Tag: pennsylvania

Penn State Employees Who Refuse Vaccination Face Reeducation

Despite a federal judge declaring President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate unconstitutional, Penn State University will keep its Jan. 4 deadline requiring employees to get vaccinated, and some employees who choose not to get vaccinated will be given education and counseling.

“Many of you know (the mandate) is being challenged in the courts so we don’t know the outcome of that process yet, but we are planning around it prevailing, and so implementing that mandate,” Penn State Provost Nicholas P. Jones said Tuesday in the University Faculty Senate meeting. “We’ve got to prepare because there’s not a lot of runway between now and January the fourth.”

The University is navigating two versions of the mandate. The federal contractor mandate applies to nine campuses and the College of Medicine, Wyatt DuBois, assistant director of University Public Relations told The Epoch Times in an email. Employees covered under the federal contractor mandate must upload proof to the university that they have received their final vaccine dose by Jan. 4 or be granted a disability/medical- or religious-related exemption. For those with an exemption, “accommodations will include a requirement to test weekly in the university testing protocol program,” DuBois said.

Employees at all other Penn State locations are subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on vaccination and testing, which applies to employers with 100 or more employees. “Under the OSHA ETS, disability/medical- and/or religious-related accommodations are not required for an employee to be put into the testing protocol. So, employees at these locations must receive their final vaccine dose by Jan. 4 or test weekly for COVID-19,” DuBois said.

In other words, those under the OSHA rules won’t lose their jobs if they don’t get vaccinated, but those under the federal contractor mandate who are not granted an exemption could lose their job.

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White Students Not Allowed at Pennsylvania School District’s Drone Camp

A middle school in Pennsylvania is receiving pushback from some parents for hosting a drone-flying camp over the weekend that was not open to white students.

During morning announcements at Upper Merion Area Middle School on November 1, a school staff member said she had “an exciting announcement,” but asked everyone to first watch a short video about drones. The video included footage of students flying drones, and snippets of TV news reports where anchors noted that “drones are in high demand,” and “if you want to go into drones, you’re going to need those (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills.”

After the video, the staff member announced a drone flight camp at the middle school on Saturday, according to a recording of the announcement a parent posted on Facebook. The camp was free, but there were only 24 seats available, the staff member announced. Seats would be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, she said.

But there was another catch.

“Here’s the thing, it is a black-student-union-sponsored event,” the staff member said, adding that “you must be black, African American, a person of color in order to participate.”

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Pennsylvania House Democrat Introduces Forced Sterilization – Three-Child Limit Legislation

Pennsylvania Democrat Christopher M. Rabb sent out a memorandum to all House members regarding his legislation that will enforce reproductive responsibility among men.  The bill will force men to undergo vasectomies within 6 weeks from having their third child or their 40th birthday, whichever comes first.

This legislation includes a $10,000 reward to whoever snitches to the proper authority on those who have failed to submit to forced sterilization within the allotted time.

This bill will also include legal actions for unwanted pregnancies against inseminators who wrongfully conceive a child with them.

“As long as state legislatures continue to restrict the reproductive rights of cis women, trans men, and non-binary people, there should be laws that address the responsibility of men who impregnate them. Thus, my bill will also codify “wrongful conception” to include when a person has demonstrated negligence toward preventing conception during intercourse,” Rabb stated in his memorandum.

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