Pennsylvania category, Page 54
Democratic Philadelphia state lawmaker joins race for Pennsylvania attorney general
HARRISBURG — Democratic state lawmaker Jared Solomon said Tuesday that he will run in next year’s election for Pennsylvania attorney general, an office that has played a big role in fighting drug trafficking, suing opioid makers and defending the battleground state’s 2020 presidential election. Solomon, who is from Philadelphia, is...
Study: Pennsylvania public schools underfunded by $6.2 billion
Pennsylvania needs to increase its investment in public schools by $6.2 billion to help students meet graduation rate goals and proficiency on state exams, according to a school finance expert. Penn State assistant professor Matthew Kelly told a panel of policymakers the figure was his conservative estimate of what was...
Escaped Pennsylvania inmate still believed to be within specific perimeter, police sayVideo
POTTSTOWN — Escaped murderer Danelo Souza Cavalcante is still believed to be within a search perimeter in a rural stretch of southeastern Pennsylvania hours after he stole a rifle from a garage and fled a homeowner’s gunfire, authorities said Tuesday. Heavily armed police descended on the South Coventry Township area...
Pennsylvania removes email database of public employees
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the powerful to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania officials have removed a searchable, online database of state employee emails, narrowing the ways the public can reach the people who...
Escaped murderer still at large slips out of search area, changes appearance, tries to contact ex-co-workers
PHOENIXVILLE — Authorities searched Monday for an escaped murderer who has eluded capture since breaking out of a southeastern Pennsylvania prison a week and a half ago after they said over the weekend he slipped out of the search area, changed his appearance, stole a dairy delivery van and tried...
Police announce 2 more confirmed sightings of escaped murderer on the run in Pennsylvania
WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Police on Saturday reported two more confirmed sightings of an escaped murderer on the run for more than a week in southeast Pennsylvania amid a search by hundreds of law enforcement officers. Danelo Souza Cavalcante, 34, escaped from the Chester County Prison while awaiting transfer to...
Latest sighting of fugitive killer in Pennsylvania spurs closure of popular botanical garden
WEST CHESTER, Pa. — One of the country’s top botanical gardens has been closed indefinitely after reports that an escaped murderer on the run in southeast Pennsylvania may have once again been spotted on the property. When Longwood Gardens closed Thursday night, people who remained on the property were told...
Penn State to consider asking state for millions more next year while awaiting this year’s funding
Penn State has yet to receive any state funding to support the university’s operating budget this year but its trustees are poised to ask for millions of dollars more for next year. A university trustees’ committee on Thursday voted to recommend the full board consider requesting $368.1 million from the...
Pa. election 2023: A complete guide to the candidates for state Supreme Court
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the powerful to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — During Pennsylvania’s general election on Nov. 7, voters will select the newest state Supreme Court justice. The winner of the election —...
Search for escaped Pennsylvania murderer enters 8th day
WEST CHESTER — As the hunt for an elusive murderer stretches into a second week, residents of suburban southeast Pennsylvania say they’re unsettled and perhaps frustrated — but not panicked — as hundreds of heavily armed searchers scoured roads, neighborhoods and dense woodlands. Danilo Souza Cavalcante, a 34-year-old from Brazil,...
Ron DeSantis returned to the campaign trail with 2 fundraisers in Pennsylvania this week
PHILADELPHIA — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised about $400,000 in a fundraising swing through Pennsylvania Tuesday, his campaign told The Inquirer. The trip marked DeSantis’ return to the campaign trail after a week hiatus overseeing recovery efforts in Florida following Hurricane Idalia. He met with donors at a luncheon in...
Pennsylvania inmate escaped by climbing up a wall and over razor wire, prison official saysVideo
WEST CHESTER — A murderer on the loose in suburban Philadelphia was able to escape from a jail yard by climbing up a wall and over razor wire last week, prison officials said Wednesday. A security video of the escape shows Danelo Cavalcante, 34, standing in a passageway before bracing...
