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Pennsylvania category, Page 57

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Penn State to remain SAT/ACT optional for applicants
High school students applying for undergraduate spots at Penn State University through fall 2025 won’t have to take the SAT or ACT for admission, as the state’s flagship public institution is extending its test-optional policy once again. Penn State introduced the program in 2020 as a one-year pilot during the...
Thousands apply, but fewer than 250 qualify for Gov. Wolf’s marijuana pardon
When announcing the marijuana pardon project earlier this year, Gov. Tom Wolf said it had the potential to help thousands of Pennsylvanians clear their records. But it has fallen well short of that goal. More than 3,500 applications were sent in for the program, aimed at wiping out low-level marijuana...
Lottery for 800 rare whiskeys opens in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s state-run liquor department has opened a limited-release lottery, giving an opportunity to purchase 814 bottles of rare whiskey to those who register. The lottery includes hundreds of rare bottles from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection 2022 Release, as well as just a handful of bottles of Michter’s Straight Bourbon...
5 ways Pa.’s marijuana laws could change in 2023
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 the legislative session picks up, Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a host of changes to the state’s cannabis laws...
Kutztown literacy program halted after outcry over book’s focus on climate change
Kutztown School District halted its new One Book, One School program before it reached students after receiving complaints over a book’s focus on climate change. News of the program’s cancellation was met by an outcry by those in favor of the selection of “Two Degrees” by a popular author for...
Mars Wrigley fined after workers fall into vat of chocolate
ELIZABETHTOWN — Federal workplace safety authorities have fined a central Pennsylvania confectionary factory more than $14,500 following an accident last year in which two workers fell into a vat of chocolate. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Mars Wrigley in the June accident at the Elizabethtown M&M/Mars factory, saying...
Tracking Josh Shapiro’s biggest campaign promises
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 — Gov. Josh Shapiro made a lot of promises on the campaign trail. Now, he faces the new challenge of...
Sen. John Fetterman discharged from hospital, will return to Senate Monday
PHILADELPHIA — Sen. John Fetterman was released from the hospital late Friday afternoon after checking himself in Wednesday with lightheadedness. Fetterman’s office said doctors ruled out another stroke and he was expected to return to the Senate when the chamber is back in session Monday. “A few minutes ago, Senator...
Pitt withdraws from participating in U.S. News & World Report law school rankings
The University of Pittsburgh said Friday it will withdraw from participating in the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, joining a revolt now spreading nationally among public and private schools over the rankings’ methodology. The U.S. News Best Law Schools ranking system “is systematically flawed and harmful to...
Unexploded artillery shell from Civil War found in Gettysburg
Gettysburg National Military Park officials discovered an unexploded artillery shell this week at the Central Pennsylvania historic site during a rehabilitation process of the park. The unexploded ordnance shell was found on Feb. 8 within the Little Round Top area of the park, said officials, and it dates back to...
Shapiro, Pa. lawmakers face multibillion-dollar budget question after major school funding ruling
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 — A long-awaited ruling on how Pennsylvania funds its public schools could have a seismic impact on state finances in...
Sen. John Fetterman hospitalized after feeling lightheaded, no evidence of a new stroke, spokesman says
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat who suffered a stroke during his campaign last year, was hospitalized Wednesday night after feeling lightheaded while attending a Senate Democratic retreat, his office said. Initial tests at George Washington University Hospital did not show evidence of a new stroke, Fetterman’s communications director,...
Penn State joins dozens of law schools withdrawing from participating in U.S. News rankings
Penn State University’s two law schools are withdrawing from participating in future U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, joining more than 40 peers who say the news organization’s methodology is seriously flawed. Yale and Harvard universities announced they were withdrawing from participating in the rankings in November and...
City of Philadelphia joins growing list of school districts delaying opening on Super Bowl Monday
Several school districts in the greater Philadelphia suburbs and southern New Jersey made headlines last week after announcing a two-hour delayed opening on Super Bowl Monday, so students and staff could stay up late to watch the Philadelphia Eagles play in Super Bowl LVII. And, Wednesday, officials from the School...
Poorer districts win challenge to Pennsylvania public school funding
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania judge ruled Tuesday that the state’s system of funding public schools falls woefully short and violates students’ constitutional rights, siding with poorer districts in a lawsuit launched nearly a decade ago in pursuit of billions of dollars in additional annual aid. Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn...
Penn State lands on group’s 10-worst list for free speech
On top of the fallout Penn State University experienced after a tumultuous Proud Boys appearance on campus last fall, now an individual rights group is labeling the university weak on free speech. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) placed Penn State on its latest national “10 Worst Colleges...
5 Pa. Jehovah’s Witnesses accused of child sex abuse following grand jury investigation 
Five members from Jehovah’s Witness congregations from across Pennsylvania are facing child sex abuse charges as the state’s acting attorney general continues to urge survivors to come forward and report their abuse. The charges against the five men are the result of an investigating grand jury, and in each case...
Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians could lose Medicaid coverage soon
HARRISBURG — The federal government’s pandemic-era prohibition against kicking people off Medicaid is ending, meaning that hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania face losing the free health insurance in the coming year. Many people who stand to lose Medicaid coverage don’t know the changes are coming, say officials at...
John Fetterman’s State of the Union guest is Philly man he helped free from prison
One of two brothers who U.S. Sen. John Fetterman successfully fought to free from prison will join him Tuesday at President Biden’s State of the Union address. Dennis “Freedom” Horton and his brother, Lee, were imprisoned for nearly 28 years after being convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life...
Frontier Airlines, which flies out of 3 Pa. cities, cuts price on unlimited summer pass
It is still chilly outside and summer is still a few months away, but no doubt there are plenty of folks in Pennsylvania already dreaming of taking that summer vacation. But, heck, why not go ahead and make that plural? Vacations. If that sounds dreamy, Frontier Airlines might have a...
How anxiety came to dominate the big business of medical marijuana cards in Pa.
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. When Lehigh Valley doctor Charles Harris started approving patients for medical marijuana a few years ago, most of them were dealing...
Shapiro administration orders 2,300 state employees to return to the office
Gov. Josh Shapiro is ordering many state employees to return to the office. Here are the details: What’s new: About 2,300 state government employees, many of whom had been working a hybrid schedule allowing them to work remotely, will now be reporting to the office at least three days a...
Why the Pa. Game Commission voted to keep opening day for firearms deer season in place
The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Board of Commissioners have given preliminary approval to the 2023-24 hunting seasons and dates, including a firearms deer season that opens on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The board took the action at its meeting last week. While some hunters had been urging the agency to return...
GOP declares victory in conservative state Senate district
HARRISBURG — Republicans are declaring victory in a special election for a vacant state Senate seat in a heavily Republican district in northern Pennsylvania. The Republican candidate, state Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, led Democrat Patricia Lawton by a more than two-to-one margin in preliminary returns from Tuesday’s special election. Once...
Why a Pa. school district decided to arm its officers with semiautomatic rifles
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. Sign up for free here. ALTOONA — At least two school districts in Pennsylvania now allow their police officers to store...


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