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State’s counties facing rising emergency costs

Pennsylvania lawmakers once again declined to increase the state’s 911 surcharge in this year’s budget, leaving counties to cover rising costs for emergency call centers on their own. The surcharge — a monthly, flat-rate phone fee Pennsylvanians pay to support emergency services — helps cover the costs of personnel, technology, and maintenance of 61 call centers operating statewide. But according to 2024 data from the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, counties end up covering almost 20% of those expenses themselves. The association advocated for increasing the ...

Pennsylvania lawmakers still at odds over murder sentences

When one of the men responsible for killing her brother agreed to plead to second-degree murder, the law’s lack of ambiguity made Melody Kocis Bartusek and her parents feel comfortable with the agreement. He would be in prison forever, she said. That same inflexibility moved Nancy Leichter to support the release of the two men who likely gave her father the shock that prompted his fatal heart attack. They didn’t deserve to be in prison forever, she said. In March, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life without parole for second- degree murder, the sentencing ...

Measure would force state into federal school choice tax credit

Gov. Josh Shapiro has not indicated whether Pennsylvania will opt into a new federal tax credit program that supporters say would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in scholarships, mostly for private school tuition. A bipartisan group of Senators said Wednesday they will introduce legislation to make the decision for Shapiro and have the state join the Educational Freedom Tax Credit program. The measure would have to also clear the Democrat-controlled House, and even then, Shapiro could veto the legislation if he decides to do so. Three other states — Kansas, Kentucky and ...

Senators urge Spotted Lanternfly damage research legislation

U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick are teaming up to introduce legislation they say will protect farms and strengthen the agricultural economy. The Spotted Lanternfly Research and Development Act, introduced last week by both Pennsylvania senators along with U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, ...

Happy glamping: State parks roll out luxury camping programs

KIDDER TOWNSHIP — It’s the height of summer at Hickory Run State Park’s family campground, where cicadas hum, birds sing, and the heat and humidity persist even in the shade. But when campers unzip a canvas door and step inside one of the park’s new tents, the soft thrum of an air ...

Logan Township Planning Commission OKs new Chipotle building

Members of the Logan Township Planning Commission unanimously approved a subdivision plan with a modification and a land development plan for the upcoming Park Hills Plaza Chipotle Mexican Grill on Tuesday evening. Owen England, director of business development at Quattro Development, ...