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As calls for his resignation and impeachment grow in Washington, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came to the U.S. Naval War College in Newport Monday to announce a sweeping effort to strip military education of what he called its overly civilian influences. “This morning we strip away the comfortable veneer of academic…
The settlement amount includes $7.68 million in administrative penalties and $142,785 in fines Walmart paid during the initial stages of an investigation by the state Department of Labor and Industry. It is the largest such settlement in the commonwealth’s history, the statement said.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday his mass deportation campaign, which helped propel his return to the Oval Office, had gone too far and potentially led to Republicans losing the U.S. House and Senate in the midterm elections. “I think it might be too tough, yeah,” Trump said…
Already enacted in 18 states and the District of Columbia, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would bypass the Electoral College to guarantee the candidate with the most votes across the country wins the presidency.
This article was originally published by KFF Health News, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Federal leaders overseeing a $50 billion rural health fund missed a critical deadline to announce how much they’ll give states next year, alerting state leaders to the delay…
The 2026 midterm elections changed the balance of power in Washington, D.C. It also proved to be a pivotal election in Pennsylvania.
The debate around the possible repeal of the data center equipment tax exemption is reflective of conflicting interests among local residents, elected officials, labor unions, and tech companies.
This article was originally published by KFF Health News, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. LANSING, Mich. — Fifteen years working as an emergency room nurse has convinced Kim Bogan that the only way to fix the American healthcare system is to tear it down and…
This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. After two years of worries about whether the Trump administration would interfere with the midterm elections, nothing extraordinary happened on Election Day. The problems that…
A new federal report released the week before Tuesday’s midterm elections found that Americans experienced declines in several categories of violent and property crime victimization in 2025, including aggravated assaults, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts. The preliminary survey findings from the U.S. Bureau of…
Tuesday night’s Democratic midterm election sweep handed the party control of the swing state’s governorship and both chambers of the General Assembly, which could mean significant changes ahead for statewide education policy.
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Before Tuesday’s election, Republicans held more governorships and state legislative seats than Democrats, along with an advantage in…
A GOP Senate forced moderation in Pennsylvania's legislature, according to some — so what will Democrats do now?
The Republican project to gerrymander congressional districts across the country, initiated by President Donald Trump more than a year ago, failed to deliver significant wins for the party.
The blue wave that swept across Tuesday’s midterm election will deliver Democrats new power over state government, giving them the opportunity to advance long-sought policy changes.
The age of the typical first-time homebuyer last year remained stuck at a historic high of 40 years old as younger people continue to get the worst of brutally high prices and interest rates in much of the country.
The state Health Department on Wednesday confirmed that an unvaccinated person in Jefferson County who tested positive for measles has died. It’s the second death related to the highly contagious virus in the county.
Despite the blue wave that swept the nation on Tuesday, voters were more cautious about making sweeping changes to their taxes.
Perhaps no issue has tested the political agility of Pennsylvania’s popular Gov. Josh Shapiro over the past two years more than data centers.
Rising costs, staff shortages and plummeting reimbursement rates have shuttered several of Pennsylvania’s rural hospitals, with nearly a third at risk of closure in the coming years.
Democratic leaders in Congress have just a couple months to decide how they want to balance investigations into President Donald Trump and his administration with securing his signature on major bills to address the cost of living, a top concern for voters.
Roughly 12 hours after winning 26 seats in the Pennsylvania Senate, thus clinching a Democratic trifecta in state government, a crowd of party members stood on the Capitol steps to celebrate “a very good day” following a successful midterm election. “It is now the obligation of all of my colleagues to recognize that…
Democrats seized more power over state governments than the party has had in years after the party swept races up and down the ballot in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Millions of voters in 11 states approved tougher criminal penalties and more bail restrictions in Tuesday’s midterm elections, while rejecting efforts to roll back marijuana legalization and expand cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Voting ended Tuesday in this year’s midterm elections, leaving officials and volunteers counting tens of millions of ballots to determine which U.S. House and Senate candidates will take the oath of office in January.
Democrats now dominate Pa.'s congressional delegation 11-6 and captured higher vote shares than the 2022 midterm, even in races they lost.
Democrats are poised to control the majority of governor’s offices for the first time in 16 years after the GOP racked up major losses across the country.
For the first time since 1993, Democrats may have control over the governor’s office and the General Assembly. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, easily won reelection against Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, while House Democrats appear on track to grow their majority in the House. But Republicans’ 32 years…
In local elections across the country, Americans voted overwhelmingly to restrict the buildout of data centers in their communities.
Voters across the country administered a sharp reprimand to President Donald Trump and Republicans who hold majorities in Congress, with Democrats gaining control of the Senate and on track by early Wednesday to take over the House as well.
Fitzpatrick faced Harvie, who is vice-chair of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners and a former educator, in one of four Pennsylvania congressional races targeted by national Democratic groups as the party worked to win a majority in the U.S. House.
The fierce battle for control of the U.S. Senate took center stage Tuesday night as voters waited for results.
