A Chester County couple tragically drowned in an ocean rip current on Thursday, while vacationing with their six kids in Florida, according to local authorities.

Brian Warter, 51, and his girlfriend Erica Wishard, 48, both of Downingtown, were with their children on Hutchinson Island along Florida’s southeast coast when the incident occurred.

According to the local Martin County Sheriff’s Office, the family was swimming when two of their teenage children were swept into the current and the parents attempted to help.

The teenagers eventually managed to break free from the current but the parents remained stuck in the water, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.

“The kids were able to break the current and attempted to help their parents, but it became too dangerous and they were forced to swim ashore,” investigators added.

Martin County Ocean Rescue responded promptly and attempted to perform life-saving measures before transporting them to the hospital. Despite their efforts, the two adults were later pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office confirmed.

On Thursday, prior to the incident, red flags at the beach signaled dangerous surf conditions, and the National Weather Service office in Melbourne warned of a “high risk” of rip currents along the coast.

“A lot of people are locals, they understand rip tides. They know what to do, what not to do,” Martin County Chief Deputy John Budensiek said in a statement to WPTV West Palm Beach. “We get these vacationers that come in and, unfortunately, this ends poorly for them. There’s no way to get the message out to all of them.”

Rabies is one of the most serious diseases wild mammals can harbor and transmit to humans, and it can be lethal.

“Rabies is a virus of the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) that can affect any mammal and is widespread throughout Pennsylvania,” according to the Pennsylvania’s website guide to foodborne and animal-transmitted illnesses. “Rabies is a great public health concern because it can be transmitted to humans by the bite of infected animals and is nearly 100% fatal without post-exposure treatment.”

Rabies only affects mammals: warm-blooded animals, which includes humans. Birds, snakes, and fish are not mammals and therefore cannot get rabies or give it to humans.

Sgt. Shawna M. Burkett, game warden group supervisor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s southeast region, says the best plan is not to have any interaction with wildlife if it can be avoided.

That’s not always possible, as Hersheypark opening day attendees recently found out. A raccoon caused a stir when it wandered into the line of people waiting to board a roller coaster on March 29, 2024. It became frightened according to video of the incident posted April 4 by TMZ and then appeared to attack the shoe of a girl.

Two people were taken to a hospital for observation after injuries that were “generally consistent with scratches from an animal” according to Quinn Bryner, director of public relations at Hersheypark.

“There has been no indication that rabies was implicated in the incident at Hersheypark,” Bryner responded when asked if any raccoons had been destroyed since the incident.

The raccoon shown in the video was not captured and was not tested for rabies.

Rabies prevalence

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Bureau of Animal Health & Diagnostic Services statistics, there were 252 confirmed cases of rabies in Pennsylvania in 2023.

“Rabies detections in PA wild mammals have been fairly consistent over the years; I cannot point to any significant trends over the last five years that deviate from expectations,” said Dr. Andrew Di Salvo, a wildlife veterinarian who is the wildlife health division chief for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. “Raccoons consistently have the most rabies detections, followed by skunks, fox, and bats (not always in that order). We occasionally see detections in other wild mammals, like groundhogs/woodchucks, bear, bobcat, and deer.”

The species that tested positive for rabies most often in Pennsylvania in 2023 was raccoons, with 102 cases. The second highest number of cases was detected in bats, with 61, then cats came in at third with 40 cases, foxes in fourth with 19 and skunks in fifth with 14.

The southeast region of PGC, which is comprised of Berks, Bucks, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia and Schuylkill counties had the highest concentration of rabies cases.

Philadelphia County had the most cases with 17, followed by Lancaster with 16,  Montgomery with 12, Chester with 12, Berks with 10, Delaware with nine, Dauphin with nine, Bucks with six, Lehigh and Northampton counites with five. Lebanon county had two confirmed cases, while Schuylkill had just one.

It is important to note that animals are not tested for rabies unless there has been human contact. There is no way to test a live animal for rabies. It must be euthanized and a sample of its brain tissue must be tested the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnositic Laboratory System states.

