| February 13, 2013 | -
Pennsylvania judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan pleaded guilty to fraud after taking $2.6 million in kickbacks from two private detention centers in exchange for sending teenagers there. One high school student with no previous record was sentenced to three months of juvenile detention for creating a MySpace page making fun of her assistant principal.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| August 12, 2009 | - The Obama Administration abandoned its quest for a public, government-run health-care option for the uninsured. Protesters waved signs that read “Death to Obama” and depicted the president with an Adolph Hitler mustache at “town hall” meetings hosted by senators; at one such event, a conservative University of Colorado student challenged President Obama to an “Oxford-style” debate. Obama declined the invitation but did grant an hour-long interview on bullying and school lunches to an 11-year-old named Damon Weaver, ultimately agreeing to be Weaver's homeboy. Senator Arlen Specter arrived at his town hall meeting with extra security to guard him from irate Pennsylvanians, one of whom compared complicated reform proposals to “a Russian novel”; others said that Specter was inviting God's wrath and that the health-care plan was a step toward socialism. Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, faced with a jeering crowd, threatened to use her “mom voice” to settle them down. “Irony,” she said, “seems to be lost on people.”
| Source 1:
NYT
Source 2:
NYT
Source 3:
NYT
Source 4:
AP
Source 5:
NYT
Source 6:
Baltimore Sun/AP
Source 7:
BBC
Source 8:
MSNBC
Source 9:
USA Today
Source 10:
NYT
Source 11:
NYT
Source 12:
WashPost
|
| July 29, 2009 | - A Pennsylvania woman had plans to marry the rollercoaster she loves.
| Source:
Metro
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| April 21, 2009 | - William Parente, a New York lawyer believed to have run a Ponzi scheme, gathered his family at a Maryland hotel, then bludgeoned and strangled his wife, Betty, and their two daughters, Stephanie, 19, and Catherine, 11, then slit his wrist and bled to death. Asked whether the economy makes domestic abuse more prevalent, Richard Gelles, a dean at the University of Pennsylvania, said, “The warning sign is when these familicide cases begin to cluster. In the past few months, they have begun to pop off across the country.”
| Source:
MSNBC
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| December 27, 2008 | - At a movie theater in Philadelphia a man shot another man in the arm for making too much noise during a Christmastime showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
| Source:
Associated Press
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| December 27, 2008 | - A man in Pittsburgh was arrested for assault after he failed to change his three-year-old's diaper for several days, causing second-degree burns on the child's legs and genitals.
| Source:
The Pittsburg Post-Gazette
|
| October 23, 2008 | - Researchers using cheap computer software found that showing a person a picture of a political candidate “morphed” with one of the person's own face made that test subject more likely to vote for the candidate. “Candidates spend seven-, eight-, or nine-figure budgets on their campaign,” said the study's author. “So it's not outrageous to think that in a swing state such as Ohio or Pennsylvania, you can have 2,000 people sitting in a room morphing every single citizen in the state.”
| Source:
Science Daily
|
| May 6, 2008 | - The Humane Society of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, increased to $1,500 its reward for information about the torture and murder of a ten-year-old blind pony named Kahlua.
| Source:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
|
| April 28, 2008 | -
Hillary Clinton gained nine more delegates than Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary and challenged him to debate without a moderator. Obama, who declined, reportedly seemed “tired” and “brittle” campaigning in Indiana. “Seniors, listen up,” he said. “I'm getting gray hair myself. Running for president will age you quick.”
| Source 1:
New York Times
Source 2:
AP
Source 3:
Telegraph
|
| April 3, 2008 | - The Clintons released thirty years of tax returns, showing they had earned more than $109 million since the year 2000; Bill Clinton said that Hillary was “in tears” when he called to say that $250,000 had been raised for her at a Pennsylvania event.
| Source 1:
NY Times
Source 2:
The Times Tribune
|
| February 10, 2008 | - An album of hair collected from the first twelve presidents was displayed at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. “It is an awesome sort of sight,” said curator Robert Peck. “Pieces of presidents.”
