Pennsylvania category, Page 61
Teachers leaving their jobs at an accelerating rate in Pennsylvania, new study finds
HARRISBURG — Teachers are leaving their jobs at an accelerating rate in Pennsylvania, amid fears of a nationwide exodus of burned-out teachers and a collapse in enrollment in recruitment programs that is making teachers increasingly difficult to replace. A new analysis by Penn State’s Center for Education Evaluation and Policy...
Pa. Game Commission urges residents to leave young wildlife alone
The Pennsylvania Game Commission released a springtime alert Tuesday, urging the public to avoid young wildlife. The release informed Pennsylvanians that during the spring it’s possible to encounter young wildlife that appear to be alone. According to the Game Commission’s wildlife management director, Matthew Schnupp, many people attempt to assist...
Pa. woman who threatened Nancy Pelosi with hanging during Capitol riot gets over 2 years in prison
A Pennsylvania restaurant owner who screamed death threats directed at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to more than two years in prison. Pauline Bauer was near Pelosi’s office suite on Jan. 6, 2021, when she yelled at police officers to bring out...
Pa. plans to train teachers to be ‘culturally relevant.’ A conservative legal group is suing over the guidelines
Aspiring Pennsylvania teachers are due to soon be trained in “culturally relevant” education, under a new state standard requiring teacher preparation programs to incorporate instruction in the subject. The standard, which was adopted last year and also applies to professional development programs, comes as education officials have voiced concern about...
Game Commission: Bear that attacked 2 children in Northeastern Pennsylvania captured
The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced Friday that it has captured and euthanized the bear that attacked two small children in Luzerne County. A bear reportedly attacked the children — a 14-month-old and a 5-year-old — while they played in the driveway of their Wright Township home near Mountain Top on...
Pa. limited a board’s power to regulate abandoned oil and gas wells, but Democrats want to restore it
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 — Across Pennsylvania, unplugged oil and gas wells spew a powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere and contaminate soil and...
Pa. baseball player fatally struck in face while dismantling unapproved dugout
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A college baseball player died after he was struck in the face when a makeshift dugout he was helping to dismantle collapsed on him this week. Angel Mercado, 19, was a middle infielder who had just completed his freshman season at Division II Central Penn College. He...
GOP field in Pennsylvania Senate race still wide open as Doug Mastriano says he won’t run
HARRISBURG — A hard-right Pennsylvania state lawmaker said Thursday night that he will not challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, leaving the GOP field wide open as Republican Party officials try to recruit a strong candidate in the moderate battleground state to help capture a Senate majority in 2024. Doug Mastriano,...
Pa. State troopers more likely to do optional searches for Black, Hispanic drivers than white ones
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. Black and Hispanic drivers were slightly more likely to face discretionary searches during traffic stops in Pennsylvania last year, according to...
Federal rule could remove chocolate milk option in some Pa. schools
Young students could soon be without chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milks as an option at school cafeterias, if a federal proposal is approved, and some Pennsylvania officials are cautioning against the potential change. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently proposed banning flavored milk as a cafeteria option for elementary and middle...
Pennsylvania high court appears split over plan to force power plants to pay for carbon emissions
HARRISBURG — Justices on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court indicated Wednesday that they are likely to have split opinions on whether a governor has the right to force power plant owners to pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, or whether he first needs approval from a Legislature that refuses to go...
Game Commission: 2 children attacked by bear in Northeastern Pennsylvania
A bear attacked two children on Monday in Luzerne County, causing non-life threatening injuries and the Pennsylvania Game Commission is now investigating the incident. The attack occurred while the children were playing in the driveway of their home in Wright Township in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The game commission said there are...
Pa. karate teacher threatened to toss teen out of class if she didn’t send him nude photos, police say
A central Pennsylvania man has been arrested on accusations he sexually abused several teenage students at the martial arts studio where he worked. Devin Hogue, 23, of the 500 block of Ridge Road, New Cumberland, had several inappropriate interactions with four teenage girls that, in some instances, escalated to sexual...
Pa. is sitting on billions in unclaimed property, but a bill would get some back to its owners
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’s treasurer wants the state to start sending unclaimed money directly to the people it belongs to, a proactive...
Pennsylvania man convicted of torture at Iraqi military compound
A Pennsylvania resident directed Kurdish soldiers to kidnap a man in Iraq and “beat, tase, choke, and otherwise physically and mentally abuse” him for 39 days in 2015, federal prosecutors said. After the victim was kidnapped and taken to an Iraqi military compound, Ross Roggio, 54, of Stroudsburg, suffocated him...
Pa. House committee passes expansion of property tax and rent rebates
A bill that would fulfill one of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s major budget requests passed out of the Pennsylvania House Finance Committee on Tuesday on a unanimous vote, albeit after Republicans unsuccessfully tried to strip the bill of the one of its core components. House Bill 1100 expands the state’s Property...
Pa. Sen. Doug Mastriano on GOP opposition to his U.S. Senate bid: ‘It’s irrelevant to me’
Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano on Monday shrugged off calls from inside his party to oppose his potential U.S. Senate bid, including one from a current legislative colleague. “Of any of the detractors, none have had the cojones to look me in the eye and have a conversation,” Mastriano told...
Bill to boost funding for road and bridge project advances in Pa. House
HARRISBURG — Legislation designed use the state’s gas tax revenue in its entirety for road and bridge work is advancing in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The House Transportation Committee on Monday unanimously approved a bill that aligns with Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal to gradually reduce the annual appropriation taken...
Democrats advance gun-control bills in Pennsylvania House
HARRISBURG — Authorities could temporarily seize firearms and background checks would be expanded for gun buyers, under two bills passed Monday in the Pennsylvania House, where Democrats are using their razor-thin majority to push gun-control measures after a yearslong standstill in the politically divided government. The party describes the proposals...
Closed-door meeting is latest in pattern of potential Sunshine Act violations by Penn State trustees
This story first appeared in The Investigator, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring the best investigative and accountability journalism from across Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here. In a February memo to university leaders, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi wrote that last year university leaders “brought forward a $245...
Back in hoodies and gym shorts, Fetterman tackles Senate life after depression treatment
WASHINGTON — Before Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman checked himself in to the hospital for clinical depression in February, he walked the halls of the Senate stone-faced and dressed in formal suits. These days, he’s back to wearing the hoodies and gym shorts he was known for before he became a...
Pa. opioid settlement money: What you need to know
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. Billions of dollars are expected to come to Pennsylvania to help the state respond to the opioid epidemic, but tracking how...
Pa. Fish and Boat Commission raises fishing license fees for 2nd straight year
Pennsylvania anglers can expect to pay more to fish next year, now that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has voted to increase the costs of licenses for the second year in the row, after license prices had not changed since 2005. At its meeting Wednesday, the agency’s Board...
Lake Erie on its way to becoming national marine sanctuary
HARRISBURG — President Joe Biden’s administration took the first step Thursday toward designating the Pennsylvania-owned section of Lake Erie as the state’s first national marine sanctuary. A formal designation could take several years, and it wouldn’t change existing regulations around the use of the lake. The announcement sets up a...
Police say Pa. man killed neighbor’s cat with blow gun dart
A Jefferson County man is facing animal cruelty charges after police say he admitted to killing his neighbor’s cat with a blow gun dart. On May 5, police said they were called to a home along Elk Street in Punxsutawney after receiving a report of animal cruelty, according to reports...
