HARRISBURG — A group of environmental organizations, joined by celebrity activists Mark Ruffalo and Shailene Woodley, are urging Gov. Tom Wolf to halt new permits for fracking until the state investigates a news report that more than two dozen children in southwestern Pennsylvania, a hotbed for fracking activity, have developed cancer.

HARRISBURG — The state’s secretary of Human Services on Monday called on the Legislature to boost the minimum wage, noting that child care workers and direct-care workers who serve seniors and the disabled make so little many of them are enrolled in public assistance programs, themselves.

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s dairy industry has been mired in a prolonged slump as competition from larger dairies in other parts of the country has driven down prices.

HARRISBURG – If there’s a silver lining in the clouded circumstances facing farmers it’s that lawmakers at the state and federal levels both seem interested in helping, agriculture industry officials said.

HARRISBURG – Efforts to combat the opioid epidemic appear to be paying off with a gradual slowing of the death toll, state officials say.

A tax credit program benefiting donors who give toward scholarships for private school tuition would be boosted by $100 million under legislation heading to Gov. Tom Wolf.