| Source:
Philadelphia Inquirer
|
| February 2, 2008 | - Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, signalling six more weeks of winter.
| Source:
Pennsylvania groundhog sees six more winter weeks
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| January 29, 2008 | - In Pennsylvania a woman locked her ten-year-old grandson in a dog crate and threatened to bury him alive in the backyard after he disclosed that he had been spiking his family's drinks with lamp oil and household cleaner.
| Source:
Boy put in dog cage after spiking drinks
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| October 22, 2007 | - Two women dressed as ninjas and armed with a sword and dagger robbed a Pennsylvania gas station of cash, cigarettes, and lottery tickets.
| Source:
WTAE
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| September 22, 2007 | - One million cribs made by Simplicity Inc. and Graco Children's Products were recalled due to the risk of infant suffocation.
| Source:
AP
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| April 15, 2007 | - Responding to Philadelphia's high rate of gun violence, gun control advocates urged state legislation to limit handgun purchases to one per person per month. Critics of the proposal called it an infringement on Second Amendment rights.
| Source:
NYT
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| March 6, 2007 | - A Pennsylvania mother pled guilty to swinging her infant son like a bat to hit her boyfriend.
| Source:
AP via CNN.com
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| February 12, 2007 | - A Pittsburgh-area woman pleaded guilty to attempted homicide, assault, and kidnapping for trying to cut a fetus out of her neighbor's womb.
| Source:
AP via Breitbart
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| February 2, 2007 | - A Philadelphia city councilman proposed the adoption of rubber sidewalks.
| Source:
iwon news
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| December 13, 2006 | - Dr. Tony Campolo, a Baptist minister and professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University in Pennsylvania, said that evangelicals had been “very, very mean to the gay and lesbian community.”
| Source:
NYT
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| November 29, 2006 | - A serial foot fetishist was stalking women in Philadelphia.
| Source:
NBC 10
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| November 16, 2006 | - Despite the best efforts of Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland was elected House Majority Leader over Representative
John Murtha.
| Source:
Reuters
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| November 9, 2006 | - Midterm elections were held in the United States; the Republican Party lost its majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Six incumbent Republican senators, including Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, were defeated, and Santorum's daughter cried. Nancy Pelosi of California, who is expected to become the first female Speaker of the House, had lunch with President George W. Bush.
| Source 1:
Reuters via Yahoo!
Source 2:
MSNBC
Source 3:
Boston.com
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| October 23, 2006 | - Senator Rick Santorum said, “As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else. It's being drawn to Iraq.”
| Source:
New York Times
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| October 10, 2006 | - A Pennsylvania woman was arrested for beating her baby's father with the baby.
| Source:
AP via New York Times
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| October 3, 2006 | - In Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, a man named Charles Carl Roberts IV, who said he was angry with God, entered a one-room Amish schoolhouse with guns, a bag of nails, a bucket, chains, clamps, and a tube of KY jelly, and shot ten girls, killing five; he then shot and killed himself. “We must not,” said the grandfather of one of the slain girls, “think evil of this man.”
| Source:
BBC News
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| September 13, 2006 | - A judge in Easton, Pennsylvania, sentenced a 73-year-old woman to life in prison for beating her 84-year-old neighbor to death with a claw hammer.
| Source:
CNN.com
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| August 22, 2006 | - The mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, announced his intention to make his city the “toughest place on illegal immigrants in America.”
| Source:
Washington Post
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| August 14, 2006 | - Two wild swans in Lake Erie contracted a low-grade strain of the bird flu virus.
| Source:
Yahoo! News
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| August 2, 2006 | - Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich sued Congressman
Jack Murtha for defamation of character.
| Source:
Washington Post
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| July 19, 2006 | - A study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania discovered a positive correlation between education and sunburn.
| Source:
Washington Post
|
| July 18, 2006 | -
Wolf-dogs attacked and killed a woman in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
| Source:
Local 6.com
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| July 13, 2006 | -
Scientists in Pennsylvania found that menarche occurs earlier in girls who live in homes with half- and step-brothers, without fathers, or in urban areas, but occurs later in girls who live with sisters. Such an adaptation, the scientists proposed, might help limit inbreeding.
