Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania lawmakers question secrecy around how abuse or neglect of older adults is investigated – Metro Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks with members of the media during a news conference in Yardley, Pa., Monday, Dec. 4, 2023.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
Pennsylvania lawmakers want Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Department of Aging to disclose more about the shortcomings it finds when it evaluates whether county-level agencies are properly investigating complaints about the abuse or neglect of older adults.
The effort comes as Republican state lawmakers have pressed Shapiro’s administration to do more to investigate the deaths of older adults who are the subject of an abuse or neglect complaint after Pennsylvania recorded a steep increase in such deaths.
Rep. Louis Schmitt, R-Blair, introduced legislation Wednesday requiring the department to publish the compliance status of each of the 52 county-level agencies that it’s supposed to inspect annually, and to publish a report on the findings.
“The public needs to know. The public deserves to know. The public has a right to know,” Schmitt said in an interview. “You cannot hide if you’re going to conduct public business, especially public business that affects the health and safety and welfare of seniors in Pennsylvania.”
The department told lawmakers earlier this year that it had deemed seven of the agencies to be noncompliant. The year before that, 13 were noncompliant when lawmakers asked.
In a statement, the Department of Aging said it looked forward to working with Schmitt. The department said it expects to introduce a new performance evaluation process beginning in June and will post results on its website.
The department has recently declined requests by The Associated Press for two sets of documents: one in which the department outlines to county-level agencies the shortcomings it found and another in which the county-level agency must explain how it will fix those shortcomings. The department, under Shapiro’s predecessor, former Gov. Tom Wolf, had provided such documents unredacted to the AP.
Those refusals come after a January evaluation of Philadelphia’s agency found that its protective services bureau had improperly handled 16 — or one-third — of 50 closed cases that were picked at random for the review.
The details of complaints, investigations and the identity of the person whose situation is in question are kept secret.
The Philadelphia Corporation For Aging declined to comment. A letter the department sent to the agency didn’t describe the problems or how the agency planned to fix them.
Asked about the fate of the 16 adults, the department said none of their cases “required a referral to law enforcement or a report to the coroner’s office.”
The department also said it is taking steps to help the Philadelphia agency, including by encouraging the agency to seek out a broader pool of applicants for caseworkers and supervisory staff and expanding training.
The department has contracts with 52 county-level “area agencies for aging” — nicknamed triple As — across Pennsylvania to field and investigate abuse and neglect complaints and, ultimately, ensure the older adult is safe and connected to the appropriate social services. Some are county-run and some are privately run.
Sheri McQuown, a protective services specialist who left the Department of Aging last year after almost seven years, said there is no reason the department cannot publish the findings from its evaluations and the local agencies’ corrective action plans.
“The public should know what they’re paying for, what they’re getting for their money, and older adults should know which triple As are effective and which are not,” McQuown said.
How the Philadelphia agency handles complaints has stoked repeated concerns. At one point, the state stepped in to handle investigations.
McQuown questioned whether the Department of Aging has the spine to hold the county-level agencies accountable. High numbers of deficiencies has long been the norm for Philadelphia and some other agencies, she said.
The county-level agencies do not always comply with state requirements that limit caseworkers’ caseloads, set deadlines to resolve cases and set timelines within which caseworkers must promptly see potential victims.
The agencies also decide which complaints to investigate, and state data has long shown disparities between the agencies in how often they deemed a complaint to be worthy of action.
Pennsylvania
Police: Burglary at home of Philadelphia Eagles star Saquon Barkley
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED TORNADO WATCH 495 IN
EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN DELAWARE THIS WATCH INCLUDES 3 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL DELAWARE
KENT
IN NORTHERN DELAWARE
NEW CASTLE
IN SOUTHERN DELAWARE
SUSSEX
IN MARYLAND THIS WATCH INCLUDES 4 COUNTIES
IN NORTHEAST MARYLAND
CAROLINE KENT QUEEN ANNE’S
TALBOT
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 16 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER MONMOUTH
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MIDDLESEX MORRIS
SOMERSET SUSSEX WARREN
IN SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY
ATLANTIC BURLINGTON CAMDEN
CAPE MAY CUMBERLAND GLOUCESTER
OCEAN SALEM
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, ATLANTIC CITY, BETHLEHEM,
BLAIRSTOWN, CAMDEN, CENTREVILLE, CHERRY HILL, CHESTERTOWN,
DENTON, DEPTFORD, DOVER, DOYLESTOWN, EAST BRUNSWICK, EASTON,
EASTON, EDISON, FLEMINGTON, FREEHOLD, GEORGETOWN, GLASSBORO,
HAMMONTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MILLVILLE, MOORESTOWN, MORRISTOWN,
MOUNT HOLLY, NEW BRUNSWICK, NEWTON, NORRISTOWN,
NORTH BRUNSWICK TOWNSHIP, OCEAN CITY, PENNSVILLE, PERTH AMBOY,
PHILADELPHIA, READING, SAYREVILLE, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TOMS RIVER, TRENTON, WEST CHESTER, AND WILMINGTON.
