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Good government groups across Pennsylvania fear that if Harrisburg Republicans get their way in the coming legislative session, the commonwealth could end up with a high court system that is one of the most partisan in the country.
PHILADELPHIA, PA (WITF) – It’s not easy to recognize important historical moments while they’re happening. But 2020 has been a year marked by disaster and debacle. It has featured a deadly global pandemic, a reckoning over racism in the wake of several Black Americans killed by police, and a tense, litigious election. Looking back, historians, political insiders, and on-the-ground organizers agree that the last 12 months or so will leave an indelible impression. “I don’t know a historian right now who isn’t still kind of in shock,” said Timothy Lombardo, a Philadelphia-born historian of conservative politics.
As coronavirus cases soar in Pennsylvania, state lawmakers face a looming deadline to spend $1.3 billion in federal pandemic relief that the commonwealth received in early spring, but still hasn’t used.
A handful of cases are pending in courts around the state, including a few key challenges. If the Trump campaign can whittle away Biden’s advantage to 0.5%, Pennsylvania law would trigger an automatic recount.
“Nobody is looking to get anybody unnecessarily involved in the legal system.”
“People still have dirty clothes.”
An account traced to him had uploaded an image showing a sexual act between a female minor and adult male. The office said police found two other images on Folmer’s cell phone.
The group argues the strong economy makes it a good time to reinstate the cash assistance program. But the GOP-controlled legislature is wary of increased spending.
People will still be able to use other forms of identification after REAL ID requirements take effect.
Pennsylvania sentences a lot of people to life without the possibility of parole. Research has shown their odds of reoffending are low after years of incarceration.
Attorneys say they believe the stop was racially motivated. The ACLU’s client was detained, then placed in ICE custody.
The diocese has been under financial strain from legal fees and payouts to people its clergy and other affiliates abused over many decades.
The Democratic Governor has pitched the same overhaul to Pennsylvania’s corporate tax structure for five years in a row.
DEP acting on governor’s executive order — which Republicans are challenging
Republican Scott Perry and Democrat Matt Cartwright are both considered to be in toss-up races.
Joe Scarnati has represented the 25th Senate District for two decades, and rose to power as Senate President Pro Tempore in 2006.
They’re adding new plaintiffs from the Philadelphia, Altoona-Johnstown, Greensburg and Harrisburg dioceses.
The new application website comes courtesy of Act 77, which expands voting laws. Lawmakers passed it in an effort to boost participation.
Overrides are rare, and can only happen when two-thirds of the legislature are willing to support a bill against the governor’s explicit wishes. The last one happened a decade ago.
According to Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, the Dog Law Enforcement Bureau could be out of money by this summer.
At a Women for Trump event in Camp Hill, the vice president touched on education, veterans’ issues, abortion, undocumented immigrants and what he sees as ‘socialism’ in the Democratic party.
Over the past three sessions, at least a dozen Democratic-sponsored resolutions related to honoring LGBTQ+ people have failed to pass the state House and Senate.
The governor says the days of “painful” budgets are behind Pennsylvania, thanks to a strong economy. But Republicans say Wolf should work harder to reign in spending.
The old system was expensive, and its coverage was so spotty that police and other first responders couldn’t rely on it for communication.
His latest ask is more than a billion dollars to clean up lead and asbestos in Pennsylvania’s schools, houses and water systems.
Governor Wolf first introduced Restore PA last year, to a chilly response from Republicans. It’s one of several unsuccessful proposals he is reiterating ahead of his 2020 budget address.
The proposal would require Pennsylvanians to pay part of their checks into an emergency fund, from which any eligible worker would be able to draw benefits.
Thanks to a package of new laws, county officials will likely have to count more absentee ballots and register more voters.
However, the governor says he’s much less sure about his longtime push to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage.
“I’d like to be in the private sector. I’d like to be on the other side of that line where I’m actually in the middle of it, to create those jobs and see an organization thrive.
Lawmakers are speculating that Allegheny County Rep. Mike Turzai plans to leave office.
One of the bills now goes the governor for a signature, and the rest still have to pass the Senate.
The additional fees are intended to apply specifically to records that companies are reselling, using to market products, or making money with in some other way.
