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penncapital-star.com
A Harrisburg-based nonpartisan, nonprofit news site dedicated to fact-based, nuanced, fair, and transparent coverage focusing on how policies implemented in Harrisburg and Washington D.C. impact you and your community. [email protected]
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Multiple voter registrations themselves aren’t a sign of fraud or illegal voting. In fact, they can be a sign of the law working as intended to protect voters’ rights. From our friends at @votebeat.org

When asked if he was concerned about DOGE’s potential impact on voters where the GOP has made inroads, state Senator Greg Rothman said this: "I think these protests are...pop up protesters that are funded by the left. I don’t think they’re organic, and I certainly don’t think that they’re real."

"I think the more we review this adequacy formula and the way it treats all the school districts, that there is inherent unfairness within this formula,” Sen. Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) said.

An EPA investigation confirmed residents’ worst fears about operations at an industrial landfill. What happens next is all too uncertain. From our friends @insideclimatenews.org

U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington issued an injunction from the bench because he felt the matter was urgent, and noted he would issue a written order in the coming days.

“I wouldn’t eat the fish. I wouldn’t swim in the water,” said John Stolz, a professor of environmental microbiology at Duquesne University, who co-authored the study and has researched oil and gas waste in Pennsylvania for 15 years. From our friends at @insideclimatenews.org

U.S. Senate Democrats are fed up with the Education Department’s response to their inquiry over reports that Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service “gained access to millions of student loan borrowers’ personal data.”

The Newark detention center will be the largest ICE processing facility and detention center on the East Coast.

State Rep. Greg Rothman discussed a wide range of topics including his goals for the Pennsylvania Republican Party by the next presidential election, endorsing candidates, mail-in voting, and thoughts on Elon Musk’s role in Trump’s administration.

The hearing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on a requested preliminary injunction to halt the firing of Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger followed an initial two-week temporary restraining order from Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

The virus, also known as bird flu or H5N1, has disrupted the work of poultry farmers for years and began infecting dairy herds last year. But a recent spike in egg prices has led to renewed public attention to the disease.

The Trump administration on Wednesday ordered all federal departments and agencies to submit reorganization plans outlining how they would implement large-scale layoffs before March 13.

“The challenges we face — declining enrollments, demographic shifts and financial pressures — are not unique to Penn State, but they require us to make difficult choices,” Bendapudi said. From our friends at WPSU.

A legal challenge is already underway over the U.S. Department of Education’s sweeping Dear Colleague letter, which threatens to rescind federal funds for schools that use race-conscious practices in programming, admissions, scholarships and other aspects of student life.

Might be a good time to remind you the nonprofit @penncapital-star.com does not have a paywall and encourages other news organizations to republish our work and the work of @statesnewsroom.com. If you like and trust what we do, please consider becoming a donor. penncapital-star.com/donate/

While experts argue about the nuances of whether presidents can unilaterally direct spending via executive order, the Oval Office most likely cannot send direct payments to Americans without Congress appropriating the money, as it did in these previous cases.

The 17 members from Pennsylvania's delegation voted along party line, with 10 GOP lawmakers in favor and seven Democrats opposing the spending plan.

In doing so, Trump administration officials could carry out their plans for mass deportations without using agency resources for physical removals.

The 2024 presidential election passed into history less than four months ago without any major issues, but Pennsylvania lawmakers are asking what the state’s top election officials are doing to make sure the next one goes off smoothly.

Citing concerns about privacy and security, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity has banned the use of DeepSeek, a Chinese-owned artificial intelligence (AI) platform from all Treasury-issued devices. From @johnlcole.bsky.social

In a memorandum opinion accompanying the order, District Judge Loren L. wrote the Trump administration’s proposed pause was “irrational, imprudent, and precipitated a nationwide crisis.”

The massive tax and spending blueprint, which President Donald Trump has endorsed, proposes that Congress extend the president’s 2017 tax cuts. It would also allow the House Committee on Ways and Means to increase the deficit by up to $4.5 trillion.

The eight religious groups had asked U.S. District Judge Theodore David Chuang for a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s decision to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct enforcement in sensitive locations such as places of worship.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court Friday, the AP sued three White House officials, including Trump Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, for violating the First Amendment by attempting to control the nonprofit news outlet’s speech.

The loss of federal funding for Pennsylvania’s public schools would be “nothing short of catastrophic,” acting Education Secretary Carrie Rowe told state House lawmakers Monday.

“The public interest is plainly served by requiring the Treasury Department to ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the security of these systems and the information contained therein,” the judge wrote Friday.

Shapiro stressed the resumption of federal funding was not only the result of his lawsuit. The governor, who visited the White House on Friday, said it was a result of both “pressure” and “direct engagement” with senior Trump administration officials. @iankarbal.bsky.social

Most of those dollars were for environmental programs like plugging abandoned oil and gas wells, building out clean-water infrastructure, and helping low-income households retrofit their homes to lower utility bills. Shapiro said all of the funding identified in the lawsuit would be unfrozen.

Judge temporarily blocks DOGE access to Department of Education, personnel office systems penncapital-star.com/2025/02/24/r...

ICYMI: Economics or convenience: Debate simmers over opening day of Pa.’s rifle deer season penncapital-star.com/wildlife-out... by @johnlcole.bsky.social

How Trump’s tech agenda could impact hiring this year penncapital-star.com/2025/02/24/r...

President Donald Trump in a sometimes tense meeting Friday with the nation’s governors pressed them to enact the death penalty for drug dealers and issued a threat to Maine’s Democratic chief executive over her state’s law protecting transgender people from discrimination.

Prior to the all-out war, Russia had long been strong-arming Ukraine, forcefully annexing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. After amassing assets along Ukraine’s border, Russia launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

It's been five years since the start of deer rifle season in Pa. moved from the first Monday afterThanksgiving to the Saturday right after turkey day. But, the debate over which day is best for the sport and the state's economy is ongoing. From @johnlcole.bsky.social

Election officials blast Trump’s ‘retreat’ from protecting voting against foreign threats penncapital-star.com/election-202...

Audit finds Pennsylvania cyber charter schools amassed excessive reserves penncapital-star.com/education/au... by @petehallpa.bsky.social

D.C. court temporarily halts deportation of asylum-seekers in immigration lawsuit penncapital-star.com/2025/02/20/r...

COMMENTARY: A greeting from the new guy penncapital-star.com/commentary/a... by @timlambert-pa.bsky.social

Federal money for Pa. bridge and rail projects in question amid infrastructure funding freeze penncapital-star.com/economy/fede...

Pa. Senate kicks off budget hearings with testimony from the Department of Revenue penncapital-star.com/government-p...

Democratic lawmakers question DOGE access to IRS and tax return information penncapital-star.com/2025/02/19/r...

Shapiro administration taking ‘aggressive wait and see’ approach to federal funding freeze penncapital-star.com/economy/shap...

Pa. elected leaders attended Super Bowl LIX. Who paid their way?  penncapital-star.com/uncategorize...

Gov. Shapiro nominates new leader for Pa.’s Department of Environmental Protection penncapital-star.com/energy-envir...