By Tim Lambert | Editor-in-chief
“The goal is to continue to make products that some find therapeutic available, while eliminating the most dangerous products or forms that might be appealing to young people or consumers who simply don’t understand how dangerous kratom can be.” — Pa. House Health Committee Chair Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny).
A good Thursday morning to you. Happy 86th birthday to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. When it opened on this day in 1940, it was the first limited access superhighway in the nation (and it didn’t have a posted speed limit). The original toll? One cent a mile.
How about those Phillies? Philadelphia evened up its best-of-three Wild Card Series with Atlanta in dramatic fashion. The Phils rallied to tie the game at three in the eighth on back-to-back home runs by Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. Two innings later, Alec Bohm put his team ahead to stay with a solo shot of his own. The two teams meet again this afternoon on the Braves’ home field to decide who advances to the next round.
Thanks for starting your day with us. As always, we deeply appreciate you reading, sharing and supporting our work. -- Tim
Photo of a single dose of the MMR vaccine. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
By Tim Lambert
A fifth measles-related death occurred in Pennsylvania, which remains one of the nation’s hot spots for outbreaks of the virus.
The state Health Department reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that an unvaccinated person in Lancaster County died after testing positive for measles.
The number of confirmed measles cases stands at 943 across 39 counties this year. Less than 1% of the cases involved vaccinated people.
The death announced Wednesday is the third measles-related death in Lancaster County.
A variety of kratom and 7-OH products — including capsules, cartridges and wellness shots — are on display at a smoke shop in Buffalo, N.Y. States have led the way in regulating kratom, and now federal officials want to ban 7-OH, a powerful compound found in some kratom products. (Photo by Amanda Hernández/Stateline)
By Ian Karbal
A panel of Pennsylvania House members advanced a bill Tuesday that would allow the sale of some kratom products to continue in the state, while banning others and creating stricter regulations for sellers.
Under the proposed law, retailers who register with the state would be allowed to sell natural leaf kratom products to people 21 and over. But those products would have to meet strict packaging requirements and be subject to the tobacco tax.
Packages would have to include the manufacturer’s name and address, a warning that the products have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and not contain any medical claims. They would also have to be child resistant and not designed to appeal to minors.
Sponsored bills include education about perimenopause and menopause as well as expanding insurance coverage for treatment options.
By Whitney Downard
As Rep. Liz Hanbidge started promoting her bill to educate and promote health access for women experiencing perimenopause and menopause this week, one fellow lawmaker said he’d support the measure — but wished she’d stop talking about it.
“He asked me to stop talking about it because he thinks it’s gross,” Hanbidge (D-Montgomery) said. “To my colleague, if talking about menopause makes you uncomfortable, imagine going through it without anyone talking about it all.”
“For generations, women have been expected to quietly manage these changes, figure it out themselves and keep going. We are done with that,” Hanbidge continued.
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Advocates for open primaries have argued that the current system disenfranchises groups including about 400,000 Pennsylvania veterans and nearly two-thirds of young adults who choose to join an alternative political party or remain independent. (Photo by Pat Sutphin/Idaho Capital Sun)
By Peter Hall
A bill to allow independent and third-party voters to cast ballots in Pennsylvania primary elections passed Tuesday in the state House.
Despite the 115-88 vote, the legislation attracted opposition from both sides of the aisle from lawmakers who argued the primaries are the exclusive domain of the parties to nominate candidates for the general elections.
State Rep. Jared Solomon (D-Philadelphia), who is the measure’s prime sponsor, said opening the commonwealth’s primaries would correct an injustice for 1.5 million unaffiliated voters that has existed since the state Election Code was made law in 1937.
Nicole Williams’ home was built on land that once belonged to the farm behind her, which has been identified as the source of PFAS in her well. (Photo by Ben Seal/Inside Climate News)
By Ben Seal of Inside Climate News
When Nicole Williams moved into her house in Pennsylvania’s North Centre Township in 2011, it was a homecoming. She’d spent the first few years of her life a half-mile down the road in Brookside Village, a tidy community of 170 mobile homes nestled between the west branch of Briar Creek and a farm that grew sweet corn and pumpkins just up the hill.
Fifteen years later, Williams has three kids between 11 and 16, two English bulldogs and an in-line water filtration system in her basement whose two sturdy tanks remove the toxic chemicals leaching from the neighboring farm into her well.
The chemicals in Williams’ well are among a class of thousands known collectively as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, colloquially called “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down naturally. They were present in the sewage sludge the nearby farm received from the local water treatment plant and spread on its fields as fertilizer beginning sometime in the 1980s.
For two years, the state Department of Environmental Protection has been investigating the groundwater plume emanating from the farm and around a dozen other sites in Columbia County that also utilized the sludge.
TODAY IN THE CAPITAL-STAR
States OK solar panels for balconies. Safety guidelines haven't caught up: These systems, known as balcony solar or plug-in solar, are attractive because they can be installed without permits, contractors or large investments. They can allow renters to tap into clean electricity.
Large upgrade planned at Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Maryland: Constellation, the owner of Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant, said Wednesday it plans to move forward with massive upgrades at the facility after signing a 20-year power purchase deal with data center operator Amazon.
ICYMI
Addressing whether those serving life for felony murder can seek parole: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to address the question of whether their March decision finding mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder unconstitutional should apply in the cases of those already sentenced.
Pennsylvania rolls out sexual assault evidence tracking system: The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) is working with Erie, Lancaster, and York counties to ensure the system is working as intended and ready to launch statewide in December.
Charitable groups closer to accepting e-payments for raffle tickets: When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the bingo nights, cookouts and block parties used to fundraise for volunteer firefighter gear and equipment, the Good Intent Hose Company No. 1 turned to online raffles to close the gap. That changed in August, when Good Intent suspended online raffles after learning it violated state law.
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