A bill that would change the process made it through a House committee unanimously, and now goes to the full chamber for a vote.
Governor Tom Wolf says the goal is to ensure more young offenders leave the criminal system and stay out.
Speaker Mike Turzai counters that he did so because of a routine parliamentary issue.
Studies have shown that doctors at some hospitals routinely instruct medical students to perform practice exams on unconscious patients without their permission.
Republicans are pushing for looser regulations on conventional oil and gas drillers, who generally run small operations and work with relatively shallow wells.
The chamber narrowly passed a measure that would require judges to issue consecutive sentences for multiple crimes involving guns.
In order to change how congressional and state legislative districts are drawn before nationwide reapportionment in 2021, the General Assembly needs to strike a deal by early August.
They want a GOP-controlled Senate committee to hold hearings on several of their bills backstopping ACA provisions. It’s not clear if they’ll get their wish.
GOP Speaker Mike Turzai scheduled the elections to be held less than a month before the primary. Democratic leaders think that’s needlessly confusing.
Pennsylvania’s Agriculture Secretary says several grant recipients were taken by surprise that they had to pay contracted workers prevailing wages.
The freshmen congressional members join a growing number of Pennsylvania politicians throwing support behind the former vice president.
Most Republican members have said they support the move; Democrats say they’re worried about destabilizing the Middle East and concerned Trump didn’t seek congressional approval
The governor wants to require that time-and-a-half be paid to anyone who makes $45,000 or less and works more than 40 hours in a week.
The letter from a statewide board could be used against Judge Dennis Reinaker in future misconduct cases.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale says he found tens of thousands of discrepancies in a review of county registration records. But the department says he’s overstating the issue.
House Republicans have voted to elect appellate court judges in regional, partisan elections. Only two other states use similar methods.
The measures now go back to the Senate, where members will vote to concur with, or reject the amendments.
Harrisburg’s rally was one of many around the country in which people who oppose President Donald Trump turned out to celebrate his possible ouster.
Current state law bars municipalities from paying for conferences and other instruction programs until the elected person formally takes office.
Many Democrats and some Republicans say mandatory minimum sentences are ineffective and biased against black people. The GOP committee chair says he ‘doesn’t see color.’
After 25 years in prison, David Sheppard received clemency for a second-degree murder charge. But he may have to go back to prison for allegedly stealing jeans in 1992.
Democrat Movita Johnson-Harrell says she plans to resign. She won her seat in a special election nine months ago, replacing a representative charged with bribery.
Republicans argued Democrats aren’t respecting due process, while Democrats argued the president’s conduct is baldly unconstitutional.
Major League Baseball is considering cutting 42 teams from the minor league circuit after the 2020 season.
A newly-enacted law is making Pennsylvania one of 19 states with older legal tobacco purchase ages.
Lawmakers and the governor opted to create their own exchange because it’s likely to save the commonwealth money.
A state senator’s recent defection from the Democratic party shook the Capitol last week and now it’s causing political upheaval in his district.
People abused as children will be able to file criminal suits against their abusers no matter how much time has passed.
Among other things, the measures would impose longer sentences for assaulting guards, and punish inmates for a broader range of crimes.
The longtime Luzerne County lawmaker is now registered as an Independent, but has allied himself with Republicans in key ways.
Under current law, lawmakers can accept whatever gifts they want, no matter the cost. For the first time in recent memory, the House may be poised to change that.
Supporters say the measure would ensure parents have an opportunity for closure. Opponents say it could discourage women from getting abortions, and might make traumatic experiences worse.
They’ll now get at least 42½ hours per week out of their cell, and will be allowed to eat and attend religious services with other inmates.
Tom Wolf, a Democrat, addressed the situation for the first time Wednesday afternoon, saying he is not aware of any wrongdoing.
Eugene DePasqule wants lawmakers to come up with a more comprehensive plan to improve infrastructure, and hopefully prevent future damage from severe weather.
Officials are hoping early exposure to science and tech will give rural students a leg up in rapidly modernizing fields, like agriculture.
It’s unclear exactly what went wrong with the commonwealth’s dated system, but from Thursday to Sunday, a crash kept unemployed people from filing claims.
The Associated Press says those high-risk structures are in poor condition, and could kill people if they collapse.
