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Pennsylvania category, Page 12

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Judge blocks vote to remove Penn State trustee
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania judge has blocked Penn State’s Board of Trustees from voting to remove a member who is suing the board over access to financial information, calling the vote potentially “retaliatory.” Board member Barry Fenchak, an investment advisor, believes the board has been paying unusually high advisory fees...
Cornel West to appeal after judge denies spot on Pa. presidential ballot
A federal judge on Thursday said third-party presidential candidate Cornel West cannot have his name placed on Pennsylvania’s ballot — despite the court’s concerns over how state election laws treat minor-party candidates. “Common sense tells the court that we are less than one month from a presidential general election,” wrote...
The (basically) secret list of campaign donations by no-bid contractors
This story first appeared in The Investigator, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring the best investigative and accountability journalism from across Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Every year, government agencies in Pennsylvania award contracts — sometimes worth millions of dollars — without going through the traditional bidding process meant to ensure...
Judge blocks Penn State board from voting to remove a trustee who has sought financial records
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania judge has blocked Penn State’s Board of Trustees from voting to remove a member who is suing the board over access to financial information, calling the vote potentially “retaliatory.” Board member Barry Fenchak, an investment advisor, believes the board has been paying unusually high advisory fees...
Pa. legislators approve bill outlawing sharing of deepfake porn
HARRISBURG — Legislation making it illegal to share deepfake pornography generated with artificial intelligence and without the subject’s consent cleared both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly on Wednesday. Senate Bill 1213, which also outlaws AI-generated child pornography, moves to the desk of Gov. Josh Shapiro to be signed into...
Pennsylvania state system seeks $40.3M funding boost, eyeing 7th year of frozen tuition
The board governing Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities is asking for a 6.5% increase, or $40.3 million more, in next year’s state budget. This increase could allow for a seventh annual tuition freeze. The request for 2025-26, approved unanimously by the State System’s Board of Governors Thursday, would bring the state...
Trump is counting on Pennsylvania’s rural voters to win. Will it be enough?
EPHRATA, Pa. — Rob Warihay is a busy man. He farms 4,000 acres from Dover, Delaware, to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and he owns a construction company based in his home, Lancaster County. As he waited for his daughter to show her dairy beef steer at the Ephrata Fair last week, he...
Twin boys born conjoined celebrate 1st birthday after separation surgery
PHILADELPHIA — Twin brothers who were born conjoined recently celebrated their first birthday after undergoing successful separation surgery. Amari and Javar Ruffin, whose family lives in Philadelphia, were born via cesarean section on Sept. 29, 2023. The brothers — who shared part of their sternum, diaphragm, abdominal wall and liver...
Pa. bill would give Uber, other app drivers benefits, but critics say they would lose more
A bill in the state Senate would guarantee app-based service workers a limited set of benefits, but labor advocates say drivers would ultimately lose out amid an ongoing legal battle over how those workers are classified. The bill would require network companies that employ drivers and couriers through phone-based applications...
Accepting cash for entry to school events may become a requirement in Pennsylvania
Only having cash to pay for a ticket to a school-sponsored activity would no longer stop anyone from gaining entry under legislation that passed the state Senate on Monday. The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Cris Dush, would require schools to accept cash as an optional means of buying a...
Chester County dad, sons poached ‘dozens and dozens’ of trophy bucks, game commission charges
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has announced that three Pennsylvania residents have been charged with poaching after a two-year investigation. A total of 71 charges have been filed against Carl Nelson III, 70, of Downingtown; and his sons Carroll Nelson IV, 44, and Mark Nelson, 40, of West Chester. In a...
EPA reaches $4.2M settlement over 2019 explosion and fire at a Philadelphia refinery
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached a tentative $4.2 settlement with a firm that owned and operated a major East Coast refinery that was shuttered after an explosion and fire in 2019. The deal with Philadelphia Energy Solutions was announced Tuesday. There will now be a 30-day...
