Breaking News

Coronavirus

Nurses fire back at Rapp for blocking staffing bill

State Representative Kathy Rapp said a bill that would mandate patient-to-staff ratios for nurses won’t leave her Health Committee. The comment was buried an hour into a three-and-a-half hour virtual hearing held last week on the condition of rural health care across the Commonwealth. The subject bill — HB 106 — has been sitting in Rapp’s committee for nearly a year. It’s prime sponsor is a Republican, Rep. Tom Mehaffie, who said during a press event this week that the measure has a total of 105 co-sponsors. That’s enough to pass the bill outright. Mehaffie and several ...

District to pay $28k in mask suit fees

The Warren County School District will pay a total of $28,000 to a group of parents who successfully took the district to federal court over its attempt to end around school mask regulations. The suit was brought by the parents of nine students who were not named in any court filings. The suit resulted in a consent order that required the district to “comply with the August Department of Health order as interpreted by the September Pennsylvania Department of Education directive” that mandated masks in schools. The court left the plaintiffs with the opportunity to petition for ...

WCSD faces decision to raise taxes or lose revenue

Warren County School District is in a position to have to raise taxes if it wants to keep revenues from falling. According to Director of Business Services Jim Grosch, the projected total assessed value for Warren County properties goes down about $4 million – from about $460 million to about $456 million. At the district’s millage of 55.3371, the assessment loss would leave the district with about $221,000 less in property tax revenue. “We would have to do a tax increase merely to keep our tax revenues the same,” finance committee chairman Arthur Stewart said. “A little ...

Pennsylvania rolls out ‘strike team’ to ease hospital crunch

SELLERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania has deployed its first pandemic "strike team" of out-of-state health care workers to a suburban Philadelphia hospital under severe strain from COVID-19, the state's top health official announced Monday. The team, which includes nurses and respiratory ...

State prisons to halt in-person visitation through February

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's state prisons announced Monday they will not allow in-person visits for the coming month because their staff has been thinned by coronavirus infection. In-person visits will be stopped , at all state correctional institutions, starting on Thursday and lasting until Feb. 28. Free video visits will be expanded and cable TV in inmates' cells will be free in February. Acting Corrections Secretary George Little said quarantine requirements have increasingly required voluntary and mandatory overtime he considers unsustainable. The Corrections ...

County sets new single-day record for COVID cases

There have been over 150 new cases of COVID-19 in Warren County announced in the last two days. The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced 57 new cases on Friday and a record 95 on Thursday. The previous high for single-day new cases was 82 on Jan. 4, according to DOH records. So far in ...