Earlier this week, a Pennsylvania-based appellate court ruled that a state law banning the use of public funds for abortions was unconstitutional, as it improperly restricted residents with lower incomes who receive state health care services, such as Medicaid. Abortion is legal in Pennsylvania, with the state restricting the practice after 24 weeks of pregnancy. However…
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In late March, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court issued a momentous ruling overturning mandatory life sentences for people convicted of felony murder, also known as second-degree murder. Activists and advocates hailed the ruling as a victory that was years in the making and has the potential to impact the lives of more than a thousand people in the state, a majority of whom are Black.
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Almost as soon as the state House passed a bill which would raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, an organization called the Employment Policies Institute began reaching out to members of the media in Pennsylvania to share its view. One press release included a quote attributed to Rebekah Paxton, identified as the group’s research director. “Today’s vote ignores the well…
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“Idon’t like to see anyone upset,” said Nick Farris of Provident Real Estate Advisors. He was sitting in the front of a crowd of roughly 150 inside Valley View High School’s auditorium in Archbald, a town of about 7,500, huddled between two mountain ranges in Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna Valley. Farris was there to represent the developer for Project Scott, one of many data center campuses coming to…
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At least 15 Philadelphia city councilmembers have backed a package of ”ICE Out” legislation aimed at combating ICE and federal immigration enforcement operations in Philadelphia, including codifying sanctuary protections and prohibiting federal immigration agents from concealing their identities or covering their faces. “We heard the cries from the community calling for something to be done…
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When the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law in 2021, authorizing more than $11 billion in new funding to reclaim lands and waterways damaged by abandoned coal mines, the people who lead this work on the ground were ecstatic. “We were to the moon,” said Amanda Pitzer, the executive director at Friends of the Cheat, a nonprofit organization in West Virginia that works…
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