PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — University of the Arts supporters are not giving up on their fight for answers after the school abruptly shut down earlier this month. Now, they want the state’s top law enforcement official to step in.

It was a call Friday for Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry to investigate the University of the Arts closure. 

A group marched from Hamilton Hall to Love Park. Many of the people CBS News Philadelphia talked to have the same questions they had weeks ago and say they’ve still heard nothing from university leadership. They hope the attorney general jumping on board can change that.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, this is a crime scene,” Adam Nelson, UArts class of 1991, said.

Other lawmakers have been involved in the UArts situation. State lawmakers held a hearing on the closure earlier this week. City council also passed a resolution calling for hearings but people want the attorney general’s office to take things further.

“To not launch an unofficial investigation, not a review, but an actual, formal investigation into the criminality, I think, of these financial issues that they won’t share,” Nelson said.

Students and staff said there has still been no communication from school leaders. Union officials said on Thursday a lawyer representing UArts told them the university “lacks the cash flow” to pay faculty what it’s owed under federal law.

“The only communication we had from the university yesterday said that the financial information and the details of why the university closed, they said that information doesn’t exist,” UArts faculty member and Vice President of United Academics of Philadelphia Bradley Philbert said. “And we’re willing to believe that it does.”

Students and parents have also not been able to get answers about tuition reimbursement. Micah Kleit’s 17-year-old daughter was supposed to start a summer program at UArts before the school closed. Despite numerous calls and emails, his $1,600 now sits in limbo.

“The only work they’re putting into this now is to basically blowing off parents, pushing aside any kind of actual resolution,” Kleit said.

CBS News Philadelphia reached out to the attorney general’s office for comment on Friday’s rally but have not heard back. Our calls to lawyers representing UArts have also gone unanswered.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — With support from the National Republican Congressional Committee, Pennsylvania House candidate Ryan Mackenzie debuted his campaign’s “Battle Station” office Thursday evening — in a swing district whose Democratic incumbent can’t stop insulting her constituents.

“I have been a pragmatic conservative trying to find solutions for the problems that face our community,” Mackenzie, a 12-year state representative from Lehigh County, told his enthusiastic audience of staffers and volunteers at the newly opened office in Allentown.

“And that’s so important because so often we see that politicians . . . don’t accomplish anything for the American people.”

Launched in January, the NRCC’s Battle Station initiative is designed to establish early contact with 3 million swing voters in competitive House districts.

NRCC data identify these voters and provide the framework for the initiative’s multimillion-dollar investment.

Mackenzie, 41, is taking aim at Democratic incumbent Susan Wild, who has represented Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District since 2018.

The district encompasses four counties: all of Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties, as well as southern Monroe County.

Two county GOP chairmen, Lehigh’s Joe Vichot and Northampton’s Glenn Geissinger, spoke Thursday in support of Mackenzie — and dunking on Wild became a theme.

“Many of you, the reason why you’re here is because [Mackenzie] has done things to help you as our representative,” Vichot said.

“Susan Wild obviously won’t do that — she makes fun of people that don’t agree with her.”

Wild has been caught making disparaging comments about her constituents at least three times in recent years — especially those in red-leaning Carbon County, whom the congresswoman said “drank the “Trump Kool-Aid” and needed to be “schooled” after the area was added to her district last election cycle.

Taking a more optimistic tone, Geissinger hunched his bet on a Mackenzie victory in notoriously purple Northampton County. 

“The one thing that I will tell you right now, and I can see it from this room, is that Ryan Mackenzie is gonna win in Northampton County in November,” Geissinger said to applause.

Home to the city of Easton and much of Bethlehem, “NorCo” has backed the winner of the last four presidential elections and often decides statewide races. In 2022, Wild won the county by fewer than 4,000 votes and the overall district by fewer than 6,000.

With the district receiving national attention, the NRCC says opening a Battle Station for Mackenzie could be enough to defeat Wild.

“Ryan Mackenzie has strong ties to his community and has proven to be effective in delivering results for the Lehigh Valley,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella told The Post.

“This new Battle Station will be critical in mobilizing voters to elect Ryan Mackenzie and send extreme Democrat Susan Wild packing.”

BEAVER FALLS — In the recent history of the Penn-Ohio Football Classic, the games have tended to be close battles. Although Pennsylvania had a 29-14 series lead going into the 45th annual game, five of the previous seven had been decided by a touchdown or less.

Ohio bucked that trend Thursday night at Geneva College’s Reeves Field, though, taking the opening kickoff and driving the length of the field before missing a field goal… but then scored touchdowns on its next two possessions. In the end, Ohio prevailed 28-10.

“We had our chances but we were always playing from behind,” said Central Valley coach Mark Lyons, the Pennsylvania coach. “They had some athletes and played better than us but we had a great bunch of kids.

“It was a great couple of weeks and I’d do it again.”

After Ohio’s initial scoring flurry, the locals did come back. Western Beaver’s Tyson Florence scored on a 4-yard run in the second quarter and Mohawk’s Josh Wilkins kicked a 30-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half but that 14-10 gap was as close as it got.

While it was feared that the uncharacteristically high temperatures might have an affect on the game, it didn’t seem to be major. The crowd was again near-capacity, although it was exclusively on the shady side of the field – no one sat in the sun.

The players also seemed to adjust, although they did notice the heat. The heat wave had been here for most of the practice time and they practiced on the turf at Central Valley, so it wasn’t all new.

“It was really hot out there,” said New Brighton’s Hunter Lewis, chosen as Pennsylvania Defensive MVP. “It’s always hotter on turf and we really only had two full practices in pads.

“Ohio was a tough group and they really came to play.”

For Lewis, like many others, this game will be their last one in equipment, making the experience even more meaningful.

“I’m going to the electrical workers union so this is it for me,” said Lewis. “I was surprised to get the MVP but I had a good time with a great group of guys. I’d do it again.”

Ironically, the Pennsylvania Offensive MVP was also playing his last game. He is the first time recipient of the newly named Jim Wilson Award, commemorating the years of service of the former Freedom head coach and longtime Blackhawk assistant, along with other schools.

“I was just here to have fun and play some ball,” said Blackhawk graduate Maurice Watson-Trent, who rushed for 73 yards on 13 carries. “This was my last game – I’m not going to college, I’m working on my own clothing line – A Maverick.

“It was definitely fun playing with guys I’ve been playing against for years.”

For another Blackhawk graduate playing his final game, Donta Campagna, the game was also special but not for an award he received – he got to be on the field to see his grandfather, Karl Florie, get inducted in the inaugural class of the MAC Coaches Hall of Fame.   

“That was a great experience for me and I was glad I was here,” said Campagna. “This was definitely the hottest game I’ve ever played in though.”

Joining Florie in that class on the field were Joe Hamilton, Tom Marsilio and Joe Savage (as a contributor) along with family representing four posthumous inductees Tom Alexander, Rich Niedbala, Larry Bruno, and Pat Tarquinio.

Many of those men were instrumental in setting up the game as a means to give players a chance to play and the coaches association a means to award scholarships.

Awarded scholarships at halftime were Central Valley’s Tyler Costanza, Riverside’s Josh Guenther, Beaver’s Marco Gutierrez, West Allegheny’s A.J. Hughes, Central Valley’s Donte Newton, Rochester’s Michael Norman, Freedom’s Cody Patterson, Laurel’s Braydon Smith, and Ambridge’s Grant Uvodich.