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Governor’s power-plant carbon-pricing plan nears finish line

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The centerpiece of Gov. Tom Wolf's plan to fight climate change took another step Tuesday toward the final regulatory threshold to impose a price on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants in Pennsylvania. The Environmental Quality Board, composed primarily of Wolf appointees, approved the plan 15-4 to send it on to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission, which could take it up this fall. Wolf, a Democrat, wants to the plan to take effect next year as part of a multi-state consortium, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which ...

Pennsylvania says it counted 500K duplicate COVID-19 shots

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's Department of Health has reduced the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses that had been administered by about 500,000, saying the numbers were duplicates. The figures, released Friday evening without explanation, also showed an increase of about 60,000 in the number of people who are counted as fully vaccinated. The numbers include 66 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. They do not include Philadelphia, which is its own vaccine jurisdiction. For all 67 counties, the percentage of people 18 and over who are vaccinated was 61%, up slightly with the ...

New COVID death added to county total

There has not been a new reported case of COVID-19 in over two weeks. The last time there was a new case reported was June 20, when there were five cases added to the total. But, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has added a COVID-related death to the county’s toll in that period. A county resident died of COVID or COVID-related problems on June 25, according to the latest information from the department. That brings the county COVID death toll to 104. Statewide, there have been 27,707 deaths due to COVID. According to the latest information, there were no COVID-positive ...

Family advocates for vaccine after virus battle

Ivy Whilton of Warren was in favor of COVID-19 vaccinations. She got one. Then, her brother went through the worst experience of his life and Whilton is even more of an advocate. Wilton’s brother, Don Nelson of Warren, returned home this week after spending a month in hospitals for COVID-19. “My brother was a healthy person, never even spent a day in a hospital,” she said. Nelson had received his first COVID vaccine shot shortly before being diagnosed with COVID on May 28. “The doctors don’t know if he contacted it just before he got his shot,” Whilton said. “He ...

The local unemployment rate is trending downward and about half of what it was a year ago. In Warren County, the seasonally adjusted rate was 5.8 percent in May, according to the latest data released Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. In May 2020, the rate was 11.2 percent. The May 2021 rate is lower than both the April — 6.5 percent — and March — 7.0 percent — rates, showing a positive trend. The local rate is the lowest in the region, lower than the state average, and equal to the national average. According to Labor and Industry, Meadville had ...

Wolf vetoes GOP bill with voter ID, other elections changes

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's Democratic governor vetoed a Republican-crafted elections bill Wednesday, a proposal that would have mandated voter identification in all elections and made a host of other changes to election law. Gov. Tom Wolf said outside his Capitol offices that he considers the measure a voter suppression effort. "I think voter suppression is absolutely the wrong thing to do," Wolf said, adding that he would welcome a narrower bill that would give counties more time to start counting ballots and to provide more money to help them run elections. The ...