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Parade resumes on Philadelphia streets

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The country’s oldest Thanksgiving Day parade is returning to the streets of Philadelphia after taking a year off for COVID-19 restrictions. City officials announced this week that Philadelphians who mask and socially distance will be welcomed along the city’s parade route to watch balloons, performers and floats — many celebrating groups that had to forego their parades during the height of the pandemic as well. Spectators can expect to see performances by Amy Grant, Kool & the Gang, Tag Team and others. The parade celebrated its centennial in 2019 before ...

School bus-tractor trailer crash kills bus driver, girl, 14

PROSPECT (AP) — A crash involving a school bus and a tractor-trailer on a western Pennsylvania interstate claimed the lives of the bus driver and a 14-year-old girl, authorities said. State police in Butler County said the crash occurred shortly after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the northbound lanes of I-79 in Muddy Creek Township. Television news helicopter footage from the scene showed the bus up against the rear of the tractor-trailer. Police said the 31-year-old man driving the bus and a 14-year-old girl who was riding on the bus were flown from the scene to hospitals and later ...

2021 gives Pa. GOP more hope for 2022 election

HARRISBURG (AP) — With Republicans on the cusp of sweeping statewide judicial races in Pennsylvania, the GOP is finding more reasons to smile a year away from a high-stakes election in which the state’s voters will pick a new governor and a new U.S. senator. Republicans could be considered favored in both contests next year. The party of the president almost always loses seats in Congress in midterm elections, and a Republican has always replaced an outgoing Democratic governor in Pennsylvania’s modern political era. On Tuesday, Republicans delivered historic vote counts for ...

Philadelphia bans traffic stops for minor infractions

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The mayor ordered police Wednesday to stop pulling over drivers for low-level offenses that critics say lead to disproportionate stops of minority drivers, making Philadelphia the largest city government in the U.S. to ban what are sometimes called pretextual stops. The executive order from Mayor Jim Kenney puts a bill passed last month by the City Council — called the Driving Equality Bill — into effect. It bans officers from pulling over vehicles solely for a handful of traffic offenses deemed “secondary violations,” such as improperly displayed ...

Statewide races for judge seats too early to call as of press time

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania voters made their choices Tuesday to fill open seats on statewide appeals courts, amid light turnout statewide and a marquee race for a seat on the state Supreme Court that will not change the Democrats’ majority on the state’s high court. In Pittsburgh, Democrat Ed Gainey became the first Black mayor of Pennsylvania’s second-most populous city, shouting to a crowd of cheering supporters a message of unity and that they were “one city, one Pittsburgh.” Polls closed nearly everywhere at 8 p.m., and early returns began trickling in, but it was ...

Vaccinated state employees to get five paid days off

HARRISBURG (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration told more than 70,000 state employees on Monday that it is offering five days of paid leave for getting fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the year, quickly drawing opposition from the state treasurer over the potential cost. The administration told employees that five days of “verification leave” can be used between Dec. 20 and March 31. Employees who don’t use the days by then will be paid for them and an employee who has verified their fully vaccinated status to the administration will automatically receive the ...