Democrats are largely expected to regain control of the U.S. House once all ballots are counted in this year’s midterm elections.
Georgia voters elected the nation’s first Black woman governor on Tuesday while neighbors to the south in Florida became the first to elect a Black Republican governor.
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti handily won the race to represent Northeastern Pennsylvania in Congress, ousting first-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan. The Associated Press called the race for Cognetti, a Democrat, at 10:41 p.m. when she had 55.2% of the vote. “Tonight, Northeastern Pennsylvania sent an…
The race was one of the most expensive and competitive congressional contests in the state.
Democrats, who hoped to pick up four seats nationwide to win control of the House, targeted Mackenzie as one of four vulnerable Republican U.S. representatives in Pennsylvania.
Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis handily defeated their Republican challengers in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial election, securing a second term.
Ballots were cast by the millions Tuesday, mostly without incident, after the Trump administration pressured election officials, after concerns that armed federal agents would deploy to the polls, after fears U.S. Department of Justice election monitors would intimidate voters.
The Capital-Star is providing the latest updates on the 2026 election in Pennsylvania.
Election dispatches from across Pennsylvania.
For more than a year, Philadelphia students, teachers, and community members have protested the district’s plan to close 17 schools.
Across the states, more than 6,000 legislative seats are up for grabs, leaving the partisan control of numerous chambers hanging in the balance.
In what might have been his last hearing as chair of Pennsylvania’s House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection committee, long-time Democratic state Rep. Greg Vitali seemed to have little interest in soaking it all in.
Many health care services covered by insurance are subject to copayments or deductibles. A copayment is a fixed amount patients pay for a covered service, while a deductible is the amount they generally must pay for covered care before insurance starts paying.
Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo filed charges Friday afternoon against a person for allegedly submitting 10 falsified mail-in ballot applications to the county’s elections office.
Pennsylvania has been in a national spotlight in the weeks leading up to midsterms, with the election for governor, four highly competitive congressional races, and nearly 250 state legislative seats on the ballot.
American democracy faces one of its biggest stress tests of the modern era, as President Donald Trump’s sprawling campaign for power over elections encounters a firewall of judges, state election workers and voting rights leaders heading into Election Day.
Fewer than 1 in 20 rental listings across the largest U.S. cities are flagged as reserved for renters under an income limit, according to new data from Apartments.com.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to require California to set aside the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in a last-ditch appeal by the Trump administration to exert control over the state’s vote counting.
In the final stretch of the 2026 midterm campaigns, the most potent climate issue in American politics arrived by delivery truck across the country.
As broad affordability concerns define elections across the country, voters in several states on Tuesday will have a say on their future utility bills.
Medicaid recipients who are disabled or have a chronic illness will not have to prove they are unable to work to be exempted from new work requirements that take effect next year, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
In Pennsylvania as of Oct. 28, Democratic mail ballot requests are down slightly less that 14% compared to the same point in 2022, while independent and Republican requests are on par or even slightly up.
Pennsylvania has launched the nation’s first apprenticeship program to train doulas to support their clients before, during and after childbirth.
The rulings marked the third and fourth courtroom losses in less than a week for President Donald Trump’s administration in its 11th-hour legal campaign to assert authority over elections, which under the U.S. Constitution are administered by states.
As concerns rise about the potential for federal influence over the results of next week’s midterm elections, many voting experts and advocates remain confident that the nation’s highly localized systems of administering and counting votes will persevere.
The Trump administration cut naturalization sharply over the past year, leading to accusations it’s holding back hundreds of thousands of people who might have voted in the midterms.
Two news organizations scrutinized 13 potential noncitizen voters identified using this method in a large Pennsylvania county and found several individuals who had once been noncitizens but were later naturalized, but zero voters who had registered before gaining citizenship.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday urges business owners to hang up warnings near cryptocurrency kiosks to deter potential victims from increasingly common scams.
The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to combat noncitizen voting and assert authority over elections came under intense scrutiny in courtrooms across the country on Thursday, as Democrats and voting rights groups alleged federal election interference.
As Perry faces what may be his most difficult reelection fight yet, his rally with one of the country’s most powerful Republicans was about setting high stakes.
This story was updated at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29 to clarify the role of the lieutenant governor in an evenly split Senate. The airwaves, streaming services and your mailbox will be politics-free after voters finish casting their ballots on Nov. 3. With nearly 250 races across Pennsylvania that will determine…
Communities throughout the country have been inundated with television ads and outside spending as politicians try to spur voter turnout in the most competitive U.S. House races in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Students have protested against laws and decisions from local election officials that they say could make casting ballots harder, including off-campus polling sites and bans on student IDs when voting.
Out-of-pocket expenses are nearly 60% higher than they were just five years ago for family caregivers, who now spend an average of $11,508 a year on caregiving, according to a report released this week by AARP
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is unlawfully scrutinizing naturalized U.S. citizens and placing them at risk of disenfranchisement, civil rights groups alleged in a lawsuit Wednesday, less than a week before Election Day.
