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COVID-19

West Virginia setting pace

The czar of West Virginia’s much-lauded COVID-19 vaccination effort isn’t interested in keeping his formula for success to himself, based on testimony Tuesday in a hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Among recommendations made by Dr. Clay Marsh was the creation of a “portal” for best practices, so that all the states can check out what others are doing in the distribution and administration of coronavirus vaccines and adopt whatever might work for them. Adaptability is one of the characteristics of his own state’s effort, according to information ...

Tax hike would fund schools

HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf will propose a sweeping new plan to dramatically boost funding for public schools, to be supported by an increase in Pennsylvania’s personal income tax rate that also expands exemptions for lower-wage earners, administration officials said Tuesday. Wolf’s administration began releasing details of the plan to The Associated Press ahead of today’s planned budget address. Under the plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1, Wolf, a Democrat, will ask the Republican-controlled Legislature for what Republicans say will be a $7 billion, full-year increase ...

Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow in Groundhog Day gone virtual

PUNXSUTAWNEY — There will be six more weeks of winter, Punxsutawney Phil predicted as he emerged from his burrow on a snowy Tuesday morning to perform his Groundhog Day duties. Members of Phil’s “inner circle” woke up the furry critter at 7:25 a.m. at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, to see whether he would see his shadow or not. Shortly after this year’s prediction was revealed, one of the members of the circle shared a message he said Phil had told him earlier in the day: “After winter, you’re looking forward to one of the most beautiful and brightest springs ...

Amid pandemic, boy gets new heart

CATASAUQUA, Pa. — Dillan McGaughran is longing for the first signs of spring, when he can put on his catcher’s mitt and start playing baseball again, enjoying the fresh air and the crack of the bat as it sends the ball soaring over the fields at Catasauqua Park, where the 12-year-old plays ...

GOP slams vaccine rollout

Republicans have accused the Wolf administration of COVID-19 vaccination underperformance. The state has been reserving second doses of COVID-19 vaccines for people who have gotten their first shots, increasing the percentage of not-yet-administered doses in comparison to states that have been taking a different approach, so those states might look better than Pennsylvania on some statistics, Department of Health spokeswoman April Hutchinson said in a news conference Friday. Republicans are calling her explanation “spin,” without ack­nowledging the shortfall seems to be an outcome ...

COVID-19 decline continues, with exceptions

As it has for several weeks in a row, Friday’s update of the state’s early warning dashboard shows the region’s coronavirus outbreak ratcheting down, although all the numbers are still above the thresholds of concern. Seven of the 10 key metrics for the region’s six counties ticked down, compared with last week — decreases that reflect numbers statewide. The biggest decreases in the incidence rate — the number of new cases per 100,000 residents during the past seven days — were in Huntingdon and Clearfield counties, each down 44%. That took Huntingdon County to 128 ...