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Wolf signs budget package, celebrates public school funding

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday signed a roughly $40 billion budget package that passed last week, as he touted the importance of new funding for public schools that he secured from Republican lawmakers, while also chalking up negotiating table losses. Wolf, a Democrat, touted $300 million extra for school district operations and instruction, including the unique idea of setting aside $100 million of that strictly for school districts historically disadvantaged by how Pennsylvania distributes aid to schools. As a result, big urban school districts — ...

GOP lawmakers push for new election-auditing office

HARRISBURG (AP) — Republicans and Democrats are feuding over whether Pennsylvania’s roughly $40 billion budget package negotiated behind closed doors and passed within hours of becoming public includes money for the state auditor general to begin auditing election results. The idea to create an election-auditing bureau under the independently elected auditor general gained currency in the Republican-controlled Legislature amid former President Donald Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories about Democrats stealing the November election. House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, ...

Pennsylvania drops mask mandate

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania lifted its mask mandate on Monday, more than 14 months after the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf began requiring people to wear face coverings whenever they left home to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Department of Health will no longer require unvaccinated people to wear masks in public, though it said businesses, health care facilities, prisons and other places may still require them. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also requires masks on planes, trains, buses and public transportation hubs. Fully vaccinated people were ...

Aid for schools, overtime rule were key trade in budget deal

HARRISBURG (AP) — A key trade that sealed a budget deal between Gov. Tom Wolf and Republicans who control the Legislature was a $100 million injection of cash into Pennsylvania’s poorest public schools in exchange for the governor backing off a regulatory expansion of eligibility for overtime pay. Wolf, a Democrat, had sought more than $1 billion in new, higher funding for public schools, but met Republican resistance. He settled for $300 million extra for school district operations and instruction, including the unique idea of setting aside $100 million of that strictly for ...

Amish put faith in God’s will, herd immunity over vaccine

When health care leaders in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country began laying out a strategy to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, they knew it would be a tough sell with the Amish, who tend to be wary of preventive shots and government intervention. Early on, they posted flyers at farm supply stores and at auctions where the Amish sell handmade furniture and quilts. They sought advice from members of the deeply religious and conservative sect, who told them not to be pushy. And they asked three newspapers widely read by the Amish to publish ads promoting the vaccine. Two refused. By ...

Trial opens up in shooting death of fast-food worker

ERIE (AP) — Trial has opened for a man charged in the shooting death of an employee during an attempted robbery of a fast-food restaurant in northwestern Pennsylvania last year. Markese Lampley, 21, is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the January 2020 death of 22-year-old Alexander Cavanah at the Wendy’s restaurant in Washington Township near Edinboro. Authorities said the victim, the shift manager, was shot during a struggle and died at a hospital. Authorities said the suspect was wearing a ski mask and a motorcycle helmet, but the helmet fell off during the ...