Pennsylvania category, Page 74
Recount requests delay Pennsylvania election certification
HARRISBURG — Five weeks after Election Day, winning candidates in Pennsylvania from governor to Congress are waiting for their victories to become official. An effort that appears to be at least partially coordinated among conservatives has inundated counties with ballot recount requests even though no races are close enough to...
Gaming Control Board gives green light to proposed State College mini-casino license hearings
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the licensing hearing process for a proposed $123 million mini-casino in State College to move forward as normal, despite the objections of a Philadelphia-based competitor. Bally’s Corp., in partnership with SC Gaming LLC, led by former Penn State trustee Ira...
Some Penn State Law faculty say main campus presence needed in possible law schools merger
Dozens of Penn State Law faculty are urging those weighing their school’s reunification with Dickinson Law in Carlisle to consider what Penn State University would lose if the combined entity lacks a significant University Park presence. A statement endorsed by 42 of Penn State Law’s 51 fulltime faculty stopped short...
Shapiro says Pennsylvania Taylor Swift fans will have another chance to get tour tickets
Pennsylvania fans of pop singer Taylor Swift will have another opportunity to purchase tickets to shows within the state, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said on Tuesday. Tickets for Swift’s “Eras Tour” received such high demand when pre-sales began in November that Ticketmaster canceled sales, leading to a national fiasco. Politicians...
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander readied for 2023 touchdown
A lunar lander built by Astrobiotic in Pittsburgh has passed a battery of critical tests, moving one step closer to touching down on the moon early next year. The Peregrine lunar lander, which stands a bit more than 6 feet tall and is about 8 feet in diameter, is expected...
PLCB’s high-end liquor lotteries now off limits to its employees and families
Competition for the limited-release of high-end Pappy Van Winkle products offered by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board last month in a lottery didn’t include any bourbon enthusiasts who work for the agency. Neither did it include any of those 6,800 employees’ spouses, agency board members, their children regardless of where...
Despite midterm losses, Pa. Republicans appear unlikely to abandon combative agenda
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 — Republicans inside and outside Pennsylvania government say that despite a disastrous midterm election, they don’t see signs that the...
Crews remove box covering Columbus statue in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Crews have removed the plywood box that had been placed over a Philadelphia statue of Christopher Columbus that saw tense standoffs in 2020 between supporters of the monument and opponents who viewed it as a symbol of white supremacy. The box was removed Sunday night, as a small...
Pennsylvania lifts ban on gas production in polluted village
One of Pennsylvania’s largest drillers will be allowed to extract natural gas from underneath a rural Pennsylvania community where it has been banned for a dozen years because of accusations it polluted the water supply, according to a settlement with state regulators. The Department of Environmental Protection quietly lifted its...
Pennsylvanians reminded to review FCC broadband map before Jan. 13Video
Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (Authority) Executive Director Brandon Carson today reminded Pennsylvanians of the important role they have in ensuring their information is correct in the new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadband access map. “I urge every Pennsylvanian to review the map to help us close the digital divide,” said...
GOP sues over special elections in Pa. House majority battle
HARRISBURG — The top-ranking Republican in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives asked a court late Friday to prevent voters from filling three vacant seats in February that will determine majority control of the chamber. Rep. Bryan Cutler of Lancaster, who served as speaker until Nov. 30, asked Commonwealth Court to...
States’ varying laws on reproductive rights impacting college decisions for some Pa. students
Mt. Lebanon High School senior Janet Montgomery said she will continue her education at St. John’s College in Maryland mostly because of what the picturesque liberal arts school has to offer academically. But what some states aren’t offering — or soon might not be offering — in terms of reproductive...
Pa. receives $6.6 million from ‘Internet for All’ initiativeVideo
Governor Tom Wolf today announced that Pennsylvania is receiving $6.6 million from President Joe Biden’s “Internet for All” initiative, these are the first funds to be awarded of the more than $100 million to be managed by the Pennsylvania Broadband Authority. “Pennsylvania’s lack of affordable, accessible broadband is one of...
