Pennsylvania category, Page 83
Ollie’s bargain-hunting shoppers push the Pa. retailer’s growth to 457 stores
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet president and CEO John Swygert described the last two-and-a-half years as “a total rollercoaster ride.” “It was a challenge from every aspect you could think of,” he said. In December 2019, co-founder and longtime Ollie’s CEO Mark Butler died unexpectedly at the age of 61. Butler was...
Wolf takes lawsuit on constitutional changes to lower court
HARRISBURG — Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is taking another shot at a lawsuit that argues Republican lawmakers improperly bundled together five proposed state constitutional amendments to get them approved by the Pennsylvania Legislature. Wolf’s new lawsuit filed late last week in Commonwealth Court is similar to the litigation he previously...
Report: Man arrested in child sex sting was Harrisburg area minister
A man arrested in a child sex sting in the Philadelphia suburbs was a minister at a Harrisburg area church, according to information from the Montgomery County District Attorney and reporting by ABC27. David Kohlmeier, 46, was arrested Sept. 16 on charges stemming from an operation in which detectives posed...
Josh Shapiro’s low-key style poses test for Dems in Pennsylvania
CHAMBERSBURG — Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, is perhaps best known as an election denier who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. John Fetterman, the Democrat hoping to flip the state’s Senate seat, has revolutionized how campaigns use social media. And Dr. Mehmet Oz...
Looming election jolts Harrisburg into action as Pa. lawmakers pass a flurry of bills, cash in on fundraisers
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 — Horse-trading, nose-holding, and a whole lot of cash. The Pennsylvania Capitol this week jolted into action with just six...
Oz releases health records to spotlight Fetterman’s stroke
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, released his health records as he maneuvers to keep questions about Democratic rival John Fetterman’s recovery from a stroke front and center in the hotly contested campaign. Dr. Rebecca Kurth in New York City wrote in a four-page letter...
New Pennsylvania driver licenses include a ghost portrait of you that can disappear
Pennsylvania driver’s license and PennDOT-issued identification cards have been redesigned to prevent fraud. They now feature an optically variable ghost portrait of the card owner and variable data that disappears depending on the viewing angle. Among other security enhancements, they have a gold metallic tint visible under direct lighting and...
Thousands of older Pennsylvanians at risk of losing property tax rebates because of legislative inaction
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 — It’s a conversation Diana Raph dreads. Every year, Raph, a tax preparer in the Lehigh Valley, applies on behalf...
Redrawn districts inject uncertainty in Pa. legislative contests
HARRISBURG — Democrats in Pennsylvania who have long blamed their party’s legislative minorities on Republican gerrymandering will find out in November whether friendlier district maps will edge them closer to retaking control of the House and Senate. Nearly 400 state legislative candidates will appear on ballots Nov. 8, hoping voters...
Philly officer convicted of manslaughter in Black motorist’s deathVideo
PHILADELPHIA — A white Philadelphia police officer was convicted Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter and a weapons charge in the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black motorist shot six seconds after the officer arrived on the scene. Officer Eric Ruch Jr. told jurors he feared for his life when he fired...
Regular private meetings among top Penn State trustees may be violating Pa.’s transparency law
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 — For more than a decade, some of the most powerful members of...
DA: 10 Middletown students face juvenile court charges in hazing case
MIDDLETOWN — A Pennsylvania prosecutor announced charges in juvenile court Tuesday against 10 students in connection with alleged hazing of high school football players that prompted cancellation of the team’s season. Dauphin County prosecutors said two Middletown players will face attempted sexual assault charges and eight others face other counts...
Pa. court hears argument on whether life without parole for 2nd-degree murder is cruel, unusual punishmentVideo
When Derek Lee illegally entered a home in Elliott in 2014, he had no intention of killing anyone. He and his co-defendant, Paul Durham, had gone to the house to rob its occupants. But while Lee was upstairs, Durham shot and killed a man in the basement. Both men were...
Skill games company woos Pa. lawmakers with trips to wild Wyoming rodeo
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 — “It’s the sounds, the lights, the competition or the experience of a lifetime. Everyone comes for a different reason...
Pa. sending search-and-rescue personnel to Puerto Rico to assist with Hurricane Fiona response
Gov. Tom Wolf on Sunday announced that two members of the state’s urban search-and-rescue task force will be deployed to hurricane-battered Puerto Rico to assist with emergency response efforts. This comes as Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico’s southwest coast Sunday, bringing with it floods, high winds, landslides and massive power...
Pennsylvania’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Oz, Fetterman tightens
After a bruising primary that saw Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz emerge as the GOP nominee by less than 1,000 votes, the celebrity surgeon and TV personality’s general-election campaign got off to a slow start. That left an opening for Democratic nominee John Fetterman to define Oz early...
Efforts to ban, restrict LGBTQ curriculum in Pa. schools hinge on who becomes the next governor
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 — As a closeted gay child growing up in Lancaster in the 1990s, J Eric Fisher didn’t feel safe. He...
Court orders Pa. diner to pay $1.35M in back wages to staff after investigation
It seems as though servers and kitchen workers employed by a Delaware County diner have some money coming to them. According to 6ABC, the government has ordered the Empire Diner to pay more than a million dollars in back wages. “We’re only here trying to make a living to feed...
Bill would let people ban themselves from buying booze in Pennsylvania
A state lawmaker who has publicly shared his struggles with alcoholism wants to enlist the help of state liquor stores and restaurants and bars that serve liquor as tools to help individuals like him in their recovery. Rep. Matt Dowling, R-Fayette/Somerset counties, introduced legislation that would allow individuals to voluntarily...
Pennsylvania woman accused of stealing Pelosi’s laptop allowed to visit Renaissance Faire again
A Cumberland County woman on house arrest for allegedly stealing Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the U.S. Capitol riots will be allowed to attend the Renaissance Faire this weekend for the second time in two months. A federal judge has ruled 25-year-old Riley J. Williams, of Mechanicsburg, will be allowed out...
U.S. Senate candidates Fetterman, Oz to debate in late October
After repeated calls from his challenger for multiple debates in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate election, Democratic candidate and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has agreed to participate in one debate in late October. Fetterman’s campaign said Wednesday that the Democratic nominee has committed to an Oct. 25 debate hosted by Nexstar, a...
Former Penn State president Graham Spanier defends himself in new book
Former Penn State University President Graham Spanier has written a book alleging that he, deceased Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and two other university administrators were falsely accused of — and unjustly punished for — covering up child abuse by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. “The book is an...
Pa. law protects workers who are approved for medical marijuana — but once they use it, it’s a different story
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. Vague legal safeguards for medical marijuana users in Pennsylvania are forcing patients to choose between their job and a drug they...
Oz backs U.S. Senate bill to protect same-sex marriage rights
Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz has joined more than 400 Republican leaders who are calling on the Senate to pass legislation to protect marriage rights for same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2015 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, but Justice Clarence Thomas hinted this...
Debate talks in Pennsylvania governor, Senate races devolve into trash talk, predawn tweets
They can’t even agree on when, where or how to disagree. In two of the most important races in the country, Pennsylvania’s candidates for U.S. Senate and governor are hurling insults at each other over what was once a relatively routine process: negotiating a time and place for debates. Mehmet...
