In six of the last ten years, Pennsylvania lawmakers have missed their June 30 deadline to deliver a state budget. New legislation is aimed at ensuring state funding can still get out, even when lawmakers blow their deadline.

Pennsylvania’s decades-old ban on using Medicaid to cover an abortion is on the edge of unraveling. A statewide court ruled Monday that the ban is unconstitutional.

Free testing, treatment and counseling for sexually-transmitted infections is available at all 59 state health centers in Pennsylvania – which is why, state officials say, the overall number of sexually-transmitted infections are declining. 

Pennsylvania may soon adopt the scarlet tanager as its official state migratory bird. The colorful songbird makes its way from South America to Pennsylvania each spring to breed in the state’s forests.

On this Earth Day, more than a third of Pennsylvania is either abnormally dry or in drought status. About 37% of the state is classified as abnormally dry or in moderate to severe drought, according to the latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Two environmental organizations have filed legal petitions to stop the Department of Homeland Security from opening ICE detention centers in Berks and Schuylkill counties. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Green Amendments for the Generations are citing community and health concerns.

Now an update on a story we first reported last week. The death of a 19-year-old inmate at the York County Prison is now ruled a homicide according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology is one of 32 Pennsylvania institutions receiving national recognition as an opportunity college, by the Carnegie Foundation.

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