Pennsylvania’s Thanksgiving Turkey Prices 21 Percent Higher than Last Year

The cost for Thanksgiving dinner has crept up, as has the gas Pennsylvanians buy to get to their relatives.

“The centerpiece on most Thanksgiving tables – the turkey – costs more than last year, at $28.96 for a 16-pound bird,” the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau said in a price report. “That’s $1.81 per pound, up 21% from last year, due to several factors beyond general inflation.”

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Pennsylvania Congressional Candidate Bognet Sues Luzerne County over Election Problems

Pennsylvania Republican congressional candidate Jim Bognet sued the Luzerne County Board of Elections in the county’s Court of Common Pleas this week over problems with administration of the 2022 election. 

This year, Bognet challenged incumbent Democrat Matt Cartwright to represent the Eighth Congressional District which includes Scranton, Wilks-Barre, Hazleton, Mount Pocono and neighboring communities extending northeastward to the New York and New Jersey borders. While many observers considered Cartwright’s reelection effort vulnerable, he ultimately received 51.3 percent of the 283,580 votes cast for Congress in the district while Bognet got 48.7 percent.

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Pennsylvania Charter School Enrollment Up 12 Percent, Public Enrollment Down Three Percent

Since the pandemic began, Pennsylvania’s public charter schools enrollment has gone up by almost 12% as parents have chosen to take their children out of traditional public schools.

According to a new report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools,  the change isn’t unique to Pennsylvania. Since the 2019-20 school year, the 41 states examined in the report with charter systems had a 7% increase in charter school enrollment and about a 3.5% decrease in public school enrollment.

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Pennsylvania Representative Bonner to Head District Attorney Krasner’s Impeachment Trial

Pennsylvania Representative Tim Bonner (R-Grove City) will serve as lead manager of the Senate impeachment trial of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) over the next few weeks. 

State House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Quarryville) appointed Bonner to head the three-person team of House managers on Friday. Representatives Craig Williams (R-Chadds Ford) and Jared Solomon (D-Philadelphia) will round out the group. (State law requires at least one impeachment manager to come from the House minority party.)

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Report: Pennsylvania Lags in Health Care Due to Restrictions on Nurse Authority

Pennsylvania is out of step with its neighbors and deregulating some health care services could give residents of the commonwealth better access to treatment, a new analysis argues.

The Commonwealth Foundation released a report arguing that Maryland’s effort to grant nurse practitioners full practice authority is a model for Pennsylvania. 

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Support for Pennsylvania’s 800,000 Veterans Is Still Lacking

Pennsylvania has the better part of a million veterans living within the commonwealth, but support for them can be lacking.

“I don’t like that veterans have to take care of veterans,” Rep. Joe Webster, D-Collegeville, said, noting a lack of centralized support. “Our nation should be taking care of these veterans. It shouldn’t fall to a 501(c)(3) or a group of guys just helping a veteran down the street … Our nation asks for the full measure – we’re not then taking care of them when they have sacrificed greater than the average citizen.”

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Pennsylvania AG Shapiro, Now Gov-Elect, Charges Ex-Political Consultant with Forging Petition Signatures

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who was elected governor last week, has announced charges of forgery for Democratic nomination petitions against a Philadelphia political consultant who reportedly worked on his 2016 campaign.

On Wednesday, Shapiro announced the arrest of Rasheen Crews for allegedly forging signatures on nomination petitions for Democrat clients in 2019 Philadelphia primary races. The nomination petitions were to get Crews’ clients on the ballot in primary races.

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House Democrats from Philadelphia Tout ‘Sanctuary City’ Status as Illegals’ Bus Arrives

Democrats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ Philadelphia Delegation on Thursday took the arrival of 28 illegal immigrants into their municipality as occasion to celebrate Philadelphia declaring itself a “sanctuary city.” 

State Representative Morgan Cephus (D-Philadelphia), chair of the delegation, also disputed the notion that the migrants bussed in from Texas should be deemed unlawful entrants, despite the fact that they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. He noted that they secured “temporary protective status” by U.S. border agencies. 