Pennsylvania’s Republican US Senator introduced a resolution he hopes will enable Congress to defeat future presidents’ fracking bans in court.
Last year, a Supreme Court decision made it illegal for public sector unions to compel non-members to pay dues. Some non-members are now trying to recoup that money.
Republicans in the state legislature have long pushed to privatize the commonwealth’s state-run liquor industry.
It could take a year or longer to resolve whether victims’ rights measure is constitutional.
Voters can cast ballots on the proposed amendment, but the state won’t do an official count until courts decide whether the victims’ rights proposal is constitutional.
The ACLU and other groups had argued the victims’ rights constitutional amendment is too broad and could compromise the rights of the accused. The judge agreed.
Once signed, the measure will give grants to nonprofits susceptible to hate crimes. Though few lawmakers ever opposed it, the legislative process was unpredictable.
The bills are in their early days, but they’ve already gotten early rebukes from staff for one of two pension systems.
The controversial Berks Family Residential Center is one of three facilities in the US that detains undocumented parents and children together.
Union leaders interpreted Corrections Secretary John Wetzel’s quiet aside at a prison closure hearing as dismissive.
Opponents of the victims’ rights amendment say it’s too broad and would cause “immediate and irreparable harm” to the accused. Marsy’s Law backers firmly disagree.
Supporters of the bill say it is a needed correction to a burdensome system, but opponents say it just makes the departments needlessly opaque.
Calling the issue a matter of public health, the group is proposing four bills that would require public restrooms to provide free pads and tampons to anyone who needs them.
The measure would outlaw abortions from the time a fetal heartbeat is detected. That’s usually around six or seven weeks—before most women know they are pregnant.
Pennsylvania’s brand new House Oversight Committee held its first-ever hearing Monday, on whether there should be tighter rules for lobbyists to disclose what they spend on lawmakers.
With the 2020 census approaching, black community leaders are brushing up on the best ways to get people counted.
Marsy’s Law would insert a bill of rights for crime victims in Pennsylvania’s constitution. The ACLU thinks it’s too sweeping and would need to be broken into parts.
The change, which will involve new furniture and roomier cells, will test whether a less punitive prison environment will yield better-behaved inmates
The measure has high-ranking co-sponsors from both parties, making it a rare healthcare bill that may not divide the chamber on party lines.
Lebanon isn’t not the only county that does this. The Pennsylvania ALCU says it has heard at least seven others have similar policies. The group is hoping its suit has statewide implications.
The state Senate held a daylong hearing on bills to overhaul the statute of limitations for certain abuse cases. They’ve repeatedly stalled before, and it’s unclear if anything has changed.
Pennsylvania is getting a new auditor general next year, and the field of prospective candidates is already getting crowded.
The amendment would enshrine certain rights for crime victims in the commonwealth’s constitution.
“The result has been a decrease in the ability of staff to adequately maintain physical infrastructure…manage natural and cultural resources and address numerous environmental challenges.”
A bill that would raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 21 passed the Senate easily, and may have enough support to get to the governor’s desk
For the first time, Pennsylvania’s governor is throwing his support behind fully legalizing marijuana. Republicans say they’re skeptical.
A measure that moved from committee Tuesday would give the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs jurisdiction over the building and close it off to future lieutenant governors.
GOP Chairman Rob Kauffman says in particular, a high-profile “red flag” bill won’t be considered “so long as Chairman Kauffman is chairman.”
A bipartisan consensus has been rising around bills that seek to make sentencing less punitive. But House Republicans are holding fast to one of their longtime, tougher-on-crime priorities
Those people who support nuclear worry that without tax breaks, the plants will be shut out of a competitive energy market
The caucus has released a final report about sexual misconduct allegations against Leach. It found “unprofessional” behavior, but no sexual harassment.
The top Republican, arrested on child pornography charges, was heavily involved in efforts to overhaul redistricting and elections laws.
The raft of proposals serves as a rejection of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s own energy plan.
The state attorney general says the high-ranking Republican is not “above the law.”
Their call for action comes as the Trump administration works to loosen federal regulations on the powerful greenhouse gas.
