Pennsylvania category, Page 143
Wolf: Bar service in Pa. to return, alcohol curfew to lift on Easter
Pennsylvania bars and restaurants can resume bar service, sell alcohol without a food purchase and operate at 75% capacity beginning April 4, Gov. Tom Wolf said Monday. The curfew on alcohol sales also will be lifted. Currently, bars and restaurants must stop serving alcohol at 11 p.m. and clear tables...
Pennsylvania surpasses 11% fully vaccinated for covid
More than 1.4 million Pennsylvanians have now been fully vaccinated against covid-19, according to the latest data released Monday. That means more than 11.2% of every resident — including the 20.6% that are under 18 and not eligible for the vaccine — have received either both doses of the Pfizer...
Pa. cheerleader’s mom accused of making ‘deepfakes’ of rivals
DOYLESTOWN — A Pennsylvania woman is accused of doctoring photos and video of her daughter’s cheerleading rivals to try to get them kicked off the squad, officials said. The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office last week charged Raffaela Spone, 50, with three misdemeanor counts of cyber harassment of a child...
National Park Service expands protected historic battlefields in Pennsylvania by 73 acres
The National Park Service has announced $2,188,052.50 in grants from the American Battlefield Protection Program to protect 225.33 acres at three Civil War and Revolutionary War battlefields. The grants will be used to acquire portions of Brandywine and Gettysburg battlefields in Pennsylvania and Shepherdstown Battlefield in West Virginia. The Battlefield...
During height of coronavirus pandemic, Pa. lawmakers still cashed in big on meals, lodging
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 — Within weeks of the first coronavirus cases last spring, as large swaths of Pennsylvania’s economy shut down, the state...
Average U.S. price of gas up 25 cents a gallon in past 3 weeks
The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline jumped 25 cents a gallon over the past three weeks to $2.89. The average price in Pennsylvania rose to $3.03 per gallon on Sunday, according to price tracking service GasBuddy, with the Pittsburgh region averaging $3.06. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg...
Wolf says all Phase 1A Pennsylvanians can have vaccine appointments by month’s end
Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday said he is confident Pennsylvania can meet President Biden’s goal of making every adult eligible for the vaccine by May 1, including a pledge to have appointments made for all Phase 1A residents in the next two weeks and promises to elevate the priority of...
Gov. Wolf seeks to phase out Pennsylvania’s gas tax
Amid a deepening stalemate over financing highways and public transit, Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday proposed phasing out Pennsylvania’s gasoline tax, the second-highest in the nation, and appointed a commission to recommend alternative ways to pay for the state’s needs. Wolf ordered a commission of several dozen lawmakers, transportation industry...
Philly to dim lights to make it safer for birds in flight
The lights of Philadelphia might not shine as bright in the coming weeks as a coalition in the City of Brotherly Love tries to prevent millions of migrating birds that pass through twice a year from slamming into skyscrapers and crashing to the sidewalk. Bird Safe Philly on Thursday announced...
Unemployment rises in Pennsylvania, as payrolls grow too
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate rose in January, as the labor force shrank but payrolls rebounded, according to state figures released Friday. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 7.3%, up two-tenths of a percentage point from December’s adjusted rate, the state Department of Labor and Industry said. Upward revisions to Pennsylvania’s preliminary...
Philadelphia mayor calls for action after 3 killed, 6 injured
PHILADELPHIA — The city’s mayor on Friday called for action after three separate shootings left three people dead and six others injured. Two of those killed were teenagers. The gunfire began Thursday afternoon when a 16-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man were cut down by bullets that also wounded a...
Pennsylvania to lift last moratorium on utility shutoffs
Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission on Thursday approved the lifting of its year-old moratorium preventing utilities from terminating service to all non-paying customers, adopted as Gov. Tom Wolf began ordering shutdowns to fight the spreading coronavirus. The moratorium will lift April 1 for the state’s lower-income utility customers, but the commission...