“People try to help and they end up not helping the outcome they would like,” Burkett, who has been a game warden for 12 years, said.

When humans interact with wildlife, it can end up in the death of the animal, even if it does not have rabies.

“I found that of the 86,676 calls that were logged by officers across the state last year, there were 1,147 dealing with a potential human contact rabies case, and an additional 181 with domestic animals,” Burkett wrote in an email. “We handled 1,621 other calls dealing with small animals that were not listed as a human exposure. Basically some of those 1,621 could have been injured by a car, or sick but not tested, etc.”

The state says the last case of rabies diagnosed in a human was in 1984.

According to a March 8, 2023 article in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association, Texas (with 456), Virginia (297), Pennsylvania (287), North Carolina (248), New York (237), California (220) and New Jersey (201) accounted for more than 50% of all rabies cases reported in 2021 in the United States.

That report also says there were five human rabies deaths in 2021 in the U.S.

The World Health Organization says dogs are the main source of rabies deaths worldwide.

A 2018 photograph of a young gray fox. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Signs of rabies in animals

Knowing what signs may indicate an animal is infected with rabies is key to avoiding contracting it.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, signs of rabies in animals include: fearfulness, aggression, excessive drooling, difficulty swallowing, staggering, paralysis and seizures.

“In my professional experience — I have not encountered a rabid animal off duty — professionally usually what happens is the citizen will call and say that an animal is acting sickly or it doesn’t look right, is not responsive maybe,” Burkett, a Bethlehem resident, said. “So game wardens will report to that area and they will assess the situation. Rabies can’t be detected unless we submit the brain of an animal to a lab. We have a pretty good idea if the animal is sick and needs to be euthanized.”

She noted there are two different presentations of rabies: furious and paralytic. The paralytic form is also referred to as “dumb” rabies.

The furious form of rabies is what people may think of most often: aggression, excessive salivation because the swallowing muscles are affected (can create the appearance of foaming at the mouth), fear of water, fear of air being blown in the face, fever and losing fear of humans according to The Cleveland Clinic. In the paralytic form, animals and humans will have a fever, neck stiffness, weakness, paralysis and coma.

“I would say most of the animals we encounter as wardens are going to be the paralytic variety,” Burkett said. “Very rarely have I seen a situation where it is furious rabies. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve experienced that and I can tell you that it is incredibly scary for the people that have experienced that.”

Seeing an animal out during the day that is normally seen at night, such as a coyote or fox, is not necessarily a sign of rabies, but if it approaches a human or another animal, that is when to be alarmed.

A July 25, 2022, attack of a woman by a rabid gray fox in Caroline, New York, was caught on video and the small mammal was relentless. The video and an interview with the victim, Sherri Russo, appeared on “Inside Edition.”

Seeing a bat on the ground or inside a home may be an indication of rabies or if one is very active during daylight hours.

A 2010 study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s National Library of Medicine indicated aggression was the top symptom observed by people in coyotes that were found positive for rabies.

How do you get rabies?

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture offered the most concise list of methods humans contract rabies.

• A direct bite from a contagious rabid mammal.

•  A scratch from a rabid mammal that breaks the skin.

•  Saliva or neural tissue from a contagious rabid animal contacting an open wound or break in the skin.

•  Saliva or neural tissue from a contagious rabid animal contacting mucus membranes such as the eyes, nose or mouth.

What to do if you suspect an animal has rabies

If you have been bitten by an animal you believe may have been rabid, call the Pennsylvania Department of Health at 877-PA HEALTH. Responses are provided seven days a week. Wash the bite area immediately with soap and water.

If a sick animal is encountered, as Burkett suggested, stay away from it and keep pets away from it.

“If you must touch it, you must wear gloves,” Burkett said. “Call us first or a wildlife rehabber so we can give proper guidance. Any mammal is a potential threat to a person.”

Even if a person does not have direct contact with a suspected rabid animal, a human could potentially contract it from a vaccinated pet who tangled with a rabid animal. As an example, Burkett said if a dog got saliva from a rabid animal on its coat and the owner pets or checks the dog and gets the saliva on a hand and then touches their eye, the disease could be transmitted.

