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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 5:57 AM
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The five-person commission drawing new district lines for Pennsylvania’s General Assembly will hold a voting meeting later this week. A state Senate Democratic spokeswoman says the subject will be preliminary maps for the state House and Senate. The new maps are being drawn with 2020 Census data. The primary election is May 17, and counties want to have maps in place about three weeks before candidates start circulating petitions make it onto the primary ballot. That period begins Feb. 15.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 5:54 AM
(HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate is advancing legislation to prevent school children from being required to get a COVID-19 vaccination to attend school, although it likely faces a veto by Gov. Tom Wolf. The bill passed on party lines Monday, and goes to the House of Representatives. Neither the state nor any school district in Pennsylvania require the COVID-19 vaccination to attend school. In cases of other infectious diseases, school children in Pennsylvania can invoke medical, religious or philosophical exemptions for immunization requirements. Evidence of immunity is sometimes acceptable. Wolf’s office says there are no plans to require the vaccine and is urging Pennsylvanians to get vaccinated.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 5:51 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The state House is giving its unanimous approval to a plan to set up a governmental body that will develop a statewide plan for broadband internet funding and expansion into unserved and underserved areas of Pennsylvania. The bill was sent to the Senate after a unanimous vote by the House on Monday. It would set up the independent Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority to act as a central point to coordinate grant money in underserved areas. Pennsylvania is in line for at least $100 million in federal money to expand broadband in the state. The authority that would be set up under the House-passed bill would consist of an 11-member board.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 5:50 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The highest-ranking member of the Pennsylvania Senate says he’s not going seek another term in the chamber in order to focus on his candidacy for the governorship. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman took himself out of the running Monday for another term representing a State College area district. He had previously said that he would run for both the governor’s office and his Senate seat at the same time. The 57-year-old Corman is among a large cohort of Republicans seeking the gubernatorial nomination in the May 17 primary election. Corman was first elected in 1998. Second-term state Attorney General Josh Shapiro is the presumed Democratic nominee.

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Story by Sandy Giordano, Beaver County Radio News Correspondent
(Hopewell Twp., Pa.) Hopewell Township Police issued an alert over the  weekend due to the increase in vehicle break-ins in the last 2 weeks.  Police are advising residents  to remove  all valuables, (purses, cellphones, wallets, laptops)ESPECIALLY FIREARMS from their vehicles.

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By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration wants the centerpiece of the Democrat’s plan to fight climate change to take effect immediately, but it’s being held up in a legal dispute with the Republican-controlled Legislature. On Friday, Wolf’s secretary of environmental protection, Patrick McDonnell, wrote to a legislative agency to insist that it publish Wolf’s regulation to impose a price on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Publishing the regulation would mean it takes immediate effect. However, Republicans who control the Legislature oppose the regulation and argue they have more time to take votes on the regulation, although they’ve been unable to muster enough votes to block it.

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By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania state House committee is advancing legislation that its Republican chairman says is needed to prepare for final negotiations over new congressional district maps. The State Government Committee on Monday cast party-line votes with only Republican support to approve amendments, bills and a resolution. The parallel map drawing processes for Congress and the General Assembly are running up against deadlines designed linked to the primary election on May 17. In the near term, counties want to have maps in place about three weeks before candidates start circulating petitions make it onto the primary ballot. That period begins Feb. 15.