Pennsylvania category, Page 220

SCRANTON — The Pennsylvania Department of Health has banned dispensaries from participating in one of the state’s largest cannabis festivals. A spokesperson for the department tells The Philadelphia Inquirer they issued the ban last week because the Pennsylvania Cannabis Festival in Scranton is not a “medically focused event.” Festival organizer...

BETHLEHEM — Lehigh University in Pennsylvania has announced a ban on hard liquor from on-campus housing as part of a crackdown on fraternities and sororities. University officials announced the ban Tuesday as part of its 10-point “plan for Greek excellence.” Other points on the plan include requiring live-in graduate assistants...

Pennsylvania State Police issued 2,065 citations and 295 written warnings to commercial vehicle drivers who ignored emergency traffic restrictions on several major roadways during three recent winter storms. State troopers also responded to 31 crashes involving commercial vehicles on roads where restrictions on such vehicles and a reduced speed limit...

It didn’t take long for the new Pennsylvania Game Commission webcam to show one bear cub tucked under momma bear Tuesday evening. There are more cubs, but just how many, the game commission isn’t sure. In most of the webcam views, the mother black bear has had her back to...

VALLEY FORGE — The national park on the site where George Washington and the struggling Continental Army endured a tough winter during the American Revolution boasts a new feature that’s a couple of hundred million years old — dozens of fossilized dinosaur footprints discovered on rocks used to pave a...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania is joining 19 other states in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s move to restrict taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions. Attorney General Josh Shapiro joined the lawsuit filed Tuesday in an Oregon federal court challenging what critics call the “gag rule.” Shapiro,...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Florida man’s plans to bring a military rocket-propelled grenade launcher back home were shot down after security screeners at a Pennsylvania airport spotted the non-functioning weapon in his checked bag. The Transportation Security Administration says the unassembled parts of the launcher and a replica grenade were...

Pennsylvania added nearly 4,000 legal marijuana-related jobs in 2018, according to a study done by cannabis information website Leafly. It’s not easy to track the number of people employed by the marijuana industry. State and federal agencies do not track these numbers, according to Leafly’s study. The study estimates job...

The Pennsylvania Game Commission flipped the switch Monday on a new live web cam in a bear den under a porch in Monroe County. In the den are a sow and an undetermined number of cubs. The agency can’t confirm how many cubs are in the den as the cam...

Move over Latrobe. The Westmoreland County city that was rated as one of the 50 most charming cities in the nation last month by the Travel Channel was looked over as the best small community in Pennsylvania by an online website. A writer for the Denver-based Discoverer Blog selected New...

A bipartisan Senate bill that seeks to rein in President Trump’s authority to impose tariffs is gaining momentum. The bill, originally sponsored by U.S. Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Allentown and Mark Warner, D-Va., would require the president to get congressional approval to impose tariffs based on national security. In recent weeks...

NEW ORLEANS — A preliminary hearing has been set for a woman accused in the stabbing death of a Pennsylvania jeweler at a hotel in New Orleans’ main tourist district. Megan Hall will appear in court on March 14. The 25-year-old was arraigned on second-degree murder charges on Monday in...

ALLENTOWN — A Pennsylvania man has been convicted of fatally shooting another man during a home invasion robbery as the victim’s young daughter looked on. A Lehigh County jury found Waldemar Rivera guilty of murder, burglary, robbery and conspiracy in the August 2017 slaying of 39-year-old Jermaine Taylor. The 22-year-old...

HARRISBURG — Methamphetamine and cocaine use are on the rise in Pennsylvania while prescription drug and heroin deaths are leveling off in some areas, data that appears to reflect nationwide trends. Jennifer Smith, secretary for Pennsylvania’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, told a state Senate committee Monday that the...

A rare bottle of Scotch whisky being auctioned by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board was distilled just a few years after the end of World War II and spent the next 52 years aging. The Macallan 1949 Single Malt Scotch was bottled in 2002 and is now available for sale...

Branding experts, seeking a new slogan for the Keystone State might try: “Pennsylvania — firmly in the middle of the pack.” Citing an analysis of federal jobs reports, Governing magazine reported Monday that Pennsylvania ranked 27th in the nation in jobs growth last year. The state posted an ambitious 1.2...

If cicadas emerge from the ground only once every 17 years, why do they seem to show up so often? There are actually 15 separate broods of cicadas in the United States — five of which include Pennsylvania as part of their territory. Related story: Cicadas will swarm Southwestern Pa....

On pace to collect a record number of sales for the second consecutive year, Pennsylvania Lottery officials are pondering if the games can keep topping themselves. “We have been growing for decades, some years more than others,” said Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko. “When the recession hit our sales and...

PHILADELPHIA — Forecasters issued weather warnings and transportation officials announced vehicle restrictions on some roadways as another round of winter weather descended on Pennsylvania. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for much of eastern Pennsylvania with heavy wet snow and sleet and accumulations of four to eight...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Republican state lawmaker survived four rounds of voting Saturday to become the heavy favorite to fill an open congressional seat in northern Pennsylvania. Rep. Fred Keller beat 13 other candidates during closed-door voting at an event hall in Williamsport where 202 party conferees sorted through the...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — With nuclear power plant owners seeking a rescue in Pennsylvania, a number of state lawmakers are signaling that they are willing to help — with conditions. Giving nuclear power plants what opponents call a bailout to ensure they stay open could mean a politically risky vote to...

After several years of slow-but-steady increases and two years of sharp climbs, drug overdose deaths in Southwestern Pennsylvania declined by more than 40 percent last year. Preliminary reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the first quarter of 2018 suggest it is a trend that has spread...

Arguing that statewide broadband access is needed to increase educational opportunities, Gov. Tom Wolf announced an infrastructure initiative on Friday called “Restore Pennsylvania.” The plan calls for an investment of $4.5 billion dollars over the next four years to expand broadband access to all Pennsylvanians. Nearly a million Pennsylvania residents...

The American Federation of Teachers, or AFT, is calling on Pennsylvania’s $56.2 billion school employees’ retirement fund (PSERs) and 23 other large pension funds to consider divesting their stock in private prison corporations. A new AFT report found that PSERs is among two dozen public pension funds that own a...

A Western Pennsylvania county will be among the first in the state to have an enhanced audit of its election results. Mercer and Philadelphia counties both bought new voting systems that will be used for the first time in November. With concerns over election security increasing in recent years, the...