From The Titusville Morning Herald of June 17, 1866, "Our attention has been called to a series of experiments that have been made in the wells of various localities by Col. Roberts, with his newly patented torpedo. ... The torpedo... is lowered into the well, down to the spot, as near as can be ascertained, where it is necessary to explode it. ... The object of the torpedo is to clean out all the deposits at the bottom of the well."
In the western Pennsylvania oilfields of the second half of the 1800s, "shooters" were men who set off nitroglycerin charges in wells to get the oil flowing again. Tales of Destruction relates stories and legends of this absurdly hazardous job. Additional notes here, in Samuel Pees's Oil History. (Previously)
posted by tss on Nov 5, 2009 - 4 comments

The small, unassuming town of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, has suffered 50 fires in 15 months, making it the site of the country's worst arson epidemic in decades, and providing a frightening case study in how the crime of fire-setting can turn self-perpetuating. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on May 27, 2009 - 26 comments

On January 26^th. two Pennsylvania judges were charged with taking $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care. The judges are scheduled to plead guilty to fraud tomorrow in federal court."Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses." The judges are also accussed of helping the two firms "attain nearly $30 million in county contracts." A preliminary audit [PDF] of the companies has also turned up questionable expenses billed to the state. College basketball tickets, fishing trips and a $3,500 suit are among $1.26 million in expenses under scrutiny. [more inside]
posted by ericb on Feb 11, 2009 - 56 comments

Braddock, Pennsylvania has been classified as a "distressed municipality." This may be an understatement: From a high of around 20,000, its population has dwindled to below 3000, many of those people unemployed. Braddock's is a landscape so grim ("a mix of boarded-up storefronts, houses in advanced stages of collapse and vacant lots") that it was selected to serve as a backdrop for the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel, The Road. Its mayor, John Fetterman, considers Braddock “a laboratory for solutions to all these maladies starting to knock on the door of every community.” [more inside]
posted by kittens for breakfast on Feb 8, 2009 - 88 comments

When the modern oil industry began 150 years ago, many speculators moved into Northwestern Pennsylvania. Among them was John Wilkes Booth, who walked off the stage and onto the oil fields in an attempt to increase his fortunes with the Dramatic Oil Company. [more inside]
posted by hoppytoad on Jan 10, 2009 - 4 comments

A glance will show / Why Phoebe Snow / Prefers this route / To Buffalo.
And Phoebe's right / No route is quite / As short as Road / of Anthracite.

In 1908 the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad began work on the New Jersey Cut-Off to make its New York to Buffalo mainline (the Road of Anthracite so liked by Phoebe Snow) even shorter and faster. It was to have no grade crossings, and was to be as straight and level as possible — through hilly terrain. The 28-mile Lackawanna Cut-Off, as it is now known, was built over three years, cost $11 million, and was an engineering marvel of massive reinforced concrete bridges, enormous cuts, and the largest railroad embankment in the world. All of this has been abandoned for years, though there are plans afoot to restore the Cut-Off for commuter rail. [more inside]
posted by parudox on Dec 24, 2008 - 17 comments

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the Fluorescent Pink Katydid [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin on Nov 30, 2008 - 36 comments

Penn econ professor pleads guilty to killing wife. With last year's child porn and now murder, it looks like the Wharton professor felony hat trick is two-thirds complete. (It's there if we expand it to the whole University.)
posted by supercres on Nov 27, 2007 - 27 comments

You know what will help young people in Pennsylvania embrace a career in health care? A video featuring a rapping groundhog that cost $4157 in taxpayer money.
posted by beaucoupkevin on Nov 13, 2007 - 50 comments

The Pennsylvania government is worried that consumers will be “confused” by labels such as “pesticide free”, “antibiotic free”, and “contains no artificial hormones”. After all, doing so might seem to imply that products without such labels might be unsafe! PA Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff is very concerned about that sort of “confusion”, which surely has nothing to do with the fact that he owns a 600-acre dairy farm. Oddly, while Mr. Wolff said his office had received many calls from confused consumers, his office was unable to come up with the name of even one consumer who had complained.
posted by kyrademon on Nov 11, 2007 - 27 comments

Pennsylvania polling places regarding September 08 elections to have everything but voters.
posted by duende on Oct 26, 2007 - 31 comments

"My first day on the job was the Amish school shooting at Nickel Mines in Lancaster County, Pa. in October of 2006. Here is some video of what I saw that day." Raw footage from that terrible day, recently posted to YouTube. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 [more inside]
posted by Toekneesan on Oct 7, 2007 - 28 comments