Info:
Type: Tornado Watch
start_time_local: 2026-07-18T13:55:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2026-07-18T21:00:00-04:00
county_name: Lehigh County
state: PA
headline: Tornado Watch from SAT 1:55 PM EDT until SAT 9:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Extreme
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Lehigh County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Ambler chapel at historic Pa. seminary wins international architecture award
From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly’s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
A chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary’s new Ambler campus in Montgomery County has earned an international architecture award for blending centuries of Catholic tradition with contemporary design.
Immaculate Conception Chapel, designed by Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP, incorporates historic elements salvaged from the seminary’s former Lower Merion campus, including carved pews, statues and stained-glass windows. The adapted features preserve the legacy of the oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in Pennsylvania and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The chapel was one of 12 winners selected from 75 submissions worldwide in the 2026 Faith & Form International Awards for Religious Architecture & Art, presented by Philadelphia-based Partners for Sacred Places.
“It’s one of these projects that totally balances the contemporary needs of the client with this commitment to … liturgical tradition, institutional memory and preservation,” said
Kevin Block, the nonprofit’s director of special initiatives.
“So that combination … balancing the old and the new, was, in the jury’s opinion, really award worthy.”
Chapel design holds ‘universal appeal’
John Cluver, senior partner and director of historic preservation at Voith & Mactavish, said he worked closely with the seminary to understand the physical and spiritual needs of the people who would be in the building every day.
Incorporating historic elements at the old seminary was key for the institution, Cluver said.
“They were very interested in having this new chapel relate back to these other chapels and to continue this sense of tradition and this historic continuity with their previous campus,” he said. “So the basic form, configuration, individual elements all were based on elements from these two chapels that we could integrate into a single one.”
Cluver said the award from Partners for Sacred Places is recognition of achieving a “universal appeal” beyond the religious context.
“There’s something that resonated with people who had no connection whatsoever with this community, but they still felt that it really spoke to them as well, so it was very rewarding in that regard,” he said.
Pennsylvania
Ticket from Pennsylvania Lottery’s Triple Six Fix scandal going up for auction
Almost 50 years ago, a Pennsylvania Lottery scandal rocked the commonwealth and captured the attention of the world. Now it’s going up for auction.
Television viewers on Thursday, April 24, 1980, thought they were watching another random lottery drawing when the numbers 666 were drawn. But weeks later, Nick Perry, a local Pittsburgh news reporter and host of the drawing, was charged and convicted of rigging the game. Investigators learned he made some balls heavier than others by adding extra paint to them, tipping the outcome.
That drawing, and the 666 lottery tickets, would go down in infamy. And now, a 46-year-old artifact at the center of the scandal is up for sale.
John Zenewicz likes to go to estate sales and has a side hustle selling finds on eBay. He said he was at an estate sale in Saxonburg when he saw a 666 ticket sitting on a dresser.
“I remember the style of ticket because my dad would buy them when I was a boy,” said John Zenewicz. “And I was like, ‘why would someone encase an old lottery ticket?’ and the only thing that could pop to my mind was that story that I remember. I was 10 years old.”
Zenewicz suspects the homeowners had no idea what they were selling.
“What I presume, it’s one of the tickets that was probably confiscated as evidence in Nick Perry, what the locals call the Triple Six Fix,” he said.
After a little more research, Zenewicz said he realized one of the previous owners of the home worked in law enforcement at the time of the scandal. He suspects he may have been part of the team prosecuting Nick Perry. Perry served two years in jail, was fined $3,000 and was ordered to pay $35,000.
Perry died in 2003, but at least one of the tickets at the center of it all remains. And now, Zenewicz says he is selling his 666 ticket on eBay, giving someone else a chance to own a piece of history.
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