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Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner Impeached; Pennsylvania Senate to Conduct Trial

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) by a vote of 107 to 85.

All Democrats in attendance opposed the resolution introduced by Representative Martina White (R-Philadelphia). All present Republicans supported it except for Representative Mike Puskaric (R-Jefferson Hills) who is retiring at the end of the term.

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First Migrant Bus to Arrive in Philadelphia on Wednesday from Texas

Texas is sending its first bus of illegal foreign nationals to the so-called sanctuary city of Philadelphia, Gov. Greg Abbott said. It’s scheduled to arrive at William H. Gray III 30th Street Station Wednesday morning.

“Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has long-celebrated and fought for sanctuary city status,” Abbott said in a statement, “making the city an ideal addition to Texas’ list of drop-off locations.”

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Pennsylvania Committee Votes to Impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner

Pennsylvania state representatives expect to vote Wednesday on whether to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D); a legislative panel voted to move the idea forward on Tuesday.

All 14 attending members of the state House of Representatives Judiciary Committee supported advancing an impeachment bill sponsored by Representative Martina White (R-Philadelphia). All eight Democrats present for the vote opposed the legislation. 

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Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg College Postpones Art Event for Those ‘Tired of White Cis Men’

A Pennsylvania college has postponed a senior project painting event for students “tired of white cis men” following complaints, the college told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

An event a part of a senior project at Gettysburg College was set to be held for students to paint and write about their tiredness “of white cis men” on November 12, Gettysburg College told the DCNF. The event was postponed following a series of “bias incident reports” made by students who saw flyers promoting the event.

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Republican State Representative Proposes Pennsylvania ‘Equal Pay’ Measure

A Republican member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly is asking fellow legislators to back a bill she is writing to amend the state’s Equal Pay Law, asserting a gap exists between what men and women earn. 

The “wage gap” has long been a subject of contention. State representative Karen Boback (R-Dallas) cites data from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) — a group that is also at the forefront in promoting abortion and supporting transgenderism among children — to suggest serious pay inequity persists. 

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University of Pennsylvania Environmental Scholar ‘Ashamed’ at School’s Response to Football Game Climate Protest

During the University of Pennsylvania’s homecoming football game against Yale late last month, around 75 climate protesters stormed the field and delayed the start of the second half by about an hour.

Nineteen Fossil Free Penn protesters ended up being detained by campus police, and due to their actions some received notice that their membership in official Penn student groups could be in jeopardy.

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Party Control of Pennsylvania House Will Come Down to Two Undecided Races

As the week of Election Day 2022 draws to a close, it remains uncertain whether Republicans or Democrats will have the helm of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the next two years, with two southeastern races to decide the outcome. 

Pennsylvania has 203 legislative districts and electoral contests have been clinched by one major party or the other in 201 of them. Democrats prevailed in 101 of those races, meaning the GOP needs to win both of the still undetermined seats in order to keep control of the General Assembly’s lower chamber. 

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Pennsylvania Re-Elects State Representative Who Passed Away

Residents of Pennsylvania’s 32nd House District posthumously reelected deceased Democratic state Representative Anthony DeLuca (D-PA-Pittsburgh) on Tuesday, necessitating a special election in the months ahead. 

The lawmaker faced no Republican challenger this year and bested leftist Green Party candidate Zarah Livingston, garnering 21,244 votes (85.9 percent) to her 3,490 (14.1 percent). 

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Fetterman Edges Oz; Shapiro Defeats Mastriano for Governor

In the early hours Wednesday morning, multiple media outlets projected that Democrat John Fetterman would win the open U.S. Senate seat left by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

Fetterman, the state’s Lieutenant Governor who suffered a serious stroke just before the Democratic primary, won his party’s nomination, and then went on to defeat Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz for one of the only Democrat U.S. Senate pickups on the 2022 election cycle.

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Philadelphia Elections Department Says Counting of Up to 30,000 Ballots to Be Delayed After Lawsuit

The department that oversees elections in Philadelphia said that it will delay counting of up to 30,000 ballots due to a lawsuit from a conservative group that sought oversight for possible “double counting” mistakes in the 2022 midterm elections. 