Private school vouchers opposed by more than half of Pa. voters, poll shows
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Most Pennsylvania voters don’t support using taxpayer dollars to create a private school voucher program, a new Spotlight PA poll shows, an idea...
Cornel West argues to be placed on Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot
Cornel West, the provocative, left-wing scholar, appeared via video in a federal courtroom in Pittsburgh on Monday seeking to have his name added to the Nov. 5 presidential ballot. West filed a complaint last month alleging discrimination against the Pennsylvania Department of State for blocking him from appearing on the...
Pennsylvania high court declines to decide mail-in ballot issues before election
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined to step in and immediately decide issues related to mail-in ballots in the commonwealth with early voting already under way in the few weeks before the Nov. 5 election. The commonwealth’s highest court on Saturday night rejected a request by voting rights...
Enthusiastic supporters greet Trump at Butler County return
Jacki Quinto traveled more than 1,300 miles from Amarillo, Texas, to see former President Donald Trump return to the Butler County site where a bullet grazed his right ear in an attempted assassination in July. “I think it’s very important to be here now,” she said, adding she wasn’t surprised...
Exiting chancellor of Pa.’s state-owned universities encouraged by enrollment numbers
Enrollment across Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities appears essentially flat this fall versus last — an elusive milestone for a system now 30% smaller after 13 consecutive yearly declines since 2010, Chancellor Daniel Greenstein said. The State System of Higher Education expects to release official numbers early next week. Greenstein told...
Casey, McCormick hammer home attacks in debate for Pennsylvania’s battleground Senate race 
HARRISBURG — Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Republican challenger David McCormick met Thursday for their first debate in the pivotal race for a swing-state seat, with each candidate repeatedly accusing the other of lying and turning questions about energy, the sale of U.S. Steel and tariffs into...
‘All gas. No brakes!’: Tim Walz takes a post-debate swing through Central Pennsylvania
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, fresh off surviving what might have been the single most fraught night of his vice presidential run, brought the Kamala Harris campaign back to swing state Pennsylvania Wednesday. While the vice president was touring parts of Georgia ravaged by Hurrican Helene, Walz led something of a...
Voting gets underway in Pennsylvania, as counties mail ballots, open satellite election offices
HARRISBURG — Voting has begun in earnest in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, as counties increasingly begin mailing out ballots, offering over-the-counter voting in election offices and opening other avenues to voting. In Philadelphia, the state’s largest city, voters have returned about 15,000 mail-in ballots, said Seth Bluestein, who...
Enrollment dropped by 600 students at state-owned universities in Western Pennsylvania this fall
Enrollment at state-owned universities in Western Pennsylvania dropped by more than 600 students this fall compared to last year, even though one of the region’s three institutions saw growth for a third straight year. That school, Slippery Rock University, registered a headcount increase of 32 students to 8,394, up from...
Pennsylvania county manager sued over plans to end use of drop boxes for mail-in ballots
WILKES-BARRE — Three residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania county sued Tuesday to overturn a local official’s announcement that she will prevent all four of its drop boxes from being deployed for use by those voting by mail and absentee ballot in the Nov. 5 election. The lawsuit in Luzerne County...
Former fraternity leaders sentenced in Penn State hazing death of Tim Piazza
BELLEFONTE — Two former leaders of a Penn State fraternity were sentenced Tuesday to spend two to four months in Centre County Prison for their roles in leading 2017 hazing rituals that resulted in the death of pledge Timothy Piazza. After a seven-year legal odyssey, Brendan Young, 28, and Daniel...
Free speech group urges Penn State to apologize for removing newspapers, newsstands
A free speech advocacy group says Penn State University should publicly apologize to its student newspaper staff for removing dozens of newsstands and newspapers from campus over what the school has called a violation of advertising rules. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) says it is “gravely concerned”...
2024 Pennsylvania general election voters’ guide: U.S. House District 16
Candidates participating in this year’s general election were invited to submit information to the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, which partnered with PennLive to create this voters’ guide. The candidates below are in contested races to represent Pennsylvania in Congress and are in the order provided by the League...


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