Pennsylvania
As partisan tensions thaw in Harrisburg, Pa. lawmakers eye unfunded housing, school priorities
![As partisan tensions thaw in Harrisburg, Pa. lawmakers eye unfunded housing, school priorities](https://whyy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/pa-capitol-harrisburg-amanda-berg-spotlight-pa-2023-11-13.jpeg)
This story originally appeared on Spotlight PA.
Pennsylvania lawmakers are signaling a willingness to move legislation after a year that’s seen a prolonged dispute over spending and few bills cross the finish line.
With little fanfare, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has recently signed several bills that chip away at Pennsylvania’s five-month-old budget impasse by addressing issues in need of immediate attention.
They include measures increasing ambulance reimbursements, reauthorizing a hospital assessment used to support medical coverage for low-income individuals, and transferring almost $900 million to the state’s rainy day fund, which now sits at $6.1 billion.
Democratic and Republican legislative leaders have found it difficult to work together since this summer, when Shapiro rejected a $100 million private school voucher program, a GOP priority, in the face of unified resistance from state House Democrats.
At a news conference late last month, Shapiro said that both chambers “have to learn to work together,” but that he was “encouraged by what I’ve been seeing as of late.”
“We should have a glass half full mentality, not a glass half empty,” Shapiro added.
Shapiro signed a $45.5 billion budget in August, but state lawmakers must pass additional legislation to authorize spending on several programs included in that bill.
There’s no guarantee the state House and Senate will agree on a plan to fund those items, which include extra money for Pennsylvania’s poorest schools and grants for home repairs.
But there are signs that hard feelings over the budget may be thawing as both chambers return to Harrisburg this week.
The rainy day fund transfer, in particular, has earned Democratic lawmakers and Shapiro some goodwill among legislative Republicans, who have pushed for the state to put away as much money as possible, fearing a future recession and associated hard choices about finances.
The transfer is “a direct result of the Senate and House Republicans disciplined spending approach throughout the past several budget cycles,” state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) said in a statement earlier this month.
“More importantly, it demonstrates that Republicans’ words and actions are aligned to position our state for fiscal solvency, which is a value that has been missing during our current and unfinished budget discussions,” Ward said.
While state House Democrats supported putting dollars in the rainy day fund, they also want state Senate Republicans to get on board with spending more money on public education and social programs, a handful of which were agreed to in the summer budget bill.
That includes $100 million in aid for the state’s poorest schools, $50 million for a popular home repair grant program, $10 million on stipends for student teachers, and $7.5 million to invest in public legal defense for those who can’t afford an attorney.
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Pennsylvania
Bill to ensure access to contraception advances in Pennsylvania, aided by dozens of GOP House votes
![Bill to ensure access to contraception advances in Pennsylvania, aided by dozens of GOP House votes](https://whyy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/04-27-2023-k-paynter-downtown-harrisburg-pa-captial-building-dome-weather-vane-4.jpg)
Planned Parenthood PA Advocates executive director Signe Espinoza called the proposal “an enormous shift toward control over our bodies.”
“We must have control over if and when we decide to start our families, but Pennsylvania has for too long allowed loopholes, exemptions and oversights to stand between us and our autonomy,” Espinoza said in a statement.
Rep. Krueger said in an interview Monday that she also was concerned about Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion access two years ago. Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” including cases that found married people have the right to obtain contraceptives, people can engage in private, consensual sex acts and the right to same-sex marriage.
A state law could help people obtain contraceptives if federal law changes, Krueger said.
“We have seen that access to reproductive health care, including contraception, is coming down to a state’s rights issue,” Krueger said.
In other states, contraception has been a politically contentious issue. A review earlier this month by the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for abortion access, found several states have proposed or enacted laws to reduce access to contraception this year.
KFF, a nonprofit that studies health care issues, said in May that 14 states have legal or constitutional protections for the right to contraception, with six states and Washington, D.C., enacting them since the high court’s decision on abortion in June 2022.
Pennsylvania
Pa. woman who drowned after being swept over waterfall in Glacier National Park is ID’d
![Pa. woman who drowned after being swept over waterfall in Glacier National Park is ID’d](https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/resizer/v2/ENNPVT7HEBAILPOJTGZWNTBSLM.jpg?auth=ae6ee71154605f3d0d14626ee27547b52589449aff7199c62704aa067d22f7ab&width=1280&quality=90)
A 26-year-old Pennsylvania woman drowned after being swept over a waterfall on the east side of Glacier National Park in Montana, park officials said.
National Park Service officials on Tuesday identified the victim as Gillian Tones from North Apollo in western Pennsylvania’s Armstrong County. She was remembered as caring and kind, triblive.com reported.
Tones fell into the water above St. Mary Falls at around 5:20 p.m. Sunday. She was washed over the 35-foot (11-meter) tall waterfall and trapped under water for several minutes, the park said in a statement.
Bystanders pulled Tones from the water and administered CPR until emergency responders arrived. She was declared dead at 7 p.m., park officials said.
The death is under investigation, and an autopsy was planned.
Her name was initially withheld until family members could be notified.
Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in Glacier National Park, according to the National Park Service.
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Pennsylvania
Conestoga Road Closing Weekdays For 2 Months In Radnor: PennDOT
![Conestoga Road Closing Weekdays For 2 Months In Radnor: PennDOT](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/22896833/20240625/103022/styles/patch_image/public/roadclosed___25103005562.jpg)
RADNOR TOWNSHIP, PA — Conestoga Road in Radnor Township will have a weekday closure due to Aqua Pennsylvania work for about two months, PennDOT said.
According to PennDOT, a weekday closure is scheduled on Conestoga Road between Lowrys Lane and Glenbrook Avenue in Radnor.
The closure will be in place weekdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Monday, July 1 to Friday, Aug. 30,
During the closure, drivers will be detoured, using Sproul Road/Route 320, Lancaster Avenue/U.S. 30, and County Line Road.
Local access will be maintained up to the work zone.
Drivers are advised to allow extra time when traveling through or near the work area because backups and delays will occur.
All scheduled activities are weather dependent.
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