“We can’t make a determination if a person has been exposed or not, but in my experience, I err on the side of caution,” she said and advised anyone with a concern to seek advice of a health professional on receiving post-exposure rabies vaccines.

Resources

Pennsylvania Game Commission centralized dispatch center: 833-PGC-HUNT (833-742-4868) or 833-PGC-WILD (833-742-9453)

Pennsylvania Association of Wildlife Rehabilitators website: www.pawr.com

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: 610-489-1003 x118

Pennsylvania Department of Health: 877-PAHEALTH

Bucks County Health Department: 215-345-3336

Chester County Health Department: 610-344-6452

Delaware County Health Department Wellness Line: 484-276-2100

Montgomery County Office of Public Health: 610-278-5117

It leads one to wonder, “Where are all these people coming from?” And the answer is, perhaps, “Not far.”

Once again, the U.S. Census Bureau has released figures that show Chester County as among the fastest-growing counties, population-wise,  in the state.

The figures released this week show Pennsylvania experiencing an overall population decline of just over 41,000 people between 2020 and 2023. Pike County, with an increase of 4.6% followed by Cumberland County, at plus 4.3% were the fastest-growing counties in the state when looking at percent change from 2020 to 2023.

Of the four other counties that had populations that grew by 2.0 percent or more, Chester County led all with a 2.9% growth, with Adams County Butler County and Northampton County behind.

Of the 23 counties that increased in population between 2020 and 2023 the largest numeric increase came here, with an additional 15,369 people.

Overall, only nine of the county’s 73 municipalities showed a decrease in population numbers, with Tredyffrin — the county’s most populated municipality — with the largest drop, of 139, and Pennsbury, among the least populated, with the smallest, with two fewer residents.

Others showing a decline were London Britain, with three fewer residents; East Goshen, with 83 fewer; Avondale, with nine fewer; Valley, with 20 fewer, Atglen, with six fewer, Thornbury, with 16 fewer; and North Coventry, with 42 fewer.

Among those municipalities with growth rates, the largest were West Whiteland and Upper Uwchlan, each with 1.006 new residents; West Chester, with 988; and Kennett, with 892.

The greatest percent population decrease from 2020 to 2023 occurred in Forest County, with a 7.5% drop, followed by Greene, with 4.4%, Clearfield, with 4.3%, Fayette, with 3.8%, Cameron with 3.6%, and Philadelphia, with  3.3%. Twelve other counties had populations that declined by 2.0 percent or more.

Twenty-two other counties besides Chester increased in population between 2020 and 2023. Eleven other counties added at least 2,000 individuals since 2020, including Montgomery, with plus 12,201; Cumberland, with plus 11,259; York, with plus 8,199; Northampton, with plus 6,142; Lancaster, with plus 5,600); Butler, with plus 4,639; Berks, with plus 3,970; Lehigh, with plus 3,183; Adams, with plus  2,910; Dauphin, with plus 2,832; and Pike, with plus 2,701.

Population estimates are calculated using administrative records to estimate components of population change such as births, deaths, and migration.

And that loyalty paid off this week when Trumbetas and Barbara, his wife of 60 years, marked his first century of life Tuesday with a celebration at the Southeastern Veterans Center with a visit from the Phillie Phanatic; retired Phillies second baseman Mickey Morandini from the 1993 National League championship team; Phillies broadcaster Tom McCarthy, Phillies Ballgirls and Bob McCormick, representing Toyota and the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association.

In addition, Morandini presented Trumbetas with a game ball that he will personally deliver to the mound at Citizens Bank Park on May 18 when the Phillies play the Washington Nationals and conduct the team’s annual Salute to Service.

“He is the biggest Phillies fan in the world,” said Trumbetas’ daughter, Denise Selzer. “We just had better cable put in for him so he can watch every game with a better picture. He is over the moon about this.”

