Pennsylvania category, Page 65
Pa. launches abortion access website in wake of Texas ruling against abortion medication
After a federal judge’s ruling in Texas last week halted the approval of a drug used in medication abortions, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro launched a website informing state residents about their rights to accessing to abortion services. Shapiro said Monday that Pennsylvanians’ reproductive rights have not changed because of the...
Pa. Supreme Court candidates with party backing show fundraising advantage
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 candidates running for an open seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court are getting campaign money from wealthy donors, their...
Pa. Democratic Sen. Bob Casey to seek 4th term
HARRISBURG — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey will seek a fourth term in office, bringing the power of incumbency and unmatched name recognition in Pennsylvania politics to his party’s defense of a seat in a critical presidential battleground state. The announcement by Casey, the longest-serving Democratic U.S. senator in Pennsylvania history,...
More buses from Texas? Philly ready to welcome immigrants as pandemic ban drops
PHILADELPHIA — From shortly before Thanksgiving until after the New Year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent nearly a thousand immigrants to Philadelphia aboard unscheduled, unannounced buses. The last of 19 coaches pulled up outside 30th Street Station on Jan. 7. And since then … nothing. What at first seemed a...
Fetterman, Casey slam federal judge’s ruling against abortion medication
Pennsylvania’s Democratic U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey did not mince words when responding to Friday’s ruling by a federal judge in Texas halting the approval of an abortion medication. “This ruling by a hard-right Trump appointed judge is simply bull(expletive),” Fetterman said in a statement released Saturday morning....
New Pennsylvania license plate benefits ‘Pollinator Habitat’ efforts
PennDOT is announcing the addition of a “Pollinator Habitat” license plate to its lineup of special fund registration plates. Sixty-five percent of the proceeds from the license plate will be deposited into the agency’s Pollinator Habitat Program Fund. The fund is dedicated to supporting ongoing efforts to reinvigorate the populations...
Shapiro’s proposed Pa. State Police fund saves road dollars but raises accountability concerns
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 — In his first budget proposal as governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro aims to resolve a longstanding fiscal conundrum: funding the...
With snakes emerging as temperatures rise, Pa. has 3 venomous species to be aware of
Don’t look now but the sun is shining a little more, and the temperatures are starting to warm up. It’s a beautiful thing after slogging through another Pennsylvania winter, but humans aren’t the only creatures ready to get out and about in the nice weather. The rising temperatures mean snakes...
Poll shows Gov. Josh Shapiro with 54% approval rating 3 months into term
Gov. Josh Shapiro has been in office for three months and so far, more than half of Pennsylvanians approve of the job he is doing although a majority believe overall the state is heading in the wrong direction, according to a statewide poll released on Thursday. The “Common Ground in...
For winners, Pennsylvania’s liquor lottery is worth the time, money
Back in 2018, David Falcheck of Scranton got the notification he was waiting for — he was among a small group of winners chosen from thousands of lottery entries for the chance to buy a 12-year-old bottle of Van Winkle Special Reserve Straight Bourbon. “It was excellent,” Falcheck said of...
Man stole school bus in Adams County to transport dead deer, police say
A Pennsylvania man stole a school bus in an effort to transport a dead deer to his home, he told police. In the process, he led cops on a chase in and out of York and Cumberland counties. Tony Jay Saunders Jr., 24, was charged with multiple felonies following the...
Court documents: Friend kills 12-year-old boy after making fun of his mom
A 13-year-old boy fatally shot his friend in York County over the weekend after making a joke about his friend’s mother, court documents said. Pennsylvania State Police have not made any arrests in the death of 12-year-old Kain Heiland around 8:30 p.m. Saturday in Red Lion. Troopers have collected photographs,...
Supporters hope Pa.’s new legislature will embrace open primaries, but at least one big hurdle remains
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 — Lawmakers and advocates who support opening Pennsylvania’s primary elections to over a million independent voters hope the legislature will...
Pa. faces staffing shortage as health coverage for thousands on the line
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 offices in Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services that help people keep their Medicaid benefits are facing staffing challenges...
Campaign finance, lobbying reform still receiving little attention in Pa. legislature
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. HARRISBURG — As lawmakers gathered in Harrisburg this week for another round of budget hearings, both legislative chambers got the chance to...
Pa. factory explosion survivor, on fire, fell into chocolate vat
A woman pulled alive from the rubble of a Pennsylvania chocolate factory after an explosion that killed seven co-workers says flames had engulfed the building, and her arm, when the floor gave way beneath her. That might have been the end, if she hadn’t fallen into a vat of liquid...
Man charged in 20-plus calls of false threats in U.S., Canada and even Pennsylvania
SEATTLE — U.S. authorities on Thursday said they arrested a Washington state man who made more than 20 “swatting” calls around the country and in Canada, prompting real emergency responses to his fake reports of bombs, shootings or other threats. Ashton Connor Garcia, 20, of Bremerton, used voice-over-internet technology to...
Connellsville native among 7 victims in massive chocolate factory explosion in Pa.
PHILADELPHIA — The Berks County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday released the names of the remaining victims of the explosion at the R.M. Palmer chocolate factory in West Reading that killed seven people. The remaining five were identified as: Susan H. Halvonik, 63, a Connellsville native who lived in Upper Providence...
Making education in Pa. ‘look different’ focus of Senate budget hearing
With a nearly 800-page Commonwealth Court ruling that declared Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional hanging over the General Assembly’s heads, Pennsylvania’s Acting Education Secretary Khalid Mumin said he sees that as an opportunity to do right by students. “It’s impressed upon us that we do — and I believe we...
Fetterman expected back to Senate in April
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman will return to the Senate in April, two months after the freshman Democrat sought inpatient treatment for clinical depression, a person close to Fetterman said Wednesday. The person, who was not authorized to discuss Fetterman’s plans and spoke on condition of anonymity, said...
Probe of Pa. chocolate factory blast focuses on gas pipeline
Federal safety officials are investigating the role of a natural gas pipeline in a fatal blast at a Pennsylvania chocolate factory, the National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday. Friday’s powerful explosion at R.M. Palmer Co. killed seven people, sent 10 to the hospital and damaged several other buildings in West...
Election Day ballot problems in Pennsylvania county examined
Election Day shortages of the paper needed to run voting machinery caused significant problems in a northeastern Pennsylvania county in November, but the extent of the problem or what caused it are still unclear, witnesses told a congressional committee Tuesday. The three-hour hearing of the U.S. House Administration Committee into...
Mayor: Philadelphia water will not be tainted by spillVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia officials say the city’s water system will not be affected by a chemical spill into the Delaware River upstream last week. “We can all confidentially say the threat has passed — I repeat: All the city’s drinking water is safe to drink and will not be impacted...
Chemical spill into river leads to problems for Philadelphia’s drinking water
The city of Philadelphia sent its 1.5 million residents into a mad dash for bottled water after issuing — and retracting — a tap water advisory on Sunday afternoon. The cause: a chemical spill from a Bucks County latex finishing plant into a Delaware River tributary that feeds into a...
Philadelphia residents warned about chemical spill in river
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia residents are being told that they may want to drink only bottled water following a chemical spill into the Delaware River in neighboring Bucks County. Bucks County health officials said Sunday that a leak late Friday evening at the Trinseo Altuglas chemical facility in Bristol Township spilled...
