Pennsylvania category, Page 38

HARRISBURG — A bill passed the GOP-controlled state Senate to require Pennsylvania parents to opt in their children to access book deemed sexually explicit after more than an hour of passionate floor debate Tuesday. The bill passed 29-21, with objection from most Democrats. It goes to the Democrat-controlled House, where...

PHILADELPHIA — Federal authorities have released more details and unsealed charges in the theft of more than 2 million dimes earlier this year from a tractor-trailer that had picked up the coins from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The truck driver was bound for Miami when he pulled into a...

Panera Bread has been sued after the death of a University of Pennsylvania student. The student — who had a heart condition — had reportedly drank one of the chain’s “charged lemonades” prior to passing away. NBC News reports how the lawsuit was filed Monday in the Philadelphia Court of...

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 — Pennsylvania is struggling with faulty technology, persistent staffing shortages, and flawed procedures as it reassesses health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of...

WORCESTER — Authorities say a third person has died as a result of a weekend crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike involving a tanker truck carrying jet fuel and a pair of stopped cars. State police said the crash occurred in the northbound lanes of I-476 on the turnpike’s Northeast Extension...

Local elections in Democratic strongholds at both ends of Pennsylvania next month could show how voters feel about progressive candidates and issues such as abortion and crime ahead of the 2024 election. Philadelphia will get a new mayor, and Allegheny County will see a new executive. Voters there will also...

WILKES-BARRE — The polls had just opened for last year’s midterms in Pennsylvania when the phones began ringing at the election office in Luzerne County. Polling places were running low on paper to print ballots. Volunteers were frustrated, and voters were worried they might not be able to vote. Emily...

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 — Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office agreed to pay $295,000 to quietly settle a sexual harassment complaint against one of his most trusted advisors, according...

“Live here, live well.” That’s the online pitch promoting “Vulcan Village” apartments near PennWest University’s California campus in Washington County. The student complex has a resort-inspired outdoor pool, around-the-clock maintenance and a fitness center. But these days, there aren’t enough students living there. Fewer than half of its 770 beds...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the powerful to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office quietly entered into a settlement agreement to resolve allegations of sexual harassment...

The board overseeing Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities said Thursday it aims to freeze tuition for a sixth consecutive year in 2024-2025, provided the state boosts the system’s funding by 6.5%. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s board of governors voted to send Gov. Josh Shapiro an appropriation request of...

HARRISBURG — The U.S. Supreme Court’s current conservative majority has delivered major victories for conservatives — and now liberal discontent over those rulings is playing a major role in Pennsylvania’s top-of-the-ballot election this fall. The Democrat running for an open seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has told audiences over and...

A bill increasing the cost of dog licenses in Pennsylvania for the first time in more than a quarter century is heading to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk for enactment. The House on Wednesday, with no debate, voted 143-60 to approve the bill that passed the Senate in June, aimed at...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Wednesday passed another bill to give an earlier date for its 2024 presidential primary, an effort that has become drawn out and politically charged in a battleground state still weathering former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about a stolen 2020 election. The bill...

PHILADELPHIA — Police have arrested two more men they believe were involved in the airport parking lot shooting that left one Philadelphia police officer dead and a second injured last week — meaning all remaining suspects in the crime have been taken into custody, authorities said Wednesday. Interim Police Commissioner...

A Northumberland County man has been sentenced in Bedford County court to spend 15 months to five years behind bars for fatally shooting another man with a crossbow in 2021. Alec Rhoads, 26, formerly of Mount Carmel, was sentenced last week after pleading no contest to one count of involuntary...

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday passed legislation that seeks to avoid the difficulty Taylor Swift fans encountered this year when they tried to buy tickets to her Eras Tour. By a vote of 193-10, the chamber sent to the Senate a bill that would make it illegal to...

Penn State has awarded a contract for architectural work on its planned $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium to a firm versed in major sports construction projects, including on Texas A&M University’s Kyle Field and the NFL’s Buffalo Bills stadium now being built. Monday’s announcements of hiring Populous to handle...

PHILADELPHIA — One man has been arrested and at least two other people are being sought in an airport parking garage shooting that killed a Philadelphia police officer and injured another last week, authorities said. Yobranny Martinez Fernandez, 18, of Camden County, New Jersey, was arrested before dawn Monday in...

For a borough of fewer than 900 people, Export has a lot of utility poles. And quite a few of them are right next to each another. Known as ghost poles, the side-by-side poles number in the thousands across Southwestern Pennsylvania. In areas where the poles are a problem, the...

A Lebanon man who pulled up to a peaceful Palestinian rally in Harrisburg, shouted racial slurs and pointed a gun at attendees has been arrested, according to police. Richard Kevin Blandy, 56, faces a felony count of ethnic intimidation and misdemeanor charges of making terroristic threats and simple assault by...

BETHLEHEM — Pennsylvania’s absence of federally recognized tribal nations means there’s been an incomplete picture of its Native American culture and history, officials said Friday as they announced a grant-funded program designed to change that. The Pennsylvania Tourism Office, in partnership with Lehigh University’s Institute for Indigenous Studies and with...

Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor Kenneth Coles had only one word to sum up the forecast for Saturday’s partial eclipse: dismal. “Clouds and rain is what they’re calling for right now,” Coles said. “But if we get a hole in the clouds — and we’re always hopeless optimists about that...

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed and a second officer was wounded when they confronted people breaking into a car at Philadelphia International Airport, police said. A person who was brought to a hospital privately and died there may have been involved in the Thursday night...