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Democrat Lamb joins race for Pa.’s open Senate seat

U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb announced his candidacy for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat Friday, joining a crowded Democratic field in one of the nation’s most competitive races. Lamb is seeking the nomination to replace outgoing GOP U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. Lamb, a former Marine and federal prosecutor, rose to political prominence three years ago when he beat a Donald Trump-backed Republican in a special election that foreshadowed the 2018 Democratic takeover of the House. The Senate race is wide open on both sides and is expected to be among the most expensive in a 2022 U.S. midterm ...

Wolf says he won’t require masks in schools

HARRISBURG (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday ruled out a mask requirement for Pennsylvania schools as the academic year is about to begin, saying he will leave the decision to school districts. The Philadelphia Inquirer said the Democratic governor told reporters outside a church in Philadelphia that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aren’t mandating masks and neither is he. “I think the school districts in Pennsylvania have to decide what they want to do,” Wolf said. “I think the CDC guidelines strongly recommend that schools do that. They’re not ...

Penn State ex-president leaves jail

BELLEFONTE (AP) — The former president of Penn State was released Wednesday after serving nearly two months in jail for endangering the welfare of children by his response to a report that Jerry Sandusky had been seen physically abusing a boy on campus. Centre County Correctional Facility Warden Christopher Schell told the Centre Daily Times that Graham Spanier served 58 days. Spanier, 73, still faces two months of electronic monitoring at home. Spanier did not testify at his trial. After being convicted by a jury of the single misdemeanor count in 2017, he told a judge he ...

Police: No evidence of gun triggering a sports complex flight

MANHEIM (AP) — Authorities say there is no evidence of a firearm having been involved in an incident that triggered a stampede out of an indoor sports complex in Pennsylvania over the weekend, injuring about a dozen people. Police and emergency services officials in East Hempfield Township said a fight during a basketball tournament apparently preceded the 2:20 p.m. Sunday rush for the exits of Spooky Nook Sports in Manheim. Township police said that although several people reported hearing a gunshot, no one confirmed seeing a firearm and there were no gunshot injuries. “We do ...

Philly board votes to reject senator’s election audit

HARRISBURG (AP) — Philadelphia’s elections board voted Friday to reject a Republican state senator’s request for access to its voting machines for a “forensic investigation” into former President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection defeat. The Office of the City Commissioners’ unanimous decision will be laid out in a letter telling state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, that Philadelphia “will not participate in your proposed analysis.” Omar Sabir, one of two Democrats on the three-person board, said shortly before the meeting that he thinks it’s time to move ...

Wolf, task force urge lawmakers to promote vaccines

By The Associated Press Gov. Tom Wolf and Pennsylvania’s coronavirus task force are asking state lawmakers to urge their constituents to get vaccinated, citing the highly contagious delta variant, and one of the state’s most populous counties acknowledged Friday that it mishandled students’ confidential COVID-19 health data. Wolf and the task force, which includes Democratic and Republican appointees from the House and Senate, asked members of the General Assembly to “use every tool at your disposal, starting now,” to promote the COVID-19 vaccines on social media, in printed ...