The Philadelphia City Commissioners “said it will delay counting thousands of paper ballots after the polls close Tuesday night because of a lawsuit that accused it of being open to double counting,” the New York Times reported on Tuesday. 

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Philadelphia Home Depot Employees Overwhelmingly Reject Unionization

Philadelphia Home Depot employees voted overwhelmingly to reject joining what would have been the first store-wide union at the hardware store.

Out of the 266 employees in the Pennsylvania store, workers voted Saturday evening 165 to 51 against being members of Home Depot Workers United, according to the local NPR outlet. This means less than 20% of the stores’ employees voted in support of being in the union.

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Pennsylvania Senate GOP Leaders Ask Secretary of State to Comply on Undated Ballots, Other Election Rules

Days before the 2022 midterm elections, Pennsylvania Republican Senate leaders wrote to their commonwealth’s chief voting overseer seeking assurance that laws governing undated absentee ballots will be followed. 

The letter from Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward (R-Greensburg) and Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) goes on to urge acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman (D) to follow official procedure on other electoral matters as well. 

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Barriers Mean Pennsylvania Parents Can’t Easily Switch from One Public School to Another

In Pennsylvania, like much of America, parents will struggle if they want to transfer their children from one public school to another.

In a new policy brief, the Reason Foundation found that only 11 states have mandatory open enrollment laws to let parents transfer children to another public school. Furthermore, if families do switch schools, 26 states let public schools charge tuition for transfer students, making it harder for poorer families to choose a different school.

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Judge Allows Lawsuit Against Pennsylvania School’s Transgender Lessons to Proceed

In Pennsylvania, a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by a group of parents against a school for allegedly teaching transgenderism to first-grade students will be allowed to proceed.

Fox News reports that in her ruling, U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti rejected a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed, determining that the parents in question had a right to allege that, if they are right in their accusations, their constitutional rights have been violated as a result of the school’s lesson.

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Fetterman’s Stroke Costs Him Seven Points in Polls

Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who is running to be the state’s U.S. senator against Republican physician Mehmet Oz, may have lost up to 7% of voter support following a stroke he suffered earlier this year, according to a new survey by Suffolk University and USA Today.

The survey revealed that as many as 7% of respondents, who would have otherwise voted for Fetterman, are now supporting other candidates due to his stroke. Fetterman suffered the stroke in May, following his victory in the Democratic primary, and spent four months in recovery before returning to the campaign trail.

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Commentary: Early Vote Data Suggests Trouble for Dems in Pennsylvania

Democrats are getting some warning signs in the mail. Voting data in the key states show that mail-in voting, which traditionally favors Democrats, is down. In-person voting, meanwhile, will likely continue to be dominated by Republicans.

Take, for example, my home state of Pennsylvania. In 2020, there were 1,564,483 ballots cast nine days out from Election Day. As of Sunday, nine days out from the midterm election, there were only 777,309 ballots cast. That’s a drop of more than half. And it is even steeper for traditionally Democratic voting groups like black voters. In 2020, approximately 147,539 black Pennsylvanians had voted at this point; now, it’s only 47,830. 

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STAND America PAC Runs over 1,000 Ads Urging Black Voters to Abandon Democrats in the Midterm Elections

A political action committee (PAC) associated with STAND America has purchased over 1,000 ads for U.S. Senate and House races on black radio stations to urge black voters to abandon the Democrat Party.

“Black and Latino voters are turning away from Democrats toward Republicans who share their commitment to faith, family, public safety and educational choice for their children,” Bishop E.W. Jackson, STAND America PAC (SAPAC) chairman, said in a press statement. “They are also feeling the ravages of inflation.” 

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decides Against Counting Undated Ballots

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court this week ordered counties to decline to count any absentee or mail-in ballot delivered in an undated envelope.

State law, which has permitted no-excuse absentee voting since 2020, requires those not voting in person to place their ballot into a secrecy envelope before placing it into a return envelope. Voter must sign and date that outer envelope for their ballot to be valid under state statute. 

