Pennsylvania
This Pennsylvania cyber charter proposal would replace teachers with AI-based lessons

Online school in Arizona adopts fully AI-taught curriculum for 2025
An online-based school in Arizona is handing off teaching duties entirely to artificial intelligence with a virtual academy.
Straight Arrow News
The Texas founders of an unconventional AI-based learning model want to expand into Pennsylvania, pitching a plan for a cyber charter school that would replace teachers with software and squeeze traditional academics into 2 hours of daily instruction.
Representatives of Unbound Academic Institute Charter School, which has a pending application before state officials, say their artificial intelligence technology tailors lessons to each child and helps them master material more quickly. Compressing the typical school day into 2 hours keeps students from burning out on academics and frees up time for developing a range of other life skills, they say.
And instead of traditional teachers, the school uses educators called guides to coach students and monitor their progress.
“Inefficiencies, a lack of personalization, and a decline in student engagement have long plagued the traditional education system ― unchanged since the Industrial Revolution,” the group says in its application, calling its philosophy a “transformative solution to these pervasive issues.”
The ideas, though, of handing teaching responsibilities to artificial intelligence and shortening classes on traditional subjects raise alarm bells for the proposal’s skeptics, who have questions about the claims of huge academic gains and accelerated learning.
“Children do not do well in online schools,” said Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, a public schools advocacy group based in New York. “And to think that (Unbound representatives) have somehow created an online school that, in even less time, can deliver outstanding results for a diverse group of students … I don’t think is a credible claim.”
Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania, also questioned the financial relationships tied up in the academy. As envisioned, the school would channel millions of dollars to an assortment of contractors linked to its founders.
“Someone needs to sign a contract on behalf of a company providing services for that school. When that person is the same person from the charter school, you have to wonder where their interests lie,” Spicka said.
The school’s applications have been rejected in Utah, North Carolina and Arkansas, and some education advocates are hoping it will meet a similar fate in the Keystone State.
In its Pennsylvania submission, Unbound founders proposed opening this coming fall with 500 students in fourth through eighth grades. However, its representatives plan to scale up to an enrollment of 2,500 by the fifth year and, ultimately, to serve students from kindergarten through high school graduation.
If approved, Unbound would become the commonwealth’s 15th cyber charter. The Pennsylvania Department of Education typically decides whether to accept or deny an application within 120 days of its submission, or by Jan. 29 for Unbound.
Unbound teachers are AI, humans are guides
The cyber charter’s foundational concept is 2 Hour Learning, an education philosophy created and marketed by Texas mom MacKenzie Price, who has used it in a string of private academies.
In her telling, the impetus to create the model — which abbreviates instruction on core topics and opens up more time for fostering passions and life skills — came from a realization that her daughters found school boring. However, it’s not clear whether Price had any background in education at the time. The resume she included with various charter applications shows she earned a psychology degree from Stanford University in 1998 and does not list any teaching experience.
Over the past decade, she has implemented her philosophy in a string of Texas- and Florida-based private academies called Alpha Schools, where families typically pay $40,000 per year in tuition.
Now, she and her associates are trying to translate the model to cyber charters, and they’ve attempted to open virtual schools in at least five states including Pennsylvania. So far, Arizona is the only state to grant them approval.
Price’s husband, Andrew Price, is listed in the Pennsylvania application as one of Unbound’s founding members, along with five in-state residents and two administrators from Alpha schools in Texas. Neither Andrew Price nor MacKenzie Price responded to a list of questions about the school.
The cyber charter application cites test results from Alpha School students to support its claims that the model can catapult kids to the highest-achieving percentiles with a fraction of the time spent on core subjects each day.
But Burris argues that outcomes from a pricey, in-person private school are unlikely to predict performance in an all-online charter school that must accept children of all backgrounds, including students with disabilities and special education needs.
At Unbound, children would spend 2 hours each morning on reading, writing, math and science — a total of 10 hours per week on subjects typically seen as the basis of a grade-school education.
However, the school’s application says their AI-based technology will allow them to personalize lessons so students grasp the information much faster than they would in a traditional classroom. The idea is to avoid the monotony and frustration that causes many students to become disenchanted with school, the cyber charter application explains.
“The model aims to foster a love for learning, improve academic outcomes, and prepare students for success in the rapidly changing modern world,” it states.
With reading, writing and math behind them, students can spend their afternoons exploring individual passions and practicing skills, such as financial literacy, emotional intelligence and public speaking.
The application says the model dispenses with the traditional idea of teachers and instead uses guides, who eschew “traditional lecture-based roles” in favor of acting as “personalized mentors and coaches.”
“Guides focus on providing tailored support, fostering deep connections, and encouraging holistic student development, ensuring each learner achieves mastery in core subjects efficiently and effectively,” the document states.
Unbound wants to establish a ratio of one guide for every 33 students and is planning to scale up to 10 lead guides and 20 guides by the third year, when it projects its enrollment would reach 1,000.
Spicka said that, while the Education Voters of PA take issue with this particular cyber charter school, Unbound’s application underscores a systemic issue the pro-public school nonprofit she helms is urging lawmakers to change.
A letter-writing campaign started by Education Voters in January calls for a moratorium on new charter school applications until the state can audit and ensure all its existing charter schools are meeting educational goals for students.
Contracts with founder’s companies
Unbound could present a lucrative opportunity for the Prices, whose businesses are pitched as contractors for the school.
“Even if these schools are a flop four or five years down the road … they’re going to be collecting millions of dollars from Pennsylvania taxpayers,” Burris said.
“This is supposed to be a school where the focus of everything should be that the kids get the best education they can get during the years they’re in school,” Spicka said. “Instead, this application lifts the veil and shows this is all about profit-making companies coming into Pennsylvania and figuring out how they can extract money out of the system and take it for themselves.”
MacKenzie Price’s company, 2 Hour Learning, is poised to get $2.75 million, or $5,500 per student, through a one-year software licensing contract with the cyber charter, according to a draft included in the Pennsylvania application.
The school’s founders plan to secure general and administrative services from a company called YYYYY LLC, whose corporate documents show Andrew Price as its president and director. YYYYY has promised to provide a $650,000 grant for the cyber charter.
Andrew Price is also listed as chief financial officer of Crossover Markets, which would provide human resources help, and as director and CFO of Trilogy Enterprises Inc., which would offer financial services.
Trilogy Enterprises could charge the academy up to $350,000 per year, according to contracts included in the school’s application. Crossover Markets would get 10% of the first-year compensation package for any employee it helps recruit, although it has agreed to waive its fee for the first three years.
Burris noted in a letter to Pennsylvania officials that these fees are higher than those included in cyber charter applications in other states: The 2 Hour Learning software was only estimated to cost $2,000 to $2,500 per student in North Carolina, $2,000 per student in Arizona and $2,000 per student in Arkansas, according to applications filed in those states.
Trilogy’s services are also capped at $150,000 each year in the other states, less than half the amount listed in the Pennsylvania cyber charter application.
However, the application says there will be a firewall between the cyber charter’s governance structure and the Prices’ financial interests.
Though Andrew Price is one of the cyber charter’s founding members, he would not sit on the board of trustees, which would be composed entirely of Pennsylvania residents “fully independent of any vendors providing services to the school,” the submission states.
Susan DeJarnatt, a Temple University law professor who has studied charter school finances, said Andrew Price’s absence from the trustees board does not eliminate concerns. Even if a particular proposal doesn’t cross any ethical or legal lines, she said, state officials should pay attention if a school’s structure “invites potential problems.”
Bethany Rodgers is a USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania capital bureau investigative journalist.