The lawmakers and activists who want to raise Pa.’s $7.25 minimum say they’re “deflated” but regrouping after failing to push higher wages into the state budget.
The administration says it wants to make sure the rotunda is accessible to people with disabilities. Some disability advocates say the move is unnecessary.
Expect arguments on everything from energy to guns, from criminal justice to wages, and more.
The Pennsylvania governor has vetoed two different bills. Lawmakers plan to send him a third.
Meanwhile, environmental groups like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation say the move is an “assault” on clean water.
Representative John Galloway was charged after an incident in May, when police found him driving with a BAC of .16
The legislature is weighing a bill that would roll back the pricing flexibility it granted the PLCB three years ago.
The head of Pennsylvania’s Manufacturer’s Association said he supports the president’s trade tactics.
Even under current detention rules, licensing at the Berks County Residential Center is complicated.
One state House lawmaker is trying to pitch a new solution to a very old Pennsylvania problem: the reliance on school property taxes.
A Republican polling firm says its latest survey found compelling evidence that a key bloc of swing voters want stricter gun control.
A law to expand schools’ security options in Pennsylvania now has some school law enforcement officers miffed.
Democrat Daylin Leach lost support from his own caucus, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, and the Democratic committees in the counties he represents after being accused of inappropriate conduct with female staffers.
The demonstration was one of many springing up statewide in the wake of the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio that killed more than 30 people.
Some Pennsylvania Democrats are urging Gov. Tom Wolf to call the legislature back to Harrisburg for a special session on gun violence, even as other legislators concede it’s unlikely such a session would produce any meaningful action.
After a series of incidents in which people have been harmed while in state or county human services care, Governor Tom Wolf says the system isn’t working.
Despite a legal aid group asking the commonwealth court to grant an injunction, a small cash assistance for the poor has ended, effective Thursday.
The alleged perpetrators were onetime Pennsylvania state inmates out on parole. And in a commonwealth that has been working systematically to get people out of prison, that prompted concern.
Democratic state lawmakers are criticizing the Trump Administration over its proposed plan to restrict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for certain people.
Pennsylvania’s attorney general is trying to convince firearms dealers and police precincts around the commonwealth to do a more effective job tracking guns–an effort he hopes will eventually help reduce gun crimes.
Like most of their colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, three representatives from Pennsylvania appeared to have wildly different reactions to his report, based on their party affiliation.
“You have to ask yourself, why is every diocese in the country dealing with child sex abuse? The answer is, the coverup, the protection afforded to child predators.”
“If you’re going to be obtaining personal information from people, it’s important that you invest that money to protect their information, or you could be facing something similar.”
A spokesman for newly elected Lawrence Tabas said a compliance officer will be tasked with enforcing the party’s legal and ethical rules.
Two advocacy groups are suing Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services over the repeal of a small cash assistance program for poor people who don’t qualify for other aid.
“I’m thrilled that the people here are trying to do as best they can under the circumstances. But I think the underlying issue is, we should not be doing this.”
A group of Carnegie Mellon psychologists say the Berks Family Residential Center it is damaging the physical and mental health of the children who are held there.
It’s part of a broader effort to make the commonwealth’s criminal justice system less punitive.
“There is a fear that the federal government is changing the immigration landscape in a negative way. I am not in support of the BCRC and its employees being associated with these extreme changes.”
In the days ahead of the state GOP leadership election, the party was braced for an ugly battle, but they managed to end on a convivial note by essentially splitting duties.
A conservative think tank is renewing one of its annual traditions: calling out state lawmakers for stashing money in the budget for municipal projects.
Details on the raids seem to be in flux, but the New York Times and other outlets have reported they are slated for Sunday, and may target immigrants in at least 10 large cities who already have deportation orders.
Governor Tom Wolf is taking matters into his own hands when it comes to funding upgrades for Pennsylvania’s voting machines.
State leaders have confirmed that this year, they’re poised to authorize the largest transfer to Pennsylvania’s rainy day fund in years: $317 million.
Pennsylvania is in the early stages of enacting new requirements designed to reduce sexual assault on college campuses.
A measure that county commissioners were counting on to fund voting machine upgrades recently met its end under Governor Tom Wolf’s veto pen.
