Pennsylvania category, Page 50

Two fishermen, including a Mercer County resident, were sentenced Thursday for their roles in a cheating scandal last year at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament in Cleveland. Chase Cominsky, 36, of Hermitage, and Jacob Runyan, 43, of Ashtabula, Ohio, were sentenced in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to...

A state senator is once again trying to modernize Pennsylvania’s liquor system by expanding access to pre-packaged cocktails. The legislation would allow restaurants, bars, taverns, beer distributors, grocery and convenience stores that sell beer and wine to add these popular canned cocktails such as rum punch, pina coladas and margaritas...

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 — Cheryl Thomas first asked Pennsylvania officials to cap old oil wells on her land in 1988. Abandoned by the...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Republican Party is trying to learn from internal strife over last year’s failure to endorse in premier primary contests and, this year, it is putting its clout on the line by issuing endorsements ahead of Tuesday’s primary election. Republicans are now putting up big bucks to try...

PHILADELPHIA — There were no corrections officers assigned specifically to watch the housing unit of a Philadelphia prison when two inmates escaped Sunday night, and no armed perimeter guards were on duty as the men broke through the prison’s fence, a correctional officers union official told The Associated Press on...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Democrats who reclaimed the Pennsylvania House majority in November and clung to a one-seat margin by sweeping three special elections earlier this year face yet another contest for control of the chamber next week, when voters will fill a vacancy in the Philadelphia suburbs. At stake in...

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of former city SWAT Officer Richard P. Nicoletti, who is facing criminal charges for pepper-spraying three demonstrators who sat in the middle of I-676 during the city’s racial justice protests in 2020. After deliberating for more than two...

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 — When Josh Shapiro pitched his first budget as Pennsylvania’s governor during a nearly hour-and-a-half speech in March, the Democrat...

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 number of people getting help from a state program that offsets some housing costs for older and disabled...

A 13-year-old has been charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the April 1 shooting death of his 12-year-old friend Kain Heiland. Nolan Grove, who is being charged as an adult, is also facing a felony charge of having a firearm without a license and multiple misdemeanor counts of...

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 — When Devon Taliaferro first ran for school board in Pittsburgh Public Schools, she filed as a Democrat. She’s a...

In Philadelphia’s first mayoral race since crime spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, the crowded Democratic field is trying to make public safety a campaign cornerstone, advocating approaches that range from mental health interventions and cleaner streets to echoes of “tough-on-crime” Republican rhetoric. Six Democrats are considered serious contenders to succeed...

A bill that would expand Pennsylvania’s role in railroad safety enforcement passed a House committee vote with broad bipartisan support Wednesday, three months after East Palestine, Ohio rail disaster near the state border. The House Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities Committee approved House Bill 1028 Wednesday on a 19-2 vote....

Is a shortage of nurses preventing hospitals from hiring enough? Or is there a sufficient supply of nurses, but not enough willing to work in hospitals? That’s a central question in the debate over a proposed Pennsylvania law that would require hospitals to provide a minimum number of nurses for...

HARRISBURG — A bill to broaden protections for LGBTQ+ people passed the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives on Tuesday — the first to advance this far after yearslong efforts by Democrats — though it faces strong headwinds in the Republican-controlled Senate. The bill passed 102-98 in the House where Democrats...

Workers at a Pennsylvania chocolate factory smelled “rotten eggs” before a powerful natural gas explosion that leveled one building, heavily damaged another and killed seven people, federal safety officials said Monday in a preliminary report. The National Transportation Safety Board’s five-paragraph account of the fatal explosion confirmed earlier reporting by...

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s next round of lottery drawings for more than 3,900 specialty bottles will take place next week. Registration will be open through 5 p.m. on Friday. The lottery is only open to Pennsylvania residents and liquor-license holders. Winners will have a chance to purchase limited-release bourbon...

Rich Caruso was skeptical when he learned his alma mater, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, wanted to boost rural physician access by opening the commonwealth’s first school for osteopathic medicine on a state university campus. Then his 101-year-old mother, Margaret, got sick. What happened next to the woman who lives in...

A state Senate bill that would ban what are often called “supervised injection sites” has elicited a divide among Democratic lawmakers and potentially opened a new front in Republicans’ repeated efforts to circumvent the power of Philadelphia’s district attorney. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday discussed and ultimately approved Senate...

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 — Harrisburg policymakers appear unlikely to embrace a signature selling point in Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first budget: a tax...

Pennsylvania created a new law Monday that will require insurers to cover preventive breast and ovarian cancer screenings for high-risk women at no cost. In doing so, the state became the first in the nation to establish such a law. The bill was introduced by Senate President Pro Tempore Kim...

PHILADELPHIA — Two teenagers have been charged with firearms and related offenses following the slaying of three people and the wounding of a fourth person at a northeast Philadelphia home, authorities said. Lt. John Stanford told reporters that officers called to the residence in the Lawncrest neighborhood shortly after 3:30...

Penn State University appears poised to move forward with the first phase of renovating Beaver Stadium, a closely watched project to extend the life of one of the nation’s largest and most familiar college football venues. University trustees, due to meet Friday, May 5 at University Park, are expected to...

A friend asked Katy Nesbitt what’s more stressful: Being second-guessed by thousands of screaming World Cup soccer fans in a gigantic stadium or giving the commencement speech at her alma mater. The first American woman to referee at a men’s World Cup, Nesbitt laughed at the thought, knowing she will...

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 — Pennsylvania Democrats used the first full week of session since they solidified their majority in the state House to...