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Pa. governor backs off $100M schools program in budget

HARRISBURG (AP) — Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday backed off his insistence on money for a new private-school funding program after it became a sticking point in a budget stalemate between Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature. Shapiro’s shift in position came as state government plowed through its fifth day without full spending authority, and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives prepared to respond to a budget deal between Shapiro and Republicans who control the state Senate. The holdup in the politically divided Legislature was primarily over ...

Five dead in Philadelphia-area shooting

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 40-year-old man with a rifle, a pistol, extra magazines, a police scanner and a bulletproof vest fatally shot four men in a Philadelphia neighborhood and chased and killed a fifth man inside a house, police said. A 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old were also wounded in the Monday night violence that made the working-class area of Kingsessing the site of the nation’s worst violence around the July 4 holiday. The gunman fired at police as they chased him for blocks, police said. When they caught up, he surrendered in an alley, Police Commissioner Danielle ...

Chase ends with state police fatally shooting driver

HOMER CITY (AP) — State police shot and killed a driver following a chase in one part of western Pennsylvania while in another area regional police shot and killed a man they said was armed with a machete. A trooper in Indiana County tried to stop a vehicle in Center Township on Sunday night shortly before midnight, but the driver fled, state police said in a statement. A chase continued for several miles in the township and the borough of Homer City, and attempts by troopers to use hollow spike strips to safely stop the vehicle were unsuccessful. One or more troopers shot the man at ...

Man drowns after rescuing children swimming at an eastern Pa. state park

QUAKERTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A man drowned after rescuing two children who got into trouble while swimming at an eastern Pennsylvania state park, authorities said. The Bucks County coroner’s office said Marvin Alexan Fernandez Chicas, 37, “disappeared in the water” after rescuing the children who were swimming at Nockamixon State Park on Thursday evening. The coroner’s office said Friday that the cause of his death had been confirmed as drowning following an autopsy and the manner of death appeared to be accidental. Coroner Meredith Buck said in a statement that the office is ...

Pa. to begin new fiscal year without budget plan in place

HARRISBURG (AP) — Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Senate passed spending legislation hours ahead of Saturday’s start of a new fiscal year, but they lacked agreement with the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to keep state government’s full spending authority intact. Without new spending authority in place, the state will be legally barred from making some payments, although a stalemate must typically last weeks before an effect on services is felt. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has stayed out of sight in the Capitol and behind closed doors in his official ...

Milton woman is charged with COVID-19 card fraud

WILLIAMSPORT — A Milton woman was charged Thursday for possessing and making a fake COVID-19 vaccination card. According to a news release from the United States Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Collen Brungard, 37, was the subject of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Assistant U.S. Attorney Alisan V. Martin is prosecuting the case. On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the ...