Jalen Hurts is 28, a Super Bowl MVP and an elite athlete in peak physical condition. He was also recently diagnosed with blood clots in his leg and both lungs.
The midterm elections are less than a week away, and one recent political ad in Pennsylvania is raising questions about the legality of using AI deepfakes.
Altogether, at least eight states — Alabama, Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia — advanced or enacted legislation addressing voting rights for people with felony convictions or people who are incarcerated.
Healthcare costs are rising (again) in 2027 — and some people think it's time to start considering universal healthcare as an option.
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, representing Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, is facing an ethics complaint for posting to his campaign Facebook page a video that appears to have been recorded in his congressional office.
Less than a week before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s unprecedented drive for power over elections has set the stage for a series of courtroom fights that could quickly lead to a high-stakes showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over the limits of federal authority.
Most of the nation returns to standard time Sunday morning, and Congress could decide as early as next month whether it will be the last time people have to change their clocks.
Tens of millions of Americans have already made their way to the ballot box as early voting is underway in a midterm election that will determine control of the House and the Senate
Pennsylvania lawmakers moved to ensure more students get the credits they’ve earned in classes behind bars with a 2022 law called Act 1.
Pennsylvania Democrats have all the momentum at their backs as they hope for a Blue Wave to sweep the November 3rd midterm elections.
Sparked by a confounding business offer at his family home nearly two decades ago, filmmaker Josh Fox's latest project took him around the world to tell stories of people uprooted by extreme weather and natural disasters.
Ratepayers who don’t take action to switch back to the utility’s default rate or don’t select a new contract are automatically rolled onto variable rate plans at much higher costs.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt previewed what voters can expect at the polls on Election Day next week.
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send election monitors to every state ahead of Election Day, expanding a longstanding practice that’s spurred concern this year among Democrats and voting rights advocates because of President Donald Trump’s push to influence elections.
It was another financial institution’s commercial that motivated me to create something different. Two busy white, apparently nondisabled, suburban parents were standing on their carefully manicured lawn talking about how they needed to go to the bank to plan for the future of their adult son with Down syndrome. They…
In the first three years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022, more than 900 women faced criminal charges for conduct related to their pregnancies, according to a new report.
As days grow shorter and darkness arrives earlier across much of the country, a new study suggests that brighter streetlights may help reduce nighttime violence — at least temporarily.
The report analyzes the level of education voters would need to understand the titles and summaries of the measures put before them. Because ballot measures are often lengthy and full of legal language, states write shorter titles to be published on the ballot for voters to read.
A western Pennsylvania county accidentally sent voters 157 duplicate ballots for the 2026 midterm elections.
Election monitors’ roles are purely observational. They are not allowed to interfere with voting and receive no greater access to polling places than members of the general public.
President Donald Trump’s 11th-hour campaign to intervene in California’s vote counting encountered its first resistance from federal courts on Monday, with appellate judges ruling against the effort. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against a U.S. Department of Justice request for a…
Half of states now have a bell-to-bell cellphone ban after Gov. Josh Shapiro's signed Senate Bill 1014 into law.
Rising costs of healthcare, gas and groceries during President Donald Trump’s second term have put Republicans on defense, not only in Washington, but in statehouse and gubernatorial races across the country.
Federal regulators are cracking down on the nonprofits responsible for coordinating organ donations, aiming to begin shutting down substandard groups by early next year. New criteria will score the organizations on donation and transplantation rates and will decertify the bottom tier, meaning their contracts with the…
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. In all her 38 years living in South Whitehall Township in the Lehigh Valley, Laurie Gilley had never attended a municipal meeting, much less gotten involved in the…
The group defines an election denier as someone who “participated in spreading Donald Trump’s lie about the 2020 election, refused to certify the results of that election, or attempted to overturn the results.”
That lack of competition, once a primary election is won, heavily influences which priorities lawmakers pursue in office, according to experts interviewed by States Newsroom.
SPRINGDALE, Pa. — Residents in a small southwestern Pennsylvania town are facing the prospect of a 47-acre data center facility on their doorstep. “Right here behind this fence is where they want to put up the data center, and as you can see, there’s houses right across the street, roughly 100 feet,” said lifelong…
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Pennsylvania’s free newsletter here. The Department of Justice has charged nine more Pennsylvania residents with voting as a noncitizen, according to a Friday press release. The…
The Atlantic Center’s petition asked the Supreme Court to appoint a special master to supervise the district attorney’s office and require the district attorney to consult with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s capital unit regarding decisions to seek death.
The Justice Department sued Alaska election officials late Thursday in a preemptive attempt to stop the state from certifying the results of its Senate election if, under the state’s ranked-choice voting method, the Republican incumbent loses by a smaller margin than the votes earned by another candidate of the same…
The uninsured rate for adults ages 19-64 rose to 11.2% this year, up from 8.9% in 2024, according to a new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy and philanthropic nonprofit.
State and local government employees report high levels of job satisfaction across the country, but face significant rates of burnout and on-the-job harassment. That’s according to a new national survey of nearly 5,000 public servants across all 50 states released today by The People Lab at Harvard University’s…