Pennsylvania category, Page 224
Report: Pennsylvania must do more to help Chesapeake Bay
NORFOLK, Va. — A nonprofit that tracks pollution in the Chesapeake Bay is once again lambasting Pennsylvania for not doing enough to protect the nation’s largest estuary. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation released a report Tuesday that says Pennsylvania’s plan to reduce pollution is “woefully inadequate.” States are tasked with keeping...
City Hall for sale? Scranton might sell municipal building
SCRANTON— Everyone complains that City Hall is for sale but it might soon be the case in a Pennsylvania city. City Hall in Scranton needs a renovation, and the mayor’s administration is considering putting the 130-year-old structure up for sale rather than footing the nearly $11 million bill to fix...
Police: Gun accidentally fires, bullet hits girl taking bath
HAZLETON — Police say a bullet from a gun that accidentally discharged in a northeastern Pennsylvania home went through a wall and struck a 13-year-old girl who was taking a bath. Hazleton’s police chief says the bullet went through furniture and a wall before hitting the girl at about 1...
Pa. lawmakers report $83K in travel on annual ethics disclosures
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania state lawmakers’ newly filed ethics forms show they accepted more than $83,000 in free trips last year and collected a variety of gifts, booze and free meals. That’s just the value that lawmakers reported, and they are not required to disclose everything they accept in a state...
ATV hits deer on Pennsylvania road, killing 2 men
WARREN — State police say an all-terrain vehicle hit a deer in northwestern Pennsylvania over the weekend, killing two men. Police say the crash occurred at about 7:20 a.m. Sunday in Triumph Township in southwestern Warren County. Police say the ATV was heading west on Campbell Hill Road when it...
Boy, 13, falls from observation level on Gettysburg monument
GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Authorities say a 13-year-old boy from Indiana was flown to a hospital after plummeting about 40 feet from a monument at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. Acting park information officer Jason Martz says the Fort Wayne youth was visiting the park on a school field trip...
Pennsylvania has already seen yearly average of tornadoes
Weather officials say Pennsylvania has already recorded the average number of tornados for a year. Meteorologist Sarah Johnson of the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey says 16 tornadoes that have had preliminary confirmation in the commonwealth so far this year. Severe weather is more common in...
More legal wrangling ahead over flow of gasoline in Laurel Pipeline
The Texas-based owner of a petroleum pipeline that serves Western Pennsylvania is trying once again to move refined product in an easterly direction — to the continued chagrin of Giant Eagle, GetGo, Sheetz and other gasoline retailers. Houston-based Buckeye Partners LP and its subsidiary, Laurel Pipe Line Co., which operates...
Bill would assist grandparents raising children in the wake of opioid epidemic
A coalition of Midwestern and Northeastern senators from some of the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic want to open additional resources to grandparents and other relatives who have taken on child rearing duties in the wake of the addiction crisis. Citing the needs of more than 100,000 children...
Police: Allentown student brought loaded gun, knife to middle school
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Police in Pennsylvania say a middle school student brought a loaded gun and a knife to school. The Allentown School District said in a Facebook post Friday that it received a report that a Harrison Morton Middle School student had weapons. Officials identified and searched the student...
Altoona’s Lakemont Park, with world’s oldest roller coaster, is back open for rides
No doubt, Pennsylvania’s got some amazing things. But the world’s oldest wooden roller coaster? Yep, we got that — it’s Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park in Altoona, which reopens to the public after more than two years of renovations. In March 2017, Lakemont announced it was closing for renovations....
Trump merchandise seller charged with assault, robbery at president’s Pa. rally
A traveling Trump merchandise seller in a camouflage “Make America Great Again” hat was charged with assaulting and robbing another vendor shortly after the president’s visit to Lycoming County on Monday. According to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Willie Edward Singleton, 29, of South Carolina, is accused of stealing cash —around $500...
