Pennsylvania category, Page 117
TikTok challenge has students destroying Pa. school bathrooms
Because of a TikTok challenge, school bathrooms are being destroyed at an alarming rate nationwide, and Pennsylvania has not been spared. Boyertown Area School District Superintendent Marybeth Torchia told her school board in Berks County on Monday that is exactly what is happening there — vandalism is on the rise...
Gov. Wolf’s coronavirus business waiver program was flawed, secretive, Pa. auditor 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 — The Wolf administration’s controversial waiver program allowing businesses to remain open during the early months of the pandemic was...
Pa. officials: 94% of covid cases were in unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated people
The “vast majority” of covid-19 related cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Pennsylvania since January have been among unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated individuals, according to Department of Health data released Tuesday So-called “breakthrough” covid-19 infections — those that occur 14 days after an individual has received either two doses of...
Free rides take $104M toll on Pennsylvania Turnpike finances
CARLISLE — More than $104 million in Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls went uncollected last year as the agency fully converted to all-electronic tolling, with the millions of motorists who don’t use E-ZPass having a nearly 1 in 2 chance of riding without paying under the “toll-by-plate” license plate camera system. An...
Exelon: Contract worker killed in accident at Three Mile Island
MIDDLETOWN — A worker at the deactivated Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania died in an accident at the plant last week, officials said. The contract worker was fatally injured at about 11 a.m. Friday “while unloading equipment from a truck at Three Mile Island,” an Exelon Generation representative...
Gov. Wolf pulls election nominee, slams Senate GOP over handling
HARRISBURG — Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday withdrew his nominee to be Pennsylvania’s top elections official, accusing state Senate Republicans of turning the confirmation process into a partisan charade. Wolf said Republican leaders were seeking a “record number” of hearings to confirm his acting secretary of state, Veronica Degraffenreid,...
Wolf administration ordered to reveal details of cannabis use as drug addiction treatment
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 public could soon know for the first time how many patients use medical marijuana to treat opioid use...
Expiring covid-19 waivers could make Pa. health-care staffing shortages worse
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 — Regulatory waivers established last year to help hospitals and health-care workers fight covid-19 will expire this month, and those...
Pa. corrections secretary is leaving, Gov. Wolf names replacement
Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel, who has overseen the state’s prison system for a decade, is leaving the post for the private sector, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration said Monday. Wolf said he has tapped George Little to serve as acting corrections secretary. Little has served as executive deputy secretary of...
Forecast: Pennsylvania’s fall foliage expected to bring vibrant colors in 2021
Vibrant fall foliage — even overachieving colors — can be expected this year in Pennsylvania, although the peak of the leaf-peeping season could be a week later than normal, according to the annual fall forecast from Accuweather. In Pennsylvania, the northern mid-Atlantic, southern New England and the Ohio Valley, “rainfall...
Ex-federal prosecutor under Trump joins GOP Pa. governor primary
HARRISBURG — Bill McSwain, top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia under former President Donald Trump, will run for governor, he announced Monday, joining a crowded Republican field that may still yet get bigger. McSwain’s announcement was not a surprise. He had written to Trump in July, seeking the former president’s endorsement...
Pa. school mask lawsuit backed by group that challenged 2020 election results
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 — Just before the start of the holiday weekend, the top Republican in the state Senate sued Democratic Gov. Tom...
Senators call for transparency in nursing home staff vaccination reports
A pair of U.S. senators say the Biden administration must do more to provide families with easily accessible information on covid-19 vaccination rates among nursing home staff and residents. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Senate Finance chair, and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, D-Scranton, who chairs the Senate Committee on Aging, want the...
Pennsylvania targeting doctors over blanket mask exemptions
Some Pennsylvania physicians are offering stock doctor’s notes for use by parents wishing to have their children exempted from wearing masks in school, according to state health officials who say they have referred the matter for possible disciplinary action. A statewide, universal mask mandate for Pennsylvania schools went into effect...
Former Pa. Gov. Tom Ridge makes 1st appearance since stroke, reflects on 9/11 attacks
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge made his first public appearance since he suffered a stroke earlier this year, speaking about the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. On Thursday morning, Ridge released a statement and a short video filmed in Erie, his hometown. Ridge, 76, suffered a stroke...
Penn State professor facing charges for allegedly assaulting counter protester
A Penn State professor is facing misdemeanor charges — and has been put on administrative leave pending an investigation — after allegedly assaulting a counter-protesting student during an Aug. 27 pro-vaccine rally. According to the criminal complaint, W. Oliver Baker — a 36-year-old assistant professor of English and African American...
Loophole allows some Pennsylvania students to avoid masking
HARRISBURG — An apparent loophole in Pennsylvania’s mask mandate for schools is making it easier for some students to go to class without having to cover their faces, even as state education regulators sought to make an example of one openly defiant school board. The state health secretary’s order requiring...
Republicans start election ‘investigation’ in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Republicans in Pennsylvania’s state Senate held their first hearing Thursday in what they call a “forensic investigation” into last year’s presidential election, an underwhelming affair that Democrats nevertheless say is an extension of a national campaign to attack voting rights following former President Donald Trump’s loss. Republicans maintain...
Gov. Wolf, teachers say kids are cool with masks: ‘It feels like an adult problem’Video
PHILADELPHIA — Wearing masks all day isn’t a big deal for Brooke Vaught’s 375 students. They compliment each other on their cool choices — bright colors, Batman, funky designs — they put them on, and get down to the business of learning. “We haven’t had any issues,” said Vaught, principal...
Pennsylvania man who chartered buses to Jan. 6 rally pleads guilty in Capitol breach caseVideo
SCRANTON — Frank Scavo, the man who organized 200 local residents to journey to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, to take part in what they hoped would be a peaceful protest against the election certification in Congress, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one charge, a low level misdemeanor, that carried a...
Publisher to reissue Pa. Sen. Doug Mastriano’s WWI book with corrections
HARRISBURG — The academic press that published a Pennsylvania state senator’s book about World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York has asked him to review a list of factual errors and sourcing issues in the book and the press’ director said Tuesday it plans to publish a corrected version early...
The coming crisis in dementia care and why Pa. is woefully unprepared
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. Pat Loughney was sleep-deprived and panicked as he dug a partially eaten bar of medicated soap from his wife’s mouth in...
Butler County parents among those in lawsuit challenging Pa.’s new school mask mandate
The Republican leader of the state Senate and a group of parents — some of which are from the Butler Area School District — filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to overturn the Wolf administration’s new mask mandate for Pennsylvania schools. Gov. Tom Wolf’s spokesperson dismissed what she called the GOP’s...
Pa. to refund $19M to 109,000 people it overcharged in unemployment error
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 state Department of Labor and Industry will pay out more than $19 million in refunds after it overcharged...
Sen. Toomey says it’s ‘completely unacceptable’ for GOP to pick Trump in 2024
Don’t make the same mistake twice, GOP. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania conservative who is retiring next year, said that Republicans must not back Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee in 2024 because of his “completely unacceptable” effort to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden. “After what...
