Free Republic

Using the powers voters awarded them last month, the state Legislature’s Republican majorities brought a sudden end Thursday to Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic disaster declarations. Resolutions to formally close the 16-month state of emergency passed on mostly party line votes first by a 30-20 margin in the Senate, and later in the House, 121-81. The actions are effective with Thursday’s votes, since the Constitutional amendments passed by statewide ballot referendums on May 18 now give the General Assembly the authority to end a governor’s emergency declaration with a simple majority vote. For many Pennsylvanians, the legislative votes simply put a...

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday that he won’t lift the COVID-19 restrictions until Memorial Day, despite requests to do so earlier. Earlier this month, Wolf said the state’s COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and gatherings would end on Memorial Day, May 31. Businesses, including restaurants and entertainment venues, can operate at full capacity starting Monday at 12:01 a.m. There will be no state-imposed limits on gatherings - including pro sports events - beginning on Memorial Day. Some lawmakers had asked the governor to end the restrictions on Friday, so businesses that have been hurting during the pandemic can move to...

The number of Pennsylvania counties with high spread of COVID-19 can now be counted on one hand. Only five of the state’s 67 counties are showing substantial transmission of the coronavirus, Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said Tuesday. Last week, 22 counties were seeing substantial transmission of the virus, while 40 counties had high spread two weeks ago. None of the five counties with substantial spread are in the Harrisburg area. The percentage of positive COVID-19 tests dropped to 4.5% for the week of May 14-20, down from 5.3% the previous week. It’s the fifth consecutive week the positive test rate...

23 Pennsylvania-run museums and historical sites, including the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Landis Valley Village in Lancaster and the Ephrata Cloister, will all reopen on April 30, albeit with reduced hours and at a limited capacity. According to a press release from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, operating schedules will likely vary by site. Updates will be provided via social media and the department’s website. Face masks must be worn by visitors when at any of these sites and social distancing is required. Visitors will also be expected to wash or sanitize their hands before upon entrance....

The Wolf Administration’s latest relaxation of Covid-19 emergency rules for many public venues wasn’t met Monday with the kind of widespread rejoicing you might have expected at within many of Pennsylvania’s long-suffering entertainment and recreation sectors. To many operating movie theaters, special event venues and even larger stadiums and arenas, the incremental step-ups in capacity limits still aren’t enough to get them back to profitability, and when overlaid with social distancing requirements, may not make any difference at all. Many of these businesses have been hit the longest and the hardest from the restrictions put in place late last winter...

Governor Tom Wolf says to close, but at least four restaurants are saying “no.” Taste of Sicily and Babe’s Grill House in Palmyra, along with Kuppy’s Diner in Middletown and Fenicci’s of Hershey have all publicly announced their intentions to remain open for indoor dining over the weekend. The Wolf administration unveiled new coronavirus restrictions on Dec. 10. The restrictions go into effect on Dec. 12 and include the closure of indoor dining. But some restaurant owners objected to the shutdown order and the short notice. Phil Guarno, owner of Fenicci’s of Hershey, said that because Governor Wolf’s office had...

Despite a plea from Penn National Gaming to keep casinos open, Gov. Tom Wolf went ahead with his anticipated temporary shutdown announcement Thursday, saying no dice to the entertainment industry for the remainder of 2020 and into early 2021. His order requires casinos, along with theaters, concert venues, museums, movie theaters, arcades, bowling alleys, private clubs, and all other similar entertainment operations to cease operating as of 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 12 and ending at 8 a.m. on Jan. 4. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has marked movie theaters and other indoor settings as “higher-risk activities” for contracting...

A record-run of COVID-19 deaths and research showing substantial virus spread in places such as restaurants and gyms are behind new restrictions aimed at slowing the disease which killed nearly 1,100 in the past week in Pennsylvania. “This surge is a completely different animal than we talked about this spring,” said Dr. Chris DeFlitch, an emergency room doctor at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “The number of patients, the variety of patients, the number of patients who are at home positive, the number of patients that are in hospitals and ICU positive, is significant.” DeFlitch was among...

With Pennsylvania’s COVID-19-related deaths hitting their highest point in the last two days since the pandemic began and the number of new cases consistently topping 10,000 each day, Gov. Tom Wolf and state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine are imploring the state’s residents to hit a three-week pause on certain activities. Among them, they are banning indoor dining at bars and restaurants, halting school sports and activities, and prohibiting entertainment venues such as casinos, theaters and bowling alleys from being open starting this Saturday until 8 a.m. on Jan. 4. Tom Wolf has now tested negative for the coronavirus following...

Restaurant owners say they aren’t sure how a 5 p.m. booze cutoff on one of the biggest bar nights of the year will help to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. Already, last call for bars and eating establishments in Pennsylvania is 11 p.m. Plus, nightclubs are not permitted to operate. “It doesn’t make sense. All you’ve’ done is targeted one industry and pushed them to the brink. People are going to go somewhere else,” said Bill Kokos, owner of the Sierra Madre Saloon in Hampden Township. As part of a press conference with Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf, Health Secretary...

