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Frustrations over some lawmakers’ refusal to wear masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives chamber brought action to brief halt on Tuesday. House Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia pointed out to House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster County, that she counted over 30 members on the House floor who were unmasked in violation of the bipartisan-backed policy approved last summer requiring face coverings on the House floor during session. Cutler, standing at the rostrum looking down over the chamber with a mask covering his face, said, “Obviously I have a slightly different viewpoint being...

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf was at Tuesday's coronavirus briefing. Wolf, Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam, Acting Interim Physician General Dr. Wendy Braund and PEMA Director Randy Padfield hosted a virtual press conference to provide an update on COVID-19 in the commonwealth. You can watch the full news conference at the bottom of this article. Wolf's office released the following statement after the briefing: "Governor Tom Wolf and Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam provided an update today on the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in Pennsylvania and the many challenges that are ahead because of limited supply of doses...

Two CBS local television executives were placed on administrative leave Monday, hours after the National Association of Black Journalists demanded they be fired over a Los Angeles Times investigation into allegations they "cultivated a hostile work environment."

Thieves are breaking into blue U.S. Postal Service collection boxes across Philadelphia, stealing mail and checks, costing victims thousands of dollars, law enforcement officials say. The thieves have been stealing checks, forging signatures, and amassing personal information from the mail to commit identity theft, according to interviews with victims, Philadelphia police, and postal sources. ---SNIP--- The break-ins call into question the security of the iconic blue boxes, which residents use to mail everything from checks and confidential records to election ballots.

U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, often a lightning rod for so many, caught another bolt this weekend when he appeared as a central character in a series of New York Times reports about an 11th-hour effort by former President Donald Trump to weaponize the federal Department of Justice in his bid to invalidate President Joseph Biden Jr.’s election win. A number of Perry’s political foes - all Democrats - have called in the several days since for Perry’s resignation from Congress. And the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has promised its own inquiry into the matter, in which Perry is alleged to...

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is moving forward with its controversial plan to consider charging tolls — possibly $1 or $2 — on as many as 10 major bridges in the state. PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian told a Senate panel on Monday the list of potential bridge candidates to be tolled will be announced in mid-February. The bridges will be spread across the state and will only involve ones located on interstates. Once the list is finalized, the department is obligated to conduct public outreach for each of the bridge candidates. Special emphasis is being placed on identifying the economic...

Harrisburg, PA - The Pennsylvania Department of Health today confirmed as of 12:00 a.m., January 25, there were 3,976 additional positive cases of COVID-19, in addition to 3,934 new cases reported Sunday, January 24 for a two-day total of 7,910, bringing the statewide total to 807,867. There are 3,910 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19. Of that number, 790 patients are in the intensive care unit with COVID-19. Most of the patients hospitalized are ages 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred in patients 65 or older. More data is available here. The trend in the 14-day moving average...

Two men arrested in November after they traveled to the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia where votes in the 2020 presidential race were being counted were sent back to jail after their bail was increased due to their participation in the rally near the U.S. Capitol that turned deadly earlier this month. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that no evidence was presented during Friday's combative hearing that 42-year-old Joshua Macias and 61-year-old Antonio LaMotta entered the Capitol building along with thousands of violent supporters of former President Donald Trump battled with law enforcement and ransacked offices. --SNIP-- Prosecutors also later added...

The Republican-controlled Legislature on Friday took another step in the drive to strip future governors of some of their constitutional authority under emergency declarations, and give lawmakers more control over the declarations. The Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee approved it on a party-line basis, 7-4. Passage by both the House and Senate before Feb. 18 can ensure that it gets on Pennsylvania’s May 18 primary ballot when it can go to voters for a final decision in a statewide referendum. The measure arises from Republican lawmakers’ strident disagreement with how Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has handled the...

Dr. Rachel Levine is no stranger to derision due to her gender identity. A transgender woman, Levine, Pennsylvania’s Health Secretary, in many ways has reflected back undercurrents of transphobic tendencies in this country. The transgender community has historically fended off personal assails, attacks on its civil rights, and the troubling rates of homicide of transgender or gender non-conforming people. Levine, perhaps unwittingly at times, has served as a role model for the transgender community in Pennsylvania, negotiating hostile attacks even as she tended to the life and death issues of the coronavirus pandemic. That is one of the main reasons...

President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine as his nominee for assistant secretary of health – and she’d be the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate. “Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic – no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability – and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond,” Biden said in a statement. “She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead...

President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide. She won past confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate and has emerged as the public face of the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic. “Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the...

The feds are investigating whether a Pennsylvania woman who was seen on video taking part in the US Capitol riots stole a laptop or hard drive from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and planned to sell it to the Russians, officials said. The FBI is seeking Riley June Williams on charges including entering a restricted building, disrupting the orderly conduct of government and engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct.

MOUNT POCONO, Pa. (AP) — At least four people were injured Monday in a string of shootings that prompted a shelter-in-place order for some residents north of Mount Pocono, authorities said. Mount Pocono Borough Mayor Michael Penn posted on Facebook that there were four or five crime scenes Monday night and “multiple police forces at this time in the Coolbaugh/Tobyhanna areas.”

The feds are investigating whether a Pennsylvania woman who was seen on video taking part in the US Capitol riots stole a laptop or hard drive from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and planned to sell it to the Russians, officials said. The FBI is seeking Riley June Williams on charges including entering a restricted building, disrupting the orderly conduct of government and engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct.

Biden's minimum wage push faces uphill battle with GOP President-elect Joe Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden volunteered at a hunger relief organization in Philadelphia on Monday to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Bidens helped pack food boxes at Philabundance, the largest hunger relief organization in Philadelphia, as part of a national day of service two days before Biden will be sworn in as the next president.

A Philadelphia man has been charged with murder in connection to the shooting death of Milan Loncar, a 25-year-old Temple University graduate who was killed while walking his dog in Brewerytown on Wednesday night. Philadelphia police announced the arrest of 20-year-old Josephus Davis on Sunday. ---SNIP--- According to Philadelphia police inspector Derrick Wood, Davis has two open felony cases and is still on the streets because his bail was reduced. “This male was on the street with two open felony cases because his bail was reduced from 200k to 12k,” Wood wrote in a tweet. “This is ridiculous and another...

315 years ago, on January 17th, 1706, Benjamin Franklin came into our world. He would go on to do amazing things, things which it is not my intent to spend another 50000 words re-telling. What I wanted to do instead was invite you and invite everybody to celebrate his life and legacy, and take the time to get to know him a little better on a more personal level. This can be done. There is a fantastic free open source public domain audiobook of Franklin's autobiography which you can download here, it is well put together and is a great...

DuckDuckGo is proving privacy matters. The Paoli, PA-based Google search alternative, which prides itself on its privacy policy, hit 102,251,307 total queries on Monday, the first time it has exceeded the 100 million mark.In November 2019, DuckDuckGo reached the 50 million searches per day milestone. So it took a little more than a year to hit the 100 million mark.

The Department of Justice on Friday announced it closed an investigation into ballots that were discarded in Pennsylvania. “After a thorough investigation conducted by the FBI and prosecutors from my office, we have determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove criminal intent on the part of the person who discarded the ballots,” acting U.S. Attorney Bruce Brandler said in a statement. “Therefore, no criminal charges will be filed and the matter is closed.” Brandler recently replaced David Freed, the former U.S. attorney who last year revealed nine military absentee ballots had been tossed in Luzerne County. Freed resigned on...