Abu Gharib? Feh. The newest Dark Side: telemarketing abuse. The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a $2.1 million campaign calling individuals, including those on the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry, with automated telephone messages scripted to sound as if they are coming from the Democratic candidate up for election, in the hopes of driving away support come Tuesday's elections. "Hello. I'm calling with information about [Democratic candidate]," the recording begins, and then pauses for the traditional hang-up. If the recipient does indeed hang up, they then receive repeated phone calls back. This manner of scripting violates 47 CFR 64.1200(b)(1), which requires that "the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call" be "state[d] clearly" "at the beginning of the message." The New Hampshire Attorney General got them to stop calling those on the Do-Not-Call Registry, at least. (In their best interests, perhaps, due to the $5,000 fine per call potentially racking up hefty fines.) This is going on at the very least in the Pennsylvania 6th, the Connecticut 4th, the North Carolina 11th,, the New Hampshire 2nd, and nationwide.
posted by WCityMike on Nov 5, 2006 - 142 comments

Stop me if you've heard this one before - Republican congressman blames democrats for legal troubles. The house ethics committee didn't see anything wrong with Weldon's activities, but one can't help but wonder how Weldon is helping his constituency by traveling to Belgrade on behalf of one of Slobodan Milosevic's pals, who is, incidentally, a client of Weldon's daughter's consulting firm. At least no one is accusing Weldon of trying to choke his mistress.
posted by Mister_A on Oct 20, 2006 - 30 comments

Santorum on Gorilla Action Friday Fun - A giant gorilla is chasing around Rick Santorum
posted by cjoh on Aug 25, 2006 - 11 comments

Santorum, a lying sack of Senator: Seems Pennsylvania's junior senator, who as recently as November told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that "K Street Project" was merely a "good government thing" is now saying: What K Street project? And Grover Norquist? Who he? Oh right, the guy who appeared at the Santorum fund-raiser just last June...
posted by kgasmart on Jan 26, 2006 - 39 comments

In the pantheon of American popular music, Pennsylvanian Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864) is a muse to all followers. He penned: "Oh, Susanna"; "My Old Kentucky Home"; "Old Folks at Home" ('Way Down Upon the Swanee River') and "Camptown Races" among a legacy of over 200 songs. Foster contributed greatly to the rise in popularity of the minstrel shows, displaying a humanitarian attitude towards blacks in his 'plantation songs', despite only visiting the south once briefly on his honeymoon. Copyright being what it was in those days, he made not much more than $9000 in his lifetime from publishing royalties. He died a pauper in New York following a head injury and was found with just 38c and a scrap of paper in his pocket book that read: "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His sketch book of songs was recently digitized and is hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. via
posted by peacay on Jul 29, 2005 - 25 comments

The Bloodhound Gang is attempting to change the state song of Pennsylvania (right in time to support their new album, of course). Is this the Bloodhound Gang's actual attempt at being clever/helpful to the peeps of PA to change this song or is it the band's shameless buzz marketing campaign? (Ooooh... Hooray for Viral! (flash)) Well, it's working for this guy at least... Listen to the song here (only mildly annoying pop up) or download it here ... /me feels dirty. Who has a Pepsi Blue? Or Green?
posted by AspectRatio on Jul 29, 2005 - 30 comments

Hello to you, my name is Liquor Control Bee (wav). Meet L.C. Bee -- his songs are sure to keep your kids uncrunked. Part of an elite cabal of juvenile moralizers, L.C. Bee is currently collaborating on an album with Daren the D.A.R.E lion (WAV). These kids today, you know.
posted by yonation on Jan 29, 2005 - 28 comments

In vogue during the Middle Ages, chastity belts are making a come back in Pennsylvania. Get yours today from the Pennsylvania State Legislature in time to celebrate their annual Chastity Awareness Week. But of course, what's good for the goose is good for the gander (NSFW) so I expect all (unmarried) Pennsylvanian legislators to be similarly outfitted. Your tax dollars at work to the tune of a quarter billion dollars.
posted by trii on Jan 26, 2005 - 25 comments

"Like New York City's MTA, SEPTA has a tourist-friendly pass that for $5.50 allows for 24 hours of riding across the entire system. On Saturday, the 4th of December 2004, I tried to fit as much into one day as I could. . . get your pass ready, we're boarding."
posted by deafmute on Jan 9, 2005 - 26 comments

The number 666 has been drawn by the Pennsylvania Lottery 12 times. Well, legally that is. On April 24, 1980, Pittsburgh personality Nick Perry, host of local TV shows and the live lottery drawing, fixed the lottery drawings. Perry has since passed away, but the story lived on in a (badly made) film adaptation. [more inside]
posted by ALongDecember on Aug 5, 2004 - 8 comments

A third-rate bugging? Did Pennsylvania Republicans plant listening devices to gain an advantage in the next Philadelphia mayoral election? I think they did and in his words, that's the truth!
posted by Bag Man on Oct 8, 2003 - 16 comments

