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Last month, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro withdrew from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI (pronounced “Reggie”), a cap-and-trade program that establishes a regional limit on carbon emissions from power plants located in the Northeast. Here’s how...

HARRISBURG — Two Pennsylvania state senators want to make it illegal in the commonwealth for law enforcement, including federal agents, to wear masks and refuse to self-identify amid contentious operations and citizen protests over federal immigration enforcement....

Federal immigration agents should have to show their faces while conducting raids and detaining people in Pennsylvania, argue two state senators who have offered up legislation to “unmask these authorities. Across the nation this year, agents with U.S. Immigrations...

November is National Hunger and Homelessness month and Democratic State Senator Nikil Saval and State Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El introduced sweeping legislation to protect the unhoused and their property from harassment by local and regional governments across the...

State and city public officials hosted a town hall Thursday to address transit funding, or the lack thereof, included in Pennsylvania’s budget, which was approved last week after a stalemate that lasted more than four months. State Sen. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia,...

SEPTA’s 21.5% increase in transit fares and service cuts fell hardest on disadvantaged Philadelphians this year, showing an urgent need to make the city’s Zero Fare program permanent, City Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke argues. He touted his proposal to dedicate 0.5%...

HARRISBURG – Citing the need for permanent solutions to PA’s ongoing housing crisis, Lancaster County Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El and Philadelphia County Sen. Nikil Saval are introducing The Shelter First Act – legislation to prevent the criminalization of homelessness...

Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced a bill that would bar municipalities from penalizing people for sleeping outdoors unless adequate indoor shelter is available. State Sen. Nikil Saval and Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El, both Democrats, said the proposed Shelter First Act...

Harrisburg Republicans and energy-sector workers are taking a post-budget victory lap, celebrating Pennsylvania’s withdrawal from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Participation in the multi-state program, which was initiated by former Gov. Tom Wolf, would have...

SEPTA riders have experienced a multitude of crises this year, from service cuts to severe Regional Rail disruptions. On Thursday evening, two of Philadelphia’s more progressive politicians – City Council member Nicolas O’Rourke and state Sen. Nikil Saval – and the...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Democratic lawmakers in both chambers of the Pennsylvania State Capitol are pushing for legislation that would decriminalize homelessness. “We are experiencing, right now, one of the most severe crises of housing and homelessness that this...

Lawmakers and housing advocates in Pennsylvania are calling on the commonwealth to take a more compassionate response to homelessness on the heels of a monumental ruling that allows local government to ban outdoor sleeping even if there are no shelter beds available....

HARRISBURG – The School District of Lancaster has identified 800 students who are experiencing homelessness so far this school year. Last November, the district said 692 students were homeless, a number that climbed to 970 by the end of the 2024-25 school year....

(The Center Square) - Just as homelessness rates across the country reached record highs, the impact of a June 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for a town in Oregon to criminalize sleeping in public. Introducing bills in both chambers, progressive...

Pennsylvania lawmakers are set to introduce the Shelter First Act, which aims to prevent the criminalization of homelessness by requiring municipalities to provide indoor spaces for those experiencing homelessness before enforcing laws against living outside.