Deb Erdley stories, Page 9
IUP plans for full campus reopening in August
Indiana University of Pennsylvania is joining California, Clarion and Edinboro in posting plans for a full return to campus. Fall semester at Indiana school is slated to begin Aug. 27, officials said. Declining covid-19 numbers apparently are playing into calculations as university leaders across the region plot their plans for...
Pitt Greensburg lowers risk level as covid-19 rates in region decline
Officials at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg campus have set the stage for more in-person classes. Beginning Monday, the official risk status at the Hempfield campus will be lowered from elevated to guarded, Pitt Greensburg President Robert Gregerson announced. The change means professors will have the option of returning...
3 Western Pa. public universities plan for campus reopening this fall
A trio of Western Pennsylvania public universities that shuttered their campuses last fall and only recently began offering more classes on campus say they are making plans for a full-fledged return to campus for fall 2021. Officials at California, Clarion and Edinboro universities say they are cautiously planning to reopen...
Diocese of Greensburg announces new leadership appointments
The Catholic Diocese of Greensburg announced two new key leadership appointments. Bishop Larry Kulick, who was installed last week, revealed Thursday a new vicar general and director of Catholic Charities. Both men are longtime figures in the diocese. Msgr. Raymond E. Riffle, 68, rector of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg,...
Western Pa. GOP focuses ire on Pat Toomey, as Republicans battle for control of the party
The border separating Allegheny County from the surrounding metro area is beginning to look more like the fault lines shaking a Republican Party trying to come to terms with the aftermath of a second impeachment trial of former President Trump. County GOP chairs in Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, Lawrence, York and...
5 Republicans seek party nod for special election in 59th state House district
Five Republicans — four from Westmoreland County and one from Somerset County — are seeking the party’s nod to run in the May 18 special election to fill the vacancy in the 59th District State House seat created by the death of Mike Reese. The 42-year-old Republican from Mt. Pleasant...
Pa. Attorney General Shapiro files memorandum in Trump impeachment
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro does not have a role in the ongoing impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, but he wanted to ensure U.S. senators sitting as jurors understand Pennsylvania’s role in the Nov. 3 election. Shapiro, a Democrat, who repeatedly defended the state’s election as free and...
Pitt-Greensburg, Saint Vincent snare grants for construction projects
The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and Saint Vincent College will tap a pair of state grants to expand campus facilities. The schools were among scores of businesses, colleges and government agencies that were approved for Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program (R-CAP) grants during the final round of grant awards for...
Pennsylvania mail-in ballot registry isn’t as permanent as the word implies
Editor’s note: A prior version of this story incorrectly stated the impact of ignoring a letter regarding the requirement to apply for mail in ballots annually even if voters registered for the “permanent mail-in ballot list.” Pennsylvania’s 2019 mail-in ballot law continues to create confusion as election officials across the...
IUP alums dig deep as the university works to remake itself
Fighting an uphill battle to cut costs and end declining enrollment, Indiana University of Pennsylvania raked in record levels of financial support and set a new record among state-owned schools in a recently completed fundraising campaign. The 30-month comprehensive fundraising campaign, dubbed Imagine Unlimited, recently ended six months early with...
False narratives seeped in through multiple channels to fuel violence at the Capitol
Disinformation, misinformation and social media proved a potent brew in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Experts say it is important to understand the role each played in inciting protesters to sack the Capitol. But no one was surprised events...
Abuse survivors and advocates push emergency measure for May ballot
A bipartisan team of Pennsylvania lawmakers will invoke a rare emergency provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution, seeking to restore a constitutional amendment ballot question long sought by victims of child sex abuse. An administrative error by the Department of State, discovered late last month, prevents the question from appearing on...
Pa. Republicans mostly support Marjorie Taylor Greene in House committee ouster
Eight out of nine Pennsylvania Republicans in the House of Representatives stood with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, as Democrats led a successful move to strip committee assignments from the controversial Georgia Republican with a history of supporting conspiracy theories and making racist comments. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a...
