Stories related to: Pennsylvania

The Teamsters union endorsed Barack Obama today, giving him a chance to make further inroads into Hillary Clinton's base of blue-collar workers. Obama met with Teamsters chief Jim Hoffa today, who afterward gave Obama the backing of the 1.4-million-member union, the Chicago Tribune reports. The move could help in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two big upcoming primaries. More »

The world’s first commercial oil well was in Oil City, Pa., which saw its fortunes fall along with the crude supply. Now that prices are at historic highs, Oil City is part of a renaissance. The easy crude is long gone, but a motley assortment of would-be barons is using everything from nuclear scanners to dynamite to churn up those last few drops. The Wall Street Journal pays a visit. More »

Hillary Clinton leads by wide margins in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two primary states on which her campaign has staked its comeback, according to new polls on the Democratic race. The New Yorker leads Barack Obama in the Buckeye State by 55% to 34% and in Keystone country by 52% to 36%. The polls spanned February 6-12, a period beginning after Super Tuesday but ending before the Potomac Primary. More »

As subprime fallout ripples across the country, several states are planning to increase road, bridge, and tunnel tolls, and not by mere pennies, USA Today reports. The George Washington Bridge, for example—which lets New Jerseyites into the Big Apple—will raise its rush hour price from $5 to $8 for cars, and $35 for trucks. One official defended the move, saying, "People view highways as free, but they're not." More »

Pornographic cell phone pictures of students have been spreading like wildfire at and beyond Pennsylvania’s Parkland High School, the Morning Call reports. The images, two separate pictures of undressed girls and another of a couple making love, have apparently circulated widely. ''My boyfriend, who's not even in high school anymore, got the pictures at work,'' said one Parkland senior. More »

There have been only three executions in Pennsylvania since 1978, but four year-end rulings from the state's Supreme Court indicate the state won't be going the way of neighboring New Jersey, which abolished the death penalty,  any time soon, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The state's deputy attorney general stresses that prosecutors are working hard to get executions carried out, but the courts are clogged with appeals. More »

Eight states are suing RJ Reynolds, alleging that an ad for Camel cigarettes in Rolling Stone last month violates a 1998 agreement not to use cartoons in advertising cigarettes. The states seek $100 for every magazine distributed and for every hit on the tobacco giant's associated website, the AP reports. Potential fines could total more than $100 million. More »

A Pennsylvania hunter's footage of a "juvenile Sasquatch" has been discredited after officials said the star of the show was actually an unhealthy bear. Same deal for a Texas rancher who claimed to have captured a chupacabra, the legendary Mexican goat-killer, but had in fact only bagged a coyote. Why the mix-up? A skin infection, mange, is the culprit. More »

E. coli fears led to a recall today of more than 1 million pounds of ground beef from Cargill Inc., Reuters reports. The USDA found the potentially deadly bacteria after testing meat produced October 8 in Pennsylvania and sold in 10 states at stores including Giant, Shop Rite, Stop & Shop, Wegmans, and Weis, the AP says. The recall is Cargill's second in a month. More »

Arlen Specter has won over $8 million in earmarks for abstinence education in Pennsylvania, sparking jibes from critics and accusations of political pandering. The moderate Republican senator supports abortion rights and sex education, Politico reports, leading some to cry hypocrisy when he directs money to no-sex-until-marriage projects like Coolvirginity.com. More »

After a three-year study of the death penalty in eight states, the American Bar Association is calling for a nationwide moratorium on executions until prevalent problems in the system are rectified. Defense attorneys nationwide are under-qualified and underfunded, cases are plagued by sloppy evidence gathering, and race influences sentencing, the organization concluded. More »

A Pennsylvania woman faces multiple criminal charges after buying guns and bomb-making materials for her emotionally disturbed 14-year old son. Michele Cossey is accused of purchasing a 9mm semiautomatic rifle, a .22 rifle and handgun, and black powder for use in making grenades, CNN reports. Her son, home-schooled after withdrawing in 2006, is being charged with solicitation to commit terror. More »

It's been almost a year since the shooting spree at an Amish schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania in which five girls were killed and five wounded. In the Lancaster New Era, the families talk with stunning directness about the particular pain of losing a child and making peace with the "new normal." "You can wake up one day and think, 'You know what? I'm starting to heal," says one mother . More »

Relatives gathered at a park near Ground Zero to remember the victims of the World Trade Center attacks today—the first anniversary without a clear blue sky, notes the New York Daily News. It was also the first time the memorial was moved away from the footprints of the towers. "Just so long as we continue to do something special every year," said one victim's aunt. More »

New York isn't the only city with a stalled, controversial 9/11 memorial. In Shanksville, Pa., site of the crash of Flight 93, the new memorial park's architect has proposed an arc of red maple trees around the crater formed by the plane. But, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, some conservative columnists and even one presidential candidate have bewailed the design: a red crescent, they say, signifies Islam. More »

The only Iraq War combat vet in Congress endorsed Barack Obama yesterday, saying, "I'm inspired by his call to action to change how business is done in Washington." Pennsylvania's Patrick Murphy, who served as a paratrooper in Baghdad in 2003 and 2004, has worked with Hillary Clinton on legislation; the move is seen as a snub, the Daily News reports. More »

Spouses suspecting an unfaithful partner have an unlikely ally: automatic toll-booth passes with detailed electronic records that divorce attorneys are using to prove infidelity.  "It's an easy way to show who took the off-ramp to adultery," one lawyer quipped. The E-Z Pass devices, which are usually found on a driver’s dashboard, have also helped in criminal cases. More »

The backing of gay rights groups could turn swing-state voters against a candidate, new polls show. Politico reports that Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania voters, by a large margin, consider the support of such groups reason to vote against rather than for a candidate; no one since JFK has been elected president without winning two of those states. More »

A man celebrated the 27th anniversary of being struck by lightning with a second electrocution from above—and once again lived to tell the tale, the Guardian reports. The 68 year old was hiding from a Pennsylvania storm in a shed when he and four others were shocked by lightning; he had been hit at the age of 41 while driving a tractor-trailer. More »

A set of city ordinances intended to check illegal immigration was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge yesterday,  the AP reports.  The measures had imposed fines on businesses that hired illegal workers and required rental tenants to register with the city and buy permits. More »