rights enthusiasts attended an annual pro-gun rally on the Pennsylvania Capitol steps Monday, with many pushing for a proposal to let anyone who can legally possess firearms to conceal them without a license or permit when carrying them in public. The organizer of the...
Philadelphia teen dies after being shot 13 times
A Philadelphia teen died after he was shot 13 times while riding his bike on Sunday. The shooting occurred on the 1700 block of 68th Avenue around 4:39 p.m., NBC 10 is reporting. The teen’s mother, Shineka Crawford, told CBS 3 that her son, Shaquille Barbour, 18, was riding home...
Summer tourism proves lucrative for Seven Springs, other winter mountain resorts
While mountain resorts are primarily known for picturesque skiing and snowboarding during winter months, summer tourism can be just as lucrative for business. For more than 20 years, Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Somerset County has offered “Summer Adventures” to offseason guests, which include attractions such as the Alpine Slide,...
Advocates push for citizen input and transparency in new congressional and legislative maps
Jim Brewster, the McKeesport Democrat, has vivid memories of going to bed in December 2011 in his Allegheny County home and waking up to find his 45th Senate District had been moved across Pennsylvania to the Poconos. Strange things can happen when politics collides with the need to resketch district...
No shirts, pants or undies needed on Philly bike ride, just a mask
Philadelphia bike riders won’t need their shirts, pants, skirts or even underwear — just a mask. Organizers of the annual Philly Naked Bike Ride say this year’s event will take place Aug. 28 and will require masks, based on the city’s earlier coronavirus restrictions. The city lifted most of its...
Bill would force Pa. to post online how lawmakers spend millions in tax dollars each year
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 — Millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded expenses incurred by state lawmakers each year would be required to be posted online...
Christian college near Philly ends program citing gender, sex guidelines
A small Christian university outside Philadelphia shuttered its highly regarded social work program partly because school officials say the accrediting agency was attempting to impose sexuality and gender values that don’t align with the university’s religious mission. According to those officials, the decision by the Cairn University Board of Trustees...
Allegheny County hospitalizations drop to 10th of December’s peak
Covid-19 hospitalizations in Allegheny County dropped to 88 on Friday, just a tenth of the county’s peak total in December. On Dec. 16, 881 patients were hospitalized in the county. Just a month later, the county’s total had fallen by 50%, hitting 425 on Jan. 17. The total stood at...
GOP fight over 2020 election audit brews in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — A key member of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is flatly rejecting talk of any sort of audit of the 2020 presidential election, a day after three fellow Republican state lawmakers toured the Arizona Senate GOP’s audit. Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, who chairs the committee that handles election matters,...
Allegheny County’s covid hospitalizations dip below 100 for 1st time since October
Nearly all covid-19 numbers in Pennsylvania continue to drop to levels not seen since before the fall surge. On Thursday, Pennsylvania added 656 new covid-19 cases to its total, with nearly 20% of them coming from one county: Philadelphia (123). The next highest reporting county was York with just 36...
3 Pa. lawmakers visit Arizona GOP election audit
PHOENIX — Three Pennsylvania lawmakers were in Arizona on Wednesday to check out the state Senate GOP’s partisan audit of the 2020 election. They’re the latest Republicans to make a pilgrimage to Phoenix, ground zero in the “stop the steal” movement’s push to find support for conspiracy theories suggesting the...
State police in region investigate 106 crashes, write 1,500 speeding tickets over holidayVideo
State troopers in the region investigated 106 crashes during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, including two fatalities, according to statistics released this week. There were 32 people hurt and alcohol was involved in 12 of the crashes, according to data for Troops A and B which cover Westmoreland, Allegheny and...
Giant Eagle worker supports state push to raise minimum wage to $12 an hour
When Sandy Zilen started working at the Giant Eagle supermarket in Harrison City, her wages were nowhere near the $13 an hour she now earns — and not even close to the $7.25 minimum wage in Pennsylvania. But, Zilen, who lives in the Claridge section of Penn Township, said she...
Covid cases, hospitalizations continue to drop in Pennsylvania and Allegheny, Westmoreland counties
Covid cases and hospitalizations in Pennsylvania and Allegheny and Westmoreland counties have continued to drop in recent days, as the number of people vaccinated slowly rises. Cases The Allegheny County Health Department reported 42 additional cases — 35 confirmed and seven probable — on Wednesday, with the county’s total reaching...
Anxiety runs high as Pa. begins massive overhaul of 60-year-old unemployment computer system
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 — “I feel like I am a sinking ship right now.” “Next month will be a year that they have...
Allegheny County covid case average hits lowest mark since last June
With lower covid-19 case counts continuing in Pennsylvania and the region, coronavirus figures are reaching lows not seen in about a year. Allegheny County achieved just that with new data released Tuesday. Cases Allegheny County reported 113 new covid-19 cases over the past three days, according to the county Health...
Pa. chooses ‘responsibility’ over $1 million lotteries to encourage covid-19 vaccination
Pennsylvania officials considered tactics such as a lottery to motivate people to get vaccinated against covid-19, and they remain a possibility, Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said. Some states are touting prizes worth $1 million or more to spur people to get the covid-19 vaccines. But Beam expressed confidence...
Internal PSERS documents show how Pa’s biggest pension fund got key financial calculation wrong
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. After Pennsylvania’s biggest pension plan botched a crucial financial calculation, the FBI launched an investigation, the fund’s board began its own...
Mark Zuckerberg helped some Pa. counties survive 2020 election; GOP lawmakers say that was unfair
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 — As coronavirus cases rose and Pennsylvania counties were flooded with millions of mail ballot applications last fall, election directors...
Trump looms large in Pennsylvania’s GOP primaries in 2022
HARRISBURG — With Pennsylvania’s wide-open races for governor and U.S. Senate taking shape, Republican candidates with strong ties to Donald Trump are running and considered strong contenders for the party’s nominations — a powerful sign of the former president’s enduring popularity within the GOP. Within a few days of each...
Pennsylvania’s new covid case average drops below 1,000 for 1st time since October
Pennsylvania’s seven-day average of new covid cases on Saturday dropped below 1,000 for the first time since October. The state added 832 additional covid cases to its total Saturday, with its seven-day average falling to 909. It’s the first time the average has been in triple digits since Oct. 1,...