Gettysburg Union general’s revolver, cane, brigade sword up for auction this weekend
To call Gen. Daniel Sickles a colorful character might be selling his story a little short. From his political education in New York’s massively corrupt Tammany Hall to his affair with Queen Isabella of Spain to his attempted murder of his wife’s lover — who also happened to be the...
Philly’s slain ‘Boy in Box’: 66 years later we know his name
His name was Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Nearly 66 years after the battered body of a young boy was found stuffed inside a cardboard box, Philadelphia police say they have finally unlocked a central mystery in the city’s most notorious cold case: The victim’s identity. Revealing the name to the public...
Police: 2 firefighters die in house fire; body found outside
TAMAQUA, Pa. — Two firefighters died responding to a house fire Wednesday in rural eastern Pennsylvania where a man’s body was found outside, state police said. The New Tripoli Fire Company members who lost their lives were identified as Assistant Fire Chief Zachary Paris, 36, and Marvin Gruber, 59, Pennsylvania...
Democrats move to take power with narrow Pa. House majority
HARRISBURG — Democrats who barely won back a majority of seats in the Pennsylvania House in November moved to take control of the chamber Wednesday and replace one of their incumbents who died and two others who won higher office. Shortly after Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia was quietly...
Shapiro taps longtime aides to top jobs in governor’s office
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro is tapping longtime aides to take top positions in his office weeks before he is sworn in as Pennsylvania’s 48th governor, as he prepares to leave the attorney general’s office for a sprawling administration that runs the nation’s fifth-most populous state. Shapiro said in...
Gov. Tom Wolf leaves office with few regrets, no grudges
As Gov. Tom Wolf prepares to leave office, there is one thing that drove him into the governorship that awaits him when he gets home: his beloved 2006 Jeep Wrangler. The Jeep, a stick shift, of course, that Wolf’s daughters joke he bought during his midlife crisis, starred in his...
Gov.-Elect Shapiro chooses top AG crime staffer as legal adviser
Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro, it’s safe to say, did not conduct an exhaustive search for his top legal adviser as governor. She’s already working for him. Shapiro announced Tuesday he will appoint Executive Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Selber to serve as his General Counsel, essentially the governor’s top legal advisor on...
Penn State student, charged after protesting Proud Boys event, faces school discipline days before graduation
When the founder of the Proud Boys was scheduled to appear in October at Penn State, senior Bram Woolley of Allentown joined hundreds of fellow students in a tumultuous protest that led to the event’s cancellation. But in the course of the protest, Woolley — who allegedly refused to move...
Gov. Wolf welcomes the holidays to the CapitolVideo
Governor Tom Wolf and First Lady Frances Wolf ushered in the 2022 holiday season at the Capitol in Harrisburg with the 2022 Tree Lighting Ceremony. “Each year, this ceremony reminds me of the common bonds we share across humanity,” said Gov. Wolf. “During this holiday season, let us celebrate and...
Real ID deadline extended again, until 2025
You’ll have a little longer before you have to worry about having a Real ID to board a domestic flight or enter a federal building. The federal Department of Homeland Security has extended the deadline yet again, until May 7, 2025. The deadline had been set for this upcoming May....
Hundreds report seeing fireball streak across sky in Pa. and 11 states, CanadaVideo
The sky over the Pittsburgh region Thursday night was mostly obliterated by clouds, according to the National Weather Service. But anyone casting their gaze to the heavens around 7:30 p.m. and was lucky enough to catch a break in the clouds was treated to a spectacular light streaking across the...
Pa. lawmakers’ pay increase kicks in; 2 elected to higher office without ‘double dipping’
Salaries for Pennsylvania lawmakers jumped Thursday when an automatic 7.8% pay increase took effect, the largest in over a quarter century. Two sitting lawmakers, who ran in simultaneously for other offices, will be getting the legislative pay raise, albeit briefly, before taking more lucrative elected posts next month. Allegheny County...
