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Lawmakers quietly allow Penn State to sell campuses

STATE COLLEGE — Pennsylvania lawmakers have quietly erased longstanding deed restrictions on seven closing Penn State campuses, allowing the university to sell the entire properties to private buyers rather than return portions of the land to state control. Penn State is starting with two locations. Proposed real estate transactions for the Penn State Shenango campus in Mercer County and Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus in Luzerne County are slated for review by the Board of Trustees at its upcoming Sept. 18 meeting, university spokesperson Wyatt DuBois confirmed to Spotlight PA in an ...

Altoona to demolish Sunset building on Broad Avenue

City Council on Monday awarded a contract for demolition of the nine-unit Sunset apartment building on the 2200 block of Broad Avenue, whose residents were evacuated in July 2025, after structural brickwork on the left side began to bow — deterioration that has worsened since then, creating ...

State funds put Altoona Area School District $3 million in positive

After receiving an unexpected $8.5 million in additional state revenue than what was budgeted for earlier this year, the Altoona Area School District now finds itself with about a $3.1 million surplus instead of a $4.9 million shortfall. The board raised taxes by 3% in June to cover the ...

Van Zandt VA Medical Center to hold emergency exercise

The Van Zandt VA Medical Center will conduct an emergency preparedness exercise from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, which means patients and visitors may hear exercise-related sounds and announcements and may see more than the usual numbers of police and emergency vehicles — along with exercise participants wearing identification vests, volunteers pretending to be patients and signs reading “Exercise in Progress,” according to a hospital news release. No one should be alarmed, and there will be no danger, according to the news release. The exercise will be confined to specific ...

Spring Cove School Board weighs indoor track team

ROARING SPRING — A Spring Cove School Board member proposed adding an indoor track team to the district’s athletics program during Monday’s committee of the whole meeting. “This would be an opportunity to showcase them in a way that we never showcased our track athletes before,” member Erika Smith said to the board. She said all participants are lumped into a quad A division, and not every school district offers the sport. Because the PIAA sanctioned indoor track a year and a half ago, clubs can no longer participate in sanctioned meets. “It brings about a need for us ...

Film honors Uniontown’s auto racing heritage

Many of the people driving through the village of Hopwood in Fayette County have no idea it once was home to one of the most popular auto racing tracks in the country. Marci McGuinness is hoping to change that. “These guys are the reasons we have cars today,” she said. “We take it ...