Pennsylvania category, Page 55
Court ruling on Pa. education funding puts school infrastructure in spotlight
As residents of Hempfield recently learned, the cost associated with school building projects can easily climb above $100 million. For decades, school administrators could turn to what was known as PlanCon to pursue state funding to help ease the local burden. PlanCon — short for the Planning and Construction Workbook...
Pa. Public Utilities Commission names Jennifer Berrier as executive director
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Thursday appointed Jennifer Berrier, the former secretary of Labor & Industry under Gov. Tom Wolf, as the agency’s new executive director. Berrier takes over leadership of the agency on Sept. 11. The PUC regulates electric, natural gas, pipeline, rail, telecommunications, water and wastewater services....
Penn State football’s academics rank at the bottom of Big Ten after worst score in a decade
This story first appeared in Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA’s State College regional bureau featuring the most important news and happenings in north-central Pennsylvania. STATE COLLEGE — Penn State’s football team’s academic rating plummeted to its lowest point in more than a decade, placing the...
7-year-old girl suffers fatal fall from moving pickup in Pa.
An incident involving a moving pickup truck resulted in the death of a 7-year-old girl. It all happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Jolly and Harvard roads in Plymouth Township, Montgomery County, where the young girl and four other children were playing outside when a man from...
In poll, Pa. voters say Trump committed ‘serious crime’ yet he’s still tied with Biden
A new poll shows President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump are neck-and-neck among Pennsylvania voters in a possible rematch even though a majority consider Trump’s actions to overturn the 2020 election a “serious crime.” The Franklin & Marshall College poll, conducted Aug. 9 to 20, has Biden leading...
Police officer who shot driver sitting in car is being suspended, will be fired, commissioner saysVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s police commissioner says a police officer who shot and killed a driver who was sitting in his car last week in north Philadelphia is being suspended and will be fired. Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Wednesday that Officer Mark Dial will be suspended with intent to dismiss...
Pennsylvania court says state police can’t hide how it monitors social media
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state police can’t hide from the public its policy on how it monitors social media. Advocates for civil liberties cheered the decision. The law enforcement agency had argued that fully disclosing its policy for using software to monitor online postings may...
Pa. trooper charged with vehicular manslaughter in crash that killed teacher
Prosecutors charged an off-duty Pennsylvania state trooper with homicide by vehicle for causing a fiery head-on crash that killed a woman earlier this year. Attorney General Michelle Henry announced the charges Monday in connection with the Feb. 11 crash in Sullivan Township in Tioga County. Tioga County is in northern...
Man facing more charges in kidnapping case and Pennsylvania prison escape that led to manhunt
WARREN — A man who was the subject of a manhunt in two states last month after his escape from a northern Pennsylvania jail is facing more charges in the escape and in the original case alleging he kidnapped a couple and forced them to accompany him on his cross-country...
Hershey Company employee who refused covid shot sues over being fired
A senior manager within The Hershey Company who refused to be vaccinated at the height of the covid-19 pandemic is now suing the company for laying him off despite applying for a religious exemption. Thomas Szeltner, a nearly 30-year veteran of the company, said he should have been given a...
Why some of Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s cabinet picks still have ‘acting’ next to their title
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 — Seven months into his first term as Pennsylvania’s governor, two of Democrat Josh Shapiro’s picks for top cabinet posts...
Pennsylvania’s July unemployment rate at record low 3.5%
WILKES-BARRE — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate declined three-tenths of a percentage point over the month to 3.5% in July — the lowest rate on record going back to January 1976. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry released its preliminary employment situation report for July. The U.S. unemployment rate...
Former Somerset County district attorney gets prison time for attacking woman
SOMERSET — A former Western Pennsylvania district attorney was sentenced Thursday to up to seven years in prison after a jury convicted him of attacking a woman in her home. Somerset County’s former elected District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas was sentenced to between just over two years to seven years in...
Biden to pay respects to former Pennsylvania first lady Ellen Casey in Scranton
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is traveling to Pennsylvania on Thursday to privately pay his respects to the mother of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey in Biden’s hometown of Scranton. The president is expected to arrive before visiting hours for Ellen Casey, also a former first lady of Pennsylvania, at St....
Man killed by Philadelphia police never got out of his car, didn’t ‘lunge’ with a knife, police say in new narrative
New questions have emerged about the fatal police shooting of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry in North Philadelphia this week after the Police Department changed its narrative of the events leading up to his death. At the scene of the shooting Monday, police first said Irizarry emerged from his car after a...
A plan to stop diverting road dollars to Pa. State Police could be a final piece of this year’s budget
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. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — For at least 50 years, Pennsylvania has used taxes drivers pay at the pump to fund...
Trump’s Georgia co-defendants played significant roles in seeking to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 vote
PHILADELPHIA — Among the 18 lawyers, aides, and allies who were charged Monday alongside Donald Trump for their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, there are several who played key roles in the former president’s similar push in Pennsylvania. Here’s a breakdown of some...
District Attorney: Officers justified in shooting armed 17-year-old burglary suspect in Lancaster
LANCASTER — A Pennsylvania prosecutor said Tuesday that police officers were justified in fatally shooting a teenager who pointed a gun at them after a homeowner called 911 to report her security cameras had detected an intruder in house. Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams told reporters that 17-year-old Darron...
A Pennsylvania study suggests links between fracking and asthma, lymphoma in children
HARRISBURG — Children who lived closer to natural gas wells in heavily drilled Pennsylvania were more likely to develop a relatively rare form of cancer, and nearby residents of all ages had an increased chance of severe asthma reactions, researchers said in reports released Tuesday evening. The taxpayer-funded research by...
Philadelphia teen accused of buying and testing bomb-making materials in support of foreign terror group
PHILADELPHIA — A 17-year-old from West Philadelphia has been charged with buying and testing bomb-making materials in support of a foreign terrorist group, state and federal authorities announced Monday. The teen, whom prosecutors declined to name because he is a juvenile, was arrested Friday at his home in the Wynnefield...
David McCormick is gearing up for a Senate run in Pennsylvania. But he lives in Connecticut
WASHINGTON — David McCormick had a clear explanation for why his fellow Republican, Dr. Mehmet Oz, lost a critical Pennsylvania Senate seat last year: Voters viewed the daytime television celebrity as an interloper from New Jersey with limited ties to the state he hoped to represent. “People want to know...
Hershey Chocolate World evacuated due to bomb threat
Hershey Chocolate World evacuated its building due to a bomb threat reported at around 3:30 p.m. Friday, according to officials. Security officials from Chocolate World called Dauphin County 911 dispatchers to report the threat, according to Jennifer Fitch, press secretary for Dauphin County. Fitch said the popular tourist destination was...
Former Pa. corrections officers’ union leaders charged with theft
Five former leaders of Pennsylvania’s corrections officers’ union have been charged with theft after police say they stole union funds by using credit cards for personal expenses and conspiring to conceal their actions. The men were charged in a Harrisburg court last month following a financial crimes investigation led by...
Penn State gender pay gap is among worst compared to public Big Ten schools, federal data show
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. STATE COLLEGE — Penn State is facing at least one allegation of wage discrimination, while salary data show the university’s gender pay gap is among...
Harris says new rule means ‘thousands of dollars’ for workers on federal construction projects
PHILADELPHIA — Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced changes to labor rules that could give higher wages to construction workers on federal projects. In a speech in Philadelphia, Harris said the Labor Department has provided the first update in decades to the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, a law that...
