A former music teacher in the Wilmington Area School district was sentenced to 11 to 22 months in the Lawrence county Jail after pleading guilty to sexual assault charges. The New Castle News reports Lawrence County Common Pleas Court Judge John Hodge handed down the sentenced yesterday to Johnathan Priano yesterday. Priano was also ordered to served three years of supervised release and was ordered to register as a sex offender for 15 years. Priano pled guilty back in March to one third degree felony charge institutional sexual assault and one count of corruption of minors.
The state of Pennsylvania now has an operating budget again. Governor Josh Shapiro signed the nearly 46-billion-dollar spending bill into law Thursday after more than a month without any funding being approved. However, Republicans who were called back to Harrisburg say more than a billion-dollars of the spending won’t be able to be implemented without more legislation. The governor used a line-item veto to eliminate a school voucher-scholarship program from the measure. Senate leaders had cried foul after Shapiro previously said he’d approve the program. But he backed away from it after top House Democrats said they wouldn’t support it.
A 16 year old male is in custody after turning himself in for a shooting that happened on the Ohio-PA state line in July. WFMJ-TV reports, police in Brookfield said teenager turned himself in on Thursday before he was transported to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center. Police from Brookfield and Sharon had been trying to figure out who wounded a man in a neighborhood along the state line on July 19th. The victim, a 23-year-old man, was taken to Sharon Regional Hospital for a gunshot wound to the arm. He was later transferred to Mercy Hospital in Youngstown.
Norfolk Southern is covering the cost to repair a damaged roadway in Darlington Township. Officials say the company is providing more than half-a-million dollars to pay back the township for fixes to East Palestine Road following the February train derailment. Governor Josh Shapiro says the entire cost of rebuilding after the crash must fall on the rail firm and not Pennsylvania taxpayers
Robert Bowers’ fate has been sealed. The convicted Tree of Life synagogue shooter was formally sentenced to death on Thursday. The moves comes after the jury delivered its decision that the defendant should receive the death penalty and after the court heard victim impact statements from more than 20 individuals yesterday.
Next Friday is the deadline for Pennsylvanians to apply for help paying their water bills. Officials say the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program is a new, temporary program created by the American Rescue Plan Act. It’s meant to help households that are in emergency situations with past-due water bills that are in danger of losing their service. If you qualify, you’ll need to apply online by August 31st at compass dot state dot pa dot u-s.
– A pension plan for 24-hundred Pennsylvania workers, retirees, and their beneficiaries is getting a huge boost from a federal bailout fund. The I-U-E / C-W-A plan will get 260-million dollars under President Biden’s nearly two-trillion-dollar stimulus law that was enacted in response to the pandemic. Senator Bob Casey says the funds will be enough to continue full payments for at least 20 years. Previously, the pension plan would have run out of money by 2030.
– Pennsylvania’s largest pension fund has sued a key consulting firm that incorrectly calculated its investment profits. The lawsuit filed by the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) says Chicago-based Aon Investments USA’s figures caused a costly error and contributed to the agency possibly facing federal investigators. Stakeholders for the 72-billion-dollar fund say the error was made to PSERS’ 2020 risk share analysis. They want to recover damages to compensate pension fund members for what they say is the “significant and ongoing harm” Aon has caused. The miscalculation by Aon, which tracks the system’s investments, resulted in certain school employees having to increase contributions to their pensions.
State Senator Doug Mastriano is standing by former President Donald Trump and blasting allegations about his latest federal indictment. In social media posts, Mastriano, who serves all of Adams County and part of Franklin County, called the new indictment “malicious” and “bogus.” Mastriano, a staunch Trump supporter, was also a leader in the state’s election denial movement and the former president’s failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden.
Tonight’s Mega Millions Jackpot is a t 1.25 billion dollars. The drawing will be held tonight at 11pm