×

State

News in brief from around Pennsylvania

EASTON

Jury convicts man of serial rape

A jury has convicted a Pennsylvania man of serial rape and human trafficking charges that could put him in prison for life.

Prosecutors say 31-year-old Seth Mull assaulted four women in the Bethlehem area and Philadelphia in a two-month span last year. The accusers say Mull claimed them as his property, using violence and drugs to exert control. In some cases, prosecutors say Mull sold them to other men. Police found Mull in possession of a written “sex slave contract.”

Law enforcement agencies from New Jersey to Hawaii have also been investigating Mull.

HARRISBURG

DA seeks court removal of lawmaker

A county prosecutor asked a Pennsylvania judge Friday to eject a state representative from office, one week after she was sentenced to probation in a bribery case.

Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo filed a civil suit that seeks the removal of state Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown of Philadelphia.

Lowery Brown, 52, was convicted in October of taking $4,000 in bribes from a confidential informant. A week later, the Democrat was unopposed and re-elected to a sixth term.

PHILADELPHIA

Archives opens state-of-the-art facility

Alexander Hamilton’s tax records, the blueprints for the largest municipal building in the United States and police logs of horse thieves all have a new home now that the Philadelphia City Archives has opened its state-of-the art facility.

The new 65,000-square-foot building houses documents going back over 300 years, and it officially opened to the public on Thursday.

It also features an interactive new mural by Talia Greene. The sprawling work incorporates a 1930s-era map that banks once used to highlight black neighborhoods to restrict access to mortgages.

RICHMOND, Va.

Asian longhorned tick spreads

In the year since the Asian longhorned tick was officially spotted in New Jersey, it’s expanded to eight more states, including Virginia and Pennsylvania.

David Gaines with the Virginia Department of Health told The Virginian-Pilot the invasive species has been found primarily in the more mountainous western and southwestern regions of the state. The ticks have been found on cows, goats, horses, deer and a hawk thus far in Virginia.

The Associated Press

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today