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Blair County to get natural gas impact fees

More than $184,000 collected in natural gas impact fees in 2025 will be distributed among Blair County and its municipalities. Blair County government will receive $144,491.03 and 25 municipalities will collectively receive more than $39,500. Fees are collected from drilling companies with 60% returned to counties and municipalities affected by drilling. The other 40% goes into the Marcellus Shale Legacy Fund, which supports statewide environmental initiatives, greenways and infrastructure projects. Payments are expected to be distributed in early July. According to the breakdown ...

Hit-and-run accident

State Police are searching for a vehicle and the driver they believe was involved in a hit and run. On Monday, June 16, the Geeseytown Community Fire Company was called to the 1700 block of Frankstown Road about 2:30 p.m. for a reported crash with injuries. The automobile went through a ...

Pennsylvania House panel OKs tax credit bill to boost deer donations

Legislation creating a state tax credit to boost charitable donations of deer from hunters cleared a House committee Tuesday. The Finance Committee voted unanimously in favor of House Bill 2193 creating the Deer Processors Tax Credit. The goal of the tax credit is to encourage hunters to donate more pounds of venison to charities, said Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne, the bill sponsor. Hunters take a slain deer to a licensed processor who can butcher and prepare the meat for distribution. That can be costly and discourage donations, said Pashinski. HB2193 proposes to defray ...

Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling sets up debate on taxing skill games

A new Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that essentially found the estimated 70,000 unregulated and untaxed “skill games” in the state to be slot machines — taxable by law at 52% — had the attention of many lawmakers on Tuesday. The long-awaited opinion covered appeals in two separate cases and arrived about two weeks before the June 30 deadline for a state budget. It is certain to be a factor in closed-door budget negotiations between Republican and Democratic leaders. The state takes in roughly $5 billion less than it spends on an annual basis, and Democratic Gov. Josh ...

State House passes bill to boost SNAP security

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted Tuesday to advance a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening protections against Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit theft. House Bill 2540, sponsored by state Rep. Dan Williams, D-Chester, the majority chairman of the Human Services Committee, would require Pennsylvania to implement chip-enabled Electronic Benefit Transfer cards by January 2028. The security measure is intended to combat SNAP benefit theft caused by skimming devices that capture card data from magnetic stripes at point-of-sale terminals. More than $15 ...

Celebrate community

Block party marks Juneteenth The Juneteenth Community Block Party will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 19, at Prospect Park, 112 S. 15th St., Altoona. Symphony has free concert at Curve stadium The Altoona Symphony Orchestra will perform a Star Spangled Symphony concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 20, at PNG Field. Gates will open at 6:30 for pre-concert entertainment. Admission is free. Photography exhibition honors America250 ArtsAltoona will host the “America 250 Photography Exhibition” from 12 to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 20, at the ArtsAltoona Center, 2212 Sixth Ave., ...