The Department of Education has launched investigations into seven schools over reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia. One of those seven is Lafayette College, which says it doesn't know why it's being investigated but is cooperating and will continue to cooperate fully with investigators. The investigation at Lafayette and most of the other schools began Thursday
The Saucon Valley School District has reached a deal with The Satanic Temple in a lawsuit that claimed the district discriminated against students by banning the After School Satan Club from using school facilities earlier this year. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in March, says the school district will pay The Satanic Temple $200,000 in attorney's fees, which according to the district, will be paid by the district's insurance and not the taxpayers. As part of the settlement, the district must give The Satanic Temple and the After School Satan Club, which The Satanic Temple sponsors, the same access to school facilities that other similar organizations have.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board says gaming in October raked in more than $483 million, an increase of 7.28% when compared to revenue generated in October 2022. Wind Creek in Bethlehem pulled in nearly $44 million of that revenue, which is almost identical to its October 2022 numbers.
Pennsylvania's Independent Fiscal Office has unveiled its latest economic and budgetary projection and analysts say the numbers don't look good. The report shows state revenue is expected to fall short of spending over the next five years. It also estimates that Pennsylvania's six-billion-dollar rainy day fund would be drained by the fiscal year that starts in 2028. The revenue decrease reportedly would be due to a shrinking population of working-age people, reductions in corporate income taxes and growing costs for caring for an aging population.
State legislators are advancing a bill that would let students stay in school during disputes about where they live. In Pennsylvania, parents and guardians must provide documents at enrollment that verify a student's residency. The proposal would keep districts from withdrawing a student until a parent can exhaust all options to prove their residency. The unanimous House vote sends the bill to the state Senate for consideration.
A state lawmaker is proposing more legislation to help crack down on catalytic converter thefts. Representative Kathleen Tomlinson of Bucks County says in a cosponsor memo that efforts to combat the thefts are hampered by the fact that police typically need to catch thieves in the act in order to charge them. Tomlinson's proposal would change the law so that police can charge thieves if they are discovered with the auto parts. Her idea differs from a bill passed in July that places more burden on salvage or recycling companies that buy converters that might stolen.
Some state medical researchers have been awarded a 50-million-dollar grant to study how environmental factors affect mothers and their fetuses, babies and toddlers. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia say they will need to enroll 25-hundred pregnant women and their partners over a seven-year period. They will track neighborhood factors in poor areas such as pollution, violence and temperatures, as well as walkability and green space. The work is part the National Institutes of Health's larger study of some 64-thousand children.
Door Dash is now allowed to deliver alcohol in New Jersey. It becomes the first company allowed to do so, one year after the state passed a special rule allowing bars, restaurants and liquor stores to use third-party services. The move comes just in time for the holidays. Meantime, Door Dash is not permitted to make deliveries to colleges, hotels, offices and Bring-Your-Own-Bottle restaurants.