Pennsylvania category, Page 88
How rescuers saved the trapped Quecreek miners
Brad Hillegass had operated a crane plenty of times but never with the lives of nine men in the balance. That changed July 24, 2002, when nine miners were trapped 240 feet underground at the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County and his job was to safely lift them to freedom...
A Quecreek Timeline
A timeline of events surrounding the Quecreek mine rescue and beyond...
Mission accomplished: How rescuers saved the trapped Quecreek miners
Brad Hillegass had operated a crane plenty of times but never with the lives of nine men in the balance. That changed July 24, 2002, when nine miners were trapped 240 feet underground at the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County and his job was to safely lift them to freedom...
‘A complete miracle’: 20th anniversary of the Quecreek Mine rescueVideo
John Unger promised his wife that if something bad ever happened on his job in the coal mine, he’d find a way to survive. For 29 years, he kept that promise, always returning to the rural, century-old Somerset County home where they raised a family and tended to their cattle....
Pa.’s unemployment trust fund is broke. The Wolf admin says a long-term fix will save taxpayers millions
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 have failed to adopt a policy change that supporters say would bolster the state’s pandemic-battered unemployment program...
Pa. state universities turn focus to drawing in more students, driving out more graduates
Pennsylvania’s state university system looks a lot different today than it did just five years ago when it began the process of redesigning itself to address the challenges that tested the survival of some of its universities. Initially, a good bit of its focus rested on trying to keep all...
Republicans challenge Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law anew
HARRISBURG — Republicans have sued again in an attempt to throw out Pennsylvania’s broad mail-in voting law, even as the state’s highest court considers a separate lawsuit aimed at wiping out a law that lost favor with Republicans following former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud. It is...
A beginner’s guide to requesting public records on Pa. law enforcement
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. Disputes over public records reached a record high last year, with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records reporting 322 appeals involving...
Pennsylvania certifies primary election in 64 of 67 counties
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania has certified the results of primary elections from 64 of 67 counties, leaving out three counties in a growing legal dispute over whether to count mail-in ballots on which the voter didn’t handwrite a date, state officials said Wednesday. Certification of the remaining three counties — Berks,...
Judge refuses to lift restrictions for Mechanicsburg woman accused of stealing Pelosi’s laptop at Capitol riot
A Cumberland County woman accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol will continue to be confined to her home and must wear an ankle monitor leading up to her trial, according to a judge’s ruling. Riley Williams, 23, of Mechanicsburg, previously filed...
Who are the richest people in Pennsylvania? Here’s a look at the Keystone State’s 17 billionaires
Pennsylvania’s richest people made their fortunes in different ways: food, drink, sports, finances and more. Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s billionaires lists 2,668 people with a collective worth of $12.7 trillion in 2022. America has the most representatives on that list, with 735 billionaires, including the top-ranked individual, Elon...
Find out what’s in the new Pa. budget during this virtual forum
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. A week after their June 30 deadline, Pennsylvania lawmakers approved a new state budget. The $45 billion spending plan, which was...
Doug Mastriano campaign blames ‘default Facebook setting’ for deleted videos
PHILADELPHIA — Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor, is sounding the “fake news” alarm over a Monday article about his disappearing Facebook videos, claiming that they were removed due to a “default Facebook setting” that automatically deleted the videos after 30 days. His campaign did not address why the...
Strategy to recruit, retain teachers in Pa. introduced by Wolf administration
Out of Gov. Tom Wolf’s commitment to leaving the state’s education system in better shape than he found it comes a three-year strategy to recruit and retain more educators to work in Pennsylvania’s classrooms, according to Acting Education Secretary Eric Hagarty. Hagarty said filling vacancies at schools is the most...
‘Nontraditional’ DNA technology leads to arrest in 1975 stabbing death of Pa. newlywed
Lancaster County investigators arrested a 68-year-old man in connection with the brutal stabbing death of a 19-year-old newlywed 46 years ago using new DNA technology and genealogical research. Police on Sunday arrested David Sinopoli, of Lancaster, in the death of Lindy Sue Biechler, on Dec. 5 1975 inside her apartment...
New Pa. budget injects $125M into private school tax credit program that lacks accountability
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 — When Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-led Legislature hammered out the $45.2 billion budget deal in early July, they...
Doug Mastriano is deleting his videos from Facebook as he runs for Pa. governor
PHILADELPHIA — In early April, Doug Mastriano was recording a Facebook Live video on his phone after a legislative session in Harrisburg when he segued into his thoughts on global warming. The state senator from south-central Pennsylvania, who would become the Republican nominee for governor the following month, told his...
Ex-police chief convicted of child rape gets 16 to 32 years
JIM THORPE, Pa. — A former Pennsylvania police chief convicted of rape of a child has been sentenced to 16 to 32 years in prison, state prosecutors said. The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said the sentence was imposed Friday on 30-year-old Brent Getz following his conviction on rape and sexual...
Doug Mastriano helps celebrate the political movement that made him at film premiere
LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP — Sen. Doug Mastriano largely set aside his standard stump speech Saturday night to pay an homage to the latest grassroots conservative movement in Pennsylvania of which— for the moment — he’s field general as he fights with Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro to become the state’s...
The show goes on: Mastriano film gets home for premiere
In what its producers are celebrating as a win over “wokeness,” a film celebrating the populist strain of conservatism that reached a new pinnacle in Pennsylvania with state Sen. Doug Mastriano’s win in the Republican gubernatorial primary has found a home for its Saturday night premiere. “The Return of the...
Fetterman trolls Oz with big funds, Snooki
HARRISBURG — Democrat John Fetterman posted a massive $11 million fundraising haul during the second quarter. He’s on an advertising spree that’s made him a near-constant presence on television in Pennsylvania. And he grabs attention with snarky, irreverent social media posts. Most recently, he employed MTV’s “Jersey Shore” star Nicole...
Judge agrees to Penn State’s request to seal entire case concerning search warrants involving student victims
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our regional newsletter, Talk of the Town. STATE COLLEGE — At the request of Penn State, a Centre County judge has agreed...
Pennsylvania funds 3 new state parks, locations yet to be determined
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s governor tweeted he had “big news” on Tuesday, announcing the state budget passed in recent days includes funding for three new state parks. Gov. Tom Wolf’s press secretary, Beth Rementer, subsequently said the park sites haven’t been chosen, but work to identify and purchase the land is...
Here’s what you need to know about Pa.’s new child care tax credit
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 — Gov. Tom Wolf has approved a new, permanent child care tax credit that will allow families to claim thousands...
Panel says more accountability would make policing safer for communities, officers
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. Missed Spotlight PA’s event about the limitations of Pennsylvania’s police hiring database? Here are five of the most interesting takeaways from...