“Mr. President you are becoming a partisan hack1 This is your job. Do your job Mr. President. Do your job!”
“We want to be helpful to the county commissioners with these voting machines, since we were the ones who decided they were not proper.”
“Frankly it was outrageous. We have the ability, we need the ability to debate the issues that are relevant to the bill.”
“No. The federal government funds the census, so there’s no need for state dollars to go into the census.”
Democratic Appropriations Chair Matt Bradford said that while he has his gripes, “the simple reality is, there is much good news in this budget.”
The Independent Fiscal Office said Friday that the commonwealth can count on ending the year with $910 million to spare. That’s a jump from their initial estimate of $866 million in May.
They are shoehorning a repeal of the General Assistance program into a bill that also includes important money for medical assistance. Their strategy is that Wolf will sign the bill, or let it become law, because he won’t want to spike the medical funding.
The bill doesn’t change much about the existing laws protecting crime victims. Jennifer Storm, the state’s Victim Advocate, said it would mainly give them standing to sue if those rights are violated.
“If you look at the decline in milk consumption in our schools over the past nine years as a result of that misguided legislation, it actually tracks with the financial decline within the dairy industry.”
“The concept, I’m fully supportive of, I just want to make sure that the numbers add up and the dollars get where they need to go.”
“We have an $813 million surplus right now. So everybody out there believes we have $813 million dollars to spend when we really don’t.”
“We would like [Wolf] to send back any budget that eliminates and guts General Assistance…and will cause people to die.”
“If it’s something that he wants to have done, it is his unfunded mandate. He needs to figure out where the money comes from for it.”
“When it comes down to brass tacks if you will, I’m not sure that they’re willing to fund education in the magnitude that we believe it should be funded.”
“As we contemplate any charter school bill…our school districts and our students and our teachers will insist on a conversation about how we fund charter school education.”
“I wish I could be the bearer of really good news here, but I’m not. This is something that we’re going to have to pay for. And if we don’t pay for it, we’re not going to get what we…deserve in police protection.”
“I don’t understand–that’s a 40 percent increase in an expenditure, and I haven’t heard any suggestion about how it’s going to be paid for. There’s something missing here.”
The effort comes on the heels of the Senate’s call for Montgomery County Democrat Daylin Leach to resign, in the wake of a provisional report about his treatment of staff.
I never considered it for a second. This is nothing to do with anything in the report, this is because I embarrassed Jay Costa by releasing the exonerating report, and I embarrassed other people who had called for me to resign.”
After touting it across the state for months, lawmakers have finally introduced Governor Tom Wolf’s ambitious infrastructure proposal as a concrete piece of legislation.
“My concern is that we have students sitting in classrooms in some of our schools that have asbestos and lead in those classrooms. We need to make sure some money is given there.”
“I think we’ve got a really good opportunity this year. When I talk to my constituents, they ask me the question–why aren’t we raising the minimum wage?”
“Our proposals will reasonably limit future growth in state government spending to inflation, plus population growth.”
These “games of skill” are often installed in places like stores and gas stations that also have Lottery kiosks. Officials said that sort of setup could cost the Lottery more than $2,000 a month per game.
The state’s Independent Fiscal Office has reported that Pennsylvania is going to end the year more than $800 million above budget projections. About half will likely fill a hole in this year’s budget.
Jobless rates can range significantly from one metropolitan area to another–from a low of 2.9 percent in Gettysburg and State College, to a high of 4.7 in East Stroudsburg and the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazelton metro.
After months of Democratic Governor Tom Wolf promoting a sweeping infrastructure plan funded by a tax on natural gas drillers, some Senate Republicans have come up with an alternative.
The “easiest thing for us to do here in Pennsylvania is join every other neighboring state in the northeast and pass comprehensive nondiscrimination legislation.”
“We need to act together. This isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue. This is about all of Pennsylvania.”
A newly-extended tax on online retailers is one of the biggest boons to Pennsylvania’s bottom line. About $165 million came directly from online sales–money the commonwealth previously couldn’t recoup.
“I mean it is inhumane to lock up families. That’s number one. You don’t lock up families, you don’t lock up children.”
Since January, Governor Tom Wolf has been traveling around the state shopping his new infrastructure plan to municipal and county officials.