| Source:
Live Science
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| July 13, 2006 | - A girls' softball coach at Beaver Falls High School in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, was in trouble for having sex with a 17-year-old softball player.
| Source:
Beaver County Times & Allegheny Times
|
| June 18, 2006 | -
Pennsylvania
Representative John P. Murtha criticized Karl Rove for “sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside saying, 'Stay the course.'”
| Source:
The New York Times
|
| May 19, 2006 | - A kennel was ordered closed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, after a cockapoo was found with yeast in both of its ears.
| Source:
Lancaster Online
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| May 12, 2006 | - The Hershey Company opened a new health center to study the benefits of cocoa.
| Source:
The Gourmet Retailer
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| May 12, 2006 | - A woman in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, found a potato shaped like a heart.
| Source:
AP via Yahoo! News
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| April 28, 2006 | - A couple in Milford Township, Pennsylvania, were suing a veterinarian for faking the death of their dog and then giving the dog to someone else.
| Source:
Mcall.com
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| March 6, 2006 | - A study found that laws requiring minors to obtain parental consent before receiving an abortion have had almost no effect on the number of abortions performed. "I would have told my mother anyway," said a 16-year-old abortionee in Pennsylvania.
| Source:
The New York Times
|
| February 10, 2006 | - Riots over blasphemous cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad broke out in India, Indonesia, Kashmir, Palestine, Thailand, the autonomous Somali region of Puntland, and Afghanistan—where 11 demonstrators were killed, at least 4 of them by NATO troops. A Taliban commander offered 100 kilograms of gold to anyone who killed those responsible for the cartoons. Other anti-Muhammad-cartoon protests were held in London and Philadelphia. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called on newspapers to stop re-publishing the drawings, and U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the riots but also criticized publishers. "With freedom," said the President, "comes the responsibility to be thoughtful about others." An Iranian newspaper announced that it would publish cartoons mocking the Holocaust. Flemming Rose, the Danish newspaper editor who published the original caricatures of Muhammad, said that he'd like to re-publish the Holocaust cartoons and was subsequently put on leave by his boss. Danes were increasingly concerned that their country would be singled out for terrorist attacks. "We make fun of everything here," said a carpenter in Copenhagen. "One shouldn't take it so seriously."
| Source 1:
Arab News
Source 2:
Al Jazeera
Source 3:
BBC News
Source 4:
Channel 4
Source 5:
ReviewJournal.com
Source 6:
CBC News
Source 7:
Al Jazeera
Source 8:
ABC News Online
Source 9:
Bloomberg News
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| February 4, 2006 | - A man ate 173 chicken wings in Philadelphia.
| Source:
AP via Yahoo! News
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| February 3, 2006 | - In Detroit the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. The Department of Homeland Security monitored the event using holograms.
| Source:
CNET News.com
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| December 20, 2005 | - A judge in Pennsylvania ruled that teaching Intelligent Design in schools violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
| Source:
BBC News
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| November 19, 2005 | - Representative John Murtha (D., Pa.), called for the halt of U.S. troop deployments to Iraq. Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.), seeking to cut off debate over Murtha's statements, countered by proposing a measure that required that U.S. troops be brought home immediately. Jean Schmidt (R., Ohio) addressed Murtha, a decorated veteran and former Marine colonel who previously supported the invasion of Iraq, by quoting a Marine Corps reserve officer who told her that “cowards cut and run.” She was booed by Democrats. “You guys,” yelled Marty Meehan (D., Mass.), “are pathetic!” Harold Ford (D., Tenn.) ran across the House chamber's center aisle to the Republican side. “Say Murtha's name!” he shouted. Schmidt asked that her comments be struck from the record, and Hunter's resolution was rejected 403 to 3, with Murtha among those voting against it.
| Source:
The Washington Post
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| November 9, 2005 | - Eight pro-Intelligent-Design members of the Dover Board of Education in Pennsylvania were voted out of office and replaced with pro-evolution candidates. Pat Robertson suggested that God would forsake the people of Dover if disaster struck their town. “If they have future problems in Dover,” said Robertson, “I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them.”