Trumbetas was born in the coal regions in Simpson, Lackawanna County, and grew up in Carbondale. The oldest child, after his father’s death he was working as a coal miner and supporting his family when he was drafted in 1943, said Selzer. He served in the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946 as an Ariel Engineer with the rank of Private First Class.

Trumbetas served in the European theater, first in Italy and then the south of France and won three Bronze Stars for transporting wounded soldiers to medical stations. While in Rome, he met Pope Pius who gave him a personal blessing and told him he would not die in the war. Later in the war, a number of his comrades with whom he was usually assigned were killed in a plane crash.

“He won’t talk about that too much,” said Selzer.

Upon his return from the war, Trumbetas, who has five children, settled down in Delaware County working as a welder for the Penn Panel and Box Co. in Collingdale. He and Barbara raised their children in Sharon Hill and he and his wife lived with his son until last August, when they both moved into the Southeast Veterans Center where they are roommates, Selzer said.

According to The National WWII Museum, in 2023 there were still 9,675 World War II veterans living in Pennsylvania, the third most of all states and, of those, 104 of them live in Pennsylvania veterans homes, said Travis Davis, executive director at Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, who was at Tuesday’s celebration wearing a Chase Utley jersey. There are 29 World War II veterans living at the Southeast Veterans Center, he said.

“The Phillies organization really pulled out all the stops for Paul’s birthday,” said Davis.

Brig. Gen. Terrence L. Koudelka Jr., director, Joint Staff, Joint Force Headquarters, Pennsylvania National Guard, who said he is “truly honored to be part of this celebration,” told Trumbetas that “it’s because of airmen like you that I stand here in the service of my country.”

McCarthy told Trumbetas that “our nation’s survival is due to brave men like yourself.”

Brig. Gen. (Ret) Maureen Weigl, Department of Military and Veterans Affairs deputy adjutant general, also spoke and thanked Trumbetas for his service.

Trumbetas himself called the celebration “wonderful” and his slice of cake to be “excellent” as he headed over to the ice cream station to top it all off.

His death on April 25 was announced by the Tomlinson Funeral Home of Bensalem and confirmed by his family.

“Earl Baker had a vision for Chester County as a leader among counties and a premier place to live and work,” said Karen Martynick, who worked for Baker in his capacity as a local and state Republican leader and who later succeeded him as county commissioner. “Many people forget that Chester County was a pretty sleepy and mostly rural county when Earl became commissioner.

“But he saw a future that was very different from that sleepy, rural county,” she said. “He knew growth was coming and he was determined to make sure the county was prepared.

“He made it his mission to modernize county government,” she said of his 12 years in office in West Chester.  “He put the people, policies, and processes in place to move the county into the 21st century.  Earl took every opportunity to ‘sell’ Chester County to major employers and lobbied state and federal officials to bring the resources necessary to fulfill his vision of what Chester County could be.”

“Many of his reforms and policies remain intact from his time as commissioner,” former commissioner and U.S. congressman Ryan Costello said on Monday. “Due to his skills and intellect, he moved up in the ranks rather quickly as well. He was a kind and decent man, and from a public service perspective, he will be remembered as one of the best ‘politicos’ Chester County has ever had.”

Baker was living in Malvern in the 1970s and working as a political science professor at Temple University when he was recruited to serve as a Republican committeeman in the borough after becoming involved in a local zoning dispute. He then rose through the ranks of the party as it recovered from the scandal involving Theodore S.A. Rubino, the county commissioners’ chairman and head of the party who was indicted for extortion.

Baker was elected commissioner in 1976 and served off and on as chairman of that three-member body for two more successive terms. He was then elected as state senator for the 19th state Senatorial District in 1988 and served two terms. After an unsuccessful run for governor, Baker largely stepped away from the political limelight, working as a corporate and later political consultant.

He also wrote about his experiences in politics, offered commentary about the county’s political history, and even wrote a book of poetry, titled “Heroes and Hypocrites.”

“My father knew so many people and connected them,” said his daughter, Toby Tomlinson Baker.” He had so much energy and was on so many committees. He loved helping people.”

