Anne Danahy

Starting this fall, students and staff in the State College Area School District who have been vaccinated for COVID-19 will not have to wear masks inside, while those who have not been vaccinated will, under a plan approved by the school board Monday night.

The 7-2 vote followed a lengthy discussion by the board and a contentious public comment period, with some parents booing during the meeting. Other parents spoke in support of the board, with some asking the district to go further and require everyone to wear a mask.

As Penn State continues to encourage — not require — students and employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19 before the fall semester, one factor it has to contend with is politics.

Democratic Governor Tom Wolf recently vetoed Republican-backed legislation that, among other things, would have prohibited universities and colleges that get state funding from requiring vaccines.

Members of the public will have a chance to weigh in on the casino a company wants to run in the Nittany Mall, in College Township, Centre County, during a hearing the state Gaming Control Board has scheduled for 4 p.m. Aug. 16 at the Penn Stater Conference Center.

In 2017, municipalities in Pennsylvania could decide whether they wanted to allow mini-casinos in their borders. College Township did not opt out.

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is hoping to bring down a boom in the gypsy moth population, spraying for the invasive species of caterpillar in 19 counties in south central, central, north central and northwest Pennsylvania. 

Gypsy moths like to eat the leaves off oaks, along with apples and aspens. They’ll also feed on many other trees like hemlocks and pines.  

The need to cut greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change is well known, but scientists at Penn State say actually removing heat-trapping gases from the air has to be a part of the strategy too.

Tom Richard, director of Penn State’s Institutes of Energy and the Environment and an organizer of its recent “Energy Days 2021” conference, said reducing emissions is important, but not enough.

President Biden's climate plans have been called the most ambitious in history.

What do you want to know about the infrastructure plans and the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy? 

StateImpact Pennsylvania and The Allegheny Front are assembling a group of experts to answer your questions about the energy transition on topics like clean energy, climate change, labor economics, what to do about fossil fuel workers, electrifying the vehicle fleet, decarbonizing the electric grid, and more. You can submit a question in the form below.

After a year of largely remote classes and jobs, Penn State plans to move faculty and staff back to in-person work this fall as COVID-19 vaccines become widely available, according to an announcement from the university giving an overview of return-to-work plans.

In making the announcement, the university said the availability of vaccines factors into “an optimistic outlook for summer and a full, on-campus experience for students at all campuses in fall 2021.”

Starting Saturday, callers in Pennsylvania’s 814-area code need to dial 10 digits, not just seven, as the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission gets ready to add a second area code to the region.

Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission press secretary Nils Hagen-Frederiksen said 814 is one of the original Pennsylvania area codes established in 1947. It’s the only region that hasn’t already gotten another area code added to it, and it stretches from Johnstown to State College to Erie.

Pennsylvania’s targets for renewable energy are set to max out this year unless the General Assembly takes action, and Republican leaders seem ready to leave increasing goals for green energy up to the private sector.

The state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards require utilities to buy certain amounts of power from renewable sources. For example, utilities now have to get 8% of their power from “Tier 1” energy sources like wind and solar.

A study by Penn State researchers found that songbirds nesting near the sound of natural gas compressors had fewer hatched eggs.  

Researchers set up 80 bird boxes at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center in Rock Springs in central Pennsylvania, to attract bluebirds and tree swallows. Half were in quiet areas, and half where researchers played audio recordings from a compressor station. They also outfitted the boxes with mini-cameras.

What they found was in some ways surprising.

The U.S. Census Bureau said Friday that it will get redistricting data to the states by the end of September, not the end of March as originally planned, a hold up that Pennsylvania Republican leaders say could lead to a delay in next year’s primary.

“When you’re making decisions in life, it’s always good to have information as early as you can," said Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, who is one of the Republicans who will serve on the state’s redistricting commission.

A proposed amendment to Pennsylvania’s Constitution that would change how Supreme Court and appeals court judges are elected could have been on the state ballot as early as May, but Senate President Pro Tem Jake Corman said he expects there to be greater review of the issue first.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed the proposal in the 2019-20 session. A Constitutional Amendment has to pass in two consecutive sessions before it goes to voters as a referendum. 

As a COVID-19 outbreak at a state prison in Forest County continues, the sparsely populated county in northwestern Pennsylvania now has the highest rate of coronavirus cases in the state by far. 

As of Thursday, there were 1,245 known cases in Forest County. That’s about 17% of the county’s entire population.

It’s also more than double the number in the county just a week before.

Mount Nittany Health announced that starting Friday of next week community members who meet the state's eligibility guidelines will be able to go online to

Until now, Forest County in northwestern Pennsylvania had seen relatively few cases of COVID-19, but that changed when cases at a state prison spiked.

The daily COVID-19 count from the state showed cases in Forest County increasing by 33% — jumping from 430 to 571 on Wednesday.

Well-known climate scientist and Penn State professor Michael Mann argues in a new book that there are many tools for addressing climate change and transitioning to green energy.

Mann’s book, "The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet," comes as the country’s climate policy is expected to change with the Biden administration.

Mann said he thinks the U.S. is in a position to re-establish its global leadership on this issue, and that Joe Biden has indicated he will do that as president.

Prompted by COVID-19, State College is looking into creating a health department, which would give the borough more control when responding to future pandemics and other public health issues.

Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said having a health department would let the borough be more agile when responding to situations like the significant population fluctuations that happened this year during the pandemic. State College saw most Penn State students leave in March then return in the fall.

As governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm helped lead efforts to bail out the auto industry, including offering government incentives to invest in electric vehicle technology. 

Now that President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Granholm to be secretary of Energy, the reaction from the academic and environmental sectors has been positive.

Susan Brantley, a distinguished professor of geosciences at Penn State, said Granholm has a track record when it comes to energy policies. 

Penn State President Eric Barron said he’s looking forward to environmental issues getting more attention — and possibly funding — under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. 

He said environmental issues have taken a “back seat” at the national level in recent years — from the government removing some climate change terminology to cuts in funding.