Democratic lawmakers heard from advocates, academics and business groups Monday on a renewed push to give minimum wage workers in Pennsylvania a raise to $15 an hour. Over 100 people attended the Zoom hearing on minimum wage hosted by the Pennsylvania...
Martin Luther King Jr. was right. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. When racial injustice appears and is allowed to fester on our college campuses, we believe that threat is particularly ominous. When Black students, who are often away from home...
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania Senate swearing-in ceremonies are generally a photo-op affair, but Tuesday’s ceremony descended into a chaotic shouting match over Republicans’ refusal to recognize the certified winner of a western Pennsylvania seat.
Republicans in Pennsylvania's state Senate temporarily evicted the lieutenant governor and refused to seat a Democrat from a suburban Pittsburgh district during the Legislature's first session of the year Tuesday because his opponent was still pursuing a federal...
The Swearing-in Ceremony in the Pennsylvania Senate, typically a collegial and joyous affair, was instead marked by shouting and bitter clashes on Tuesday. Despite long, impassioned speeches, Democrats argued unsuccessfully to convince Senate Republicans to seat...
Senate Republicans plan to refuse to seat Allegheny County Democratic Sen. Jim Brewster on Swearing-in Day Tuesday due to a challenge filed by his GOP opponent. Brewster, who has represented the 45th senatorial district seat since 2010, was certified by the Department...
As we enter what should be a time of spiritual reflection of the year about to end, we are reminded of the failure of the majority in the General Assembly to help families across the commonwealth in 2020. In May, a bipartisan proposal to use the Commonwealth’s share...
Now that the dust has settled, the results of the 2020 election are clear. High voter engagement and increased mail-in voting led to massive turnout nationwide. While record numbers of Pennsylvanians made their voices heard, their message was less clear. The results...
WEST CHESTER— State Senator-Elect Carolyn Comitta joined more than a dozen state senators Friday in announcing a $4 billion pandemic relief plan to provide direct aid to workers, families, small businesses, the restaurant industry, and others that continue to struggle...
Jennifer R. Storm, an out lesbian who has served as the state’s Victim Advocate for the past seven years, is battling to keep her job. Storm is believed to be the highest-ranking out lesbian in Pennsylvania state government. Storm, 45, oversees supportive services for...
The minimum wage in the United States hasn’t budged in 11 years. Whether it should was a hotly contested question during Thursday’s final presidential debate. President Donald Trump asserted that increasing the minimum wage would crush small businesses, many of...
A state senator ran through a litany of complaints from Black state university students on Wednesday during a Senate hearing and called on the chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education to immediately address a “hostile environment of race...
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A state lawmaker has unveiled legislation to make sure people who destroy monuments and statues are brought to justice. However, it has some lawmakers questioning the intent of this legislation. "It's not up to any of use to rewrite our history,"...
PENNSYLVANIA, USA — If you refuse to wear a mask, you could soon pay the price. New legislation, Senate Bill 1287, has been introduced that would punish those who don't wear a mask in public with a misdemeanor and other fines. Democratic State Senator Art Haywood...
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania state senator introduced legislation that would enable authorities to give misdemeanors to people who do not wear masks in public during the COVID-19 pandemic. State Sen. Art Haywood (D) made the announcement a few months ago, and the...
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A lone bagpiper and pallbearers led dozens of sign-carrying protesters with an empty coffin in a mock funeral procession outside City Hall Thursday. A sign on the casket read, “Here lies pandemic unemployment compensation, we hardly...
Charmaine Ijeoma thinks the United States needs a racial reckoning similar to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, the restorative justice bodies that helped South African society move forward in the aftermath of apartheid. “We need to talk about it because...
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party is suing the state’s top elections agency and all 67 county election boards over the commonwealth’s vote-by-mail process. Filed Monday in state court, the case focuses on ballot return deadlines, ballot drop off procedures and other...
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday that 309 nonprofit arts organizations will receive grants totaling $2.3 million to help with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds from the federal CARES Act support staff salaries, facilities costs and fees for artists or...
PHILADELPHIA — Emergency aid is available to help people who are struggling financially and facing eviction and foreclosures due to the pandemic. Money for the program comes from $175 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES)...
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Federal emergency aid for renters in Pennsylvania hit hard financially during the pandemic is still in the pipeline as Gov. Tom Wolf's ban on foreclosures and evictions nears an expiration. The application period for aid begins Monday to the...
Last week, the Local had the opportunity to speak with State Sen. Art Haywood (D-4th) about efforts of a broad package of police reform legislation. On June 30, the PA Senate passed sent two house bills to the Gov. Tom Wolf’s des to sign. House Bill 1841 will require...
Emergency aid is available to help people who are struggling financially and facing eviction and foreclosures due to the pandemic. Money for the program comes from $175 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) funding. About $125...
Protesters gathered in Mellon Park in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood Saturday afternoon, for the fourth consecutive Civil Saturdays event. The weekly demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality are organized by high schoolers and recent...
Montgomery County could potentially see a coronavirus spike, especially since fewer residents in the county caught the virus and developed COVID-19, in comparison to Philadelphia and other densely-populated areas, health and government officials are warning. Once...
HARRISBURG — It has been two years since a police officer outside Pittsburgh killed Antwon Rose II, a Black teenager who was unarmed at the time. His mother, Michelle Kenney, is convinced: If a measure to create a database of police misconduct had been embraced by...
WILKES-BARRE — Peaceful protests of police violence and brutality continued in Wilkes-Barre, as the 2020 Freedom Fighters held a march down Main Street to Public Square. A crowd of protesters and allies gathered at the old Volunteers of America thrift store on Main...
Dozens of people converged at the Volunteers of America Family Thrift Store on Saturday afternoon for a rally and march in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Carrying banners saying, “No justice, No peace” and “Black Lives Matter,” a crowd of about 75 people...
ALLENTOWN, PA - From the white house to the state house, national and local governments are facing mounting pressure to address police brutality. Today, President Trump moved to create a federal database of police officers with a history of using excessive force....