| Source 1:
Post-gazette.com
Source 2:
The Miami Herald
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| October 14, 2005 | - A Pennsylvania woman was arrested for trying to steal her pregnant neighbor's unborn baby with a razor knife.
| Source:
Times Online
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| July 6, 2005 | - At a funeral in Pennsylvania a corpse was given a pack of cigarettes, a beer, and a remote control and allowed to watch football.
| Source:
Post-Gazette
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| June 30, 2005 | - A farmer in Nicktown, Pennsylvania, was rendered immobile when he fell through a barn floor and broke his thigh bone. The loud noise of his fall scared his cows, who trampled him to death.
| Source:
Post-Gazette
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| June 27, 2005 | - Scientists in Pittsburgh killed a dog, then resurrected it hours later with fresh blood.
| Source:
News.com.au
|
| June 15, 2005 | - In Bullskin Township, Pennsylvania, four men were accused of butchering a pet pygmy goat so that they could trade its meat for either money or crack cocaine.
| Source:
Post Gazette
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| June 13, 2005 | - A llama was found on the freeway in Pennsylvania.
| Source:
TheWGALChannel.com
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| May 30, 2005 | - A woman in Pennsylvania offered her newborn baby's clothes as a billboard for advertising. “Everyone looks at babies,” she said.
| Source:
CNN
|
| April 21, 2005 | - A high school in Pennsylvania prohibited students from carrying any kind of bag aside from lunch bags, which will be inspected.
| Source:
WNEP16
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| March 18, 2005 | - A judge in Pennsylvania refused to let two first cousins marry.
| Source:
Boston.com
|
| March 9, 2005 | - and police in York, Pennsylvania, arrested a fifty-three-year-old serial sheep
molester in a barn. The man said he was just petting the sheep, even though it was 3 A.M., it was not his barn, and he had baler's twine in his back pocket, which can be used to bind sheep.
| Source:
York Sunday News
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| January 5, 2005 | - a Pennsylvania man tried to kill workers in a fast-food restaurant when they ran out of french fries,
| Source:
Ananova
|
| November 5, 2004 | - Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania suggested that judicial nominees who do not support Roe v. Wade might have a hard time getting confirmed and immediately came under attack from conservatives seeking to prevent him from becoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| October 24, 2004 | - A National Guard jet accidentally bombed a hiking trail Pennsylvania.
| Source:
Associated Press
|
| September 11, 2004 | - A federal judge struck down Pennsylvania's Internet Child Pornography Act because it blocked more than one million legitimate sites in order to block 400 pornographers.
| Source:
Washington Post
|
| May 27, 2004 | - and police in Philadelphia found some children playing with a bazooka.
| Source:
WPVI TV Philadelphia
|
| March 19, 2004 | -
Pennsylvania lawmakers were considering a bill that would reward state contractors for using American workers.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| February 16, 2004 | - A different strain of the bird fluvirus showed up in Pennsylvania.
| Source:
Forbes
|
| January 30, 2004 | - A Pennsylvania company recalled 52,000 pounds of beef that might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| January 8, 2004 | - There was a 50-car pileup in Pennsylvania.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| August 14, 2001 | - A New Jersey woman fell 200 feet off a cliff and died after she stopped along an interstate in Pennsylvania to relieve herself. The accident occurred just three miles from the next rest area.
| |
| 0, 2000 | - After 25 years away from Uganda, Charles Wesley Mumbere, a nursing assistant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, returned home and ascended the throne as omusinga, or cultural leader, of the Rwenzururu Kingdom, to lead the Bakongo and Bamba peoples of the Mountains of the Moon.
| Source 1:
The Guardian
Source 2:
Times Record News
|
| April 0, 2000 | -
Pennsylvania
Senator Arlen Specter rejoined the Democratic Party after more than 40 years as a Republican. “There's more than being reelected here,” he insisted. “There's the factor of principle.”
| Source:
Politico
|