Pennsylvania
Confirmed – Pennsylvania bans cell phone use behind the wheel and these are the fines you could receive

We all know that texting and driving is a very bad idea and that we should avoid using our phone or the entertainment center of our car when we are moving to avoid distractions at the wheel. However, knowing this and following it are two very different things, and because of voice commands and the false sense of security that things being just a touch away provide, we have gotten complacent and are now having more traffic accidents because of these distractions once again. The state of Pennsylvania has noticed this uptick and has introduced a new law that cracks down on using phones while driving in an attempt to improve road safety.
The new law, called Paul Miller’s Law, after a young man who lost his life in 2010 because someone behind the wheel was not paying attention is attempting to eliminate distractions while driving and has passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate and is now being signed by the Governor into law.
Since Paul died, his family has made an effort to ensure that the tragedy does not repeat, and the efforts, spearheaded by his mother Eileen Miller, have finally culminated in the passing of this bill. This was not an easy road for her, but thanks to the close support of State Senator Rosemary Brown they were able to make it a reality. At the bill signing, Eileen gave a powerful speech, filled with emotion and gratitude, making it clear how much this meant to her, and how important it was for families like hers.
The new Pennsylvania traffic law, an attempt to curb distractions on the road
Starting June 5, 2025, drivers in Pennsylvania will not be allowed to use handheld mobile devices at all while driving, which means no making calls, no texting and no using apps. The physical phone needs to be put away unless it is an emergency or it is being used for navigation purposes. Under this law, radios used by emergency personnel and certain commercial drivers are not affected by this ban.
Although there are penalties for breaking this new law put in place, they will not go into effect all at once, it will be a gradual process so as to not treat this as a cash grab, but as the safety measure that it is. For the first year there will be no fines but police will hand out warnings to give drivers time to adjust. Next year, come June 2026, anyone caught using their cell phone on the road will have to pay a $50 fine, plus court and admin fees.
Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer praised the move, calling it an intelligent response to the distracted driving problem and pointed out that it is not just about having a law on paper but that it needs to be enforced to really make a difference. Police officers will now be able to pull over anyone they see using a phone behind the wheel, treating it like any other traffic offense.
The law really is not an overreaction to an inexistant problem, on the contrary, just in 2023 distracted driving played a role in over 11,000 crashes across Pennsylvania. Sixty-three of those were fatal. And that is a problem not just in the state, but across the country, which means that more states are choosing to implement similar laws to prevent more accidents from happening.
Drivers in Pennsylvania may not be thrilled, but they are aware of the problem, and when asked to comment, the general consensus was summarized by this statement that one local driver gave anonymously to WJAC “I feel that it’s a good law because I’ve seen so many distracted drivers and just taking your eyes off the road for a few minutes can of course cause an accident, so even if it saves a life, it’s worth it.”
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania State Police search for missing woman

