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....
Democrat and Republican leaders are proposing police reform legislation in the aftermath of nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd and other killings of unarmed African Americans by police. Top Democrats vow that the House will pass the proposed Justice in...
HARRISBURG — Members of the state Senate voted unanimously to send Gov. Tom Wolf legislation that would require the Department of State to produce a report on the primary for lawmakers to use to determine if changes need to be made ahead of the presidential...
Relief is coming for Black-owned businesses that have been severely impacted by the coronavirus crisis. The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development established a $100 million Historically Disadvantaged Business Revitalization Program for small...
HARRISBURG — The state Senate voted unanimously to send Gov. Tom Wolf legislation that would require the Department of State to produce a report on the primary for lawmakers to use to determine if changes need to be made ahead of the presidential election. Wolf plans...
At the request of state Senators Art Haywood (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery), Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia/Delaware, Vince Hughes (D-Philadelphia), and Shariff Street (D-Philadelphia), the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a virtual public hearing to discuss the...
State Sens. Vincent Hughes, Sharif Street, Larry Farnese and Anthony Williams joined Sen. Art Haywood for a telephone town hall meeting last week to address the option of voting by mail for the June 2 primary during the COVID-19 crisis. The five Pennsylvania senators...
The plan to reopen Pennsylvania is getting a closer look as members of the Senate met in a remote hearing Monday that included testimony from multiple leaders including PA Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.
The meeting follows Governor Tom Wolf’s announcement last week that 24 counties in the northwest and north-central regions of the state will transition out of the ‘red’ phase into the ‘yellow’ phase beginning at 12:01 a.m., Friday, May 8.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Pennsylvania’s health secretary was put in the hot seat on Monday about the commonwealth’s reopening plan. In a virtual hearing, state senators grilled Dr. Rachel Levine over Pennsylvania’s plan to reopen.
Some Republican senators appeared to try to poke holes in the plan.
Bob and Nancy Elfant said they were doing what many of us have done for the past month – stay at home, observing social distancing guidelines and reading the daily news accounts of COVID-19 and its toll on both the health and economic wellbeing of people in the...
Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books, a small shop in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood, officially closed down on March 16. Store manager Justin Moore has technically been unemployed since then. But he said in the last few weeks, he’s actually been putting more work...
Pennsylvania House and Senate leaders joined together for workers rights. In a virtual news conference Monday morning, members discussed advocacy for paid sick leave, better workplace protections, and other efforts to help PA workers during the coronavirus pandemic....
Legislation presented Monday addressed various protections for essential workers such as workers compensation, paid leave, protection against retaliation, and child care assistance. Leaders from the Democratic caucuses of the state House and Senate on Monday presented...
Some Pennsylvania lawmakers are signing on to what they're calling the American Working Families Relief Action Plan for dealing with the personal financial impacts on Pennsylvania working families and on those working on the front line in dealing with the coronavirus...