Gov. Shapiro opens door wider for small businesses to compete for state contracts
Small businesses may now have a better chance at landing a state government contract as a result of an executive order Gov. Josh Shapiro signed on Tuesday. The order expands increases the amount of money the commonwealth spends on contracts with small diverse businesses, building on former Gov. Tom Wolf’s...
Authorities expand search area for killer who escaped Pennsylvania prison after latest sighting
WEST CHESTER — Authorities have moved and expanded the search area for a convicted murderer who escaped from a suburban Philadelphia prison last week, after he was spotted on a trail camera at one of the nation’s premier botanical gardens. Danelo Cavalcante, 34, has been spotted five time since he...
Pa. high school football player battling for life has taken ‘positive step’
A day after saying they needed a miracle and asking people to pray, the family of a Pennsylvania high school football player who collapsed on the field Friday provided a positive update Monday. In a social media post shared to the Karns City Football page, senior quarterback Mason Martin’s mother,...
‘We need a miracle’: Prayers requested for Pa. high school football player who collapsed on field
The family of the Pennsylvania high school football player who collapsed on the field during Friday night’s game has updated his status and has asked for continued prayers, according to a post on the Karns City football team’s social media account. Mason Martin, a senior quarterback for the team, collapsed...
Killer who escaped suburban Philadelphia prison is spotted on surveillance cameras
WEST CHESTER — A recently convicted murderer who’s been on the run for days after escaping a suburban Philadelphia prison was spotted shortly after midnight Saturday by residential security cameras in an area not far from the prison, authorities said. Authorities haven’t disclosed the circumstances of how Danelo Cavalcante, 34,...
Spotlight PA fights to unseal lobbyist communications with the legislature
This story first appeared in The Investigator, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring the best investigative and accountability journalism from across Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Deep within Pennsylvania’s 36-page Right-to-Know Law, a clause says that correspondence between a state lawmaker and a person seeking their help is off-limits to the...
Pa. to end state funding for anti-abortion counseling centers
HARRISBURG — For nearly 30 years, Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have approved millions of taxpayer dollars for an anti-abortion program. Now the state’s new governor plans to end the contract as the organization that distributes those funds and other groups like it gain attention since the overturning of...
Man convicted of killing girlfriend escapes Pa. prison
WEST CHESTER — A man recently convicted of murder in Pennsylvania for the fatal stabbing his ex-girlfriend remained at large Friday, a day after he escaped from a county jail. Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is also wanted in his native Brazil in a separate slaying and is considered an extremely dangerous...
Pennsylvania is considering an earlier 2024 presidential primary, partly to avoid voting on Passover
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is considering changing the state’s 2024 presidential primary to an earlier day, although the proposed move may do little to give the state’s voters more say in deciding presidential nominees. State lawmakers plan to vote on legislation Wednesday that would change Pennsylvania’s primary from late April to...
Pa.’s state-owned universities now offering Google Career Certificates
Students attending Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities can now earn tech industry-recognized certificates during their undergraduate studies through a new partnership with Google, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Tuesday. The initiative is intended to move students more quickly and less expensively from campuses into good-paying, high-demand jobs. It also would help employers meet...
State troopers no longer need college credits, Gov. Shapiro administration announces
The Pennsylvania State Police has removed college credit requirements for cadets, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Monday, with the hope of opening up state police careers to a wider pool of candidates and alleviating the slowdown in applicants the agency is seeing. Shapiro, along with State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris...
Union leaders defend historic and controversial Pa. state employee contracts
The labor contracts recently ratified by two of Pennsylvania’s largest state government employee unions have been described as historic for the size of wage increases they grant over four years. Leaders of both unions see the 22.1 % pay increases when compounded over the life of the contracts — the...
Man killed, another wounded in shooting steps away from Philadelphia’s Independence HallVideo
PHILADELPHIA — At least two people were killed and three others were wounded in gun violence in Philadelphia over the weekend, including a man who was gunned down near Independence Hall, authorities said. A 29-year-old man was shot shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday steps away from the tourist attraction where...
