Tag: pennsylvania

Trump Pulls $175 Million in Federal Funding from UPenn After They Defied His Order on Transgenders in Women’s Sports

President Trump has suspended $175 million in federal funding from the University of Pennsylvania after they defied his order on transgenders in women’s sports.

The prestigious Ivy League university is currently in violation of Title IX, which prohibits the sending of federal funding to universities or organizations that allow biological men to compete against women.

The news was first reported by Fox Business:

A senior administration official told FOX Business that the administration has paused $175 million in federal funding.

This did not account for UPenn’s total federal funding, which the university previously reported last year was around $1 billion.

The pause is not a direct result of the investigation into UPenn, which the Department of Education announced a day after the president signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5.

UPenn made headlines in 2022 after placing Lia Thomas, a biological male identifying as a transgender woman, on the women’s swim team.

Thomas went on to win a national title in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, edging out female competitors over whom she had a clear biological advantage.

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Pennsylvania Is ‘Losing Out’ To Neighboring States By Keeping Marijuana Illegal, Governor Says

As Pennsylvania lawmakers once again consider proposals to legalize marijuana, the governor is emphasizing that the state is “losing out” to others that have already enacted the reform, while maintaining a policy that’s enriched the illicit market.

During a wide-ranging video that was released on Monday, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) was asked about his call to legalization cannabis for adult use, which he included in his latest budget request that’s been discussed at multiple committee hearings over recent weeks.

“I think it’s an issue of freedom and liberty. I mean, if folks want to smoke, they should be able to do so in a safe and legal way,” he said. “We should shut down the black market—and, by the way, every state around us is doing it. Pennsylvanians are driving to those other states and paying taxes in those other states.”

“It’s time we get some of that revenue here,” Shapiro said.

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Files Bill To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients From DUI Charges

A Pennsylvania lawmaker has reintroduced a bill meant to protect medical marijuana patients from facing DUI charges when there is no proof they are actually impaired behind the wheel.

Rep. Chris Rabb (D) filed the legislation and circulated a cosponsorship memo this week, urging his colleagues to join him in this latest effort to enact the reform.

The memo says that, since the state legalized medical marijuana, many patients have “shared their horror stories about being arrested and convicted of driving under the influence of cannabis without any proof of impairment.”

“That is why this legislation…is being introduced yet again, as the current law must be amended to allow responsible drivers who are also medical cannabis patients to operate a motor vehicle legally,” Raab wrote, emphasizing that the legislation “does not extend to any illegal cannabis use–nor does it protect impaired drivers.”

The bill would amend the current state statute to make it so the presence of cannabis metabolites in a drug test alone could not be used as evidence of impaired driving if the person is a registered medical marijuana patient.

However, that protection would not extend to those who hold a commercial driver’s license.

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PA Faces “Looming Power Crisis” After Gov. Shapiro’s Electricity Tax And Plant Closures

Not unlike the rest of the country which will soon have aggressive new power needs thanks to the data centers powering AI, Pennsylvania is also facing its own power crisis. 

Nearly a year after Gov. Josh Shapiro promised a “new era” in energy—touting job creation, lower utility bills, and billions in clean energy investment—Pennsylvanians see little progress. Instead, he promotes short-term fixes and questionable deals that do nothing to curb rising electricity costs, according to a new op-ed in the Delaware Valley Journal by Senator Gene Yaw.

Shapiro overlooks the real issue: his RGGI electricity tax and the premature shutdown of key power plants without a clear replacement strategy. When energy supply lags behind demand, prices inevitably rise, Yaw notes.

In the next decade, the grid faces a projected 80,000-megawatt shortfall. Pennsylvania, supplying a quarter of the region’s power, would need at least 20 new plants to keep pace—yet none are planned or in development.

Since RGGI’s proposal, Pennsylvania has seen no new baseload energy investment. The governor insists action is needed, yet his carbon tax push and failed policies only worsen the crisis. Real solutions require attracting energy investment, modernizing the grid, and streamlining regulations.

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Authorities Confiscated a Beloved Deer That a Woman Raised as a Pet — and Now the Animal Might Be Euthanized

Authorities confiscated a deer that a Pennsylvania woman had been keeping as a pet, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission and multiple reports.

Tammy Shiery of Fayette County says that she and several members of her neighborhood have raised the 2-year-old deer — whom they named Baby — ever since they found him as a fawn, per CBS News affiliate KDKA News.

Shiery, 64, told the outlet that Baby has received all of the same vaccines that are required for deer on deer farms, and that she believed she had all of the necessary paperwork to legally keep Baby as a pet. 

However, Pennsylvania law states that deer can only be kept as domestic pets if they were born in captivity — which Baby was not. Shiery attempted to intervene when state authorities showed up to take Baby away and was subsequently arrested, per KDKA.

PEOPLE reached out to the Pennsylvania State Police but did not receive an immediate response.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission confirmed it has Baby in its custody, and he has not been euthanized at this point in time, per KDKA. The game commission also told the outlet that it is currently deciding on next steps for the animal.

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Pennsylvania GOP Senator Calls Marijuana Prohibition A ‘Disaster,’ Signaling Support For Treating Cannabis Like Alcohol And Tobacco

Amid growing calls for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania, a GOP state senator says prohibition has been a “disaster,” and a regulated sales model for cannabis—similar to how alcohol and tobacco are handled—could serve as an effective alternative.

Sen. Gene Yaw (R) said both alcohol and tobacco have been “used for thousands of years,” just like marijuana. Yet only cannabis continues to be strictly criminalized.

“I don’t think marijuana is any different than these other things,” Yaw told The Standard-Journal. “We’ve regulated it and taxed it.”

