• A Greencastle fire company received $16,000 in unclaimed funds from the Pennsylvania Treasury.
• Pennsylvania currently holds about $5 billion in unclaimed property, with one in ten residents estimated to have a claim.
• Unclaimed property can include uncashed checks, old bank accounts, and tangible items from abandoned safe deposit boxes.
• Residents can search for and claim property online or through treasury outreach events.

An oversized check presented to Greencastle’s Rescue Hose Co. by Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity on Thursday, March 26, 2026, is a small representation of billions of dollars of unclaimed property her office wants to return to its owners.

The $16,000 was uncovered by Larry Booker, who works in regional outreach for the Pennsylvania Treasury Department, during an unclaimed property event hosted in Greencastle by state Rep. Chad Reichard, a Republican who represents part of Franklin County.

“Near the end of the event, Larry asked for the local municipalities and fire stations so he could look them up,” according to Josh Peters, Reichard’s district director.

When Reichard’s office called the Rescue Hose Co. with a message about the money, Bill Hull, president, recalled he quickly asked, “What do we have to do?”

America250: Where did Franklin County boroughs and townships get their names?

Paperwork was completed, a regular check deposited in the general fund and the money will be used to pay bills, according to Tom Bricker, fire company treasurer.

Garrity, a Republican who took office in 2021, is running for governor of Pennsylvania this year. She stopped by the Rescue Hose Co. before attending the Franklin County Republican Committee’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner in the Marion Fire Hall.

What to know about unclaimed property

At the check presentation, Garrity took some time to talk about unclaimed property in Pennsylvania, some $5 billion, including $17.5 million in Franklin County.

One in 10 Pennsylvanians has unclaimed property, she said.

“It’s not the state’s money, it belongs to the hard-working people of Pennsylvania,” Garrity said. It also belongs to municipalities, organizations, fire companies and other groups. The total includes $17.5 million in Franklin County.

Antrim Township Administrator Chris Ardininger got some laughs at the presentation when he said his township recently claimed $67.

The money ends up in the state’s hands from a variety of sources, such as uncashed checks, closed bank accounts, rebates, old insurance policies, a misspelling or a wrong address.

There’s also tangible property from abandoned safe deposit boxes, police evidence lockers, nursing homes and college dorms. The list includes things as diverse as jewelry, fine china and guitars, according to Jake Sarwar, deputy press secretary.

Garrity is a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel and returning military medals – Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars and even a World War I Mothers and Widows Gold Star Pilgrimage Medal – to veterans and their families is very meaningful to her and her staff, Sarwar said.

How to claim unclaimed property

“We do whatever we can to help find the owners,” Sarwar said.

Treasury outreach representatives participated in about 1,300 events last year, Garrity said. They can help people search and file the paperwork to claim unclaimed property.

Anyone can look for money on their own by going to patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property or calling 800-222-2046.

The check really is in the mail

Money Match is a new way for the Pennsylvania Treasury Department to return unclaimed property. Supported unanimously by the General Assembly and signed into law by the Gov. Josh Shapiro, it went into effect last year.

When individuals with unclaimed property of $500 or less, who meet other criteria of the bill, are identified by the treasury, their money will automatically be sent to them.

• Rhode Island is currently experiencing a significant shortage of primary care physicians.
• Opening a new medical school at URI is not seen as a timely or effective solution to the crisis.
• Even with more medical school graduates, there is no guarantee they will choose primary care or stay in the state.
• Better solutions include increasing pay, offering loan repayment, and reducing administrative burdens for doctors.

The doctor is not in, and there’s not one on the way either. Many Rhode Islanders are well aware that the state is facing a harrowing shortage of primary care physicians. As native Rhode Islanders and physicians invested in quality accessible primary care for our community, we are dedicated to working towards policies to support our state.

A medical school at the University of Rhode Island is not the solution to solve the primary care crisis. A medical school at URI would not provide a timely solution, would likely not achieve the target outcome of increasing the number of primary care physicians in the state, and would likely not address the underlying issue of getting doctors to stay. Instead, resources should be allocated now to supporting primary care in ways that would make sustainable change.

Lack of access to primary care is hurting patients now. A medical school at URI would not be a short- or long-term solution. In addition to the time needed to engineer an accredited medical school, it takes seven years to produce an inexperienced primary care physician. Once trained, there still must be an incentive to stay in Rhode Island. Patients do not have access to necessary care for acute and chronic conditions. The burden on our health care system, impacting ER wait times and hospital capacity, impacts everyone. We cannot afford to wait another decade for a solution.

More physicians does not equal more physicians in primary care or in Rhode Island. If the aim is to produce more physicians from URI’s medical school, this will certainly occur, but we should not delude ourselves into believing it will fix primary care. It’s not due to lack of opportunities. In 2019, the National Resident Matching Program offered a record number of primary care positions, yet the percentage filled by students graduating from MD-granting medical schools in the United States was a new low. Of 8,116 internal medical positions that were offered, just 41.5% were filled by U.S. students; most residency spots went to foreign-trained and U.S.-trained osteopathic physicians.

As medical schools across the country look to debt reduction as a means of encouraging students to enter primary care specialties, their goals have fallen far short. In 2018, The New York University School of Medicine offered full-tuition scholarships to every medical student, regardless of merit or need. In 2024, only 14% of NYU’s graduating seniors entered primary care, lower than the national average of 30%.

There must be an incentive to stay in Rhode Island (or at least not a disadvantage). Our efforts must shift to recruiting and maintaining physicians in primary care. Inequitable reimbursement from commercial insurers between Rhode Island and neighboring states (leading to significantly lower salaries than if you lived here and traveled to Attleboro to care for patients), the lack of loan repayment(average medical student debt is $250,000, forcing the choice between meaning and money), and the ongoing administrative burdens are amongst the drivers away from primary care. Rhode Island needs to get on par with surrounding states to prevent physicians from going elsewhere.

The motivations behind opening a medical school are well intended in terms of wanting to increase the number of primary care providers by enabling local talent to train close to home. Training more people in Rhode Island will not keep them here; it will invest significant resources without addressing the root of the issue. Until there are comparable salaries between Rhode Island and our neighbors, until loan repayment is improved and the administrative burdens are reduced, primary care in the state will forever be fighting an uphill battle. Both providers and patients suffer the consequences.

Dr. Kelly McGarry is the director of the General Internal Medicine Residency at Rhode Island Hospital. Dr. Maria Iannotti is a first-year resident, a Rhode Islander intent on practicing primary care in Rhode Island.

WARREN, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont State Police are investigating the death of a skier at Sugarbush Resort.

Police were notified at about 3:26 p.m. Saturday that a skier had died following a fall on Stein’s Run at Sugarbush Lincoln Peak.

The male victim fell and slid into a wooded area off the trail, according to police.

Ski patrol members found the man unresponsive and brought him to the base of the mountain, where they were met by the Mad River Valley Ambulance. The victim was pronounced dead due to his injuries.

Police say the death does not appear suspicious. An autopsy will be performed at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington to determine the cause and manner of death.

The victim’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

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