Healthcare

Policy

Prenatal Attraction: The race to bring OB-GYNs to rural PA before maternity care deserts expand farther

Legislators and health officials are mulling a range of potential short- and long-term solutions – including more federal funding, bolstering the health workforce pipeline, and immigration reforms that would expand recruitment of foreign physicians.

Education

Policy

Report: PA school districts facing budget, mental health and special education challenges

Fiscal pressures, rising needs around student mental health and special education, are the key takeaways in the Pennsylvania School Boards Association’s 2026 State of Education report.

Healthcare

Policy

The state’s ‘maternity deserts’ are reaching a crisis point as rural hospitals continue to close childbirth services

Health officials blame the closures on a national OB-GYN shortage, along with rural population decline, high liability costs, a drop in immigration and the particular challenges of recruiting rural obstetricians

Education

Policy

Advocates push to upgrade civics education standards

As the semiquincentennial commences, legislators, educators and nonprofit organizations are trying to seize the momentum to spotlight the subject.

News & Politics

Politics

To deal with surging detention of immigrants, Philly Defender Association launches new legal unit

Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in the Philadelphia region has more than doubled the office’s immigration referrals

News & Politics

Politics

U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle and Dwight Evans amplify calls to remove DHS Secretary Kristi Noem

The duo joins a national chorus of Democrats denouncing Noem over recent conflagrations involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

Philadelphia

Politics

City Councilmembers want “ICE OUT” of Philadelphia

A new legislative package would restrict federal immigration activity in city-owned spaces, ban masks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and bar ICE from obtaining residents’ data.

Who's Who

Power Lists

The 2026 CSPA Government Relations honorees

Meet the professionals who connect lawmakers, organizations and communities.

News & Politics

Politics

In Harrisburg, RFK Jr. kicked off his “Take Back Your Health” Tour

While the federal health czar touted new dietary guidelines and pared-back vaccine recommendations, state Democrats shot back with measures to bolster vaccine access

Commonwealth

Politics

Pigs, poultry, potatoes and pols headline this year’s PA Farm Show

Cowboy hats, butter sculptures and milkshake lines are all part of the weeklong celebration of commonwealth agriculture.

Policy

Policy

City & State's 5 for 2025: For PA immigrants, uncertainty, fear and resilience are the order of the day

As the year comes to an end, we look back at some staff and reader favorites from our reporting over the past 12 months.

Education

Policy

City & State's 5 for 2025: As AI enters Pennsylvania classrooms, teachers and students face a learning curve

As the year comes to an end, we look back at some staff and reader favorites from our reporting over the past 12 months.

Healthcare

Policy

Proposed reproductive rights legislation would tackle decades-old state mandates

Lawmakers and advocates are debating which of the commonwealth’s web of abortion requirements are hindrances – or safeguards.

Trailblazers

Power Lists

The 2025 CSPA Infrastructure honorees

Meet the Pennsylvanians creating and fortifying the state’s built environment, from skyscrapers to sustainable water.

Education

Policy

Trump administration efforts to end DOE get failing grade from PA educators

Teachers say commonwealth classrooms will suffer if the Trump administration guts the federal Department of Education, which funds numerous key programs as well as student loans, while conservatives say the move will return resources to the states

Technology

Policy

As AI enters Pennsylvania classrooms, teachers and students face a learning curve

Pennsylvania schools are racing to determine the role artificial intelligence should play in education – and when.

Honors

Power Lists

The City & State 2025 Impact honorees

From healthcare to construction, these are the Pennsylvanians making an outsized impact in both their professions and their communities.

News & Politics

Politics

PA GOP lawmakers weigh in on Trump accusing veteran pols of ‘seditious behavior’

The president's claim that a video posted by Democratic lawmakers who served in the military was “punishable by death” drew both condemnation and defense.

News & Politics

Politics

The Democratic Women’s Caucus calls for emergency SNAP funding

Houlahan said 2 million Pennsylvanians, most of them women and girls, could become food insecure if funding is allowed to lapse

News & Politics

Politics

‘We’re very concerned’: Q&A with Pennie Executive Director Devon Trolley

On the eve of open enrollment, the state’s health insurance marketplace chief told City & State how her team is preparing for the termination of federal subsidies – and what’s at stake for consumers and the state economy.