His first state budget proposal and its billion dollars in cuts brought months of angry outcry from students, labor unions, Democrats and the physically disabled. This year? Expect more of the same.

Gov. Tom Corbett won't raise sales or income taxes in his 2012-13 state budget, but there is still the potential for plenty of pain for Pennsylvanians.

Last Thursday was "day one" for Michael Potteiger. A crew from the Department of General Services had just finished affixing Potteiger's name and "chairman" title to the glass doors leading into Pennsylvania's Board of Probation and Parole.

In a commercial park near Mechanicsburg, some 200 people with intellectual disabilities work as fast and hard as their abilities permit.

Keystone Sanitary Landfill plans to process rock waste from natural gas drilling at its property in Throop and Dunmore in a switch from its years-old practice of accepting already processed waste from the region's Marcellus Shale well sites.

A deal between Republican lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett on a Marcellus Shale regulatory and impact fee measure is nearly complete, with summaries of the expected compromise plan circulating among lawmakers over the weekend.

The Dauphin County jury in the corruption trial of state Rep. Bill DeWeese has adjourned for the day and will resume deliberating Monday.

State Sen. Mike Stack wants to know exactly how Penn State will pay for any costs created by the Jerry Sandusky scandal — and will issue legislative subpoenas if necessary.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday spelled out its reasons for rejecting the state's legislative redistricting plan last week, and a justice who disagreed with the ruling said this year's races will have to be held under the existing decade-old maps.

It's only a month into the new year, but things are already getting ugly at the state Capitol. While election-year wars are always rough and tough, House Democrats have kicked things up a notch with an early attack accusing Republicans of pushing policies that are "mean-spirited and heartless toward working families in Pennsylvania."

Amanda Holt is Pennsylvania's Erin Brockovich, albeit with a more conservative wardrobe and less swearing. The 29-year-old from Allentown almost single-handedly convinced the state Supreme Court to do what it has never done before: Reject the redistricting maps.

Uncertainty prompts me to write that as a doctor I do not know what to tell Pennsylvania patients when they ask me if hydraulic fracturing — fracking — in their neighborhood or region might affect their health. I've seen anecdotal stories in the media.

There is much debate surrounding House Bill 1950, the Marcellus Shale legislation that is working its way through the General Assembly. HB 1950 is not an industry giveaway, nor is it lax on environmental standards.

Pennsylvanians are likely to need headache medicine even more than usual this year as they fill out their taxes. The state is suddenly insisting that taxpayers report their online purchases and pay the 6 percent sales tax on those items.

"Gambling has been an utter failure in Pennsylvania." That was what this newspaper was concerned it would write someday in an editorial and why it came down against a proposal to legalize slot machines at racetracks in 2003.

Three area Republican state legislators are gearing up for primary challenges this spring.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health expects to confirm Monday whether more people have been sickened by contaminated raw milk from a Shippensburg-area farm, the Family Cow.

Civil lawsuits are on the decline in Western Pennsylvania and across the state, as plaintiffs avoid county courthouses in favor of private mediators, experts say.

In early 2010, in an effort to ease the burden of the state's prison system, Gov. Ed Rendell announced that Pennsylvania would contract with Michigan and Virginia to move 2,000 low-risk inmates to facilities in those states.

CHESTER, Pa. — The Chester Upland School District is more than $20 million in debt, its bank account is almost empty and it cannot afford to pay teachers past the end of this month.

After scraping by on handyman jobs for a year, Bert Qintana figured he'd have to leave his wife and teenage son at their home near Taos, N.M., and find work elsewhere.

AUGUSTA, Maine — The Medicaid program in Maine is short of money, and conservative Governor Paul LePage has a blunt proposal for solving the problem — drop people from the rolls.