Pennsylvania
Why lawmakers want to bring ‘community solar’ to Pennsylvania
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In Pennsylvania, more solar panels are installed on the roofs of homes and in utility-scale solar farms each year.
But an increasingly popular third model — which boosters say “democratizes” solar energy — has yet to get off the ground.
At least 24 states, including Delaware and New Jersey, have passed legislation enabling a type of solar energy development known as community solar. For years, state lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully to add Pennsylvania to this list. With more federal incentives available for solar development through Biden’s 2022 climate bill, proponents say now is the time.
“I don’t want this money to just go to large industry that is looking to do solar,” said state Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Allentown). “I want to make sure everybody gets at least a bite of the apple.”
What is community solar?
While traditional residential rooftop solar is owned or leased by a single household, electricity from a community solar project is shared by several customers, known as subscribers.
“Community solar allows them to pool their money together and invest in a solar system, normally on a parking structure, empty lot — anywhere really that’s available,” said Moises Morales, who supervised the installation of community solar projects in Washington, D.C. and now works as lead instructor at solar installation and training company Solar States in Philly. “It allows them to buy in and then share the benefits.”
A community solar installation does not need to be located right where its subscribers live.
“The power [subscribers use] is always going to come from the grid,” Morales said. “The system that gets installed is feeding the power into the grid and it just goes where it’s needed. The grid doesn’t know what’s renewable and what’s not. … You’re just kind of feeding the power back into the grid and offsetting what you’re using.”
Community solar installations can be owned by a group of neighbors, a church or other nonprofit, a third-party solar development company, or a utility. Electricity generated by the installation enters the grid, and subscribers to the project receive a credit on their electricity bills proportional to the share of the project they lease or own.
“You pay an annual subscription fee and the cost of the power from that project shows up on your utility bill,” said Emily Schapira, president of the Philadelphia Energy Authority. The quasi-governmental authority runs Solarize Philly — a discount program that offers leasing options for rooftop solar in Philly.
Community solar capitalizes on economies of scale, Schapira said.
“It’s cheaper to install a larger scale solar project per kilowatt than it would be for your own roof,” she said.
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
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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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