“It’s not just the tariffs. I think there’s chaos surrounding the tariffs. There’s a frustrating lack of strategy on the part of the administration.”
“In Deuteronomy 31:19, it states, ‘this day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your children may live.”
“It is time to push the issue. We’ve been dealing with this long enough, and we’re going to push it.”
The state House is torn over how to update the system Pennsylvania uses to get judges onto its three highest courts.
“Just like we have diversity when we create statute, we should have diverse opinions from the vast diversity of Pennsylvania come into play when the courts are applying those statutes.”
“We saw some spirited debate today. That’s the way it should be, but we need to respect, and we all should respect the views of all Pennsylvanians. And we need to respect each other.”
“One of the reasons why young people aren’t going into it (farming) is, they can’t make a dollar, can’t make a living.”
The amount of money up for debate wasn’t huge by the Capitol’s standards. But lawmakers saw the bill as a symbol of tension between funding public and private schools.
“We’re not going to just sit back and let our rights be chipped away by something that’s just a feel-good measure.”
Since 2006, hundreds of people have packed into the state Capitol once a year to argue in favor of gun rights. The group is is expected to be back in Harrisburg today.
“When you go in and you tell a legislator that what they’re doing day in and day out is wrong, that kind of rocks their worldview.”
“It’s a poor choice of words. It’s not a fair comparison. I mean these are working folk, these are salt-of-the-earth people.”
An odd-couple pair of House lawmakers are teaming up on a bill that would get rid of the death penalty in Pennsylvania.
One constitutional amendment would get rid of Pennsylvania’s current system in which Supreme, Superior, and Commonwealth Court judges are picked in partisan, statewide elections.
The state House Speaker and other Republican lawmakers announced a slate of bills Monday that are aimed at bolstering Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry.
“Mass incarceration has resulted in 264,000 Pennsylvania residents being constitutionally underrepresented. Of those 264,000 residents, over 100,000 are black.”
Pennsylvania is one of the key states the GOP–and Democrats–are targeting in the run-up to 2020.
Pennsylvania could be spending billions more dollars to update aging roads and bridges, instead, the money is being re-routed to help fund state police.
The random reviews are part of a new strategy to make sure contractors aren’t misusing Pennsylvania’s dollars.
It may not be pretty, but supporters of the Eastern hellbender say it’s a vital reminder to keep streams and waterways healthy.
Starting this week, people incarcerated in state prisons can receive photo books–the kind that can be designed and ordered online.
It’s an effort that members say would hopefully ease the tensions that often exist between law enforcement and lower-income communities–particularly ones of color.
In 1933, some long-gone group of lawmakers decided to ban people from playing football and baseball before 2 p.m. and after 6 p.m. on Sundays.
“I am definitely in favor of seeing cases expedited, but I think they need to be done with due protection for rights.”
After an 18-month investigation into Medicaid fraud in Pennsylvania, a grand jury panel is suggesting state lawmakers make some changes to disrupt what they describe as “systemic” patterns of malfeasance.
In 2015, the Department of Health reported more than 1,800 rape kits collected in Pennsylvania had been sitting, untested, for at least a year.
“No real reason has been given to pass this legislation, other than we need the money to enhance our profit margin and to charge more for nuclear power.”
A bill aimed at changing how Pennsylvania draws House, Senate, and congressional maps is getting another shot.
While it is technically illegal to base compensation on gender, Pennsylvania women still make an average of around 79 cents for every dollar a man does.
A pair of bills that would overhaul the laws governing child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania have cleared their first hurdle in the state House–passing through the Judiciary Committee with a near-unanimous vote.
Gun control bills are always a tough sell in Harrisburg, and this one is no different.
Treasurer Joe Torsella said fellow Democrat Senator Daylin Leach has shown a troubling pattern of “lashing out” against people who have accused him of sexual misconduct.
In order to service the debt, the turnpike has raised tolls every year for the last decade–a 200 percent increase overall.
Pollsters said it’s not every day they see public opinion shift so rapidly.
Using data from the state Insurance Department, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said that north of 1.1 million people in Pennsylvania can attribute their healthcare to the ACA.
They are concerned the proposed change might dampen responses. The Trump administration wants to use the census to ask people if they’re citizens.