His presence on the public stage may have dimmed in the past decades, but in the late 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s there was no larger figure in county government or politics than Baker, who was an affable man not shy about using his power to get what he wanted accomplished. There were those who bristled at his way of doing business, but he proved highly successful at bringing the county into the modern world, expanding its scope and services.

He was responsible for reaching out to federal and state government funding sources to provide services in the county ranging from mental health to public safety and human services. He created a solid waste authority that centralized the waste management practices in the county. He also helped centralize the county’s emergency response system in the pre-9-1-1 days and moved the main branch of the county’s library to West Whiteland, where it remains as part of a multi-facility library system.

On a more fundamental level, Baker largely removed political considerations from hiring practices in county departments, leaning more on a candidate’s professional experience than their “it’s-who-you-know” bonafides.

Even though the county library move was controversial at the time, with opponents complaining that it moved a beloved institution from its longtime home in West Chester, in his later years Baker devoted his public service to the institution. In 2019, Baker formally received a citation from the Pennsylvania Library Association naming him 2019 Library Trustee of the Year, recognizing his two decades working to improve the library system in the county.

“During his tenure as a trustee, Earl has been a driving force behind strategic plans to better meet the needs of patrons and to make Chester County libraries among the top-rated libraries in the country,” association Executive Director Christi Buker said at the meeting, as Baker sat and listened.

“He was such an advocate for the library, and so strongly influenced the services that we offer,” said JoAnn Weinberger, past president of the library board. As a founder of the Chester County Library Trust, “he knew that to be renowned for services there needs to be private funding” in addition to public dollars.

In addition to his work as commissioner, he also served as the Republican State Chairman of Pennsylvania from 1986 to 1990 and was a member of the National Republican Committee. He was elected as a delegate to three national conventions and was a presidential elector in the Electoral College in 1988, the year that George H. W. Bush was elected the forty-first President.

In 1980 he chaired the Ronald Reagan for President campaign in the county and in 1984 he headed the entire southeastern Pennsylvania campaign. He was close politically with both Reagan — whom he brought to the new Great Valley Corporate Center to promote the county as the center of the high-tech business world of the future — and the elder Bush — whose 67 percent victory margin in the county helped propel him to the presidency in 1988.

Baker also saw the county he called home to undergo a political transformation, from a long-time Republican stronghold to one of the “purple” counties in the state where Democrats flipped the plurality of voters to its favor.

In 2008, as the change was underway and the county voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, Baker gave a talk on Main Line politics at the Tredyffrin Historical Society and marveled at what was occurring.

“(Democrats) said among themselves, ‘The Republicans are fat, dumb, and happy, and if we work hard we’ll be able to make inroads.’” he said. “Three years ago there were two Democratic supervisors elected in Tredyffrin township. Again, when I read that in the newspaper, my reaction was, ‘How did that happen? How could that ever have happened?’ ”

Although he no longer was actively involved in politics as a campaigner or officeholder, he did not shy away from that world and was happy to offer counsel to others who came after him.

“Earl Baker was more than just a statesman; he was my friend,” said current Commissioner Eric Roe, now the minority member on the board. “Earl took me under his wing in 2016 when I first ran for the state House of Representatives and subsequently won that election. I didn’t ask him to mentor me, he just did it.

“He knew all the state-level policy issues inside and out, and he knew how to articulate them well,” Roe said. “I often called him up just to pick his brain, either while running for office or holding office.

“To me, Earl Baker represented a bygone era when politics was more civil and refined,” said Roe. “He was the classy, genteel statesman that I strived to imitate. When I look around and see how uncivilized the political world has become, I often think of Earl Baker and remind myself of how much better things could be.”

Said Martynick of his tutelage, “He told me once that he liked to throw people into the ‘deep end’ when he knew they could swim but they didn’t know it yet. On my first day on the job, he sent me to meet with Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton, who was running for governor, along with his top campaign staff.  I was scared to death.  He thought it would be a ‘good introduction’ to state politics.