Saying Pennsylvania is in a “precarious place” with the coronavirus, Gov. Tom Wolf is advising residents to stay home whenever possible and moving forward with other measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. Wolf and Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced new measures in a news conference Monday. Under the new measures that were described as “targeted” steps, indoor events are limited to 500 people and outdoor gatherings are capped at 2,500, Levine said. In addition, schools in most Pennsylvania counties will have to file a certification form with the state if they want to continue to provide in-person...

Pennsylvania’s health secretary said Monday that COVID-19 is spreading at a troubling rate, but the state has no plans for a statewide shutdown of schools similar to last spring. However, the level of COVID-19 spread in many counties has the state advising local schools to shift toward remote learning or even cease classroom instruction. “We absolutely do not plan to have a general school closure as happened in spring, but we might continue to make adjustments to our recommendations to schools,” Dr. Rachel Levine said. “Remember, all the guidance and recommendations are just that. They are not orders and there...

As Pennsylvania continues to report new daily coronavirus case counts in record numbers, the state’s Department of Health Secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, said there are currently no plans to return to Gov. Tom Wolf’s red-yellow-green mitigation phases. Speaking during a news conference Wednesday regarding the state’s plan to eventually roll out a COVID-19 vaccine once one is approved and available, Levine responded to a query about the phases that may or may not have been prompted by a recent barrage of social media posts that claim Wolf is planning to shut down the state again following the election, despite there...

Pennsylvania restaurant owners who were fined roughly $10,000 for opening their doors in defiance of coronavirus restrictions have been deemed not guilty. A judge in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, found Taste of Sicily not guilty in its fight against the Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus restrictions, according to Local 21 News Harrisburg. “The crux of the legal argument is that orders that have been issued by the Governor and The Department of Health are legally unenforceable. Judge Garvey agreed with that argument,” the restaurant’s lawyer Eric Winter said. The restaurant, co-owned by siblings Michael Mangano and Christine Wartluft, opened in May...

Pennsylvania restaurant owners have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and were hoping to see restrictions relaxed on their businesses. An effort in the General Assembly failed again Tuesday, albeit just barely. The state House of Representatives fell short in a bid to override Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto of a bill that would have eased rules on restaurants. The effort needed two-thirds of the House and fell short by two votes. John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, said the defeat of the bill (HB 2513) was a blow for the industry. “The failure...

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed a key bill that would loosen restrictions on restaurants and bars in the state. House Bill 2513 would set minimum capacity for restaurants and taverns at a minimum of 50% and even beyond that if the premises allow. It further would allow establishments to permit patrons to sit at bars, provided they socially distance, and would eliminate the requirement that a meal must be purchased to buy an alcoholic beverage. “This bill jeopardizes public health and safety as it permits eating establishments, including restaurants, bars, clubs and banquet halls, to operate up to 100%...

An 80-year-old man, a retired steelworker from Pittsburgh, died after he confronted a bar patron who wouldn’t wear a mask, according to KDKA CBS 2. The District Attorney believes Rocco is the first person to die in the U.S. because of a physical altercation over wearing a mask. The death of Rocco Sapienza is being investigated as a homicide. In a report by WKBW ABC7 in Buffalo, the incident took place at Pamp’s Red Zone Bar and Grill in West Seneca, New York, on Sept. 26. The Erie County District Attorney’s Office in New York says Sapienza got into an...

Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf and Health Department Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine have changed their order related to gathering limitations in the state. Originally, indoor events were restricted to just 25 people, while outdoor events could have up to 250. Now, however, the maximum capacity will be determined based on a venue’s maximum occupancy. It breaks down like this: Maximum Occupancy - Allowable Indoor Rate 0-2,000 people - 20% of Maximum Occupancy 2,001 - 10,000 people - 15% of Maximum Occupancy Over 10,000 people - 10% of Maximum Occupancy up to 3,750 people Maximum Occupancy - Allowable Outdoor Rate 0-2,000 people...

Fall was definitely in the air. But apparently, COVID-19 wasn’t. At least not judging by all the face-mask-free race fans jamming into the erector-set-like stands too crowded for social distancing at Saturday night’s sprint car finale at Williams Grove Speedway. An estimated 9,000-plus race fans were expected for the season’s biggest dirt track event, dubbed the ‘World of Outlaws.’ Grass parking lost surrounding the Mechanicsburg area speedway became a small town teeming with people playing cornhole, pitching picnics and rolling out tailgating from elaborate RVs. There were license plates from a plethora of states, including some on Pennsylvania’s quarantine list....

There were plenty of red MAGA hats and T-shirts on Saturday at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally at Harrisburg International Airport. But the one thing conspicuously missing from the majority of people? Face masks. Thousands stood shoulder to shoulder, packed even beyond the immediate capacity of the private hangar, and most were without masks. Among those who had masks, many had them pulled down to their chins. “I’m over it,” Jackie Logsdon of Chambersburg said about the coronavirus and wearing masks, one of the major pieces of guidances from health officials. “Nope, I’m over it. I do believe in it,...