PA helmets repealed from heads. At midnight tonight, Pennsylvania will become the sixth state since 1997 to repeal its mandatory motorcycle helmet law. Actually, there are a few qualifications. The guys who put this together are probably keen on PA's state store new Sunday hours, too.
posted by ringmaster on Sep 3, 2003 - 52 comments

22 year old schizophrenic Farrah Russell was rebuilding her life. But when the plug was pulled on the state program that allowed her to subsist, she took her life. Her heartbreaking story is a cautionary tale of the dark consequences of state budget cuts. While politicians argue over tax stimulus proposals that benefit the wealthy, while wild numbers are applied to war budgets, the States have been forced to cut social programs in order to survive. Whether it's California teachers, Connecticut and New York residents dreading tax hikes, Pennsylvania public transportation, or Texas prescription drug coverage for the poor, the States, supposedly United, have been left out to dry. While the States have been forced to cut their programs, groping for survival, Washington remains silent in its mission. It does not remember history. Why do we turn a blind eye to the hidden costs? What can be done about this? And how do we make it stop?
posted by ed on May 5, 2003 - 53 comments

Today marks the first time in 84 years that citizens of Pennsylvania are allowed to buy alcohol on a Sunday. Of course, it's only at state-approved stores, and only in selected suburbs.
posted by mathowie on Feb 9, 2003 - 74 comments

Karl Frank Kleinpaste is on trial defending himself for tax evasion claiming that he lives in the 'Democratic Republic of Pennsylvania' and is therefore not duty bound to pay federal income tax. Some think that this will not go very well for him while others encourage the masses to do the same.
posted by Raichle on Nov 21, 2002 - 28 comments

Mullet Talk, FM morning radio show comedy at it its finest. Of course, in Pittsburgh we appreciate the finer things in life. Sadly, this is the only episode I could find on the web.
posted by Recockulous on Sep 25, 2002 - 10 comments

City as Loser? Iron City was ranked last out of 40 cities in this year's "Best Cities for Singles" in Forbes magazine. Not that Forbes is the ultimate arbiter of the single life (don't they specialize in male readers over 35 with money?), but your best defense of Pittsburgh or your own medium- or small-sized town would be appreciated.
posted by engelr on Jun 11, 2002 - 26 comments

Pennsylvania school sends notes home if kids are overweight My paper ran this story Sunday, and it's starting to make its way around the Internet. But still: should schools warn parents if their kids are too heavy? And who decides 'too heavy'?
posted by krewson on Mar 21, 2002 - 69 comments

When I was 19, I concentrated on dating, parties, and occasionally my college courses...not being the mayor of a small town in Pennsylvania!
posted by Dinzie on Jan 2, 2002 - 5 comments

I didn't grow up thinking I talked funny... but thanks to the internet, I now know why I was turned down for all those newscaster jobs. Jano yinz talked funny too?
posted by m@ on Nov 13, 2001 - 21 comments

Sen. John McCain’s eulogy for Mark Bingham, one of the passengers who apparently caused Flight 93 to crash in a field in Pennsylvania. Whether or not you support him politically, McCain is a good man. (via Kausfiles)
posted by luser on Sep 27, 2001 - 24 comments

Flight Data Recorder found for United Airlines flight 93 in Pennsylvania. They've also found the signal for at least one of the data recorders on the Pentagon flight, as well. Assuming it's still readable, the flight recorder for UA 93 could give new insight into why the plane went down, and why they're now finding debris 6 miles from the crash site. (The information for flight 93 came from CNN broadcast, but hasn't made it online yet.)
posted by elfgirl on Sep 13, 2001 - 13 comments

Deputy Dawg Cracking cases with his service glock, crackhead Bucks County Barney Fife is the new face of law enforcement
posted by Perigee on May 26, 2001 - 5 comments

The mayor of my town is being indicted for murder tomorrow morning, just two days after winning the his party's primary. He is suspected of playing a role in the 1969 race riot slaying of Lillie Belle Allen. This story will probably break nationally tomorrow morning, as he is led away in handcuffs.
posted by MegoSteve on May 16, 2001 - 18 comments

One more school shooting. This time it's a Roman Catholic school in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. A girl in 8th grade shot another girl "in the upper body, but the injury was not considered life-threatening."
posted by jason on Mar 7, 2001 - 25 comments

Pennsylvania school's anti-harassment code ruled too strict. The 3rd Circuit Court in Philadelphia struck down the State College Area School District's anti-harassment code yesterday, saying the policy restricted students' free-speech rights.
posted by darukaru on Feb 16, 2001 - 8 comments

Pennsylvania's new license plates featuring the state's web address are just plain Sick and Wrong, somehow. Please tell me that other states aren't going to follow suit. I saw my first one yesterday, in Austin, TX, of all places.
posted by beth on Oct 20, 2000 - 14 comments