Pennsylvania
Central Pennsylvania awarded over $1M for Chesapeake Bay Watershed conservation
PENNSYLVANIA (WTAJ) — Over $17 million has been awarded to county teams across the Commonwealth for projects in reducing nutrient and sediment pollution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
Grants were awarded to counties with projects taking place over the next 12 to 24 months. Many different human activities cause nutrient pollution and eroded sediment to enter streams, rivers, and lakes. This pollution can come from fertilizer, plowing and tilling farm fields and can cause stripping away of trees and vegetation, and increasing paved surfaces.
Here are the grants awarded in our area:
- Blair County Conservation District: $308,095
- Cambria County Conservation District: $200,000
- Centre County Government: $566,399
- Clearfield County Conservation District: $368,209
- Huntingdon County Conservation District: $409,134
“Pennsylvania’s clean water successes are rooted in collaboration—state, local, federal, legislative, and non-governmental partners, and of course landowners,” Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Jessica Shirley said. “The work will continue to evolve, and our focus will remain on setting our collaborative partnerships up for success well beyond 2025. The momentum is real, and you can see it in our improved water quality.”
In total, 222 projects were approved, and it’s estimated to reduce nitrogen by 113,493 pounds/year, phosphorus by 28,816 pounds/year, and sediment delivered to the Chesapeake Bay by 1.8 million pounds/year.
Pennsylvania
Man cited after abandoning car in frozen pond at Pennsylvania country club: Police
A man has been cited after police said he drove a vehicle into a frozen pond at a country club in Pennsylvania, left the scene, then spent the night in a hotel.
According to the East Lampeter Township Police Department, on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, around 10:38 a.m., officers were called to the Lancaster Country Club after receiving reports about a vehicle in a pond.
Police said that, through an investigation, it was learned that Sung Chun, a 50-year-old man from Hoboken, New Jersey, had driven onto the property the day before around 8:30 p.m., crossed portions of the golf course, and ultimately ended up in a pond.
Chun then exited the vehicle and walked away without reporting the incident and spent the night at a nearby hotel, according to police.
Credit: East Lampeter Township Police Department
Credit: East Lampeter Township Police Department

Credit: East Lampeter Township Police Department
Police said Chun returned to the location while police were on scene investigating the incident and was ultimately cited with “Trespass by Motor Vehicle.”
Pennsylvania
State College, Pennsylvania: 2026 USA TODAY 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards
Pennsylvania
What the war with Iran could mean for gas prices in western Pennsylvania
The war with Iran could start impacting your wallet as soon as today.
Jim Garrity from AAA East Central says oil prices are up.
“They’re hovering around $72. They were pretty consistently around $65, $66 for a while,” he said.
Nationally, AAA said the average for a gallon of regular sits at about $3, up approximately six cents from last week.
In Pennsylvania, it’s around $3.12 a gallon, and in the Pittsburgh region, it’s around $3.24 a gallon. That’s actually down about four cents from last week.
Garrity added that gas prices this time of year would already be increasing, usually because of higher demand for the warmer months and the production of the summer blend of gas used for those months.
The impacts of what’s happening in Iran may not be immediate, which could be part of why our region and the state overall have not seen a spike yet, he said.
“It could be a couple of days later. It could be up to a week later,” Garrity said.
A lot of people are watching what happens with the Strait of Hormuz. Iran borders it to the north, and 20% of the world’s oil goes through it.
Iran is one of the world’s biggest oil producers, and China gets a lot of that oil.
“If there is an impact there, you could see oil start to come in from other parts of the world, which has a downstream effect on [the United States],” Garrity said.
One way you can save on gas if prices increase in our area is by slowing down.
“When you drive faster every five miles, over 50 miles an hour, your fuel efficiency is going down,” Garrity said. “You’re making the car work harder, making the gasoline consumption less effective.”
Garrity added that in 2022, when our area and many others saw some of the highest gas prices ever recorded, people changed their driving habits.
“We saw people make seemingly permanent changes to their driving behaviors, driving less in general, consolidating trips,” he said.
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