AP PA Headlines
Lawmakers head home without movement on revenues
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An effort by House Republicans to plug a $2 billion budget gap without raising taxes has stalled and lawmakers are going home after several hours of closed-door meetings. The House’s unusual Saturday session wrapped up in late afternoon without movement on an approach put forward by Republican Speaker Mike Turzai of Allegheny County.
The finer details of the plan weren’t made public. It’s not clear what the next step will be. The Legislature passed a $32 billion spending plan earlier this month, but hasn’t figured out how to pay for all of it. Turzai was backing a proposal to combine $1.5 billion in borrowing with hundreds of millions drawn from off-budget programs.
FRACKVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man has been charged with killing his father, who authorities say was shot to death and his body then left on a couch for weeks. Twenty-four-year-old Tyler Swantek faces Schuylkill County charges including first- and third-degree murder in the death of 49-year-old Todd Swantek, whose body was found May 24 on the couch of the Frackville home the two men formerly shared.
Police said the decomposing body was covered in blankets and a sleeping bag with pillows over the head. Authorities said the son hadn’t allowed people into the home since mid-April and asked a friend to buy him incense and scented candles. Court documents don’t list a defense attorney; a public defender representing Swantek in a separate drug case didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment Saturday.
MIDDLETOWN, Pa. (AP) — New leadership and higher tuition…the sum total of a Penn State trustees meeting. A real estate company president is the new chairman of Penn State’s board of trustees. The board of trustees voted 21 to 12 Friday to elect Mark Dambly as chairman. He’s currently vice chair and has been a trustee since 2010. Dambly is president of Pennrose Properties in Philadelphia. The new vice chairman is Matthew Schuyler, the chief human resources officer for Hilton Worldwide.
They also agreed to raise tuition rates. The new tuition rates vary, but the average in-state tuition will rise 2.45 percent. In-state students who want to live on campus in State College for their freshman year will see an increase of 2.74 percent. The board met in Middletown, Pennsylvania, on the campus of Penn State Harrisburg.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is turning to the leader of the state’s largest teachers’ union to be his next secretary of labor. Wolf on Friday nominated special education teacher Jerry Oleksiak to succeed Kathy Manderino as the head of the Department of Labor and Industry. The 64-year-old Oleksiak is currently president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which has 180,000 members.
The union says his last day will be Sept. 2, and his successor will be the current vice president, Dolores McCracken. The nomination requires Senate approval. Oleksiak’s spent most of his 32 years in the classroom at the Upper Merion Area School District, and he lives in Glenside. He has a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University. Manderino is joining the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Oddities and Conversation Starters
COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — “Hocus Pocus” will light up the lawn of a historic Kentucky cemetery. The Kentucky Enquirer reports that Linden Grove Cemetery in Covington is kicking off its Cinema in the Cemetery series Aug. 4 with “The Lego Movie.” The 2017 remake of “Beauty and the Beast” will follow Sept. 8 and “Hocus Pocus” will be shown on Oct. 13. All movies will begin at dusk and be on a lawn without graves. The movies will be free.
Peter Nerone of the Linden Grove Cemetery Board says he hopes the movie series will help people realize Linden Grove’s beauty. The 170-year-old cemetery has 100 species of trees and a variety of plants, war memorials and ornate statues. The cemetery also has been used as a venue for plays by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
NEW YORK (AP) — No scripts have been written. But HBO’s announcement on Wednesday that the creator-showrunners of “Game of Thrones” will follow up that massive hit with an HBO series in which slavery remains legal in the American South drew fire on social media with some saying it glorifies racism.
“Confederate” will be produced by “Game of Thrones” masterminds David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Both are white.
HBO’s announcement said the duo would team with husband-and-wife TV veterans Malcolm Spellman and Nichelle Tramble Spellman, who both are black. The two will be fellow executive producers and writers. In an interview with Vulture, Malcolm Spellman says he and his wife “are not props being used to protect someone else.”
