Pennsylvania category, Page 76
Penn State wants its 2 law schools ‘back together.’ Now it has to decide what that means
Penn State believes it has two good law schools. It would like to have one excellent one. With that vision in mind, President Neeli Bendapudi on Tuesday announced her intention to unify the two existing fully accredited Penn State law schools into one entity, and the creation of a task...
Gov. Wolf highlights $2.5 million capital investment for LGBT centerVideo
Governor Tom Wolf joined state and local leaders to highlight a $2.5 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant awarded to the William Way LGBT Community Center for phase two of its major renovation project. The funds, awarded last fall, will be used for upgrades and renovations to the rear...
Rejecting undated mail ballots disproportionately impacts communities of color in Pa., data shows
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy. Pennsylvania’s policy of rejecting undated and incorrectly dated absentee and mail ballots is more likely to...
Thanksgiving crashes down from 2021
Pennsylvania State Police investigated 970 vehicle crashes resulting in two fatalities and 196 injuries during the Thanksgiving travel period stretching from Wednesday to Sunday, according to a press release. Alcohol was a factor in 48 of the crashes, about 5 percent of the total. Troopers arrested 539 people for driving...
Nonpartisan journalism is vital to the future of Pa. Here’s how you can keep it going.
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. Huge stories will shape Pennsylvania’s future next year. With a new administration in the governor’s office and a shift in power...
Freedom Caucus brings its national brand of conservatism to the Pennsylvania state House
The new Pennsylvania branch of the House Freedom Caucus is open and ready for business. The original Freedom Caucus, for the uninitiated, launched within the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015, as a wing within the House’s Republican conference for conservative members who resolved not to compromise on conservative principles...
State lawmaker resigns to take new role in Pennsylvania Senate
A state legislator who represented parts of northcentral Pennsylvania for the past three decades is resigning his Senate seat to take on a new role in that legislative chamber. Sen. John Gordner, a Republican, announced on Monday that he will vacate his 27th state senatorial district seat on Wednesday to...
Pa. Republicans look inward after voters quashed the expected red wave
Votes were barely counted in the Nov. 8 election before the “autopsy” stories started rolling in on the Pennsylvania Republican Party. After Democrats took back the state House after 12 years and won contested congressional races, the governor’s race, and U.S. Senate seat in an expected “red wave” year for...
Pennsylvania campaign wild card Fetterman turns to governing
HARRISBURG — When John Fetterman goes to Washington in January as one of the Senate’s new members, he’ll bring along an irreverent style from Pennsylvania that extends from his own personal dress code — super casual — to hanging marijuana flags outside his current office in the state Capitol. Pennsylvania’s...
Here’s why Pa. House Democrats will lose their majority for at least a few weeks
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 — Democrats won control of the Pennsylvania state House on Nov. 8, but their majority is going to disappear for...
Impeachment process of Philly DA Krasner to continue next week
Following a 107-85 vote in the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania state House, the impeachment process of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner will move forward next week with a tentative trial date set for January. Krasner, a Democrat who has pushed for criminal justice reform policies and harsher punishment for police misconduct, has...
Deer hunting in Pennsylvania starts this weekend
The biggest day on the Pennsylvania hunting calendar — opening day of the firearms season on deer — begins at a half-hour before sunrise on Saturday. More than 850,000 people have purchased some form of general hunting license, from resident adult to mentored youth, this year. For families, hunting clubs...
Mastriano supporters are flooding Pa. courts with baseless recount petitions in governor’s race
PHILADELPHIA — Doug Mastriano lost by a lot. But some of his supporters wrongly believe the results are inaccurate, and they think they’ve found a way to do something about it. So now election denial groups are flooding Pennsylvania courts with petitions seeking to force hand recounts under a little-known...
Officials say 4 Philly high school students shot near school
PHILADELPHIA — Four students were injured in an apparent drive-by shooting shortly after their Philadelphia high school let out early for the day late Wednesday morning, a city schools spokesperson said. City police said a 15-year-old girl was shot in the shoulder and thigh, a 15-year-old girl was shot in...
Protected bike lane bill named for Pittsburgher vetoed over late GOP amendments
Pittsburgh officials have tried for years to make streets safer for cyclists by installing bike lanes protected by parked cars. Those efforts recently hit a snag after Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a road safety bill because of an amendment added to it. After cyclist and University of Pittsburgh staffer Susan...
Inflation gives pay raise gift to top Pennsylvania officials
HARRISBURG — Inflation is gift-wrapping another big salary increase for hundreds of Pennsylvania state lawmakers, judges and top executive branch officials in 2023, including boosting rank-and-file lawmakers and district judges into six-figure territory. For many of these positions, it’s the biggest increase since the 1990s, when lawmakers passed legislation to...
Benninghoff to step down from Pa. House Republican leadership
More fall-out from the tumultuous 2022 election cycle hit Pennsylvania’s General Assembly Monday with the news that current House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre County, will not seek a Republican leadership position for the 2023-24 term. For state House Republicans, that means at least two of the current top three...
Mechanicsburg woman found guilty for role in Jan. 6 riot
A District of Columbia jury has found a Mechanicsburg woman accused of aiding in the theft of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s laptop guilty on some charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. But the jury did not come to a consensus whether or not Riley Williams, 23, aided...
Judges in Pa. can now dismiss charges against people ‘incompetent’ to stand trial, but flaws remain
This story is a collaboration between Spotlight PA and the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, published as part of a Pittsburgh Media Partnership project. Sign up for Spotlight PA’s free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has corrected a decades-old flaw in state law that left severely mentally...
Hundreds of stuffed toys donated to Holiday Wish program
The Pennsylvania departments of Labor & Industry (L&I) and Human Services (DHS) kicked off the holiday season Monday with an annual donation of stuffed toys collected throughout the year by L&Iduring routine inspections and later distributed to Pennsylvania families through DHS’Holiday Wish program. “We collect these toys throughout the year...
Sheetz lowers price for unleaded 88 to $1.99 a gallon for Thanksgiving week
Sheetz convenience stores will sell unleaded 88 gas for $1.99 a gallon during the Thanksgiving 2022 weekend. The deal is available at Sheetz locations that have unleaded 88. The deal is good from Nov. 21 to Nov. 28. According to Sheetz, unleaded 88 fuel is approved by the U.S. Environmental...
A deadly tide: Officials blame violence in Pennsylvania on relentless flow of guns
By the time three people were gunned down in mid-October at a North Side bus stop, Pittsburgh police had already spent the year cleansing the city of hundreds of firearms. Lost guns, stolen guns, crime guns — officers had been taking them all out of circulation at a rapid clip....
Pa. report shows a drop in sales at state liquor stores
The pandemic period of unprecedented home booze consumption in Pennsylvania appears to be over, but that doesn’t mean overall alcohol consumption is down. After record spirit and wine sales at state stores in the 2020-21 fiscal year, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board reported the 2021-22 fiscal year saw retail dollar...
Big turnout expected as Pa. firearms season for black bear set to start
With 1,450 black bears already harvested by hunters in seasons earlier this fall, Pennsylvania’s firearms season on the large mammals opens a half-hour before sunrise on Saturday. The firearms season will continue daily through a half-hour after sunset on Tuesday. Daily hunting hours run from a half-hour before sunrise to...
The Democratic takeover of the Pa. House will be a little messy to start. Here’s why.
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 — The Democrats have won control of the Pennsylvania House, but the party will need to rely on Republican support...