“The opportunities he afforded me set me up for a career in government and politics and later in the nonprofit world,” said the former executive director of the Lancaster Farmland Trust.  “He introduced me to presidents, corporate executives, and community leaders and encouraged me to build relationships that benefited me both professionally and personally.  He encouraged me to take risks and to do things I didn’t think I could do.

Baker was born on Jan. 22, 1940, in Philadelphia, and attended the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill, N.C. where he majored in political science. He served in the U.S. Navy as an officer and met his wife, Jacqueline Barnaby Baker in Newport, R.I. They were married on January 18, 1964, and were happily married for 60 years.

Mr. Baker is survived by his wife, his son, Todd Barnaby Baker, and his daughter,

A viewing is set for Wednesday, May 1, 2024, from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Providence Friends Meeting, 105 N. Providence Roar, Media, followed by his service at 11 a.m. Interment to follow at the Providence Friends Meeting Cemetery.

Toby Baker recalled that her father was not unable to laugh at himself as a political figure.

“When my dad was running against Tom Ridge for governor, I was 16 and I used to go to events in his place, while he went to a different one,” she recalled in an email. “I remember all the other speakers had long speeches and mine was only 30 seconds. I said ‘I’m Toby Baker, and my father Earl Baker is running for governor. Please vote for my dad!’

“My speech was so short, everyone was so happy. I was the only speaker who got a standing ovation,” she said. “I told my dad and he got such a kick out of it.”

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.

Rite Aid has announced that it is closing 17 more stores, including six locations in Pennsylvania.

The stores are in Monroe, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia, Dauphin and Centre counties. The company announced the closings in a bankruptcy filing earlier this month.

Here are the locations that are closing:

• Monroe County: 4551 Milford Road, Middle Smithfield Township, near East Stroudsburg
• Chester County: 3807 Lincoln Highway, Caln Township,  near Downingtown
• Delaware County: 510 E. Baltimore Pike, Media
• Philadelphia: 6744-46 N. Fifth St.
• Centre County: 1536 N. Atherton St., Ferguson Township, near State College
• Dauphin County: 124 S. Front St., Steelton

Rite Aid, which was based in East Pennsboro Township near Camp Hill for decades and is now based in Philadelphia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October to begin restructuring to significantly reduce its debt.

Since October, the company has announced in bankruptcy filings the closings of more than 400 stores.

©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit pennlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency’s board on Thursday voted without discussion to push back the Free Application for Federal Student Aid deadline to June 1. This decision grows out of the high number of errors and delays associated with the federal government’s introduction of a simplified FAFSA.

Completing the FAFSA is the first step to determine eligibility for federal, state and institutional financial aid.

Students who submit their applications by the new deadline and meet the state grant program’s criteria for receiving an award will be assured of getting one, according to PHEAA officials. Grant amounts vary based on family income and the cost of attending a post-secondary institution. The need-based grants do not have to be repaid.

Not knowing how much financial aid students will receive is expected to result in a decline in college enrollments next year, with more students taking a gap year following their high school graduation, which runs the risk of some students never attending college, college officials say.

The National Association of College Admissions Counseling is estimating the delays in the FAFSA process could reduce student enrollment next year by more than 500,000 with a disproportionate number of students being those who have the greatest financial need.

Many colleges and universities announced delays in their deadlines for students committing to enrolling in the fall as a result.

Penn State, Pitt and the 10 Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education universities announced they were pushing back their deadline for new student to commit to at least May 15. Temple University this week announced it is extending its deadline to July 15.

Joseph Howard, Widener University vice president for enrollment, sent a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro on April 10 imploring him to call for a delay in the traditional May 1 deadline for FAFSA submissions for state grants.

“We risk leaving tens of thousands of students from across the commonwealth without the vital support the PA State Grant program affords them,” Howard stated.

PHEAA relies on the number of FAFSA form completions in its formula for calculating the size of maximum grant awards, which this year were as high as $5,750.

Earlier this week, Elizabeth McCloud, PHEAA’s vice president for state grant and special programs, reported to the board’s need analysis and aid committee the number of first-time and renewal students who completed the FAFSA was 251,961 as of April 5. That is down 68,231 applicants at the same time last year.