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Efforts to turn two looming cell towers in Ohio into faux pine trees to help them blend in with their surroundings are getting mixed reviews from residents. Some residents in Springfield Township have derisively dubbed the towers “frankenpines.” Adding branches to the towers in the Toledo suburb wasn’t purely an aesthetic decision. It’s a zoning requirement for cell towers erected in Springfield Township residential districts.
Springfield Township zoning officer Jacob Barnes likes the look and told The Blade that he expects residents do as well. A resident of a nearby subdivision who opposed construction of the 120-foot (37-meter) structure from the start says he remains concerned about potential health risks from living near a cell tower. Another resident says he’s just happy to have better cellphone service.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump is championing what he describes as America’s return to global military prominence. Trump spoke Saturday at the official commissioning of the aircraft carrier the USS Gerald Ford at Norfolk, Virginia. The president says there has been “a shortfall in military readiness” and decries “a very, very bad time” for the military” in previous years.
Trump hails the $12.9 billion next-generation aircraft carrier as symbolic of a new era when “everyone will know that America is coming and America is coming strong.” Earlier this year, Trump gave an interview criticizing the high-tech electromagnetic catapult that is one of the signature innovations of the Ford and expressing a preference for the traditional steam-fueled catapult. He didn’t mention the issue on Saturday.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Scores & Skeds
SUNBURY — The Philadelphia Phillies play on Newsradio 1070 WKOK. They play the Brewers at 1pm today. You can hear the Phillies on 1070AM WKOK, while our normal programming (WKOK local/state news, AccuWeather, CBS news, and CBS Sportsradio) continues at WKOK.com.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Domingo Santana singled home the winning run in the ninth inning after the Brewers blew a big lead, and Milwaukee beat Philadelphia 9-8 Saturday night to snap a season-worst six-game losing streak. The Brewers maintained a one-game lead over the Cubs in the NL Central.
PHOENIX (AP) — Bryce Harper homered and drove in two runs, Tanner Roark struck out a season-high 11 and Sean Doolittle stranded the potential tying run to preserve the Washington Nationals’ 4-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Roark gave up two runs and three hits in seven innings for the NL East-leading Nationals.
Here are the scores from yesterday’s sports events:
INTERLEAGUE
Final N-Y Mets 6 Oakland 5
———
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Houston 8 Baltimore 4
Final Cleveland 2 Toronto 1, 10 Innings
Final Minnesota 6 Detroit 5
Final Texas 4 Tampa Bay 3
Final Kansas City 7 Chi White Sox 2
Final L.A. Angels 7 Boston 3
Final Seattle 6 N-Y Yankees 5, 10 Innings
———
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final San Francisco 5 San Diego 4, 12 Innings
Final Chi Cubs 3 St. Louis 2
Final Milwaukee 9 Philadelphia 8
Final Miami 5 Cincinnati 4
Final Washington 4 Arizona 3
Final Colorado 7 Pittsburgh 3
Final L.A. Dodgers 6 Atlanta 2
———
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Western Conference 130 Eastern Conference 121
TODAY’S SPORTS SCHEDULE
———
INTERLEAGUE
Oakland at N-Y Mets 1:10 p.m.
———
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Toronto at Cleveland 1:10 p.m.
Texas at Tampa Bay 1:10 p.m.
Houston at Baltimore 1:35 p.m.
Detroit at Minnesota 2:10 p.m.
Chi White Soxat Kansas City 2:15 p.m.
Boston at L.A. Angels 3:37 p.m.
N-Y Yankees at Seattle 4:10 p.m.
———
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami at Cincinnati 1:10 p.m.
Milwaukee at Philadelphia 1:35 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Colorado 3:10 p.m.
San Diego at San Francisco 4:05 p.m.
Atlanta at L.A. Dodgers 4:10 p.m.
Washington at Arizona 4:10 p.m.
St. Louis at Chi Cubs 8:05 p.m.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