GIBSON, Pa. (WBNG) — Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a missing person report in Susquehanna County.
According to the Susquehanna County Sheriff’s Office, Nicole Royale Herman, 45, was last seen at her residence in Liberty Township on Wednesday, June 25, around 11:30 p.m.
Herman is described as a fair-skinned, white female, with long, dirty-blonde hair, blue eyes and is approximately 5′06″.
Herman does not have a means of transportation and may be traveling on foot or with an unknown associate.
She is believed to be suffering from mental illness and has showed signs of paranoia and delusions.
Anyone with information about Herman’s whereabouts is asked to contact State Police Gibson at 570-465-3154 and speak to Trooper Godino.
Copyright 2025 WBNG. All rights reserved.
Pennsylvania
Democrats are frustrated with Fetterman as Lamb tours Pa.

Why is Conor Lamb crisscrossing Pennsylvania again?
In Pittsburgh, progressives trying to land an in-person town hall with Fetterman or first-term Republican Sen. David McCormick noticed when the two senators advertised an event together at a downtown restaurant to celebrate the release of McCormick’s new book.
Progressive groups organized to protest it and — after it got moved to a private location with a private invite list — went ahead with their own town hall. They invited Lamb and a local Democratic state representative instead.
More invitations for Lamb started rolling in.
By his count, he’s now attended at least a dozen town halls and party events, easily clocking more than 2,000 miles to appear in small towns, small cities and suburbs, often in conservative areas.
“Showing up matters and it really does make a difference,” said Dana Kellerman, a Pittsburgh-based progressive organizer. “Is that going to matter to John Fetterman? I really don’t know. I don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t know if he’s always been this person or if he’s changed in the last two years.”
Fetterman has brushed off criticism, saying he’s a committed Democrat, insisting he was elected to engage with Republicans and — perhaps hypocritically — questioning why Democrats would criticize fellow Democrats.
At times, Fetterman has criticized Trump, questioning the move to “punch our allies in the mouth” with tariffs or the need for cuts to social-safety net programs in the GOP’s legislation to extend 2017’s tax cuts. Fetterman’s office didn’t respond to an inquiry about Lamb.
Is Conor Lamb running for Senate?
For his part, Lamb — a former U.S. Marine and federal prosecutor — says he isn’t running for anything right now, but he’ll do whatever he can to “stop this slide that we’re on toward a less democratic country and try to create one in which there’s more opportunity for people.”
To some Democrats, he sounds like a candidate.
“That he’s doing these town halls is a good indication that he’ll be running for something, so it’s a good thing,” said Janet Bargh, who attended the event in suburban Harrisburg.
Aside from the town halls, he spoke at the Unite for Veterans event on the National Mall. He has also been active on social media, doing local radio appearances and appearing on MSNBC, where he recently criticized the June 14 military parade ordered up by Trump.
Not long ago, it was hard to envision Lamb losing a race, ever.
In 2018, he won a heavily Trump-friendly congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania in a special election. It was the center of the political universe that spring, drawing campaign visits by Trump and then-presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
Suddenly, Lamb was ascendant. Then he ran for Senate and lost handily — by more than two-to-one — to Fetterman in 2022’s primary.
People often ask Lamb if he’s going to challenge Fetterman again. Lamb said he reminds them that Fetterman has three years left in his term and pivots the conversation to what Democrats need to do to win elections in 2025 and 2026.
Still, Lamb is unafraid to criticize Fetterman publicly. And, he said, he’s a magnet for Democrats to air their unhappiness with Fetterman. What he hears, over and over, is frustration that Fetterman spends too much time attacking fellow Democrats and not enough time challenging Trump.
“And that is, I think, what’s driving the frustration more than any one particular issue,” Lamb said.
At the town hall, Lamb wasn’t afraid to admit he’d lost to Fetterman. But he turned it into an attack line.
“When I watch the person who beat me give up on every important issue that he campaigned on … the more I reasoned that the point of all of this in the first place is advocacy for what’s right and wrong,” Lamb told the crowd. “And advocacy for not just a particular party to win, but for the type of country where it matters if, when you stand up, you tell the truth.”
The crowd cheered.
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