Pennsylvania category, Page 16
Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro says Chuck Schumer should have used ‘leverage’ in government shutdown fightVideo
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Democrats in Washington should have been more strategic in trying to extract concessions from the Republican-led Congress on the government funding bill that passed last week, weighing in on a debate that divided his party over its response to President Donald Trump’s agenda. Senate Minority...
Pennsylvania ‘Box Demon’ identified from Ring doorbell footage
The mysterious, creepy “Box Demon” spotted on Ring doorbell footage in York County has been identified, police said. On Tuesday, a woman called the Northern York County Regional Police Department to report a suspicious person — who showed up unannounced at her home and proclaimed to be the “Box Demon”...
Measles case detected in eastern Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s first measles case of 2025 has been reported in Montgomery County — outside of Philadelphia. The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services Office of Public Health said March 2 that it was investigating a confirmed case of measles in an unvaccinated child in the county. As of...
New Pa. bill would relieve debt from childbirth, other medical care
This story first appeared in How We Care, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring original reporting and perspectives on how we care for one another at all stages of life. Medical debt harms people in different ways. It can lead them to seek payday loans, take money out of...
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry co-sponsors bill to abolish Federal Reserve
A bill in the U.S. House to repeal the 112-year-old Federal Reserve Act and abolish the nation’s central bank has attracted several co-sponsors, including York County Republican Rep. Scott Perry. Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie introduced the bill on March 5 and Perry is one of 10 co-sponsors, all Republicans,...
$30K in counterfeit Estee Lauder, Sharpie markers headed to Pa. seized by customs agents
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized nearly $30,000 in counterfeit cosmetics and Sharpie markers headed to addresses in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County over the past month. The agency said in a news release Tuesday that four shipments of counterfeit objects valued at roughly $28,550, had been seized...
3 victims of Pennsylvania plane crash were taken to a burn unit for treatment, hospital saysVideo
LITITZ — Three of the five people injured in a single-engine plane crash in central Pennsylvania over the weekend were sent from a Lancaster hospital to a burn center for treatment, authorities said Monday. Two patients were flown to the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s burn center and a third was...
A single-engine plane crashes near a Pennsylvania airport and all 5 aboard are taken to hospitalsVideo
A single-engine airplane carrying five people crashed and burst into flames Sunday in the parking lot of a retirement community near a small airport in suburban Pennsylvania, and everyone on board survived, officials and witnesses said. The fiery crash happened around 3 p.m. just south of Lancaster Airport in Manheim...
Facing competition from Big Tech, states dangle incentives and loosen laws to attract power plants
HARRISBURG — Facing projections of spiking energy demand, U.S. states are pressing for ways to build new power plants faster as policymakers increasingly worry about protecting their residents and economies from rising electric bills, power outages and other consequences of falling behind Big Tech in a race for electricity. Some...
More elder abuse transparency, accountability is coming as Shapiro administration denies ‘crisis’
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — The public will soon have easy access to critical information about whether county protective services agencies are keeping at-risk older adults safe from...
Medical plane’s voice recorder likely wasn’t working for years before Philadelphia crash
PHILADELPHIA — The cockpit voice recorder was not working on a medical transport plane that killed seven people when it plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in January and likely had not been functional for several years, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Thursday. The NTSB also...
2.3M birds culled in Pa. this year as flu spreads in commercial, backyard flocks
Ken Pounds has a coop full of turkeys, and with justifiable concerns about bird flu, that’s all he wants in there. No flies if he can help it. Definitely no people who don’t need to be there. And certainly no other birds. “The biggest thing you can do is have...
Fetterman calls out Democrats for ‘unhinged petulance’ during Trump address
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, called out members of his own party for their protests during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night. “A sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance. It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained,” Fetterman wrote Wednesday afternoon on the social media...
Pennsylvania to spend $10 million on new voter registration system
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is spending more than $10 million to replace its electronic voter registration database with an election management system that will also provide election night results and handle campaign finance filings and lobbyist registration. Secretary of State Al Schmidt announced Wednesday the Civix system should be fully in...
Police: Pa. man charged after mistaking hunter for turkey, shooting him in the face
A Huntingdon County man is facing charges after police said he mistook another hunter for a turkey and shot him in the face and head. Scott Huber, 51, is charged with reckless endangerment and violations of Pennsylvania’s hunting laws, according to WTAJ. The incident occurred on Nov. 9 in Barree...
Employees cut by feds could get Pa., Allegheny County jobs
People who lose their federal government jobs are being recruited to fill positions with Pennsylvania and Allegheny County government. It remains unclear how many of the more than 16,000 federal employees who live in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area will be affected by the cuts. But, on Wednesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro...
No limits on Sunday hunting proposed for Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania lawmakers are taking another look at making hunting a seven-day-a-week activity, when in season. State Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, this week introduced Senate Bill 67 to fully repeal Pennsylvania’s prohibition on Sunday hunting. It builds on Act 107 of 2019 that permitted hunting on three Sundays. A similar bill...
Are Pa. residents at risk of a measles outbreak? Here’s what the experts say
Measles, a highly contagious disease that was at one point believed to be largely eradicated in the United States, has seen an increase in cases over the past year. Among the most recently diagnosed cases of measles are several instances in New Jersey in mid-February and a confirmed case in...
Pa. GOP House members vote for measure that could cut Medicaid, threaten care for constituents
Pennsylvania faces billions in Medicaid and other health funding cuts, which could force tens of thousands out of programs, under a budget resolution approved by Congressional Republicans, according to opposition groups. The Center for American Progress (CAP) and Commonwealth Communications’ PA Accountability Hub, both left-leaning outfits, have criticized Republican U.S....
Pennsylvania Republicans who narrowly won their House seats feel the heat of early votes back home
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Newly minted U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan swore he wouldn’t support gutting government benefits such as Medicaid that residents of his northeastern Pennsylvania district rely on. Then the first-term Republican voted for a bill that could do just that. Bresnahan and two other Pennsylvania Republicans won in November...
Measles risk is real for those unvaccinated, experts say
A child’s death from a measles outbreak in West Texas has raised concerns about vaccination rates and the resurgence of preventable diseases. But about one in 1,000 cases of measles can be deadly or cause lasting harm, said Dr. Paul Offit, the Maurice R. Hilleman Chair of Vaccinology at the...
Hundreds of officers on hand as slain Pennsylvania patrolman’s casket arrives for funeral
RED LION, Pa. — Police vehicles from across Pennsylvania and beyond were arriving at a church Friday for the funeral of a police officer who was shot and killed while coming to the rescue of medical personnel and patients during an attack on a hospital intensive care unit last weekend....
Nurses’ stories recount terror of armed man’s attack at York County hospital
HARRISBURG — A nurse who survived an armed man’s attack on an intensive care unit in a York County hospital said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that she was held against him as a shield at gunpoint, arms zip-tied behind her back, as they walked through a doorway and...
Pa. Republican says he’ll protect Medicaid’s ‘core mission’ while looking for budget savings
Democratic members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation railed against the budget blueprint that passed the House on Tuesday night, warning it could result in steep cuts to Medicaid. But an Altoona Republican who serves on a committee tasked with coming up with $880 billion in savings over 10 years says he...
Funeral set for officer killed while responding to gunman in a Pennsylvania hospital
HARRISBURG — A funeral service will be held later this week for a Pennsylvania police officer shot and killed while responding to a hospital intensive care unit where authorities said a gunman had shot three hospital employees and taken staff members hostage last weekend. West York Patrolman Andrew Duarte’s funeral...
