Pennsylvania category, Page 54
Man convicted of killing girlfriend escapes Pa. prison
WEST CHESTER — A man recently convicted of murder in Pennsylvania for the fatal stabbing his ex-girlfriend remained at large Friday, a day after he escaped from a county jail. Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is also wanted in his native Brazil in a separate slaying and is considered an extremely dangerous...
Pennsylvania is considering an earlier 2024 presidential primary, partly to avoid voting on Passover
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is considering changing the state’s 2024 presidential primary to an earlier day, although the proposed move may do little to give the state’s voters more say in deciding presidential nominees. State lawmakers plan to vote on legislation Wednesday that would change Pennsylvania’s primary from late April to...
Pa.’s state-owned universities now offering Google Career Certificates
Students attending Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities can now earn tech industry-recognized certificates during their undergraduate studies through a new partnership with Google, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Tuesday. The initiative is intended to move students more quickly and less expensively from campuses into good-paying, high-demand jobs. It also would help employers meet...
State troopers no longer need college credits, Gov. Shapiro administration announces
The Pennsylvania State Police has removed college credit requirements for cadets, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Monday, with the hope of opening up state police careers to a wider pool of candidates and alleviating the slowdown in applicants the agency is seeing. Shapiro, along with State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris...
Union leaders defend historic and controversial Pa. state employee contracts
The labor contracts recently ratified by two of Pennsylvania’s largest state government employee unions have been described as historic for the size of wage increases they grant over four years. Leaders of both unions see the 22.1 % pay increases when compounded over the life of the contracts — the...
Man killed, another wounded in shooting steps away from Philadelphia’s Independence HallVideo
PHILADELPHIA — At least two people were killed and three others were wounded in gun violence in Philadelphia over the weekend, including a man who was gunned down near Independence Hall, authorities said. A 29-year-old man was shot shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday steps away from the tourist attraction where...
Court ruling on Pa. education funding puts school infrastructure in spotlight
As residents of Hempfield recently learned, the cost associated with school building projects can easily climb above $100 million. For decades, school administrators could turn to what was known as PlanCon to pursue state funding to help ease the local burden. PlanCon — short for the Planning and Construction Workbook...
Pa. Public Utilities Commission names Jennifer Berrier as executive director
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Thursday appointed Jennifer Berrier, the former secretary of Labor & Industry under Gov. Tom Wolf, as the agency’s new executive director. Berrier takes over leadership of the agency on Sept. 11. The PUC regulates electric, natural gas, pipeline, rail, telecommunications, water and wastewater services....
Penn State football’s academics rank at the bottom of Big Ten after worst score in a decade
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. STATE COLLEGE — Penn State’s football team’s academic rating plummeted to its lowest point in more than a decade, placing the...
7-year-old girl suffers fatal fall from moving pickup in Pa.
An incident involving a moving pickup truck resulted in the death of a 7-year-old girl. It all happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Jolly and Harvard roads in Plymouth Township, Montgomery County, where the young girl and four other children were playing outside when a man from...
In poll, Pa. voters say Trump committed ‘serious crime’ yet he’s still tied with Biden
A new poll shows President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump are neck-and-neck among Pennsylvania voters in a possible rematch even though a majority consider Trump’s actions to overturn the 2020 election a “serious crime.” The Franklin & Marshall College poll, conducted Aug. 9 to 20, has Biden leading...
Police officer who shot driver sitting in car is being suspended, will be fired, commissioner saysVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s police commissioner says a police officer who shot and killed a driver who was sitting in his car last week in north Philadelphia is being suspended and will be fired. Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Wednesday that Officer Mark Dial will be suspended with intent to dismiss...
Pennsylvania court says state police can’t hide how it monitors social media
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state police can’t hide from the public its policy on how it monitors social media. Advocates for civil liberties cheered the decision. The law enforcement agency had argued that fully disclosing its policy for using software to monitor online postings may...
Pa. trooper charged with vehicular manslaughter in crash that killed teacher
Prosecutors charged an off-duty Pennsylvania state trooper with homicide by vehicle for causing a fiery head-on crash that killed a woman earlier this year. Attorney General Michelle Henry announced the charges Monday in connection with the Feb. 11 crash in Sullivan Township in Tioga County. Tioga County is in northern...
Man facing more charges in kidnapping case and Pennsylvania prison escape that led to manhunt
WARREN — A man who was the subject of a manhunt in two states last month after his escape from a northern Pennsylvania jail is facing more charges in the escape and in the original case alleging he kidnapped a couple and forced them to accompany him on his cross-country...
Hershey Company employee who refused covid shot sues over being fired
A senior manager within The Hershey Company who refused to be vaccinated at the height of the covid-19 pandemic is now suing the company for laying him off despite applying for a religious exemption. Thomas Szeltner, a nearly 30-year veteran of the company, said he should have been given a...
Why some of Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s cabinet picks still have ‘acting’ next to their title
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 — Seven months into his first term as Pennsylvania’s governor, two of Democrat Josh Shapiro’s picks for top cabinet posts...
Pennsylvania’s July unemployment rate at record low 3.5%
WILKES-BARRE — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate declined three-tenths of a percentage point over the month to 3.5% in July — the lowest rate on record going back to January 1976. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry released its preliminary employment situation report for July. The U.S. unemployment rate...
Former Somerset County district attorney gets prison time for attacking woman
SOMERSET — A former Western Pennsylvania district attorney was sentenced Thursday to up to seven years in prison after a jury convicted him of attacking a woman in her home. Somerset County’s former elected District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas was sentenced to between just over two years to seven years in...
Biden to pay respects to former Pennsylvania first lady Ellen Casey in Scranton
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is traveling to Pennsylvania on Thursday to privately pay his respects to the mother of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey in Biden’s hometown of Scranton. The president is expected to arrive before visiting hours for Ellen Casey, also a former first lady of Pennsylvania, at St....
Man killed by Philadelphia police never got out of his car, didn’t ‘lunge’ with a knife, police say in new narrative
New questions have emerged about the fatal police shooting of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry in North Philadelphia this week after the Police Department changed its narrative of the events leading up to his death. At the scene of the shooting Monday, police first said Irizarry emerged from his car after a...
A plan to stop diverting road dollars to Pa. State Police could be a final piece of this year’s budget
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 — For at least 50 years, Pennsylvania has used taxes drivers pay at the pump to fund...
Trump’s Georgia co-defendants played significant roles in seeking to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 vote
PHILADELPHIA — Among the 18 lawyers, aides, and allies who were charged Monday alongside Donald Trump for their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, there are several who played key roles in the former president’s similar push in Pennsylvania. Here’s a breakdown of some...
District Attorney: Officers justified in shooting armed 17-year-old burglary suspect in Lancaster
LANCASTER — A Pennsylvania prosecutor said Tuesday that police officers were justified in fatally shooting a teenager who pointed a gun at them after a homeowner called 911 to report her security cameras had detected an intruder in house. Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams told reporters that 17-year-old Darron...
A Pennsylvania study suggests links between fracking and asthma, lymphoma in children
HARRISBURG — Children who lived closer to natural gas wells in heavily drilled Pennsylvania were more likely to develop a relatively rare form of cancer, and nearby residents of all ages had an increased chance of severe asthma reactions, researchers said in reports released Tuesday evening. The taxpayer-funded research by...
