Latest Pennsylvania Headlines

All the headlines from our Pennsylvania Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Tornado May Be Cause of Destroyed Pennsylvania Trailer Homes

Mar 31 2009 // Officials in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania officials say a tornado could have cause the destruction to five trailer homes in Clay Township. Dave Wiker, the county’s emergency services shift supervisor, says three...

Firefighter Investigated in String of Pennsylvania Arsons

Mar 26 2009 // Investigators are trying to determine if a firefighter charged with the latest fires in an arson-plagued suburb of southeast Pennsylvania could be responsible for any other unsolved blazes. Robert Tracey Jr., of...

Deer Blamed for Pennsylvania Crash that Prompted Evacuation

Mar 24 2009 // The driver of a tractor-trailer carrying a hazardous chemical told authorities that he swerved to avoid a deer before his rig overturned, prompting a nine-hour evacuation of about 5,000 people in northeastern...

Pennsylvania Commissioner Approves First-Ever ‘Green’ Discount

Mar 20 2009 // Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario has approved a first-of-its-kind insurance discount for homeowners who have certain kinds of environmentally friendly technology in their houses. The discount, which goes into...

Pennsylvania Officials Say New Fire is Not Part of Arson String

Mar 17 2009 // Fire has struck in the Coatesville, Pennsylvania area again, but officials says it’s not believed to be connected to the recent string of arsons in that area. The fire erupted just after midnight Monday in what is...

Arson in Southeast Pennsylvania Reignites Fears

Mar 16 2009 // Authorities say there has been another arson in the suburban Philadelphia city of Coatesville. The 1:30 a.m. blaze struck two homes on East Valley Road in the city, and firefighters say they were badly damaged. John...

Retired Pennsylvania Judge Appeals Fraud Conviction

Mar 16 2009 // A retired Pennsylvania Superior Court judge is appealing his conviction on charges of falsely collecting $440,000 from insurance companies. Michael Joyce was sentenced Tuesday to three years and 10 months in federal...

Retired Pennsylvania Judge Gets 46 Months in Jail for Fraud

Mar 12 2009 // A retired Pennsylvania Superior Court judge was sentenced to three years, 10 months in prison Tuesday for falsely collecting $440,000 from insurance companies after being injured in a slow-speed fender bender. Michael...

Pennsylvania Court Scolds Firm Paying Advances on Settlements

Mar 11 2009 // A federal appeals court, ruling in a case linked to the 1985 MOVE bombing in Philadelphia, blasted a Texas company that offers lump-sum advances to plaintiffs who settle lawsuits. The settlement stemmed from a lawsuit...

Pennsylvania Barn Fire Kills 10,000 Turkeys

Mar 10 2009 // A fire has killed 10,000 turkeys inside a central Pennsylvania barn. John Zechman of the Beaver Springs Fire Company says the 300-foot-long barn was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived overnight Friday. He says...

Ex-Pennsylvania Mayor Loses Bid to Have Legal Costs Paid

Mar 9 2009 // A divided Pennsylvania state appeals court says the city of Erie and its insurance carriers aren’t obligated to pay the legal bills of the city’s former mayor. Commonwealth Court said the city and insurers...

Two Suspects Arrested in Southeast Pennsylvania Arsons

Feb 24 2009 // Authorities hunting for arsonists behind a string of fires in a small, Southeastern Pennsylvania steel town made two arrests within hours of each other. Roger Leon Barlow Jr., 19, and Mark Gilliam, 20, were arrested...

One Quarter of Oklahoma Bridges Structurally Deficient

Feb 24 2009 // In 2004, a football-sized piece of concrete fell from a bridge and crashed through Yvonna Osborn’s windshield while she was driving home on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma. The 52-year-old Irving, Texas, mother of two died...

Pennsylvania Woman Who Sang about Fire Charged with 7 Arsons

Feb 13 2009 // Police in a Philadelphia suburb say a 19-year-old woman accused of arson was caught on a surveillance camera singing, “The fire department is going to be mad at me.” Police say Amanda Gessner touched off 7...

Twenty-Third Arson of 2009 Declared in Southeast Pennsylvania

Feb 10 2009 // Investigators have declared a 23rd arson in a part of southeastern Pennsylvania that has been plagued by suspicious fires this year. The latest blaze happened in a trailer home just outside Coatesville late Friday night....

Cops Check 4 More Fires in Arson-Plagued Pennsylvania Area

Feb 2 2009 // Authorities said four arson fires reported Saturday “share a commonality” with other intentionally set blazes that have plagued this area outside Philadelphia, but they would not say if they were connected. The...

Latest Pennsylvania Fire Claims 15 Houses; Arson Suspected

Jan 27 2009 // The latest in a string of suspicious fires in this suburban Philadelphia city tore through a block of row houses, heavily damaging 15 homes, displacing dozens of people and prompting local officials to declare a state of...

Retired Pennsylvania Judge Wants Fraud Conviction Dismissed

Jan 26 2009 // A retired Pennsylvania Superior Court judge wants a federal judge to reverse his conviction or entirely dismiss insurance fraud charges stemming from $440,000 he collected in an August 2001 traffic accident. Attorneys for...

Business Moves

Jan 25 2009 // Victoria, Cranbrook Victoria Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Michigan-based USF Insurance Co., has changed its name to Cranbrook Insurance Co. Cranbrook is incorporated in Texas with its headquarters in Farmington Hills,...

Pennsylvania Explosion Caused by Pipe-Stripping Thieves

Jan 13 2009 // Gas company officials say an explosion in a vacant duplex in western Pennsylvania was caused by a leak that resulted from thieves stripping copper piping in the house. Officials with Equitable Gas say the explosion in...