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Endorses Oz over Fetterman, GOP Senate Nominee Says Newspaper’s ‘Had Enough’

Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz is touted an endorsement from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a major newspaper in the state whose readership is largely in Democratic opponent John Fetterman’s home county.

The editorial board of the Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania’s second-largest paper, questioned Fetterman’s capabilities in a Sunday opinion piece. The board said Fetterman’s “lack of transparency” following a serious stroke he suffered in May “suggests an impulse to conceal and a mistrust of the people.” The paper also said Fetterman’s “life experience and maturity are also concerns” as he has “lived off his family’s money for much of his life.”

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Government Unions, Progressive Donors Finance Assault on Pennsylvania’s Charter Schools

Liberal groups aligned with the Washington consulting firm Arabella Advisors have spent over $1 million to support attacks on school choice in Pennsylvania, joining public employee unions that have pumped tens of thousands of dollars into targeting charter schools.

An organization called Education Voters of Pennsylvania has published a series of articles and reports critical of the state Legislature’s funding of charter schools in general and so-called cybercharter schools in particular.

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Commentary: Carbon County Could Hold the Key to PA-07

This election is not only an important one but a costly one. It has been crisis after crisis under the Biden administration and Pennsylvanians are paying the price. As the crises continue to grow, Biden has become a drag on Democrats. Democrats like Susan Wild and John Fetterman are detached from Pennsylvanians and the issues that matter to families and business have fallen to the wayside under their leadership.

Gas prices and energy costs are crippling Pennsylvania families. This year as a country, we surpassed the highest recorded average gas price ever and those that heat their homes with oil are facing serious cost increases that are a direct result of the Biden-Democrat agenda.

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Mehmet Oz Commentary: My Plan to Fix Crime in Philadelphia and Across the Commonwealth

Much like the inflation crisis created by misguided economic policies, violent crime is running rampant nationwide. Here in Philadelphia, over 400 homicides and 1,000 carjackings have already been reported thus far in 2022 – and those figures are not unique among major cities. Thanks to progressive leaders who refuse to enforce the law, violent criminals are roaming free and American families are left to feel unsafe.

Just last week, Philadelphia’s “Conviction Integrity Unit” earned the praise of John Fetterman. This misguided program, implemented by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, allowed a convicted murderer to be back on the street, and last week he was arrested again for involvement in a second murder. Allowing violent criminals to be let out of prison is a deadly consequence of the soft-on-crime policies that John Fetterman supports.

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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Seek Audit of Taxpayer-Supported Baseball Parks’ Rental Payments

Two Pennsylvania state representatives this weekend proposed an audit of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh’s major-league sports teams’ rental payments for their stadiums. 

Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and PNC Park in Pittsburgh were among several stadiums benefiting from the Capital Facilities Debt Enabling Act of 1999, whereby the commonwealth would pour $320 million into the construction of new sports buildings. The arrangement entailed each arena paying $25 million in rent to the state every decade minus some deductions based on tax revenues the stadiums brought into government coffers. 

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Taxpayers Have Tab for Estimated $2 Billion After ‘Reckless Policy Changes’ in Pennsylvania Medicaid

In Pennsylvania, Medicaid eligibility has expanded at the same time that officials have suspended verification. The result is that costs have gone up — along with the number of people getting benefits while not legally qualifying for them.

So explains a new report from the Commonwealth Foundation on Pennsylvania’s “Wayward Welfare State.”

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Election Integrity Storm Brewing in Pennsylvania: Over 250K Ballots Sent to Voters with Unverified I.D.

More than 250,000 ballots have been mailed to Pennsylvania voters without their identities being verified, according to state data collected by election integrity group Verity Vote.

On Tuesday, 15 Pennsylvania state legislators sent a letter to acting Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Leigh Chapman regarding unverified ballots sent to voters. As of Thursday, state data show that more than 250,000 ballots have been mailed to voters without verifying their identification.

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Articles of Impeachment Filed Against Philadelphia DA by Republican Officials

Republicans in the Pennsylvania House have introduced articles of impeachment against Philadelphia’s district attorney Larry Krasner. 

