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Pa. prisons release dashboard tracking race, populations

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A new dashboard of real-time data on Pennsylvania’s prison and parole populations shows the state has made strides to reduce racial inequity, but Black and Latino residents are still greatly overrepresented in prisons and on parole. The dashboard built by the group Recidiviz, a tech nonprofit that partners with governmental agencies to use data to reduce incarceration with a focus on racial inequities, was made public Friday and includes information on prison and parole populations as well as a tab to specifically look at racial disparities in the system. ...

Pa. county declines election audit without new machines

HARRISBURG (AP) — A rural Pennsylvania county formally declined to participate in a “forensic investigation” of the state’s 2020 presidential election sought by backers of former President Donald Trump, dealing another blow Thursday to prospects for a months-long spectacle of the kind playing out in Arizona. The three commissioners in Republican-controlled Tioga County had said two weeks ago that they would not allow third-party access to the county’s voting machines for fear of seeing them decertified by the state just weeks before preparations must begin for November’s ...

Transportation funding panel issuing package

HARRISBURG (AP) — A transportation funding commission set up by Gov. Tom Wolf to find ways to end Pennsylvania’s reliance on its gas tax will issue a $15.6 billion package of recommendations, which lean heavily on shifting to a vehicle-miles-traveled fee that numerous states are exploring. The Transportation Revenue Options Commission reviewed its final recommendations at a Wednesday meeting, with the final report to be handed over Friday. It faces an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled Legislature, and is expected to kick off a debate that could last years. It comes ...

State to text those who missed 2nd vaccine shot

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Department of Health will carry out a text messaging campaign to encourage roughly 254,000 people in the state to follow through and get the second shot of the two-shot COVID-19 vaccine that they never received, officials said Thursday. The campaign will begin early next week as the resurgent coronavirus in the form of the highly contagious delta variant is skyrocketing cases in Pennsylvania and across the nation. Meanwhile, the state’s acting health secretary, Alison Beam, reiterated that a statewide masking mandate is not currently being ...

Anti-Trump GOP enters Senate race

HARRISBURG (AP) — A one-time chief of staff to the late former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and a longtime lobbyist and political consultant from Philadelphia will run for U.S. Senate as an anti-Trump Republican, and sees a crowded GOP primary as a key ally. Craig Snyder, who backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign against then-Republican nominee Donald Trump, announced his candidacy Wednesday and aimed it squarely at middle-of-the-road voters. The seat is opening up with the retirement in 2023 of two-term Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. Pennsylvania’s ...

Capitol riot arrest of restaurant owner rattles hometown

KANE (AP) — A crank caller ordered an “insurrection pizza” from Pauline Bauer’s restaurant. A profane piece of hate mail addressed her as a domestic terrorist. She even became a punchline for Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk show on CBS. A swift backlash greeted Capitol riot suspects like Bauer when they returned to their homes across the U.S. after joining the mob that stormed past police barricades, smashed windows and disrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory on Jan. 6. Relatives, friends or co-workers reported scores of them to the FBI. Some lost ...