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Funeral arrangements announced for a fallen state trooper

From staff reports ASHLAND — The Pennsylvania State Police have announced funeral arrangements for Trooper Michael E. Pahira Jr., who was killed in the line of duty July 1 while conducting a commercial vehicle inspection in Schuylkill County. Visitation will be held from 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 8, at North Schuylkill Junior/Senior High School, 15 Academy Lane, Ashland. The funeral service will follow at 11 a.m. Both the visitation and funeral are open to the public. Burial services will be private. The funeral service will be livestreamed by Commonwealth Media Services and ...

Penn State nursing leader retires after 37-year career

STATE COLLEGE — After nearly four decades of educating future nurses and expanding nursing education across Pennsylvania, Dr. Raymonde “Rae” A. Brown retired from Penn State on July 1, concluding a 37-year career in nursing education and academic leadership. Brown began her nursing ...

Amid $41B shortfall, Pa teachers’ pension cites private equity

Pennsylvania’s public-school employees’ pension fund is $41 billion short of what it needs to pay promised benefits. Last year, it missed the investment benchmark that officials set, a result they said was “primarily due to performance within private equity.” As of Dec. 31, Pennsylvania’s Public School Employees’ Retirement System held $85.3 billion in assets, making it one of the nation’s largest public pension funds. PSERS invested $10.1 billion in private equity with a goal of earning a 10.06% return. It returned just 2.59%. According to PSERS, private equity reduced ...

State lawmakers want to lower electric bills

HARRISBURG — Responding to public anger over soaring energy costs, Pennsylvania lawmakers in both parties have voted in support of a massive tax cut that would lower electric bills for customers across the state — although they have said little publicly about how to pay for the $1.7 billion hole the measure would create in the budget. Legislators in both parties are touting it as the largest tax cut in Pennsylvania history, although it’s not clear whether it will actually become law. The proposed change would eliminate a 5.9% state tax on the sale of electricity. It would take ...

Pa budget is late for fifth year in a row

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s budget is late for the fifth year in a row. The Republicans who control the state Senate sent their members home on the Tuesday deadline without a deal, and said in a statement that the week’s talks had given them “necessary clarity on many outstanding issues which were delaying completion of this year’s budget.” They estimated that a deal will be in the offing “in the days following July 4th” and said they’ll return to session once final language is ready. The Democrats who lead the state House were less positive in a news conference ...

EagleBank to pay $9.7M to settle federal investigation

HARRISBURG — EagleBank has agreed to pay more than $9.7 million and entered into a non-prosecution agreement to resolve a federal investigation into violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, U.S. Attorney Brian D. Miller announced Tuesday. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the community bank, which operates in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, admitted it willfully failed to maintain adequate anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism programs between 2010 and 2021. Federal prosecutors said the bank ...