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Pa. eyes $500M from feds for cleaning plan

HARRISBURG (AP) — A state Senate committee in Pennsylvania approved legislation Tuesday to use federal coronavirus relief aid to revive a long-running program designed to help clean up waterways, fix up parks and preserve open space. The bill, approved 10-1, would inject the Growing Greener program with $500 million from the American Rescue Plan Act signed by President Joe Biden in March. The bill still requires approval from the full Senate and House before it could go to the desk of Gov. Tom Wolf. The money likely would have to come out of the $2.4 billion in money left over ...

Measure on youth sports masking clears House

HARRISBURG (AP) — Legislation that cleared a House committee on Monday would give Pennsylvania school districts the authority to decide whether student-athletes must wear masks while playing, as GOP lawmakers continue looking at a more aggressive move against the governor’s universal mask mandate in schools. The Republican-controlled House State Government Committee approved the sports masking measure 15-10 along party lines. It would give “exclusive authority” to schools, recreational clubs, community leagues and similar groups to set masking policy for youth athletes, though ...

GOP aims to make election changes in state’s constitution

HARRISBURG (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania on Monday unveiled sweeping changes to the conduct of elections through a proposed constitutional amendment, the latest turn in a partisan power struggle over elections in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that last year’s presidential contest was rigged against him. The Republican-penned measure passed the House State Government Committee on party lines, 15-10. One provision would substantially toughen Pennsylvania’s existing identification requirements for a registered voter to cast a ballot, ...

State presses Philadelphia agency over elder abuse and neglect

HARRISBURG (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration became so concerned about how three cases of neglect or abuse of older people were handled in Philadelphia that it is ordering improvements at an agency there, but officials are refusing to disclose what happened to those three people, or whether they are alive. The Aug. 6 letter by Wolf’s Department of Aging secretary, Robert Torres, came weeks after staff at the state agency began raising alarms, including that caseworkers’ caseloads were above the limit in state law. Torres’ letter went to the president of the Philadelphia ...

Court revives suit against Facebook over TV host’s image

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court has revived a Philadelphia newscaster’s lawsuit against Facebook over the unauthorized use of her image in advertisements for dating sites and sex-related products that ran on the site. A divided panel concluded that Facebook is not immune from Fox 29 host Karen Hepp’s claim that the advertisements violated her right to control her public image and reputation. U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman, writing for the 2-1 majority, said the suit falls under the narrow carveout for intellectual property claims under Section 230 of the ...

Prosecutor charged with violently raping woman in her residence

HARRISBURG (AP) — An elected county prosecutor in Pennsylvania was charged Wednesday with violently raping a woman he knew through work, leaving her home only after she told him she would not call police, authorities said. Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Lynn Thomas, 36, was accused of attacking the woman in her Windber home Saturday. He was charged with rape, indecent and simple assault, strangulation and criminal trespassing. The Republican’s lawyer, Ryan Tutera, said that he was not guilty and that Thomas’ wife was working to get him bailed out of the Cambria ...