The Morning Agenda

A surprise beneficiary in President Trump’s budget mega bill is a type of coal used to make steel. Companies that mine metallurgical coal are now in line to receive a 2.5% tax credit thanks to the bill.  

Controversy has erupted after a Northeastern Pennsylvania county is cut a band from a popular concert series. The move appears to be connected to concerns over the band's lyrics and statements by the lead singer.  

Pennsylvania health officials have temporarily added nitazenes, a synthetic opioid, to the list of controlled substances in the Commonwealth.  

Temple University's School of Dentistry is launching a rural dentistry track. A new campus will be located in Schuylkill County, and the goal of the new program is to encourage new dentists to practice in underserved areas of Pennsylvania. 

The State Department of Labor and I...

About 18 percent of private wells in Pennsylvania are contaminated with toxic "forever chemicals" known as PFAS. That’s according to a new study from Penn State. 

After finding mosquitoes that have tested positive for West Nile Virus and Jamestown Canyon Virus, Cumberland County is spraying for the insects in various parts of the county.  

Penn State plans to buy the former fraternity house where a hazing incident l...

We’re learning more about the deeper implications of Congress’s decision late last week to roll back billions of dollars of funding already approved for public broadcasting and foreign aid. We hear from a humanitarian aid worker from the State College region and learn what could come next for foreign aid work. 

Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities are planning to raise tuition for the first time in...

Congress is cancelling over $1 billion in pre-approved funding for public broadcasting. The funding cuts threaten local news and educational programming across Pennsylvania.  

Workers who rely on tips are being advised to pay attention to their taxes this year. A "no tax on tips" provision is part of the federal tax cut and spending bill recently signed into law. Workers who get voluntary tips - not service fees - may benefit ...

Early this morning, between 2 and 3 am, the Senate approved cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting including NPR and PBS as well as member stations including WITF. The Senate vote was 51-to-48.

Pennsylvania's senators voted along party lines. With a yes vote, Republican David McCormick voted to rescind funding for public broadcasting as well as foreign aid. Democrat John Fetterman voted against the bill.

Earlier this week,...

Governor Josh Shapiro says he wants to be sure Pennsylvania plays a key role in developing artificial intelligence, as well as providing the energy needed to support it. Speaking at an energy and A-I summit in Pittsburgh this week, Shapiro said the state's skilled workforce and natural gas reserves helped attract a $20 billion dollar investment in new data centers recently pledged by Amazon. A number of large-scale data center proj...

June 30 was the deadline for a new state budget, so at this point, lawmakers are more than two weeks late - with little movement until late Monday night. That’s when The Pennsylvania state House passed a budget bill - one that’s smaller than Governor Josh Shapiro originally requested. But Republicans say more cuts are needed. 

Governor Shapiro is suing the Trump Administration over education funding. This...

Pennsylvania’s top emergency management official is calling on the federal government to rethink proposed changes to disaster aid, saying the measures could hurt emergency response in the state. 

Cleanup work is underway at a contaminated former dishware factory located just west of State College. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts are focused on the Jackson Ceramix Superfund site. 

Former loca...

Rural health care and job training top a list of Pennsylvanians’ priorities, according to results of a recently-released special survey of public opinion. The process, designed like a town hall for people across the state, softened participants’ strongest political stances. 

State House Democrats blocked a vote on a bill to prohibit transgender girls from competing in school sports, late last week. The move comes a...

Rural hospital leaders and advocates in Pennsylvania are planning for the future, following passage of that huge federal tax cut spending bill in Washington. It cuts more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid over the next decade. The law also creates a $50 billion rural health grant program, but experts have concerns about that, too. 

A marathon negotiating session between the city of Philadelphia and its blue collar workers'...

Grocery stores often throw away products that are not expired, but that are past their suggested “Best by” date. That may change in Pennsylvania thanks to a new law signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro last week.  

It's been more than a century since archeologists discovered the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh known as King Tut. Several members of the discovery team suffered untimely deaths shortly after, and the myth of the &...

An Allegheny County state House member has led the charge to repeal a 150-year-old ban on Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania. Governor Josh Shapiro is expected to sign it into law this week. 

A state appeals court ruled that a Western Pennsylvania municipality violated its own zoning law when it allowed a natural gas well to be built in a residential area. 

The future of the federal food benefits program known as SNAP - ...

The federal spending bill calls for a reduction in Medicaid spending by an estimated $930 billion over the next decade. The shared federal-state health program currently provides insurance coverage to more than 70 million Americans with low incomes. Effects of the cuts will not only be felt by low-income Pennsylvanians, but through the state's hospitals and even nursing homes.

The Trump administration is holding up nearly $7 billio...

Beginning today, July 7, Pennsylvania will be a full participant in health care compacts that make it easier for qualified doctors, nurses and physical therapists to provide care in dozens of states. It’s part of the progress being made on licensing medical professionals in the Commonwealth.

Finding sustainable and inclusive approaches to water management is the focus of a national gathering in Pittsburgh this week, July 8 th...

A bill moving through Harrisburg would automatically seal the eviction records of thousands of renters across Pennsylvania. Housing advocates say the legislation would be a game-changer because it would help tenants haunted by their eviction records.

Five years after a landmark Pennsylvania grand jury report slammed the Department of Environmental Protection for failing to protect the public from the health effects of fracking, adv...

Governor Josh Shapiro and Democrats in the state Senate are blasting President Donald Trump’s domestic spending plan. Shapiro told reporters that half a million Pennsylvanians could lose access to health care through Medicaid or other programs.

Meantime, in Harrisburg, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature have missed Pennsylvania’s deadline to pass a budget for the new fiscal year, ...

Spoiler alert, state lawmakers did not have a budget agreement in place by midnight, when the current fiscal year ended. However, that does not mean the state will immediately miss payments for public services. That would change if the impasse stretches over several months, meaning payments for county services and schools would be the first to be affected. Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa is upbeat though, saying he doesn't expec...

Today, June 30, is the deadline for Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass a new state budget. But the legislature appears poised to miss the budget deadline for the fourth straight year. A years-long debate over how much to tax so-called “skill games” in Pennsylvania has escalated, leading up to the state budget deadline. And Democrats in the state House are pushing to reform the Pennsylvania’s tax code to make it h...