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When Bruce Castor, then the Montgomery County District Attorney, decided not to file sexual assault charges against comedian Bill Cosby in 2005, it wasn't because he didn't believe the woman who said Cosby had drugged and groped her. "Now I can say I thought he did it," Castor said in an interview Wednesday. "But back then I would have been accused of tainting the jury that was going to hear the civil case." Castor's revelation is not exactly new; since leaving the district attorney's office he has discussed the case and has said he believed some crime occurred, though winning...

resident Barack Obama announced the release of a global warming “toolkit,” one day before all 50 U.S. states fell below freezing temperatures. The White House says its “resilience toolkit” is an extension of Obama’s “Climate Action Plan” .. A recent Gallup poll finds that just two percent of Americans rate “environment/pollution” as a top concern.

Illegal immigration is falling in Arizona, California and New Mexico, but rising in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according a study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. Drawing on data provided by the U.S. Census, Pew researchers reported a 21 percent increase in the number of people living in Pennsylvania illegally between the years 2009 and 2012. The Keystone State was home to an estimated 170,000 residents here illegally as of 2012, according to the study.

The Senate narrowly rejected legislation to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, handing a defeat to the oil industry and dealing a major blow to Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who staked her political career on the outcome. The Senate voted 59-41 for the legislation, falling one vote shy of the 60 needed for passage under the deal bringing it to the floor. But Keystone supporters insisted the defeat would be short-lived. Republican leaders are vowing to try again after they take over the chamber in January — when they will have more than enough votes to get a measure...

Members enrolled in Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s Affordable Care Act plans will see their premium rates rise by an average of 6.9 percent in 2015. Officials for the Wilkes-Barre-based insurer declined to specify how many members are covered by its Affordable Care Act plans. Its website shows 12 available 2014 “Blue (Affordable Care Act) Metal” plans. “The increases are necessary to meet the coverage requirements, including essential health benefits, of the (Affordable Care Act) and to keep up with the cost of care for members in our ACA products,” said Anthony Matrisciano, spokesman for Blue Cross of NEPA, which...

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who nipped at Mitt Romney’s heels in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, says he’s eyeing mid-2015 for a decision about a second White House bid. “Four years ago, we ended up announcing in June of 2011. If past is a portent of the future, that’s probably a ballpark,” he said in a phone interview. Santorum said he’s actively engaged with party donors and activists to assess whether he has a path to the nomination. “We’re doing everything consistent with making an effort,” he said. “We’re talking to donors, we’re looking at talking to people in...

The Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper at the University of Pennsylvania, reports that admissions officials are actively trying to guess who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or “ally” based on their applications. Or as my colleague Greg Piper at The College Fix notes: UPenn is practicing gaydar in reading student applications. And although it’s unclear what exactly admissions officers consider “gay” and how that affects applicants’ chances, apparently they are pretty good at it. “Since 2010 when the tracking of LGBTQ applicants started, the Office of Admissions has seen huge growth in the number of LGBTQ or ally applicants, plus...

Philadelphia Police are searching for a man who stabbed a McDonald’s employee after an argument over the store’s closing time.The entire altercation was caught on the store’s surveillance cameras.The incident happened at about 11 p.m. on November 3rd inside the McDonald’s Restaurant located at 2851 Grays Ferry Avenue. The suspect and a companion were eating inside the restaurant when they were told the dining area was closing and they were asked to leave. The suspect became irate and began to argue with several employees. The suspect then followed one of the employees outside and continued to argue. When the employee...

Democrats in Pennsylvania cheered Republican Gov. Tom Corbett’s ouster last week. But winning the governorship may not assuage the loss of their top Republican ally, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, who was deposed in a GOP leadership election on Wednesday. Notwithstanding the Republican governor’s 10-point defeat to Democrat Tom Wolf, Republicans picked up eight seats in the state House and three in the Senate. The gains bolster the GOP majority in the Senate to 30-20 and 119-84 in the House. That’s not strong enough to override a veto, but Democrats will now have a hard time passing legislation merely by...

Court documents filed in Pennsylvania show that the NCAA and investigators from a firm hired by Penn State University to conduct a wholly independent investigation of the university's handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal worked closely in the investigation. The firm, led by former FBI chief Louis B. Freeh, published damning conclusions about Penn State's "lack of institutional control" that were used by the NCAA as the basis for its sweeping sanctions against Penn State in July 2012. The court documents filed Tuesday but released publicly Wednesday, obtained by "Outside the Lines," strongly suggest the NCAA provided...

