After being elected to the Pennsylvania state House just nine months ago, Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell (D-Philadelphia) was arrested Wednesday after an investigation determined that she had stolen over $500,000 from her own nonprofit for personal uses, according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

 

Johnson-Harrell, who has announced she will resign, was charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, perjury, tampering with public records and reporting by candidate and political committees. Shapiro said Johnson-Harrell turned herself in Wednesday morning and will plead guilty to the charges. 

In a historic day for sex abuse survivors, Gov. Tom Wolf Tuesday signed into law a package of bills that expand legal remedies for survivors and strengthen the law to protect victims of child sex abuse.

The legislation acts on a series of recommendations from a bombshell grand jury report that revealed widespread child sex abuse by over 300 Catholic priests belonging to Pennsylvania dioceses.

At least one candidate has announced their plans to take on Attorney General Josh Shapiro in the next election, with Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh announcing Tuesday she plans to seek the GOP nomination in the race.

In addition to her work at the law firm Leech Tishman, Heidelbaugh also represented the Republican State Committee in a 2009 suit against the liberal activist group ACORN for voter fraud--a move that gained her national attention, including an appearance before a Congressional committee investigating the matter. She also served as an at-large member of Allegheny County Council from 2011 to 2015.

Governor Tom Wolf (D) told the Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society Friday that the state has seen some positive results in the battle to reverse the opioid epidemic.
 
In January 2018, Wolf signed an emergency declaration to help combat the opioid and heroin disaster. Since then, state agencies have collaborated through the Opioid Command Center, and have been assisted by outside stakeholders.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Monday announced that Pennsylvania will join a bipartisan antitrust investigation into Google to review how the tech company’s business practices align with state and federal law.

 

Shapiro joins 49 other state attorneys general who have vowed to investigate Google’s massive influence over the tech and advertising spheres to determine whether its operations have stifled economic competitiveness across the country.