The lawmakers introduced the measure Wednesday to impeach Kranser and said they might add days to the legislative session to complete the effort before the two-year legislative term expires next month, according to local TV station ABC6 News. 

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Obama Jumps into Pennsylvania Midterms After Fetterman’s Error-Filled Debate Performance

Former President Barack Obama urged Pennsylvanians to vote for Democratic candidates in the November midterm elections during a campaign ad, just days after Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman struggled during his debate with Republican Mehmet Oz.

Obama told Pennsylvanians that their midterm vote would shape the future of American democracy and women’s abortion rights, according to the 15-second ad which was obtained by Axios. Obama’s efforts to ramp up support for the Democrats in Pennsylvania comes after most of the debate audience believed that Fetterman failed to win, according to a recent poll conducted by WXPI.

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Commentary: Fetterman’s Record in Braddock Is No Roadmap for Pennsylvania

Aliquippa, Duquesne, Greenville, New Castle, and Rankin: western Pennsylvania has no shortage of economically distressed municipalities that seem to have been left by the wayside and forgotten. But the town of Braddock got something different: a political figure standing 6-foot-8, draped in gym shorts and a Carhartt hoodie. He promised to turn around a persistent economic depression, and he brought national media attention to the small town, which had seen a population decline from a peak of 20,000 in the 1920s to under 1,800.

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Pennsylvania GOP Prepares to Impeach Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner

Republicans in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives are taking steps towards impeaching Larry Krasner, the far-left District Attorney of Philadelphia, due to his record of soft-on-crime policies that have made the city more dangerous.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, a group of Republicans in the lower house, led by State Representative Martina White (R-Penn.), filed articles of impeachment against Krasner on Wednesday. This comes after a bipartisan majority of the State House gave the House Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order the authority to investigate the causes of the rising crime wave in Philadelphia, and to propose solutions for solving the crisis.

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Pennsylvania Business Leader Survey: Inflation Likely to Continue

Business leaders in Pennsylvania don’t see inflation subsiding in the near future, according to a survey released this week by the Harrisburg-based Lincoln Institute for Public Opinion & Research. 

A total of 212 businesses from across the Keystone State responded to the institute’s poll, with just over half of the respondents being business owners; 20 percent serving as either chief executive officer, head of finance or head of operations; and about a fifth serving as either state or local manager. 

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Doctor Who Gave Fetterman a Clean Bill of Health Is Campaign Donor, Democrat Funder

A doctor who issued a clean bill-of-health letter for John Fetterman is a donor to the Pennsylvania Democrat Senate nominee’s campaign and a frequent giver to other Democratic politicians, federal records show. 

Speculations have swirled around Fetterman’s health after he experienced a stroke in May. At times he has struggled with speech and has also needed technological assistance during media interviews, such as closed captioning to ensure he comprehends questions to him. Auditory processing issues are common symptoms of strokes.

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As Nearby Small Cities Lower Murder Rates, Philadelphia Looks for Solutions

Homicides in Philadelphia have been stubbornly high compared to just a few years ago, and elected officials have started to look for answers in other cities.

While some crime has risen in a number of cities in recent years, few cities have seen a worse rise in murder than Philadelphia. A recent WalletHub comparison of per capita murder rates since 2020 found that Philadelphia ranked seventh of the 50 largest cities in America.

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Poll: Oz Draws Even with Fetterman Just Weeks Before Midterms

Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz are statistically tied in a new survey of Pennsylvania voters, five days before they hold their first and only debate of the Pennsylvania Senate race and less than three weeks before voting begins, per a survey released on Thursday.

Fetterman and Oz gained 46.3% and 45.5%, respectively, of the support of respondents, according to a poll conducted by Insider  for FOX29, Philadelphia’s Fox affiliate. Around 5% of voters remained undecided, according to the poll.

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Appalachian Commission Sends $7 Million for Workforce Projects in Pennsylvania

The Appalachian Regional Commission has announced almost $50 million in grants across the 13-state region, and Pennsylvania will receive $7 million to encourage economic growth.

Nine projects in Pennsylvania will receive about $50,000 to $1.5 million for workforce training, manufacturing, child care and feasibility studies for potential development.

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