AP PA Headlines
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Republican state lawmaker from suburban Philadelphia says an income tax increase is inevitable to fix the state’s deficit-riddled finances, even if it doesn’t happen this year. Rep. Gene DiGirolamo said Thursday that he’s proposing an 8 percent income tax increase to take the rate to 3.32 percent as part of a wider revenue package. Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives will return to session next week amid a two-month stalemate over plugging a $2.2 billion budget hole.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf says he’ll be out of options to pay bills on time in a week. Wolf supports a utility tax-and-borrowing plan that passed the Senate in July, but it is unpopular with House members. Some House Republicans support diverting cash from various off-budget programs, including for public transportation, farmland preservation and environmental improvements.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Turnpike is replacing two bridges using a construction method that will close sections of the heavily traveled interstate for a single weekend in each instance. The agency said Thursday it will replace a bridge on the Interstate 76 main stem near Rochester in Beaver County the weekend that starts Friday, Sept. 22.
That will be followed the weekend of Sept. 29 with a new bridge outside Allentown on Interstate 476, the Northeastern Extension. Detours will be in place in both directions for 55 hours, giving crews time to tear down the existing bridges and position the new spans. The bridge over Brush Creek in Beaver County is nearly 66 years old. The bridge over Crackersport Road outside Allentown opened in 1957.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is urging Pennsylvania’s members of Congress to preserve a program being ended by the Trump administration that protects immigrants living in the U.S. illegally after they arrived as children from being deported. A letter sent Thursday says beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are a part of many communities and shouldn’t be deported.
It says they benefit Pennsylvania’s economy and know no other country after growing up in the United States.
Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation is predominantly Republican. Also signing the letter were the heads of Wolf’s advisory commissions on African American affairs, Asian Pacific American affairs and Latino affairs. On Wednesday, Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro joined officials from 14 states and the District of Columbia in suing to block President Donald Trump’s plan to end the program.
LITITZ, Pa. (AP) — A girl says she and her friends are behind the red balloons found tied to sewer grates in a small Pennsylvania town, not a homicidal clown. Seventeen-year-old Peyton Reiff says the girls were trying to scare their friends in Lititz after seeing a trailer for the upcoming movie “It.” A red balloon is the calling card of Pennywise, the sewer-dwelling, child-eating clown in Stephen King’s novel-turned-movie.
Reiff tells Pennlive.com says the teens were surprised at how much attention the prank got after the local police made a playful post on Facebook, saying they were “completely terrified” to remove the balloons. Reiff says they will meet with the department for a “funny follow up,” but says they are not being punished.
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