Keystone Crossroads

Jovan Weaver, 37, was charged with vehicular homicide in April 2019. Here, he's pictured at his childhood playground in 2017. (Jessica Kourkounis for Keystone Crossroads)

Special update:

The story Jovan Weaver didn't tell

Jovan Weaver had a story to tell. He didn't tell us all of it. In this update episode of our Schooled podcast we unpack the details of his vehicular homicide case and its larger implications.

The story Jovan Weaver didn't tell

What connects Philadelphia with Pittsburgh? Altoona with Allegheny National Forest? Harrisburg with Happy Valley? Amish Country with Coal Country?

Quite a lot, actually.

While most media in the state focus locally, Keystone Crossroads explores the stories that matter across the commonwealth, reported with all Pennsylvanians in mind. Four public media newsrooms are collaborating on this project to create in-depth and insightful journalism on key topics that reverberate from the Statehouse to the streets and back again: government accountability, public education, changing communities, and criminal justice.

Recent Articles

The standardized tests scores of chronically absent students will no longer count against teachers, schools, and the state. (John Locher/AP Photo)

Education

Will this tweak in Pa. law send student test scores soaring?

The standardized tests scores of chronically absent students will no longer count against teachers, schools, and the state.

3 days ago

Education

Pa. fiscal watchdog calls for end of Keystone exams

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale released a report calling for the state to get rid of its high school standardized test and replace it with the SAT or ACT.

1 week ago

Tamaqua School board member Nicholas Boyle, left, and School Board President Larry Wittig, center, joined by Joe Egan, a representative of The Buckeye Firearm Foundation at a meeting in November. (Matt Smith for Keystone Crossroads)

Education

Citing technicality, Pa. school district scraps first-of-kind policy to arm teachers

The Tamaqua Area School District will scrap a groundbreaking policy that would have allowed teachers and staff to carry weapons anonymously on school grounds.

2 weeks ago

Educators fire off rounds during a concealed carry class for teachers Sunday, June 10, 2018, at Adventure Tactical Training in Farmer City, Illinois. The class was designed to help teachers feel less vulnerable in the wake of a number of recent school shootings across the country. (David Proeber, The Pantagraph via AP)

Education

Some Pa. superintendents have been quietly armed in schools — and parents probably don’t know it

Amid ongoing debate about guns in Pa. schools, some school administrators have been quietly armed for nearly a year, a Keystone Crossroads investigation has found.

2 weeks ago

William Marx points out one of the districts that crossed four counties as an image of the old congressional districts of Pennsylvania are projected on a wall in the classroom where he teaches civics in Pittsburgh on Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. (Keith Srakocic/AP Photo)

Politics & Policy

Gerrymandering in Pa.: Why the risk is (still) real

Pennsylvania wasn't affected by the recent gerrymandering ruling regarding. But the decision is a reminder of the risks of skewed congressional district boundaries.

2 weeks ago

Dr. Christian Macedonia led the military's Gray Team of doctors and scientists charged with finding the

Courts & Law

PA Post

Whistleblower: Lancaster General settlement with DOJ fails to address core problems

Penn Medicine has agreed to pay $275,000 to the Department of Justice to settle allegations that Lancaster General Hospital submitted false claims to Medicaid

3 weeks ago

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signs the main appropriations bill in a $34 billion budget package that passed the Legislature this week at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Friday, June 28, 2019. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

Money

After a week of ‘passions,’ Pennsylvania’s budget is finished

Governor Wolf has now committed to signing all the components immediately, except one.

3 weeks ago

Gov. Wolf signed the budget on Friday June 28, 2019. (Ed Mahon/PA Post)

Education

Seven big takeaways for education in the new Pa. budget

A flurry of hotly-debated education proposals have been decided in this year’s Pennsylvania budget. Here are the latest updates on six major issues.

3 weeks ago

Courts & Law

SCOTUS decision doesn’t impact Pennsylvania’s redistricted Congressional map

The decision does not impact Pennsylvania’s recently redistricted map, because the case was based on the state constitution.

3 weeks ago

People gather during a rally to coincide with the Supreme Court hearings on the redistricting cases in Maryland and North Carolina in front of the Supreme Court on March 26. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

NPR

Courts & Law

SCOTUS rules partisan gerrymandering is beyond the reach of federal courts

In a 5-4 decision SCOTUS ruled that partisan redistricting is a political question and court can't judge if extreme gerrymandering violates the constitution.

3 weeks ago

Ralph at his home in West Philadelphia. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

Courts & Law

Historic Pa. law to automatically seal millions of criminal charges starting Friday

Starting Friday, 40 million criminal charges in Pa. will be eligible for automatic sealing, potentially giving thousands of residents a second chance.

3 weeks ago

Listen 4:28

The Shipley School, in Bryn Mawr benefitted from more than $500,000 in OSTC and EITC scholarship funds in 2017-18. It reported serving zero low-income students that year. (Emily Cohen for WHYY)

Education

‘Trapped’ on the Main Line: Expensive private schools benefit from Pa. tax credits but report zero low-income students

Many schools that benefit are located in the state’s wealthiest suburbs, where students have access to some of Pennsylvania’s highest-rated public schools.

4 weeks ago

Listen 5:34

Shown is the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. on the Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

Money

Pa. lawmakers cosign $34 billion budget, but negotiations aren’t over

Pennsylvania House Republicans have started moving the main spending bill for next year's state budget, and it seems likely the Senate and Governor Tom Wolf will support it.

4 weeks ago

Shown is the Pennsylvania Capitol building Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015, at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

Money

Pa.’s year-end surplus is official. But it won’t last long.

The IFO said that the commonwealth can count on ending the year with $910 million to spare. But the number dwindles when factoring in the amount the state overspent.

4 weeks ago