Pennsylvania category, Page 109
Black bears may be major factor in spread of ticks in Pennsylvania: Penn State research
Black bears may play an important role in spreading deer ticks, more widely known as blacklegged ticks, in Pennsylvania, according to researchers at Penn State. Blacklegged ticks are the primary spreader of the pathogen that causes Lyme disease, and more than 70 percent of black bears were found to have...
Ambridge woman gets 2 life terms in February deaths of 2 children
BEAVER — A western Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without possibility of parole in the deaths of her two children earlier this year. Krisinda Bright, 58, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder charges as part of a plea agreement that spared her a...
Pennsylvania asks FEMA for help with covid surge
Pennsylvania asked the federal government on Wednesday to send health care workers to hospitals and nursing homes that are increasingly under stress from persistent staffing shortages and the latest covid-19 surge. The Wolf administration requested Federal Emergency Management Agency “strike teams” for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and ambulance companies in...
Where did the lanternflies go? Pa. public reports down 50% in 2021
The last of the lanternflies in Pennsylvania disappeared with the onset of frost a month ago. It was another summer and fall where residents across eastern and central parts of the Commonwealth and several adjacent states saw them flying outside entrances or maybe into their plate or drink if they...
4 dead in related crashes on Interstate 78 in Berks County
HAMBURG — Four people were killed Tuesday night in two related crashes on an eastern Pennsylvania interstate, state police said. The first crash happened around 8:30 p.m. when a 69-year-old Georgia woman who was driving an empty school bus failed to stop in a construction zone on Interstate 78 near...
Pennsylvania revises Confederate markers, recasts forces as ‘enemy’ soldiers
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. After removing a trio of Confederate historical markers an hour west of Gettysburg, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has replaced...
No proof vote was rigged, but 2020 election reviews persist
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania courtroom on Wednesday became the latest battleground over claims the 2020 presidential election was rigged, as Republicans around the country pressed ahead with efforts to investigate the voting despite a lack of evidence of widespread fraud. A five-judge panel in Harrisburg heard Democrats’ arguments to block...
3 more Philadelphia Proud Boys charged in Capitol riot after taking photos inside senator’s office
PHILADELPHIA — Federal prosecutors Tuesday unsealed charges against three more members of the Philadelphia Proud Boys related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, after agents uncovered photos of the men flashing hate symbols inside a U.S. senator’s office and posing on the steps of the Capitol during the riot. The three...
Pennsylvania Senate aims to bar school covid vaccine rule
HARRISBURG — The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate approved legislation Monday to prevent school children from being required to get a covid-19 vaccination to attend school, although it likely faces a veto by Gov. Tom Wolf. The bill passed on party lines, 28-21, and goes to the House of Representatives. Neither the...
Deadlines loom in drawing new Assembly, congressional maps in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania state House committee cast a set of party-line votes Monday to prepare for an eventual deal on congressional redistricting, while the chairman of the five-person group drawing General Assembly maps announced a voting meeting in the coming days. Legislative Reapportionment Commission Chairman Mark Nordenberg said they...
Philadelphia to require vaccine proof for indoor dining
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia will require proof of covid-19 vaccination to dine indoors at bars, restaurants, indoor sporting events and other food-related establishments starting Jan. 3, city and public health officials announced Monday. Public Health Director Cheryl Bettigole said Philadelphia has seen infection rates double in the last few weeks and...
Acting Pa. Secretary of Health Alison Beam resigning at year’s end
Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam, who led the state’s occasionally bumpy covid vaccine rollout, will resign at the end of the year, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday. Neither Beam nor Wolf indicated a reason for her departure. Wolf said he intends to name the department’s executive deputy secretary, Keara...
Lack of telehealth law in Pa. a major headache for patients who need it most
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 — Cheryl Gibson was in pain as she drove. Eight months earlier, Gibson had begun an at-home breathing treatment for...
Investigations of Pa. State Police troopers who injure, kill should be independent, panel says
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 — Pennsylvania State Police troopers who kill or injure someone should not be investigated by their own agency, and an...
GOP leaders call for task force to meet to fight covid surge; Wolf says it still meets
A group of key Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, have urged Gov. Tom Wolf to reconvene a state covid-19 joint task force as hospitals across Pennsylvania are besieged by new cases and shrinking bed space. “The information-sharing capabilities established through the development of the task force helped...
Pa. Supreme Court upholds lower court decision throwing out mask mandate
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday affirmed a lower court ruling that the state’s acting secretary of health did not have the authority to issue a mandatory mask mandate for schools in August. The ruling ends the mandate effective immediately. Going forward, school districts can implement their own masking policies...
Philly lawyer may join GOP field running for U.S. Senate seat
HARRISBURG — George Bochetto, a prominent Philadelphia lawyer and Republican whose cases have often landed in the public spotlight, said Thursday that he is seriously considering running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat. In a brief interview, Bochetto, 69, said he is “looking at it very, very seriously and it’s...
Renters in parts of Pa. shut out of rent relief as counties elsewhere sit on millions in unused aid
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 — Outrage. Disappointment. Disbelief. That’s how housing advocates in Berks County reacted when they found out, in late September, that...
Penn State names 1st woman university president
When Neeli Bendapudi takes the reins as Penn State’s 19th president on July 1, officials hope her broad portfolio will help her boost the university’s struggling regional campuses. Penn State’s board of trustees capped a 10 month national search Thursday with a unanimous vote to appoint Bendapudi, who has served...
Covid surge: Pennsylvania hospital chain runs out of beds
One of Pennsylvania’s largest health systems has run out of beds because of the latest covid-19 surge, with doctors and nurses practicing “waiting room medicine” on patients who are forced to endure 10- to 20-hour delays in the emergency department, officials said Wednesday. Geisinger is running at 110% capacity across...
Big donor in Pennsylvania high court race eyeing candidates for governor
HARRISBURG — The biggest single campaign donor in this year’s race for a seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court is now aiming to endorse a candidate for governor and, with $20 million in a bank account, it could be a transformative endorsement. Members of the double-digits-deep field of Republican candidates say...
House GOP chooses citizen map for proposed new Pa. congressional districts
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — The long-awaited redistricting process in Pennsylvania kicked into high gear...
Pennsylvania Supreme Court hears arguments over school mask mandate
As Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has defended its school mask mandate in court over the past three months, it has relied on a portion of the state health code that allows for the “surveillance of disease.” On Wednesday before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Senior Deputy Attorney General Sean Kirkpatrick presented...
Will the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ eventually change?
Momentum is gaining in some circles to redefine what “fully vaccinated” means now that boosters are widely available and the omicron variant is surging nationwide. Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNBC on Friday...
With snow predicted this week, will PennDOT be able to clear the roads with limited staff?
As snow looms in the forecast this week, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has been trying to fill hundreds of snow plow driver positions across the state to prepare for the upcoming winter weather. And it hasn’t been easy. Currently, PennDOT has filled 40 percent of the 695 temporary operator...
