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State

News in brief from around the commonwealth

HARRISBURG

Former AG Kane is disbarred

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is losing her law license, a few months after she began a jail sentence for perjury, obstruction and other counts. The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania issued a disbarment order Friday.

Kane is in Montgomery County’s prison, serving a 10- to 23-month term. Kane, 52, was convicted in 2016 for leaking information about a grand jury investigation to a Philadelphia newspaper and lying about it.

Harrisburg

Jobless rate drops to lowest on record

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped in February to the lowest rate since 1976, which is as far back as the state’s records go. The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped by one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.0 percent last month. The state’s rate previously hit 4.0 percent in 2000.

The national rate was 3.8 percent in February. Among states, Pennsylvania is tied with Michigan and New Jersey for 35th. A survey of households found Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force grew by 8,000, as employment rose by 15,000 to a new record high above 6.2 million. Unemployment shrank by 5,000 to 261,000, its lowest level since 2000.

Philadelphia

Vaccine clinics to be held at Temple

Two vaccine clinics will be held at Philadelphia’s Temple University in response to the ongoing mumps outbreak at the school that’s now up to at least 93 cases.

The city’s public health department said the MMR vaccine, for measles, mumps and rubella, will be available to all Temple students, faculty and staff Wednesday and Thursday. The mumps vaccine has been part of routine childhood shots for decades, but research suggests that protection fades 10 or more years after the second dose.

Reading

Canadian giant buys hemp company

A Canadian cannabis business giant has bought Pennsylvania-based hemp company AgriNextUSA as part of a plan to build up its hemp reach in the U.S. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Canopy Growth Corporation is planning to build a series of industrial hemp parks across the country, including Pennsylvania, as part of its expansion plan.

AgriNextUSA head Geoff Whaling said the hemp parks will include textile mills and cannabidiol, or CBD, extraction facilities. He said he will be reaching out to farmers to encourage them to grow the hemp crop. Hemp can be used for many commercial items including paper, clothing, paint and more.

The Ontario-based firm is the world’s largest cannabis company with a market capitalization of $15.7 billion.

Scranton

Authorities: County worker had porn

Authorities said a county worker used county-issued equipment to access child pornography. The Lackawanna County district attorney’s office said Theodore Karampilas, 41, faces nearly 100 counts of possessing and disseminating child porn. Karampilas, of Scranton, resigned Thursday as a senior computer programmer/analyst, one day after he was suspended.

Authorities said officials from KIK, an instant messaging mobile app, notified federal officials that someone was downloading and disseminating child porn from Karampilas home.

Authorities found multiple external hard drives in his bedroom. They say Karampilas told them he had around 1,000 images of child porn. Karampilas also allegedly admitted using the app on his county-issued cellphone and accessed his external hard drives using his county computer.

The Associated Press

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