Breaking News

PA News

Some retired public servants set for first pension raise since 2002

(The Center Square) – During a speech to AFSCME Chapter 13 retirees in Harrisburg on Monday, Gov. Josh Shapiro touted the first cost-of-living adjustment, known as COLA for short, in over 20 years for various public servants. “You represent really the best of the best, the people that make our world go round and round,” Shapiro said. “The people that make a difference in our communities: the bus drivers and the building engineers, the municipal workers in our boroughs, our townships, our communities, our cities-and the amazing employees that I get to work with every day, who ...

US Supreme Court blocks mail ballot restrictions from taking effect in 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday night blocked the U.S. Postal Service from imposing new restrictions on voting by mail this November, delivering a fatal blow to President Donald Trump’s attempts to inject more White House control over the midterm election. In a brief, unsigned ruling, the court kept in place a lower court’s freeze on the restrictions. “The Government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge” to the lower court’s ruling, the justices wrote. Under the proposed restrictions, the Postal Service would have been able to block delivery of ballots that ...

McCormick and Fetterman press RFK Jr. over canceled research grants

(The Center Square) – U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick want answers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about the cancellation of research grants at a pair of Pennsylvania institutions. On Monday, McCormick’s office shared a letter the senators penned to department Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nearly one month ago about the cancellation of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, grants. McCormick, a Republican, and Fetterman, a Democrat, wrote that researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, known as CHOP, and the ...

Legislation allows Penn State to move forward with potential campus sales

STATE COLLEGE — Pennsylvania lawmakers have quietly erased longstanding deed restrictions on seven closing Penn State campuses, allowing the university to sell the entire properties to private buyers rather than return portions of the land to state control. Penn State is starting with two locations. Proposed real estate transactions for the Penn State Shenango campus in Mercer County and Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus in Luzerne County are slated for review by the Board of Trustees at its upcoming Sept. 18 meeting, university spokesperson Wyatt DuBois confirmed to Spotlight PA in an ...

Top utility regulator warns data center demand threatens electricity reliability

(The Center Square) - The future reliability of electricity supplies in Pennsylvania and nearby regions has been put at risk by data center development that is causing projections for demand to exceed anticipated supply, the state Public Utility Commission warned Monday. “Pennsylvania is at an energy crossroads,” PUC Chairman Steve DeFrank said in a new release. “Data center development brings significant opportunities, but that growth cannot come at the expense of the families and businesses that already depend on reliable and affordable electric service." Data center ...

Pa. election 2026: Complete guide to candidates for governor

HARRISBURG — The 2026 election for Pennsylvania governor is fast approaching. Voters will decide whether Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro should spend another four years as the state’s chief executive or grant his Republican competitor, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a turn at overseeing a vast state bureaucracy that implements programs and policies ranging from elections to environmental policy. Shapiro, 53, is hoping his years of executive experience will convince voters that he deserves a second term fulfilling his long-held pledge (one that has morphed into an oft-repeated slogan) ...