(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Christy Billett, executive director of Pennsylvanians For Safe Access, speaks as medical marijuana supporters hold a press conference, organized by Billett’s group, regarding bringing medical cannabis to Pennsylvania, March 14, 2016, at the East Wing Rotunda of the state Capitol in Harrisburg. (Dan Gleiter/PennLive.com via AP, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvanians 21 or older would be allowed to legally purchase and use marijuana under a bill that passed the state House on Wednesday, the first time a recreational cannabis proposal has been approved by either legislative chamber.

Democrats voted unanimously to advance the multifaceted bill to the Senate over unified opposition from Republicans, just as lawmakers are working out which issues will be part of the budget-season dealmaking that occurs every year at this time in Harrisburg.

The proposal was touted by the main sponsor, Democratic Rep. Rick Krajewski of Philadelphia, as a “balanced, responsible and robust framework” that will create jobs, ensure a safe product and maintain affordable prices for consumers. He noted that there were about 12,000 simple possession arrests in the state last year.

Republicans expressed concern that legalization will increase marijuana usage, cause health issues and create safety problems at workplaces. Several pointed out that marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

“The myth that this will only make cannabis available to adults is to deny reason and logic,” said Rep. Marc Anderson, a York County Republican. He predicted that “kids will get weed illegally, and it will be more dangerous.”

The bill seems likely to see changes if senators decide to act on it. Sen. Dan Laughlin of Erie County, a leading Republican on the issue, said on social media after the vote that there is “no path forward in the Senate for a state store model for adult-use cannabis.”

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed legalizing recreational marijuana in his budget, counting on more than $500 million in revenue during the first year, primarily through licensing fees. He is looking for new sources of cash to pay Medicaid bills, bolster struggling public transit agencies and help the poorest public schools.

The proposal would direct that sales be managed by the state-owned liquor store system, but they would occur not at the liquor stores themselves but in other retail outlets. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board would set prices and regulate how cannabis is produced, tested, transported and sold.

Some of the new tax revenue would go to help historically disadvantaged communities, with other portions designated to combat substance abuse, boost minority business development and pay for expunging marijuana-related convictions.

Rep. Tim Bonner, a Mercer County Republican, argued that the expungement mechanism would improperly impinge on the state courts, but Democratic backers said they were confident the provision will withstand legal scrutiny.

Under the bill, drivers who are not considered impaired but have traces of marijuana in their blood would not be subject to driving-under-the-influence charges. State residents would be allowed to grow a small number of plants if they obtain a home cultivation permit.

There are 24 states that currently allow recreational marijuana and 14 others that permit it only for medical purposes. Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana in 2016 for patients with certain qualifying conditions and the assent of a physician.

Democratic state Sen. Sharif Street of Philadelphia, who supports legalization, said the House bill lacks majority support in the Senate. A pair of bills that languished during the last legislative session called for a much different public sales method, involving state licensing of private retail dispensaries.

Chris Goldstein, the Pennsylvania regional organizer for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said opponents of putting marijuana sales in the hands of the liquor store system consider the House bill a centralized approach that would not do much to foster small businesses.

“This is so far away from anything we see in other states, it’s just not something that consumers are familiar with,” Goldstein said. “That’s not what people want.”

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – A sign with the company’s logo stands outside a Rite Aid store in Salem, N.H., on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

(AP) Rite Aid customers can expect their local store to close or change ownership in the next few months, as the struggling drugstore chain goes through another bankruptcy filing.

The company plans to sell customer prescription files, inventory and other assets as it closes distribution centers and unloads store locations. Stores will remain open for now, but the company isn’t buying new inventory so bare shelves are likely become more common.

“I think what we’ll progressively see is the stores will become more and more spartan,” said retail analyst Neil Saunders.

The company runs 1,245 stores in 15 states, according to its website. It has a heavy presence in New York, Pennsylvania and California, which alone has 347 locations.

Here’s what customers can expect next.

How long will stores remain open?

Rite Aid says a few months for most of its stores. All locations will eventually close or be sold to a new owner.

Until then, customers will still be able to fill prescriptions, get immunizations and shop in the stores or online.

Rite Aid has said that it will stop issuing customer rewards points for purchases. It also will no longer honor gift cards or accept returns or exchanges starting next month.

What will happen to my prescription records?

Rite Aid will try to sell them to another drugstore, grocer or retailer with a pharmacy. The company says it is working to put together a “smooth transfer” of customer prescriptions to other pharmacies.

But there’s no guarantee those files will wind up at a retailer near the location that is closing.

That may be challenging because some Rite Aid stores are in rural areas, miles away from another pharmacy, noted Saunders, managing director of the consulting and data analysis firm GlobalData.

Prescription files can be valuable assets because they can connect the acquiring drugstore with a regular customer if that person sticks with the new store.

How did Rite Aid get to this point?

Philadelphia-based Rite Aid had been closing stores and struggling with losses for years before its first bankruptcy filing in 2023. The company says its “only viable path forward” is a return to Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

The company said in letter to vendors that it has been hit with several financial challenges that have grown more intense.

