Media Mentions

By Katie Muth, Maria Collett and Lindsey Williams

This week marks the end of General Assistance (GA) as we know it. The life-saving program that has helped thousands of Pennsylvanians get back on their feet and bridge the gap to self-sustainability ended on Aug. 1.

After a difficult battle through the legislative process and an underhanded maneuver to tie the elimination of GA to millions of dollars of hospitals, we accept that the program will cease to exist. However, that does not mean that the need has vanished.

Executions have become a rarity in Pennsylvania with Governor Tom Wolf instituting a moratorium on the death penalty. Now, some lawmakers want to take it a step further and abolish the death penalty in the state.

A Pennsylvania inmate has not been executed this century with the last one happening in 1999, but there are still plenty of inmates sitting on death row and some lawmakers think it’s doing more harm than good.

LOWER POTTSGROVE — Attorney General Josh Shapiro was in Lower Pottsgrove Friday to discuss reproductive rights and Title X funding.

“Every day we are fighting in court to protect women’s rights and particularly to protect healthcare and reproductive rights. Fights that we’ve won, 20, 30, 40 years ago, we’re fighting again,” Democrat Shapiro said to the group.

Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania have announced legislation that would abolish the death penalty in the state.

In presenting the Death Penalty Repeal Act, legislators argued that too many innocent inmates wound up death row due to an imperfect justice system.

A state senator whose district includes portions of Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties joined two Philadelphia legislators Tuesday in calling for the end of the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

State Sen Katie Muth, D-44th, of Royersford, announced the introduction of a bill that would repeal the use of capital punishment in the state, alongside state Sen. Sharif Street, D-3rd, and state Rep. Christopher Rabb, D-200th, both of Philadelphia.

A state Senate committee postponed a planned confirmation hearing for one of Pennsylvania’s top environmental officials, after a bipartisan group of lawmakers raised concerns about his agency’s involvement in controversial gas pipeline project.

The Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee met Tuesday morning to vote on the nominations of Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell and Cindy Adams Dunn, secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

LIMERICK — State Sen. Katie Muth, D-44th Dist., has announced that the Limerick Fire Department has been approved for grant funding that will help the department’s consolidation efforts.

The department will receive $84,520 to assist with legal fees and other costs associated with renaming and rebranding.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – A group of lawmakers plans to introduce legislation that would end the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia), Sen. Katie Muth (D-Berks, Chester, Montgomery), and Rep. Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia) say the death penalty has proven to be unsuccessful as a crime deterrent, incredibly costly, and a flawed system of punishment.

HARRISBURG — Sen. Katie Muth (D-Berks, Chester, Montgomery), Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia), and Rep. Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia) were joined by advocates as they called for ending the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

The lawmakers are introducing legislation in their respective chambers to repeal the penalty that is proven to be unsuccessful as a crime deterrent, incredibly costly, and a flawed system of punishment.

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania lawmakers announced legislation Tuesday aimed at ending the death penalty in the state.

Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia), Sen. Katie Muth (D-Berks, Chester, Montgomery), and Rep. Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia) are introducing legislation in their respective chambers to end the death penalty.

It was a scene all-too-familiar: People gathering in a show of solidarity and support outside Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue.

But this time, the vigil wasn’t for locals, but rather for Congregation Chabad in Poway, Calif., near San Diego, which left one person dead, and three more wounded. The California shooting, on the last day of Passover, came six months to the day of the deadly shooting at Tree of Life, which claimed the lives of 11 people.

A bipartisan group of state senators from Chester and Delaware counties wants to put off the reconfirmation of Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell until multiple criminal probes of Sunoco’s Mariner East pipeline projects are complete.

Led by Chester County Democrat Andy Dinniman, the group asked Sen. Gene Yaw, majority chair of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, and Sen. John Yudichak, the minority chair, to delay what is typically a routine hearing on reappointment, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

Rider Brandau is a low-income, first-generation student at Elizabethtown College.

“When students borrow money for college, they agree to pay back that money,” Brandau said. “I will owe roughly $30,000 upon graduation, which is a fair price for what I have received from Elizabethtown.”

Caseworkers for Children & Youth Services and in the county prison have been working since January 2018 without a contract.

More than a dozen social workers who serve the county as caseworkers for Children & Youth Services and in the county prison came to the Berks County commissioners meeting Thursday to encourage them to cooperate as contract negotiations continue.

Reading, PA — When talking about raising the state’s $7.25 minimum wage to $15 an hour, state Sen. Judy Schwank said she sometimes hears from the owners of small businesses who say the increase could put them out of business.

“But when the owner of 13 McDonald’s restaurants tells me to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour, that he welcomes it, it makes me feel a little bit better about it,” Schwank said.

A banner year for women in government moved Pennsylvania up five places for female representation in state legislative bodies. The increase was among the biggest in all 50 states. Only four states saw a bigger percent increase in their women’s caucus…

Five Berks County lawmakers will be in leadership positions for the two-year session of the General Assembly just underway in Harrisburg. Judy Schwank, Tomas Caltigirone, David Argall, Katie Muth and Jim Cox assume posts.

KING OF PRUSSIA—Four freshman Democratic state representatives spent Thursday morning picking up trash at Valley Forge National Park, helping to keep the historic site beautiful during the ongoing federal government shutdown. State Reps. Joe Ciresi, Kristine Howard,...

A record number of women will be sworn into office in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly on Tuesday with 50 of them in the House and 12 in the Senate. Another woman will take the oath of office in the House later this month.

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s legislature kicked off its two-year session Tuesday with celebratory receptions and swearing-in ceremonies, all devoid of the tension that could quickly settle over its dealings with the Wolf administration.