Gov. Wolf: Early stats point to drop in 2018 overdose deaths
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf says preliminary statistics are pointing to a decrease in overdose deaths in Pennsylvania last year, as his administration suggests the opioid crisis might be starting to wane in some parts of the state. Wolf spoke Wednesday as he participated in a training session on how...
No license required: Sunday is Fish-For-Free Day in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will offer its first of two Fish-For-Free Days on Sunday, when anyone can fish, even without a state fishing license. The second free fishing day will be July 4. The commission is offering the free days to open up fishing opportunities for the public,...
GOP’s Fred Keller wins Pennsylvania’s special U.S. House election
HARRISBURG — Republican Fred Keller, a conservative state lawmaker, won the special election for Congress on Tuesday in a heavily Republican district that sprawls across areas of central and northern Pennsylvania that are a stronghold for President Trump. Keller, of Snyder County, will replace Republican Tom Marino, who resigned in...
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney easily fends off 2 challengers in primary
PHILADELPHIA — Democrat Jim Kenney is poised to keep his job as mayor of the nation’s sixth largest city after fending off two challengers in Tuesday’s primary who criticized his signature achievement: a soda tax to help provide free preschool classes. The victory all but assures Kenney will stay on...
Pennsylvania man accused of baiting cats with fishhooks
PLYMOUTH — A northeastern Pennsylvania man accused of baiting cats with food on fishhooks is facing animal cruelty charges. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says a stray cat was found April 8 in a vacant house with three fishhooks in its mouth. The cat was treated...
Lawmakers want to strike ‘good moral character’ from occupational licensing criteria
A bipartisan coalition of Pennsylvania lawmakers wants to eliminate the requirement that applicants to 23 state occupational licensing boards be of “good moral character.” The proposal comes on the heels of a lawsuit the Institute for Justice filed late last year challenging the Pennsylvania Board of Cosmetology’s decision to deny...
Pennsylvania’s April jobs report sets more records
HARRISBURG— Pennsylvania’s April jobs report broke more new ground, as the unemployment rate hit a record low and payrolls hit a record high for a third straight month. The state Department of Labor and Industry said Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped by one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.8%. The state...
Feds certify Pennsylvania’s Real ID system meets standards
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Real ID identification system is now in compliance with federal regulations, more than a year before the IDs will be needed for commercial airline passengers and those entering secured federal facilities. The state Transportation Department said Monday it received the notification from the U.S. Department of Homeland...
Penn State students’ documentary aims to shine a light on 1987 State College killing
What started as a school project for three Penn State film majors has become a mission to solve a Happy Valley cold case and generate discussion around a slain woman who, they said, “does not deserve to be forgotten.” The group created an eight-minute documentary about PSU student Dana Bailey,...
Trump making 1st visit of 2019 to Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG, Pa. — President Donald Trump is coming to the battleground state of Pennsylvania for a rally hours before voters in a congressional district in the northcentral part of the state pick a new representative to go to Washington. Trump’s rally is Monday at a hangar by Williamsport Regional Airport...
On-duty state trooper dies on turnpike in Bucks County
A 58-year-old Pennsylvania state trooper died while on duty Saturday morning on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Trooper Donald C. Brackett was found unresponsive next to his patrol vehicle from an apparent medical episode, Acting Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Lt. Col. Robert Evanchick announced Saturday night. The Bensalem resident was a nearly...
Defunct Bethlehem Steel’s 21-story headquarters implodedVideo
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Sixteen thousand tons of Bethlehem Steel collapsed in a matter of seconds Sunday as a demolition crew imploded Martin Tower, the defunct steelmaker’s former world headquarters. Crowds gathered to watch the demolition of the area’s tallest building, a 21-story monolith that opened at the height of Bethlehem...
Coal still fuels economic fire in Pennsylvania, industry study reports
Don’t rule the coal industry out as an economic force in Pennsylvania just yet. A new study — conducted by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and commissioned by the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance — found that coal mining accounts for nearly $7 billion in economic activity in the state, including...
