Anne Danahy

Several hundred people, including Bikers for Trump, were at a get-out-the-vote rally in Wilkes-Barre Sunday night. One of the messages at the event was that voters should support Representative Lou Barletta, the Republican trying to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey.

Oliver North, the retired Lieutenant Colonel and NRA president, and U.S. Representative Tom Marino were among those who spoke at the rally. The message: get and out and vote or face the possibility of a Democratic takeover.

As WPSU’s Anne Danahy reports, the change means Centre County residents will now speak with someone familiar with local services.

Some people who call the local Centre Helps hotline are considering suicide. Others are struggling financially.

Leanne Lenz is executive director of the agency, which runs that hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She said Centre Helps not only offers a nonjudgmental listening ear. It also acts as a hub, connecting people with resources.

Penn State is rolling out a program at all its campuses to teach students, faculty and staff how to respond if faced with a violent attack. 

Called 'Run, Hide, Fight,' it tells you what to do if someone comes into a classroom, office or other place and begins an attack. 

Adam Rawding, with the Penn State Police unit offering the training, said it goes into details about the options available if an attack occurs.

Every year, politicians and political hopefuls turn out for lunch at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days in Pennsylvania Furnace, Centre County.

This year, that included Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta.

Casey urged those at the lunch Wednesday to push both parties to make the Farm Bill not just a bipartisan effort, but one that gets passed on time.

Road construction in Centre County shows no signs of stopping, but some of it will be slowing down for upcoming events.

Penn State student move-in, Grange Fair and Ag Progress Days are all on the calendar for August. PennDOT and local officials said they know that and they’re trying to keep traffic moving. That includes on Atherton Street.

Marc Maney, with PennDOT, said that project is slated to be finished by Thanksgiving 2019.

Drivers on Whitehall Road in the State College area may encounter lane closures once work begins on the Toll Brothers project. The company is slated to build a student housing development on land it bought from Penn State.

According to a Toll Brothers spokesman, the company is on schedule with the project and plans to begin site work "in the coming weeks." 

Part of the Toll Brothers project is installing a sewer line.

A ground breaking for the new Centre Care nursing home is slated for this fall, with a goal of opening the $39 million facility in Benner Township in November 2020.

The new nursing home will be about 137,000 square feet.

“Our architect keeps telling us this is a large building. It takes up about 15 acres of the plot of land,” said Andrew Naugle, administrator of Centre Crest, the current home in Bellefonte.

The State College Area School District had begun the process that could have led to the shut-down of Wonderland Charter School. But before a hearing could be scheduled, Wonderland announced it was closing.

The school district’s attorney, Scott Etter, said the school district had begun the process of revoking the school’s charter because of what he described as “systemic, institutionalized and long-standing” failures, particularly in special education.

Politicians, business leaders and Centre County officials came together Tuesday to celebrate a $35 million federal transportation grant that will go toward the Interstate 80 and 99 interchange project.

PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards said the federal money will be the catalyst to get the entire project moving forward.

“It is not often that we get tens of millions of dollars in federal funds to help us with a major project," Richards said. "That’s exactly what we’re celebrating here today.”

Construction is underway on PennDOT’s Potters Mills Gap project, which will extend the four-lane highway from the Centre and Mifflin counties border to west of Potters Mills.

“Right about where that yellow truck is dumping, that will be the bridge, and the roundabout will be just to the right of that where you see that pick-up truck," said construction manager Greg Sidorick on a tour of the project that will eventually mean smoother driving on Route 322 through Potters Mills.

Pennsylvania’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program — known as ARD — is meant to give participants a “fresh start.” If they complete the program, they can get a clean record.

Under a new Pennsylvania law, someone charged with a sex offense against a child can not qualify for the state’s first-time offender program. 

State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff said ARD was set up for non-violent offenses — maybe a first-time DUI.

“I don’t think it was ever intended to be used for sexual offenders, especially sexual offenders of minors," Benninghoff said.

A group of Penn State trustees is calling on the entire board to reject the 2012 Freeh report on the Jerry Sandusky scandal. They said they’ve done their own in-depth review and are asking the board to release it.

That group met on the University Park campus today. But there weren’t enough board members to hold an official meeting.

In the middle of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, Penn State hired former FBI director Louis Freeh to conduct a review. His findings have been the source of controversy.

These stories made up WPSU's submission for the Public Radio News Directors Inc. award for Best Multimedia Presentation. WPSU won first place in PRNDI's Division C for stations with 1-to-3 full-time news staff members.  

Motorcycles Escort Vietnam Memorial Wall to Penn State

These stories made up WPSU's submission for the Public Radio News Directors Inc. award for Continuing Coverage. WPSU won second place in PRNDI's Division C for stations with 1-to-3 full-time news staff members.

Fraternity Charter Revoked Following Student Death

Penn State Fraternity And 18 Members Charged In Student's Death

In-state students at Penn State may be spared a tuition increase in the upcoming school year. 

Part of the state budget that’s on the table is a 3 percent increase in funding for Penn State and the other state-related universities. The university says it will keep tuition flat if it gets a 3 percent increase in funding from the state.

Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman says he expects the Senate to take up the budget Friday. The state House approved in Wednesday.

At least two Centre County municipalities are speaking against the Trump administration’s policy that separates families who enter the U.S. illegally. Leaders in State College and Ferguson Township voted to contact U.S. Congressmen urging them to take action.

Evan Myers, president of State College council, said the borough wants to be a welcoming community, one that believes diversity and inclusion make it stronger.

Myers said the Trump administration’s so-called “zero tolerance” policy separating children from parents who try to enter the country goes against that.

Penn State’s Values and Culture Survey was sent to all faculty, staff and students in fall 2017. It followed up on one done in 2013.

Among the findings are that more faculty, staff and grad students reported observing some type of misconduct in the past year.

This time, a third of faculty saw “abusive or intimidating behavior that creates a hostile environment,” such as bullying. That’s up from 27 percent.

Seventeen percent of grad student respondents said they saw that type of misconduct.

The Keystone Central School District is laying off 34 teachers at the end of the school year. WPSU’s Anne Danahy reports the district says the decision was made in response to declining enrollment.

Interim superintendent Alan Lonoconus said the Keystone Central School District was overstaffed. In the past six years, the number of students has gone down about 10 percent.

That decline led the school board to approve laying off 34 teachers effective June 4.

“It’s probably one of the darker moments in my 38-year career,” Lonoconus said.