Brooke Schultz | Associated Press/Report for America

Arguing that solitary confinement worsens mental health crises and violates Constitutional rights, six people incarcerated at prisons throughout Pennsylvania have filed a federal class action lawsuit seeking to end indefinite use of the practice.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s second budget proposes significant increases to education and economic development and would regulate adult use marijuana, while leaning heavily on Pennsylvania’s flush reserves to underwrite his vision.

Lawmakers are moving past a monthslong budget feud in Pennsylvania’s Capitol. The House and Senate approved legislation Wednesday that ties up loose ends and sends millions more to subsidize private school tuition and child care.

A federal court has decided that a resolution prohibiting the display of an American flag with a thin blue line on all township property in a Pennsylvania community is unconstitutional.

Democrat Cherelle Parker has been elected as Philadelphia’s 100th mayor, becoming the first woman to hold the office. Parker emerged from a crowded field of Democrats in the May primary and was heavily favored over Republican David Oh in the city, a Democratic stronghold.

Four of Pennsylvania’s top universities are a step closer to receiving delayed state subsidies. The state House of Representatives passed their annual appropriations Tuesday, setting the condition that the schools freeze tuition next year.

An effort supporters say will increase transparency in several leading Pennsylvania universities passed the House while the universities’ annual state subsidies remain snarled in the Legislature due to a partisan funding dispute.

Democrats who control Pennsylvania's House of Representatives are making another attempt to send hundreds of millions of dollars to four Pennsylvania universities and get around a partisan dispute that has stalled the money from passing. The funding was part of a flurry of tying up loose ends for the state's $45 billion budget, which has dragged three months into the fiscal year without all of the elements of the spending plan in place. The bills now go on to the state Senate, which is due back Oct. 16.

Democrats in the Pennsylvania House will keep their one-vote majority after winning a Pittsburgh area seat in a special election.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is considering a case that puts at stake millions of dollars that help local governments manage stormwater runoff.