State & Regional News

Thursday's breeze in Lynn Township seemed to spread the sorrow of a close community losing two members whom, it seemed, nearly everyone not only knew but held in high regard.

The state's Independent Fiscal Office reported Thursday that workforce participation among Pennsylvanians under age 35 has declined much more than for older workers since the onset of the pandemic.

New Tripoli firefighters Marvin Gruber and Zachary Paris perished in a fatal fire in West Penn Township, Schuylkill County.

After 65 years, the Philadelphia Police Department has finally identified the victim in the city’s oldest unsolved homicide case as 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli, of West Philadelphia.

A regulatory agency responsible for the water supply of more than 13 million people in four Northeastern states says it is banning gas drillers from dumping fracking wastewater in its watershed.

Donald Trump’s attacks on fellow Republican David McCormick contributed to the former hedge fund manager’s loss in Pennsylvania’s Senate primary in May. These effects may be long-lasting.

Advocacy groups say greater clarity about the terms sex, religious creed and race would be a significant step forward, building on a 2018 decision by the commission to start accepting complaints about anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.

A 2018 decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court provided a template for voting-rights advocates to pursue gerrymandering claims in state courts.

When schools closed or went hybrid due to the pandemic, low-income students missed free or reduced-price meals available through the National School Lunch Program.

Gov. Tom Wolf said Oct. 21, 2021, that employers who receive state loans, grants or tax breaks will be required to pay workers at least $13.50/hour and to provide paid sick leave.

The Biden administration wants to make Berks County Residential Center a women-only facility. Pennsylvania lawmakers say that's a bad idea.

A bill that would require Pennsylvania public schools to post curriculum materials online is advancing through the state legislature. Republicans unanimously support it.

President Joe Biden is trying to drum up support for a several trillion-dollar infrastructure spending plan that's being negotiated in Congress. The effort included returning to his boyhood home of Scranton.

More meals and a lag between delivery and reimbursement compound the problem.

Gov. Tom Wolf is spearheading a package of legislation aimed at combatting sexual violence on college campuses.

Mike Doyle, who has represented western Pennsylvania in Congress for more than a quarter-century and became the dean of Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation, announced Monday that he will not run again for re-election. As WESA was first to report early this morning, the move comes as the incumbent faced a challenge from the left next year and — if he won — the prospect of being in the minority party in the U.S. House.

The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs has announced that the Pennsylvania Opioid Command Center will be revamped.

The Pennsylvania Department of State oversees the commonwealth’s elections. The agency is led by Veronica Degraffenreid, who assumed the role of acting secretary of state on Feb. 8.

Penn State is requiring all University Park campus employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 8 to comply with President Joe Biden’s executive order, the university announced Tuesday.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is doling out nearly $2 million in support grants to ramp up booze production and sales.