The U.S. Senate is considering a budget bill to slash taxes and federal spending. WITF's Jordan Wilkie explains Pennsylvania’s senators are split on support for President Donald Trump’s budget bill due to its reduction in social safety net programs. We hear from both Sen. Dave McCormick and Sen. John Fetterman.

State Democratic leaders are urging their Republican colleagues to oppose Donald Trump’s federal spending bill, warning the plan could hurt Pennsylvanians. We hear from State Senate leader Jay Costa and emergency physician and PA House member Arvind Venkat.

The Harrisburg School District is set to exit receivership. Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education Carrie Rowe made the announcement Tuesday, calling it an historic milestone, since Harrisburg is the first Pennsylvania district to ever emerge from receivership. The district was first put under state control in 2019 in order to improve its finances and academic results.  

Harrisburg's former Bishop McDevitt High School is headed to sheriff’s sale this summer due to failed mortgage payments. That sale is slated for July 17th at the Dauphin County Administration Building. According to Dauphin County court documents, owner of the school's holding company, Jeremy Hunter, failed to pay off debt from two mortgage loans... totaling $2.2 million.

An Ephrata man facing a 30-day sentence for disorderly conduct has now been charged with vandalizing an American flag outside a Lancaster County magisterial district judge's office.  

And water rates in Selinsgrove borough are increasing by 120 percent next month.  

 

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Cancer survivors, health care advocates and doctors staged a protest outside Senator Dave McCormick's Philadelphia office.

And a deep dive into the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID and how it's impacting University of Pennsylvania researchers, scientists and lab students.

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Fifteen colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, including HACC, are receiving special designation thanks to a recently created initiative to improve student mental health. 

A new report calls Pennsylvania's teacher shortage a crisis. About 45 counties are experiencing teacher shortages defined as severe or extremely severe, according to the report, by the group Teach Plus Pennsylvania. 

A pair of Native American tribes have filed a federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania, accusing the federal government of using trust fund money for the tribes to pay for boarding schools where generations of Native children were systematically abused. They included the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which operated in Cumberland County from 1879 to 1918. 

A $580,000 cut to programs to combat homelessness in Lancaster County won’t be restored after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development denied an appeal filed by a county agency. 

One of the most powerful Republicans in Pennsylvania’s Senate is predicting this year’s state budget cycle will be among the most difficult “in a very long time.” 

Despite recent rainfall, parts of the midstate remain in dry or drought conditions. The U.S. Drought Monitor’s latest map shows Moderate drought conditions continuing to plague all of Berks County, most of Lancaster County, about half of York County, and about half of Schuylkill County. 

A Gettysburg College professor has written the first comprehensive history of Yellowstone National Park since the 1970s. And now his book has received a prestigious award; selected from a field of more than 150 historical books, as the 2025 winner of The New York Historical’s annual Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American History. We take a deep dive with Randall Wilson who explains how the legacy of Yellowstone continues to impact us today.

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Northeastern PA Congressman Dan Meuser is defending proposed Medicaid cuts and tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. He also told the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce he's considering a run for Governor in 2026.

Health providers hope a new blood test for Alzheimer’s disease will lead to quicker and earlier diagnoses of the progressive form of dementia.

Top Republican and Democratic officials in Pennsylvania are decrying a provision in the tax and spending cuts bill passed in the House last week that would ban states from adopting or enforcing artificial intelligence regulations over the next decade. 

The Reading School District will receive $51 million in federal funds following a court order to restore the funding. The order reverses an earlier decision by the U.S. Department of Education to revoke the funds, which put the future of the district's Reading High School Innovation Academy in jeopardy. 

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is co-sponsoring legislation to help Holocaust survivors and their families reclaim artwork stripped from their possession by the Nazis. The bill is sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, to help smooth the legal process for survivors and heirs. 

A historic Lancaster County covered bridge is closed after being damaged in an accident Wednesday night. 

And a case currently in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is weighing the state's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, known as REGGI.  
We include a conversation between WITF's Asia Tabb and Julie Grant of the Allegheny Front from a recent episode of The Spark.

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A state House member from western PA wants the state to help keep tabs on the owners of blighted properties, and to levy fines against them.

Five of the 12 Pennsylvania Educators in the running for the Commonwealth's 2026 Teacher of the Year are from the Central PA region.

Former magisterial district judge Sonya McKnight will spend at least 13 years in prison for attempted murder, per a judge's order issued in court Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. David McCormick of Pennsylvania says an arrangement for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel will guarantee an American CEO, a majority of U.S. board members and U.S. government approval over certain corporate functions.

Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin died Tuesday at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. He was 76 years old.

And the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy wants to include people of all abilities in outdoor recreation with its new accessible area in Frick Park.

 

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Long range forecasts are predicting an especially hot summer, and that could mean higher demand for electricity. Federal regulators are warning the margins between electricity supply and demand are shrinking. 

Recipients of government assistance are increasingly falling victim to electronic thefts. Bipartisan legislation in Pennsylvania would require a report to detail how the state could make the leap to chip cards. 