Public education advocates hail Wolf’s school budget; Republicans balk at tax proposal
Public education advocates applauded the proposed 21% boost to K-12 funding in Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2021-22 budget Wednesday calling it bold and overdue, even as members of the Republican-controlled Legislature savaged it. “It is long overdue and very, very necessary,” said Ron Cowell, the former Allegheny County lawmaker and founder...
Westmoreland group weighs in on lack of local input, challenges in vaccine rollout
Members of the Voice of Westmoreland, a local grassroots organizing group, raised a call for the county to establish a health department during an online town hall forum on the vaccine rollout in the region. The online town hall brought together representatives from Service Employees International Union, the United Food...
‘Just sick over it’: Clergy sexual abuse victims, their advocates lament error that derailed Pa. amendment
Mark Rozzi was crushed Monday when Gov. Tom Wolf called to tell him an amendment seeking to open a window of opportunity in court for old child sex abuse claims would not make the primary ballot this year because of an advertising oversight. Rozzi, a state representative from Berks County...
Frank Dermody lost state House election but lands $145,000/year gambling board job
What goes around comes around in the Pennsylvania Legislature. Former state Rep. Frank Dermody, who used to appoint members to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, on Thursday received an appointment of his own and the $145,000 annual salary it brings. Dermody, 69, the longtime House minority leader, in November lost...
Pitt, Carnegie Mellon join global network to expedite research
Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh are joining 19 other leading research institutions around the world in an effort to accelerate research in the next five to 10 years on global health issues such as cancer and infectious disease. Spokesmen for Wellcome Leap, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization armed with...
Amendment to limit governor’s disaster powers passes Pa. Senate a 2nd time
A constitutional amendment designed to limit the governor’s powers to extend emergency disaster declarations could make its way to a voter referendum as early as this spring. State Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, a Hempfield Republican and one of Gov. Tom Wolf’s harshest critics, sponsored the proposed amendment that would...
Richard King Mellon Foundation to award $1.2B in Pittsburgh region over 10 years, seeks public input
The Richard King Mellon Foundation, the region’s largest philanthropic organization, plans to give away $1.2 billion over the next decade, its director announced Wednesday. And it will continue a new practice in doling out the old money by soliciting public input on where it will do the most good. The...
Netflix founder gives $3 million to Robert Morris University for minority scholarships
Netflix founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings is donating $3 million to underwrite 20 full scholarships at Robert Morris University, adding the Allegheny County school to a growing list of colleges and universities profiting from philanthropy aimed at boosting the future of minorities. The four-year scholarships —including money for room, board...
State Rep. George Dunbar elected caucus chair
A fellow Westmoreland County lawmaker has been elected to fill the Republican caucus leadership post left vancant by the death of state Rep. Mike Reese. Rep. George Dunbar, R-Penn Township, will serve as majority caucus chair for the 2021-22 legislative session, a caucus spokesman said Tuesday. Reese, 42, of Mt....
History pitches challenges as experts, activists express hopes for Joe Biden’s time in White House
A new day, and a new moment for America. Time to let the healing begin. Republicans, Democrats and people across the nation echoed those themes when expressing their hopes for Joe Biden’s new administration and a future less fraught with anger and division in the United States. “There are times...
Pa. Secretary of State Boockvar implores state lawmakers to ‘stop the lies’ about the election
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar implored lawmakers in Harrisburg to “stop perpetuating lies” about the Nov. 3 election as members of a House Committee relentlessly grilled her Thursday in what they billed as the first of 14 hearings on the matter. Although President Biden’s victory of more than 80,000...
‘Trump House’ creator Leslie Baum Rossi seeks nod to run for open Pa. House seat
Former President Donald Trump might have left the Oval Office, but his influence could color the special election to fill the vacancy in Pennsylvania’s 59th legislative district this spring. Leslie Baum Rossi, the Unity woman who created the Trump House — the red, white and blue shrine to the former...