The senator noted that Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced numerous cannabis reform bills over recent sessions. And while, years ago, “I never thought I would support medical marijuana,” he said he came around on the issue and voted for it because “it has its place for some people.”

Yaw didn’t explicitly endorse any specific recreational marijuana legalization proposals that have been filed for the 2025 session, but his description of prohibition as a “disaster” indicates a willingness to advance the reform at a key time in the Pennsylvania legislature.

Voters are ready to see that policy change, according to a poll released this week.

The survey found that nearly 7 in 10 voters in the state support the reform—including a majority of Republicans. And 63 percent want to see the legislature enact the reform this year, rather than delaying it.

While Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) once again included a proposal to enact cannabis legalization in his latest budget request, there’s been mixed feedback from legislators—some of whom want to see the governor more proactively come to the table to discuss possible pathways for reform and others skeptical about the possibility of advancing the issue this session.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Scott Martin (R), for example, said this week that he doesn’t “see any path whatsoever” to enacting legalization in line with the governor’s plan.

At the same time, the state secretary for the Department of Revenue has predicted that Shapiro’s proposal could be passed during the current budget cycle, indicating that he feels reform could start to be implemented within months.

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D), meanwhile, said following the governor’s budget speech that “there is real diversity of opinions among our members,” likely referencing split perspectives on regulatory models, with some lawmakers pushing for a state-run cannabis program.

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Woman admits she made up rape claims that put innocent man in jail and reveals she targeted him over his ‘creepy’ looks

A 20-year-old Pennsylvania woman admitted she fabricated kidnapping and rape allegations that kept an innocent man locked up for over a month — saying she targeted the stranger because he was “creepy.”

Anjela Borisova Urumova is now facing jail time herself after pleading guilty to charges that she fabricated the sexual assault outside a local supermarket, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.

Urumova claimed a 41-year-old man attacked her from behind outside a Redner’s supermarket on April 16, cooking up a story that the assailant pulled her pants down and smacked her, leaving a bruise on her face.

The phony victim, who had a cut lip at the time, fingered Daniel Person as her attacker, Law & Crime said.

She later confessed to cops that she got the cut on her lip from an object her grandmother, who suffers from dementia, threw at her when she walked into their home prior to the fake attack.

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Small-Town America “Fights Back” In Court Against Globalists Who Flooded Their Town With Haitians

A resident of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, who was among the first to draw national attention to the massive influx of Haitian migrants into his small town, is now locked in a legal battle with a local food packaging plant that employs primarily migrants from the third world. Eyes on Charleroi first appeared when President-elect Donald Trump highlighted the town’s staggering 2,000% surge in its migrant population before the presidential elections. The resident is also planning a class-action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of residents, demanding accountability from those responsible for the migrant invasion. 

Local media outlet Pennsylvania Record reports the lawyer of Andrew Armbruster, a resident of Charleroi, filed Pennsylvania’s new anti-SLAPP law, a measure that gives defendants, in some instances, the opportunity to evade litigation. This is regarding a defamation lawsuit filed against Armbruster by the Charleroi business Fourth Street Foods

“SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuits against public participation, and anti-SLAPP laws give defendants a First Amendment argument,” Pennsylvania Record’s John O’Brien wrote.

The motion stated that Fourth Street Foods owner David Barbe filed the lawsuit against Armbruster primarily to suppress protected public expression.

“Armbruster’s rights to speak to public issues, community members, and prevailing wages without ever being accused of mentioning ‘Dave Barbe’ are an incredible encroachment on everyone in Charleroi’s right to free expression on public matters,” the motion said. 

The motion continued, “Not only are they chilled from speaking about Mr. Barbe, by this lawsuit they are chilled from mentioning the hiring practices of a local employer.”

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‘Big Win’ for Amish Farmer and Food Freedom in Raw Milk Case

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania last week ruled that Amos and Rebecca Miller, farmers who produce raw milk, may continue to sell raw milk outside the state while a lawsuit filed by the state against them moves through the courts.

The court’s ruling upheld a March 2024 decision by a Lancaster County trial court, which concluded that the Millers were not clearly violating Pennsylvania statutes by selling their raw milk products outside Pennsylvania.

That court previously issued a preliminary injunction that completely blocked the Millers from selling raw milk. However, the court later modified the injunction, limiting it to blocking Millers’ raw sales only within Pennsylvania.

The Commonwealth Court also acknowledged that the Millers raised “potentially meritorious constitutional challenges” to Pennsylvania’s Milk Sanitation Law. These challenges involve the Commerce Clause, the Supremacy Clause, the right to travel, and the fundamental right to purchase “traditional foods directly from the producer of that food.”

Robert Barnes, the Millers’ attorney, celebrated the decision on X, formerly Twitter, calling it a “big win” for food freedom.

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Antifa terror couple who bombed Michael Knowles event at University of Pittsburgh sentenced to 5 years in prison

A United States District Court Judge has sentenced a Pennsylvania Antifa terror couple to prison and probation over a 2023 bombing attack at the University of Pittsburgh. Brian DiPippa, 37, and his wife Krystal DiPippa, 42, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty to plotting and attacking a conservative speaking event using homemade incendiary devices and explosives. Several police officers were injured in the attack, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan sentenced Brian “Peppy” DiPippa on Monday to five years in prison. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of law enforcement. His charge of using an explosive to commit a federal felony was dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Krystal DiPippa pleaded guilty to obstruction of law enforcement and received a sentence of three years of probation, including 80 hours of community service. The conspiracy charge against her was dropped as part of a sweetheart plea deal, court filings show.

The DiPippas, who belong to a violent Antifa terrorist cell, were also ordered to jointly pay the University of Pittsburgh $1,400 in restitution and $47,284 to a University of Pittsburgh police officer for financial damages resulting from injuries sustained by the couple’s actions.

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