Renovations are underway at Sunbury's City Hall. Mayor Josh Brosious says the upgrades are much-needed for the improved safety of city employees. 

A Cumberland County woman is facing charges after police say she hit a basketball official with a tripod at a Spooky Nook Sports event earlier this month. Thirty-two year-old Taylor Hair  is charged with assault on a sports official and disorderly conduct. 

As the current school year begins to wind down, one state lawmaker is looking ahead to the next school year. A bill introduced by western PA state Rep. Andrew Kuzma would establish an annual sales tax holiday, beginning the first Friday of August and lasting for one week. 

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Pennsylvania’s Governor’s Residence underwent extensive security upgrades in the three years before last month’s arson attack. Jaxon White, with our sister newsroom LNP/Lancaster Online, reports that few details about the enhancements were provided in a response to a public records request. 

State and local officials are celebrating the opening of a new campground loop at Bald Eagle State Park in Centre County. The opening comes as state campgrounds see a spike in reservations. 

The Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of the summer season, not only for travelers and beach-goers, but for boaters as well.  We share safety recommendations from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. 

A Friday night crash that killed a pedestrian in Carlisle has been ruled a homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence. 

Donald Trump says U.S. Steel will keep its headquarters in Pittsburgh as part of what he calls a “partnership” between the American steelmaker and Japan-based Nippon Steel, which sought to buy it. 

Pennsylvania's Attorney General is among those advocating on behalf of first responders and others who remain in need of health care, more than 20 years after the 9/11 attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center in New York. 

Cumberland and Perry counties are now part of an effort to allow people in need of drug treatment to avoid the criminal justice system. It's known as LETI, the Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative. 

And more than 50 people were evacuated from a Lancaster County movie theater after a fire broke out on Memorial Day. 

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The new Older Adult Advocacy Center in Scranton is the first of its kind in the state.      It’ll serve older adults who are victims of abuse or neglect in parts of Northeast Pennsylvania.

The Public Utility Commission has announced a series of six public hearings in early June regarding Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania's proposed rate increase, which could rise more than 10-percent.

A progressive Pennsylvania group is calling for Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman to resign, over his “apparent inability” to perform his job amid recent reports about his mental health. Pennsylvania Indivisible’s Bucks County chapter says polling of their statewide membership shows more than 90% of their 16-thousand members agrees with the request.

A man has been charged with providing alcohol to the 20-year-old who fell from the outfield stands at a Pittsburgh Pirates game on April 30. 

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That's what happened during Tuesday’s Primary, in one Lancaster County township. Voters in Colerain Township approved a small-games-of-chance referendum. It was the fourth time township voters have taken on the issue since the 1990s.

Lake Pleasant in northwestern Pennsylvania was created more than 1500 years ago when a glacier retreated and is home to rare plants and birds like osprey. The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple recently joined a team working to reforest an area that was once mined, as part of an effort to restore hundreds of acres of mineland across the region.

 

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More than 770,000 Pennsylvanians cast ballots on Tuesday for state-wide judicial and local county and municipal primary races. Secretary of State Al Schmidt said the process of casting ballots in every county and more than 9,000 precincts went smoothly. 

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro wants bills safeguarding hospitals to reach his desk this legislative session- especially in the aftermath of the abrupt closure of Crozier Health near Philadelphia. 

Top Pennsylvania politicians accepted roughly 119-thousand dollars worth of gifts and hospitality from groups seeking to influence government last year. That's according to an investigation by Spotlight PA. 

Pennsylvania's Attorney General has announced the disbanding of a major drug distribution network that operated across Pennsylvania. AG Dave Sunday says law enforcement officers made several arrests and seized more than $6 million worth of fentanyl and xylazene, two substances which are often mixed in with heroin to make it more potent and potentially deadly. 

For bird lovers, it’s like the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and New Years Eve all rolled into one. Earlier this month, New Jersey Audubon’s World Series of Birding, or WSB took place. 

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A proposed class action lawsuit recently filed in Pennsylvania is targeting tech billionaire Elon Musk and his pro-Trump America PAC. Jaxon White with our sister newsroom LNP | Lancaster Online explains one of the three lead plaintiffs lives in Lancaster.

A federal program that helps low-income families heat their homes in the winter could be on the chopping block, after the Trump Administration proposed cutting it from next year’s budget. The move could leave hundreds of thousands of households in Pennsylvania struggling to pay their utility bills. 

Planned Parenthood advocates and leaders in Pennsylvania say a federal proposal to block clinics from participating in Medicaid could lead to closures in the Commonwealth. 

Today is Pennsylvania's primary election day. Democrats and Republicans across the commonwealth will determine which candidates go on to run in the general election. Ballots will vary depending on where voters live, and could include races for mayor, school board, city council, various judicial offices, district attorney, and more. Statewide, voters will weigh in on primary candidates for Commonwealth and Superior Courts. 

And a vote on whether to close seven of Penn State's Commonwealth Campuses, including York and Mont Alto, will happen this week. 

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