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Planned Parenthood advocates and leaders in Pennsylvania say a federal proposal to block clinics from participating in the Medicaid health insurance program could lead to future closures across the commonwealth.

An estimated 20,000 Pennsylvanians who get health care at Planned Parenthood clinics across the state have Medicaid insurance, according to Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, the advocacy and lobbying arm of the health care organization.

“It punishes patients for accessing care at Planned Parenthood, and it will raise health care costs for everyone,” said Signe Espinoza, executive director of the advocacy and lobby arm.

The proposal, led by Republican lawmakers, is part of a larger national budget plan that includes Trump administration wish list items like tax cuts, increased military spending and reductions to assistance programs like food stamps.

In the bill is a provision that would prohibit federal Medicaid dollars from going to nonprofit family planning health centers that provide abortions.

The Hyde Amendment, which took effect in 1977, bans federal funding from being used for most abortion services. The new proposal would also ban Medicaid reimbursements for preventative health care like birth control, cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted diseases at these clinics.

Three affiliates — Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, Planned Parenthood Keystone and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania — manage 21 health centers and clinics across the state.

The impact would be twofold, Espinoza said. Patients with Medicaid may no longer be able to get routine care and procedures at Planned Parenthood centers if they can’t afford the out-of-pocket costs.

A team of researchers is bringing a webcam series to Pennsylvania in the hopes of seeing live video of snakes and other animals in the wild.

USA Today reports that Project RattleCam is planning to expand into Pennsylvania, after capturing video of snakes in California and Colorado.

The RattleCam livestream of a Colorado “mega den” began for the second year in April, which showed hundreds of rattlesnakes emerging from hibernation.

“We want everyone to be able to see what would a snake that might live near them be doing, and so that’s part of the appeal of the Pennsylvania camera to give representation to the people out in the east,” Bachhuber told USA Today. “We’re hoping to continue to broaden the reach of the RattleCam and its impact.”

To watch videos or livestreams from the RattleCam project, visit their website here.

When you represent “the sweetest place on Earth,” you fight for the Kiss over its dreaded rival, the Peep.

Rep. Tom Mehaffie of Dauphin County is making a second run to cement the iconic Hershey’s Kiss as the official state candy.

A bill sponsored by Mehaffie, who represents Derry Township, home to the Hershey Company, overwhelmingly passed the House on Tuesday.

But there’s competition.

It’s the same bill that was approved by the House last year, but ignored by the Senate, where it faces a competing measure to make Bethlehem-made Just Born Peeps Pennsylvania’s official treat.

“I had a lot of interest from quite a few senators,” Mehaffie said Tuesday about the prospect of his bill finally making it to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk. “I think we’re getting more and more interest in the Senate.”

The designation of the Kiss as the state’s official candy is “based on their continued production in Pennsylvania,” Mehaffie said, noting that roughly 70 million kisses are produced each day with locally-sourced milk, helping to keep Pennsylvania’s dairy industry afloat.

The Kiss was first introduced by Hershey in 1907.

The final vote on Mehaffie’s bill was 150-to-53, a better margin of support than last year. And it passed with no debate – unlike a year ago, when some House members questioned the wisdom of giving official preference to one candy, and others pointed out Hershey’s history of labor disputes and off-shoring of some production.

But Mehaffie pointed out that the company just opened a new production facility in Derry Township, bringing more jobs into the commonwealth

“They’re spending a lot of capital in doing what they do, especially with the new expansion,” Mehaffie said. “The other thing that it does, that most people don’t know, is that it supports the Milton Hershey School.”

The Milton Hershey School, which serves disadvantaged children, is funded by a trust that holds the bulk of Hershey’s corporate stock.

The competitor to Mehaffie’s bill comes from Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh County, seeking the same state candy status for Peeps, a product of Bethlehem-based Just Born.

Pennsylvania might not yet have an official state candy, but it has a state flower (mountain laurel), beverage (milk) and dog (Great Dane).

Lawmakers spent years discussing the issue of an official state amphibian before finally moving on to legislation in 2019, giving the Eastern Hellbender that status.