Rite Aid and its competitors have been dealing with tighter profits on their prescriptions, increased theft, court settlements over opioid prescriptions and customers who are drifting to online shopping and discount retailers.

Walgreens, which has more than six times as many stores as Rite Aid, agreed in March to be acquired by the private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

CVS Health also has closed stores.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Cardinals attend a Mass presided over by Cardinal Pietro Parolin in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, on the second of nine days of mourning for Pope Francis on Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru, File)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Black smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney on Wednesday, signalling that no pope had been elected as 133 cardinals opened the secretive, centuries-old ritual to choose a new leader of the Catholic Church.

The cardinals participating in the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith’s 2,000-year history took just one round of voting Wednesday evening. After failing to find a winner on the first ballot, they retired for the night and will return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday morning to try to find a successor to Pope Francis.

They had opened the conclave Wednesday afternoon, participating in a rite more theatrical than even Hollywood could create, a wash of red-robed cardinals, Latin chants, incense and solemnity that underscored the seriousness of the moment.

Outside in St. Peter’s Square, the scene was festive, as thousands of people flocked to the piazza to watch the proceedings on giant video screens, applauding when the Sistine Chapel’s doors slammed shut and the voting began. They waited for hours, watching screens that showed just a skinny chimney and occasional seagull. After the vote dragged on to dinnertime, some left in frustration, but those who stayed cheered when the smoke finally billowed out.

“My hope is that cardinals will choose a man who can be a peacemaker and could reunify the church,” said Gabriel Capry, a 27-year-old from London.

A diverse group of cardinals

Hailing from 70 countries, the cardinals were sequestered Wednesday from the outside world, their cellphones surrendered and airwaves around the Vatican jammed to prevent all communications until they find a new pope.

Francis named 108 of the 133 “princes of the church,” choosing many pastors in his image from far-flung countries like Mongolia, Sweden and Tonga that had never had a cardinal before.

His decision to surpass the usual limit of 120 cardinal electors and include younger ones from the “global south” — often marginalized countries with lower economic clout — has injected an unusual degree of uncertainty in a process that is always full of mystery and suspense.

Many cardinals hadn’t met until last week and lamented they needed more time to get to know one another, raising questions about how long it might take for one man to secure the two-thirds majority, or 89 ballots, necessary to become the 267th pope.

“Wait and see, a little patience, wait and see,” said Cardinal Mario Zenari, the Vatican’s ambassador to Syria.

The oath and “Extra omnes”

The cardinals had entered the Sistine Chapel in pairs, chanting the meditative “Litany of the Saints” as Swiss Guards stood at attention. The hymn implores the saints to help the cardinals find a leader of the 1.4 billion-strong church.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the 70-year-old secretary of state under Francis and himself a leading contender to succeed him as pope, assumed the leadership of the proceedings as the senior cardinal under age 80 eligible to participate.

He stood before Michelangelo’s vision of heaven and hell, “The Last Judgment,” and led the other cardinals in a lengthy oath. Each one followed, placing his hand on the Gospel and promising in Latin to maintain utmost secrecy.

Earlier in the day, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, presided over a morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica urging the voters to set aside all personal interests and find a pope who prizes unity. He prayed for a pope who could awaken the conscience of the world.

He reminded the cardinals that the awesomeness of the Sistine Chapel’s frescoes is meant to remind the cardinals of the weighty responsibility they bear. In his regulations for the conclave, Re recalled, St. John Paul II wrote that in the Sistine Chapel, “everything is conducive to an awareness of the presence of God.”

After the cardinals took their oaths, the master of papal liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, called out “extra omnes,” Latin for “all out” and anyone not eligible to vote left before the chapel doors closed. An elderly cardinal remained to deliver a meditation, but after he finished, he too, had to leave since he was too old to vote.

While cardinals this week said they expected a short conclave, it will likely take at least a few rounds of voting. For much of the past century, it has taken between three and 14 ballots to find a pope. John Paul I — the pope who reigned for 33 days in 1978 — was elected on the fourth ballot. His successor, John Paul II, needed eight. Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013.

Lobbying before the conclave

The cardinals are supposed to resist any “secular” influences in their choice of pope, but such lobbying abounded in Rome in the days before the conclave as various groups reminded cardinals of what ordinary Catholics want in a leader.

Young Catholics penned an open letter reminding cardinals that there is no church without young people, women and the laity. Conservative Catholic media slipped cardinals copies of a glossy book containing their assessments of contenders. Survivors of clergy sexual abuse warned cardinals that they would be held accountable if they failed to find a leader who will crack down on decades of abuse and cover-up.

Advocates for women’s ordination sent pink smoke signals Wednesday over the Vatican to demand that women be allowed to be priests and participate in a conclave.

Even the White House got involved, posting a photo of President Donald Trump dressed as a pope. Trump said it was a joke, but the gesture was denounced by former Italian Premier Romano Prodi as “indecent” political interference in matters of faith that hark back to times when secular rulers intervened in conclaves.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said there was also plenty of lobbying going on among cardinals themselves.