GOSHEN – Most of Port Jervis and much of the Tri-State area knew Josef Kucher. A cobbler in the Old World tradition of his native Austria, the 77-year-old was a proud U.S. citizen and military veteran, a long-time presence in the downtown business district, an usher at St. Mary’s Church. He was, Port Jervis police Chief William Worden and Mayor Kelly Decker said Monday at a press conference to announce an arrest in his slaying, a fixture in the community, a good man. Josef Kucher's wife, Hannelore Kucher, spoke briefly on Monday at her home. "I have no words for...

--SNIP-- "It's really bad right now. We're in real bad shape," he said, adding that the decrease in cigarette sales has had a ripple effect on the rest of his business. He has let go of four employees in the past month. "Now it's just me, my wife and my sister." Martinez isn't alone. Other store owners and distributors in the city said they have seen a dramatic drop in revenue since the tax was added, causing them to wonder what the collateral damage will be on their livelihoods. "It's detrimental all over the city. There are probably over 2,000...

Assessing the candidates vying to represent Bucks County in Congress, it’s easy to get hung up on the residency issue. But it’s a mistake to do so. Incumbent Republican Mike Fitzpatrick is a Bucks County native. He grew up here, went to school here, climbed the political ladder here, eventually serving as county commissioner and then as our congressman. It’s Fitzpatrick’s second run, having been unseated several years ago but reclaiming the seat and now making what he said would be his final bid to represent Bucks and a portion of Montgomery County in Washington, D.C.

Dems Realize “War on Coal” Cost Them Coal Country by Daniel Greenfield People are funny that way. They cling to their bibles and guns. And then if you declare war on them, they don’t want to vote for you. Coal-heavy districts in West Virginia, Kentucky and Illinois that had been steadily moving away from Democrats in recent elections appear to have completed that shift Tuesday, when they overwhelmingly backed Republicans who vowed to oppose what they call President Barack Obama’s “war on coal.”In West Virginia, once a long-time Democratic stronghold, Republicans will take control of both houses of the state...

Delvin Barnes, the man suspected of abducting a woman in Philadelphia and a teenager in Virginia, was put on a suicide watch in a Virginia jail today. Barnes' arrest Thursday ended a five day manhunt following the violent abduction of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither off a Philadelphia street Sunday night. At his only court hearing, Barnes agreed to be taken to Virginia where there was a warrant for his arrest accusing him of the Oct. 1 kidnapping a 16-year-old girl, raping her and trying to kill her. The girl escaped.

Pennsylvania Republicans said Wednesday their majority in the state House will be the largest in more than half a century after a sweeping Election Day victory. The party gained at least eight seats and a western Pennsylvania race in which the incumbent Democrat was holding a narrow lead was considered too close to call.

WEST CALN TWP., Pa. -- Police say a man and his girlfriend are charged with murdering the girlfriend's 3-year-old son in what a prosecutor described as an "unspeakable act of depravity.". Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrests of Gary Fellenbaum and Jillian Tait Thursday morning. He says Fellenbaum, his wife, and girlfriend, Tait, all lived together in a mobile home in West Caln Township and worked at a local Walmart. On Tuesday authorities were called to their residence for the report of an unresponsive child. Responding EMTs found 3-year-old Scott McMillan suffering from bruises, lacerations and puncture...

EDITOR'S NOTE: The details of this case are graphic and may be upsetting for some readers. Thousands of people will be lighting candles at 7 p.m. Friday to remember Scotty McMillan, the 3-year-old Philadelphia-area boy who prosecutors said was tortured and killed by his mother's boyfriend. "How could you do that to a 3-year-old boy?" asked Jeff Messantonio, of Norristown, Pa., who started the Facebook page calling for people to simultaneously light candles, wherever they are, to "light the way to heaven" for Scotty. More than 16,000 people joined the event and plan to honor the Chester County boy, who...

In a killing described as "an American horror story," a man and his girlfriend were charged with murder for beating her 3-year-old son to death in their West Caln mobile home, Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said Thursday. Hogan said his office would seek the death penalty against Gary Fellenbaum, 23, and Jillian Tait, 31, for torturing Tait's son Scott McMillan to death over three days with a homemade whip, a curtain rod, a piece of aluminum siding, and their fists, at one point while he was taped to a chair. The boy was discovered Tuesday after he died,...

Here's how PA went ...