Pennsylvania category, Page 98

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 — A close race for one of two open seats on a key Pennsylvania appellate court has triggered an automatic...

Thousands of new covid-19 cases could appear in the state Department of Health’s Monday report as Pennsylvania begins counting reinfections, officials said. For the past 19 months, state health officials have counted only one case per infected person, even if that individual contracted the virus again at some later time....

More than 500 military medals and memorabilia items — from Legion of Merits to Bronze Stars — sit unclaimed inside the country’s largest working vault in Harrisburg. It is Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s mission to return those decorations to their rightful owners. “As a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Army...

PHILADELPHIA — A defrocked priest pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of making false statements to FBI agents investigating clergy abuse. Former Philadelphia priest Robert Brennan, 83, changed his plea to guilty Wednesday in federal court, according to court documents. The charges stem from a federal investigation undertaken after Pennsylvania...

Dr. Mehmet Oz, a surgeon and TV personality who became famous 20 years ago after being deemed “America’s doctor” by Oprah Winfrey, is looking into joining Pennsylvania politics, according to reports. People magazine quotes a spokesperson from ” The Dr. Oz Show ” (which focuses on health and wellness) as...

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 — After months of work, prolonged silence from pension fund management, and more than $175,000 in legal bills, a law...

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday that the state’s acting health secretary did not have authority to issue a mandatory school mask mandate at the beginning of this academic year. In a 31-page opinion, the court found that because there was no emergency declaration in place governing covid-19 in Pennsylvania at...

HARRISBURG — Jake Corman, the ranking Republican in Pennsylvania’s state Senate, will run for governor in next year’s election, a political adviser said Wednesday, entering a huge and wide-open GOP field of candidates that is unlike anything party officials have seen in at least decades. For weeks, Corman has been...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state Senate on Tuesday approved two veto-bound firearms bills, including one to allow people to carry a loaded gun openly or concealed, without a permit, and another to punish municipalities that impose firearms ordinances that are stricter than state law. Despite a certain veto from Gov. Tom...

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 top Republican in the state House wants to give the legislature the ability to block regulations or administrative...

Advocates for people with disabilities gathered at the state Capitol on Tuesday to protest what they say is the eroding quality of home care services under Pennsylvania’s new managed care system, problems being accelerated by the pandemic. Part of the problem, they say, is the increased difficulty in getting direct...

An eastern Pennsylvania school bus went off the road and ended up with its nose in a creek, sending the driver and eight students to hospitals, but no serious injuries were reported, authorities said. Easton Area School District officials said about 30 middle school students were on the bus when...

Pennsylvania Democrats appear poised to pick up a seat on the state’s Commonwealth Court. As provisional and mail-in ballots were tallied late last week, preliminary returns showed Democrat Lori Dumas, a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge, slightly ahead of Drew Crompton, a Republican judge who was running for a full...

Pennsylvania school districts will be allowed to modify or end the mask mandate for K-12 students in January, Gov. Tom Wolf was set to announce Monday, according to two education officials who were briefed on the plan. The Democratic governor plans to turn over decisions about masking to local school...

A red wave that has been building in Southwestern Pennsylvania for a decade broke loose, washing over the region with a vengeance Tuesday, leaving only Allegheny County reliably blue when the votes were counted. In statewide judicial races that topped the ballot, Republican candidates who carried the day outpolled Democrats...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said his mail-in ballot was dropped off by his wife before Tuesday’s election despite a state law requirement that voters deliver them in person. Wolf’s spokeswoman Beth Rementer called it an honest mistake. “I did vote, actually I voted by mail,” Wolf said Tuesday...

ORLEANS, Mass. — State police divers have found the wreckage of the small plane that went down in the ocean off the coast of Cod Cod last weekend, but the pilot remains missing. The plane was found Thursday about 3.5 miles east of Orleans in 70 to 80 feet of...

Few saw it coming. Even fewer had any idea that a Nov. 5, 2011, grand jury report that unmasked retired Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky as a serial pedophile would trigger a tidal wave worldwide. “When the scandal at Penn State broke, it was as though it radically changed...

BELLEFONTE — Centre County prosecutors have enough evidence to go to trial against a woman accused of killing a man inside her Penns Valley home, a county district judge ruled this week. Brittany Guisewhite, 28, saw felony charges of third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault move forward after a...

A Pennsylvania lawmaker is introducing legislation that would ban schools from using Native American mascots. Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Philadelphia, said more than 60 schools and sports teams in Pennsylvania still use or refer to indigenous culture in their mascots and logos. “For far too long, Indigenous peoples have faced discrimination,...

PHILADELPHIA — The mayor ordered police Wednesday to stop pulling over drivers for low-level offenses that critics say lead to disproportionate stops of minority drivers, making Philadelphia the largest city government in the U.S. to ban what are sometimes called pretextual stops. The executive order from Mayor Jim Kenney puts...

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 — Republican Kevin Brobson edged out Democrat Maria McLaughlin to win a spot on Pennsylvania’s highest court, ending a contentious...

PHILADELPHIA — Prosecutors put on sufficient trial evidence over four weeks to send corruption charges against a powerful Philadelphia labor leader and city council member to a jury, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The judge rejected a defense request to dismiss the case against union boss Johnny “Doc” Dougherty and...

YORK — A Pennsylvania judge once again denied a county prosecutor’s request to drop a misdemeanor charge against a former police officer who shot a man in handcuffs outside a bank 2 1/2 years ago. York County President Judge Maria Musti Cook issued the ruling Monday in the case of...