Noisy flyovers, veto power, guilty plea, primary evidence, official rebuke, lead tests, and Pa.'s 'Christmas tree capital' is running out of trees. It's Friday.
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» TRAVEL RULES: The Biden administration is tightening travel rules, including extending its mask requirement on domestic flights and public transit through March 18.
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📷 POST IT
A quiet and sunny morning on the Clarion University campus. Thanks, Joyce O.! Send us your gems, use the hashtag #PAGems on Instagram, or tag us @spotlightpennsylvania.
DAILY RUNDOWN
HARD NO: Gov. Tom Wolf has delivered on his promise to veto a GOP bill that would allow people to carry a firearm, openly or concealed, without a permit in Pennsylvania, PennLive reports. Wolf has the most vetoes of any governor in the last four decades.
CAPITOL THEFT: A former Democratic state Rep. from Delaware County has pleaded guilty in a criminal case involving the theft of taxpayer and campaign money, Patch reports. Margo Davidson resigned in June and is now barred from holding elected office in Pennsylvania.
WRITTEN EVIDENCE: The prosecution of a Montgomery County man accused of assaulting a police officer with a metal flagpole during the U.S. Capitol siege will be aided by detailed journal entries that the man, Howard Charles Richardson, made that day, per The Morning Call.
'MISUSE OF POWER': A judge is accusing the Westmoreland County district attorney's office of slow-walking criminal cases to gain leverage against a Unity man named a potential suspect in his former girlfriend's disappearance, calling it "a misuse of power," per TribLIVE.
LEAD OUT: Pittsburgh is pursuing new legislation that would require older rental properties to be tested for lead and cleared of the toxic substance if it's found, WESA reports. Meanwhile, the AP reports a new testing method could reveal higher lead levels in water nationwide.
LONG RUN: Meet George Etzweiler, a former Penn State professor and 101-year-old who's still running marathons. "I can't believe I'm still out there, I can't believe I'm still alive," Etzweiler told the Daily Collegian.
LEGAL AID: Research by Pitt Professor David Garrow helped lead to the exoneration of two men convicted in the assassination of Malcolm X. Pittsburgh City Paper spoke with Garrow about the outcome.
POUR HOUSE: Somerset County is an oasis in the midst of a global maple syrup shortage. But while there's plenty of the sweet stuff to be found locally, The Daily American reports the jugs needed to hold it are another story.
THE SCREAM: Riegelsville Mayor Greg Stokes says a scream he heard in the Pike County wilderness one night 37 years ago "penetrated every fiber" of his being, telling the Courier Times: "I'm 99 percent sure it was Bigfoot."
THE SCRAMBLER
Unscramble and send your answer to scrambler@spotlightpa.org. We'll shout out winners here, and one each week will get some Spotlight PA swag.
R P C E C S U A R U L
Yesterday's answer: Jabberwocky
Congrats to our daily winners: Elaine C., Michelle T., Neal W., Mike B., Barbara F., Irene R., Don H., Wendy A., Susan F., Judith D., Bill C., Joel S., Al M., Jill K., Patricia R., Beth T., Sherri A., Elizabeth W., James B., Craig W., Vicki U., Ted W., Brian B., Keith F., William M., John F., Kimberly S., Doris T., Becky C., Kim C., Perry H., Craig E., Lex M., Doug W., John N., Daniel M., Kimberly B., David I., Bill S., Beth L., Susan D., George S., Lewis M., Karen W., Georgann J., John H., Ann E., Lynne E., John P., David W., and John A.
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and WITF Public Media.