Extending the FAFSA completion deadline provides an opportunity for more students to meet the grant eligibility requirements, she told the committee. However, she noted If more students qualify for a grant, that could lead to a need for more grant money given the board’s goal of maintaining the maximum award at $5,750.

Shapiro proposed increasing the $347.3 million in state funding to $378.3 million in his 2024-25 budget. He anticipates PHEAA using earnings from its student aid business lines to supplement that with $15 million, for a total of $393.3 million. The governor’s request included an expectation that the maximum grant award would increase to $6,750 as part of his higher education reform plan which is still taking shape.

Yet another wrinkle that could affect the amount of money needed for the grant program resulted from the federal switch to the Student Aid Index to determine eligibility.

McCloud said that change likely will increase the number of students who fall under the income limits to qualify for a state grant. PHEAA estimates that change could require $40 million more in funding for the program to maintain the maximum grant award at the current level.

On the other hand, PHEAA’s president and CEO Jim Steeley told the committee the decline in FAFSA completions and expected reduction in college enrollments could offset the need for more funding.

As a result of the confusion surrounding the FAFSA errors and delays, he said, “There are a lot of people who are very frustrated.”

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on X at @JanMurphy.

©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit pennlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Two people were taken to a hospital for observation after injuries that were generally consistent with scratches from an animal, according to Quinn Bryner, director of public relations at Hersheypark.

“While we are an amusement park that is surrounded by nature and has been in operation for over 100 years, this is the first incident that we can recall of what appeared to be a young, frightened raccoon acting in this manner,” she said in an email April 9 and had told other media outlets earlier. “We do have extensive fencing to help prevent this type of incident from occurring.”

The raccoon shown in the video was not captured so it could not be tested for rabies.

“Since the incident last Friday (March 29), we have actively monitored the area in question and have partnered with animal experts to help relocate as necessary,” Bryner said.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission does not recommend relocating any nuisance species that could potentially harbor rabies. Among the rabies vector species listed by the PGC are skunks, raccoons, bats, groundhogs, foxes and coyotes.

“There has been no indication that rabies was implicated in the incident at Hersheypark,” Bryner responded when asked if any raccoons had been destroyed since the incident.

The only way an animal can be tested for rabies is for it to be killed and its brain tissue examined according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hersheypark would not confirm if the skin was broken on either person taken to the hospital after the incident.

The National Institutes of Health recommends preventive rabies vaccination if a human has been bitten or scratched by a rabies vector species.

In a 41-page decision, the state Superior Court ruling by President Judge Anne Lazarus, President Judge Emeritus Jack Panella and Senior Judge James Gardner Collins said they did not believe the claim that the state’s law prohibiting a person from possessing a firearm if they had been convicted of a list of 38 offenses was invalidated by the higher court’s ruling in the case of a New York law struck down in 2022.

The Supreme Court case, referred to as Bruen, after the New York superintendent of police, held that gun control laws must be consistent with the United States’ historical tradition of firearm regulation. Thus, if convicts in the 19th century were permitted to own or possess firearms, the court suggested, then they could not be prohibited from doing so today.

But the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, and the judge who presided over the man’s trial in 2022, now Senior Judge Jeffrey Sommer, said that the court’s decision in Bruen made a distinction between “law-abiding” persons and those who had been found guilty of serious crimes.

In an email sent to prosecutors in the D.A.’s Office last month after the panel issued its ruling, written by Panella, Deputy District Attorney Gerald Morano, who argued the case on appeal, said that the panel “found that convicted violent offenders such as (defendant Jonathan) McIntyre are not considered as the law-abiding ‘people’ who have a right to possess arms under the Second Amendment.

“Further, the court noted that the plain text of the Second Amendment does not cover McIntyre and his possession of a firearm as a convicted offender,” Morano told his colleagues. “Therefore, the McIntyre Court found that it did not need to address the nation’s history of firearm regulation.”

