Your State

A Pennsylvania jury handed down a $4.2 million verdict in a lawsuit centering on water contamination from negligent shale gas drilling in Dimock, PA, a tiny town that made international headlines for its flammable and toxic drinking water.

The City of Brotherly Love got a boost from the DNC today with the announcement that Philadelphia will host the Democratic National Convention the week of July 25, 2016.

John J. Dougherty describes himself as “one of the so-called ‘Philly labor bosses,’” and he's mad as hell at the Pennsylvania Republican party for their "deceitful, pervasively negative campaign." The election of contention is for the 26th District's State Senate seat — one that pits Democrat John Kane against the GOP's Tom McGarrigle — and it's a microcosm of the hypocrisy that has invaded the state-level contests this cycle.

If one recent evening newscast is any indication, Philadelphia voters may be longing for used car ads and payday loan pitches — and maybe for some unbiased political reportage. In the course of one 30-minute newscast on KYW last week, viewers were bombarded with no fewer than 11 political ads, most of them negative. The news program featured no political news stories, although in three weeks voters in the region will be heading to the polls to make decisions on the contests that were the subject of the political ads.

At the FedEx Freight Terminal in East Philadelphia, a group of 47 drivers have made history by voting to join Teamsters Local 107. The final result of the vote was 26-18 in favor of joining the union.

On Monday morning, the School Reform Commission voted to cancel the contract of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, a move of questionable legality that should ultimately land the two sides in court. Using what they believed to be power granted by Act 46, the state takeover law, the SRC voted unanimously to impose new healthcare terms on PFT members. The move effectively cancels the teachers’ union contract.

Earlier this month, a judge sentenced a Pennsylvania mother to up to a year and a half in prison for helping her 16-year-old daughter end a pregnancy by purchasing abortion medication online.

A Pennsylvania wastewater treatment plant alleged to have dumped toxic and radioactive materials into the Allegheny River has agreed to construct a new treatment facility, under a settlement announced with an environmental organization that had filed suit against the plant. Back in 2011, Pennsylvania made national headlines because the state's treatment plants – including municipal sewage plants and industrial wastewater treatment plants like Waste Treatment Corporation – were accepting drilling and fracking wastewater laden with pollutants that they could not remove.

A Pennsylvania mother will spend time in prison for providing an abortion pill for her 16 year old daughter. Because 87% of the state now lacks clinics because of regressive women's health laws, the mother, a nurse, was forced online to find drugs to induce her daughter's abortion.

Six years into a natural gas boom, Pennsylvania has for the first time released details of 243 cases in which companies prospecting for oil or gas were found by state regulators to have contaminated private drinking water wells.

An investigation by Pittsburgh-based Public Source shows that roughly 13,000 disabled Pennsylvanians earn an average wage of $2.40 an hour. Many of these low wage workers are employed by non-profits and much of the non-skilled work is considered training.

Last month, Terry Greenwood, a Pennsylvania farmer whose water had been contaminated by fracking waste, died of cancer. He was 66 and the cause of death was a rare form of brain cancer. His death drew attention from around the globe in part because Mr. Greenwood was among the first farmers from his state to speak out against the gas industry during the early years of the state's shale gas rush.