A report on the case from the commonwealth’s Human Services Department has found that investigators missed signs of abuse for years.
Two state representatives are setting the stage for a push to change Pennsylvania’s laws governing sexual abuse.
“If anyone suggests that any position I take is linked to a contributor,” Cuomo said, then they would be wrong.
“You can practice it in the best-case scenario, but what we know is people will be scared,”
Republicans want to repeal Pennsylvania’s general assistance program, which gives small sums of cash to poor people.
In a two minute invocation, a Christian lawmaker mentioned Jesus 13 times and praised the President for his unequivocal support of Israel.
Organizations like Planned Parenthood have also derided the initiative it as a way to chip away at abortion rights.
The campaign was renewed on a national scale in 2017. And over the last year, its chapter in Pennsylvania has begun making regular trips to the state Capitol.
The ACLU first sued in 2015, when they say some people deemed unfit for trial were stuck in county facilities for over a year.
For the second year in a row, state House Republicans are trying to pass a bill that would require union employers to let new hires know they can opt out of collective bargaining.
If you want to get a conviction scrubbed in Pennsylvania, you had better have at least $63 set aside.
Three weeks ago, the state prison system settled a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and other groups who said the Department of Corrections was violating inmates’ constitutional rights by making copies of legal mail.
First responders in Pennsylvania—and elsewhere—have been reporting a recurring problem when reviving overdose victims. Often, they’re helping the same people, over and over.
Pennsylvania’s general assembly is huge. But reducing its size would require some lawmakers to vote away their own jobs.
A slate of eight bills aimed at bolstering career and technical education is on the move in the state House.
Pennsylvania’s Health Secretary wants to make sure no one’s putting too much stock in Rand Paul’s opinions about vaccines. In a recent health committee hearing, the Republican US Senator from Kentucky said vaccines shouldn’t be mandatory, and suggested they give people a false sense of security.
The Department of Corrections has arrested three staff members at three different state prisons for trying to smuggle in drugs.
One of the most middle-of-the-road Republicans in Pennsylvania’s state House may be taking his leave. Gene DiGirolamo is running for Bucks County Commissioner this year. If he wins, he’ll join a lengthening list of southeastern GOP-ers heading out of Harrisburg.
Pennsylvania’s farming industry is changing. And the challenges—from falling dairy prices to young people leaving the industry to climate change—were front and center at a recent Agriculture Department budget hearing before a state House committee.
In recent years, pressure has been building for Pennsylvania to privatize its state-run liquor industry .One of the common arguments against continued state control is that wine and liquor selection and quality in stores run by the Liquor Control Board can’t keep pace with independent stores in other states.
One of Governor Tom Wolf’s perennially-unsuccessful policy suggestions may face better odds this year. A day after Senate GOP Leader Jake Corman said his caucus would be willing to consider increasing the state minimum wage, a high-ranking House Republican said the prospect isn’t out of the question for his caucus either.
Lawmakers grilled state transportation officials over the turnpike’s ongoing funding issues in a budget hearing Tuesday. The Turnpike Commission is behind on payments to the state amid a lawsuit over its rising tolls.
For about five months, all mail sent to inmates in Pennsylvania’s state prisons has been routed through a processing facility in Florida, where it is searched and photocopied.Inmates get the copy. The original is destroyed, though it’s digitally retained for 45 days.
Like most states, Pennsylvania has a statute that grants certain groups of people extra legal protection against discrimination. It’s called the Human Relations Act, and it prohibits employment and housing discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religious creed, ancestry, age, sex, national origin, handicap or disability,” or use of guide and support animals. One group it misses? LGBTQ+ people.
After a day in federal court, the state Corrections Department is settling a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over a boost in legal mail security the groups say violated inmates’ First Amendment rights.
Planned testimony has been halted in a federal case contesting the legal mail policy used in Pennsylvania’s prisons. Instead, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups bringing the case say they’re likely headed toward a settlement.
Last year, Governor Tom Wolf gave counties a mandate: replace their voting machines with ones that leave a paper trail in time for the 2020 primary election. That move was based on concerns that many of the aging machines are difficult to double-check in the event an election’s integrity is questioned.