“You invite each other out,” Dolan said on SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel before the conclave began. “And you’re pretty blunt. Now, we’re not, you know, we’re not horse trading here. We’re saying, ‘Tell me about this guy. You’re from Latin America. Go through the list of bishops. Tell me some of these fellas. Am I right to be enchanted by this guy?’”

Lisette Herrera, a 54-year-old tourist from the Dominican Republic, was deeply moved to find herself by chance in Rome as the conclave began. She decided Wednesday morning to skip the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain and pray instead in St. Peter’s Square.

“I’m praying to the Holy Spirit for a young pope who would stay with us for a long time,” she said. “I don’t believe in conclave politics, I just feel that the Holy Spirit is here and that’s all we need to know.”

Challenges facing a new pope

Many challenges await the new pope and weigh on the cardinals — above all whether to continue and consolidate Francis’ progressive legacy on promoting women, LGBTQ+ acceptance, the environment and migrants, or roll it back to try to unify a church that became more polarized during his pontificate. The clergy sex abuse scandal hung over the pre-conclave talks.

Since Francis chose 80% of the voters, continuity is likely, but the form it might take is uncertain and identifying front-runners has been a challenge.

But some names keep appearing on lists of “papabile,” or cardinals having the qualities to be pope. In addition to Parolin, they include:

— Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle, 67, a top candidate to be history’s first Asian pope. He headed the Vatican’s evangelization office responsible for the Catholic Church in much of the developing world.

— Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo, 72, the archbishop of Budapest, is a leading candidate representing the more conservative wing of the church.

(File Photo of a Soccer Ball)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) On Wednesday, plans were revealed for a soccer tournament in Pittsburgh that is taking place for the first time ever. The Pittsburgh World Cup soccer tournament will feature teams with players from immigrant communities in the city of Pittsburgh going in June and July for seven weeks in those months. You must register before 11:59 p.m. on May 21st either as an individual without a team or with a team, and you can do so with the links below:

Click here to apply as a team: Pittsburgh World Cup TEAM Application

Click here to apply as an individual: Pittsburgh World Cup INDIVIDUAL (FREE AGENT) Application

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – The sign for the Environmental Protection Agency is shown in Washington on Sept. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) According to an announcement from RiverWise, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from July 1st to August 6th, their Summer Sustainability Institute program will take place in Beaver County. At 10 a.m. each day, students in high school will learn about how to make communities in Beaver County sustainable. Students that finish the program will earn a completion certificate, a letter of recommendation, and a stipend of $250. You can register online at the link below:

Click here to register: The Summer Sustainability Institute

 

(File Photo of Road Construction Ahead Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) Construction is occurring on the Beaver River Bridge, and a project there worth nearly $300 million is over halfway done. The travel expansion will go to six lanes on the bridge and workers from the Pennsylvania Turnpike are about 55% complete with the project. A new interchange will also be created to go into Big Beaver from I-76. One side of the bridge will be expected to have drivers on it in late 2026 and both sides will have them in early 2027.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives attend a session at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to a release from State Representative Arvind Venkat’s office, the Pennsylvania House passed legislation yesterday to forbid businesses from charging more fees for providing paper account statements. Venkat and State Representatives Rob Matzie and Tom Mehaffie introduced the bill. The bill has a provision, so long as those who get paper statements do not get a penalty,to let businesses give incentives or discounts to those who voluntarily choose electronic statements. The State Senate will now consider the legislation after getting passed by the Pennsylvania House.

(File Photo of Police Lights)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Cranberry Township, PA) An Allegheny Health Network building in Cranberry Township was crashed into on Tuesday by a woman who drove in a van and six people now have minor injuries as a result of the crash. The AHN Orthopedic Office on Route 19 was hit and according to Allegheny Health Network, the building had no structural damage afterwards. The unidentified driver hit the building and injured five people that were in the waiting room. WPXI was told that the driver suffered from a medical emergency.

(File Photo: Caption for Photo: Smoke emission from factory pipes)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) Air pollution in Pennsylvania is getting worse, according to a new report that cites transportation emissions as the primary culprit. The American Lung Association’s 2025 “State of the Air” report ranks Pittsburgh, Weirton, West Virginia, and Steubenville, Ohio 12th worst in the nation for year-round particle pollution. Cars and light trucks are a major source of air pollution in Pennsylvania. Laura Kate Bender with the American Lung Association explains the dangers and says Pennsylvania is a challenging place to live with asthma. While most people like the concept of cleaner vehicles, some including the American Petroleum Institute argue that strict mandates limit consumer choice and strain the power grid. They emphasize the need for fossil fuel-powered vehicles in sectors such as long-haul trucking, where E.V. options are limited.

(File Photo of PNC Park)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to authorities on Tuesday, no criminal charges will be filed against the Pittsburgh Pirates employee who got suspended from a fight with a fan after the Pirates’ game on Sunday. Sources told KDKA the fight began when the fan and his friend allegedly started harassing a woman who worked at a concession stand. Punches were thrown and the employee hit the fan with his belt after the fan spit on him. Pittsburgh police were also not involved to press charges.