Similar arguments have been made by attorneys for other defendants found guilty of the same crime in county courts. The March 25 decision would seem to put those appeals on hold and could affect cases across the state. Panella agreed that it was a case of “first impression.”

“Post Bruen, DA’s Offices across the state have faced a slew of motions contesting whether it is constitutional to prevent dangerous felons from possessing firearms,” said county District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe in an email Tuesday. “In defendant McIntyre’s case, he had been previously convicted of burglary, robbery, and aggravated assault.  Through the work of this office — particularly Chief of Appeals Jerry Morano — we were able to ensure that felons like Mr. McIntyre remain legally prohibited from possessing guns.  This result helps keep communities across Pennsylvania safe.”

McIntyre’s defense attorney, Brian McCarthy of Exton, said he was looking into what options he and his client would have going forward.

“We believe that it is an important issue,” McCarthy said in a brief comment inside the county Justice Center Tuesday. “We are pursuing all avenues of appellate review” including asking the full Superior Court to take up the matter or asking the state Supreme Court to consider it.

McIntyre, 42, of Malvern was charged by Willistown police in May 2020 after his family complained that he had taken a gun from their home, where he was living after being released from prison. McIntyre testified that he knew that he was not supposed to possess weapons, but said he did not take the gun to hold on to it. Rather, he carried it from his family’s house to an area in Malvern near the Malvern Fire Company on East King Street.

He buried the gun there and later led police to the spot after the family reported the gun missing. He contended that he had been afraid to have the gun in the house where he was living because it could violate his probation, but that he stopped short of reporting its whereabouts until after being confronted by local police.

Sommer, who presided over the trial, sentenced him to five to 20 years in state prison. He is currently being held in SCI Mahanoy on a parole violation.

In rejecting the appeal disputing the jury’s verdict on constitutional grounds, Sommer ruled last year that far from being a nation where restrictions on gun ownership and registration were lax and ceded near-unfettered rights to the people where firearms were involved, there were dozens of laws that regulated guns and who could own them.

In an 18-page opinion, Sommer said, “If the trial court were to look at laws restricting gun ownership in 18th century American history, it would find a plethora or support of gun ownership restrictions,” Sommer wrote. “There is irrefutable historical truth that the framers and adopters of the Second Amendment were, on the whole, supporters of regulated liberty.”

As examples of such restrictions, Sommer pointed to the fact that colonial governments enrolled male citizens in state militias, which kept precise track of “all weapons owned by each man and their readiness for use, and that such governments enacted more than 600 laws governing weapons.

Between the early 17th century and just after the Civil War, states enacted “over 36 carry restrictions,” Sommer said, citing a 2013 article about weapons legislation in the early 20th century. “Many gun laws addressed the issue within this appeal, preventing felons, foreigners, or other dangerous persons from owning firearms.”

“Gun laws regulating who may own and carry are as old, if not older than this country,” Sommer declared. “For (McIntyre) to argue that Bruen is a return to the past and the intent of the framers, it is in error and unsupported by the historical legal research.”

In the Superior Court decision, Panella wrote that the Bruen case did not directly address the question of whether felons or other convicted offenders could possess firearms under the Second Amendment. “That is because Bruen made clear the case at hand involved and applied only to ‘law-abiding’ citizens. Its decision was clearly rooted in. That premise.

“We agree with (Sommer) that the repetitive highlighting of the right of ‘law-abiding’ citizens does not buttress McIntyre’s assertion that Bruen commands a conclusion that the Second Amendment protects the possession. Of firearms by those who, like McIntyre, have been convicted of several violent felonies.”

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.

While it was one of the strongest quakes on record for the region, many others go unnoticed. The earliest records of earthquakes in Pennsylvania date back to colonial times.

Within Pennsylvania sits the Reading-Lancaster seismic zone, which is responsible for many of those tremors.

The map below shows the location of past earthquakes reported around Pennsylvania and neighboring states. Click on a marker for more details, including the magnitude, of each quake.

Source: U.S. Geological Survey

How common are earthquakes in eastern PA and why was the New Jersey earthquake felt so far away?