Pennsylvania to pay $475K to family of pot suspect killed by dozer
READING — The state of Pennsylvania will pay $475,000 to the estate of a man who died underneath a bulldozer that Pennsylvania State Police had used to chase him for growing a handful of marijuana plants, according to a settlement revealed in court Thursday. Gregory Longenecker, 51, had fled into...
Allegheny County adds 19 new covid deaths; Westmoreland County covid numbers stable; state hospitalizations fall
Allegheny County on Thursday saw a slight uptick in cases and hospitalizations, and a higher than usual number of new deaths reported. Westmoreland County saw a decrease in both cases and hospitalizations and two new deaths. The state of Pennsylvania saw cases and deaths remain stable with hospitalizations continuing to...
New fed relief plan saves aid for 925,000 Pennsylvanians, state says
Congress extended a lifeline to about 925,000 Pennsylvanians who get federal unemployment benefits by giving final approval Wednesday to a $1.9 trillion covid relief package. The House on Wednesday passed the American Rescue Plan, after the Senate approved its own version of the controversial stimulus bill on March 6. President...
Lawmaker calls for halt to PennDOT plan to toll 9 bridges
The chairman of Pennsylvania’s Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday said he wants to halt plans to toll nine major bridges on interstates around the state. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Wayne Langerholc, R-Cambria, introduced a bill to require legislative authorization of any proposed transportation project with a user fee, even it...
U.S. aid to Pa. draws GOP warning to use it for 1-time costs
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania state government is expected to receive more than $7 billion from the $1.9 trillion covid-19 rescue package making its way through Congress, or almost one-fifth of its operating costs this year, with some warning that the one-time aid should be used only for one-time costs. Many across...
As food insecurity continues for millions, Pa. now taking SNAP applications by phone
Pennsylvanians can now apply for food assistance via phone, state officials said Tuesday. Applications to the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are now taken on 1-866-550-4355, in addition to the established methods of mailing in a paper form or going online. The state has seen an uptick in applications...
Allegheny, Westmoreland counties see largest increase in covid cases in month
Allegheny and Westmoreland counties on Tuesday saw the most additional covid cases in about a month, according to state and local health departments. There were 348 additional covid-19 cases (166 confirmed, 182 probable) reported in Allegheny County, the first time there were more than 300 additional cases reported this month....
Women’s History Month: Facts and figuresVideo
In 1857, women toiling in the garment and textile industries in New York City factories staged a protest over poor working conditions. Fifty years later, the fight was far from over. On Feb. 28, 1907, women once again took to the streets calling for political rights for working women and...
Emails: FBI was looking for gold at Pennsylvania dig site
Go for the gold? The U.S. government went for it. FBI agents were looking for an extremely valuable cache of fabled Civil War-era gold — possibly tons of it — when they excavated a remote woodland site in Pennsylvania three years ago this month, according to government emails and other...
Police on foot, horseback and by helicopter search for missing York County woman who vanished near trail
Officers on foot, horseback and by helicopter searched an area Monday in southern York County where a 29-year-old missing woman was last seen Saturday near a hiking trail. It represented the third day of searching for Nicole Ebaugh, who was reported missing about 7:45 p.m. Saturday. She was last spotted...
Gov. Wolf nominates Meadville OB-GYN to serve as Pa. physician general
Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday nominated a Meadville doctor to serve as the state’s physician general — a potential permanent replacement for Dr. Rachel Levine, who previously served in both that role and as the state’s secretary of health. Dr. Denise Johnson, most recently chief medical officer at Meadville Medical...
Pennsylvania agrees to settle gas drilling royalties lawsuit
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania reached a settlement in a lawsuit against natural gas driller Chesapeake Energy Corp. for its handling of royalty payments to property owners, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Monday. Speaking in Tunkhannock, a northeastern Pennsylvania town in the heart of heavy Marcellus Shale natural gas production, Shapiro...
Coroner: Pa. worker killed in fall into lead refining furnace
LYONS — Authorities say a Pennsylvania worker died after falling into a lead refining furnace at an eastern Pennsylvania plant over the weekend. The Berks County coroner’s office said Monday that 30-year-old John Evanoff fell into a refining kettle portion of the furnace shortly before 11:30 p.m. Saturday in East...
