Gov. Tom Wolf is delaying more than $1.7 billion in Medicaid and public pension payments that were due Friday and this upcoming Monday because the state government's main account has hit zero.
The Medicaid payment was due Friday while the pension payment is due Monday.
All week, state officials warned that bills would not be paid in full because of a nearly $2.2 billion hole in the budget that the General Assembly has not filled. NBC10 first reported that the state Treasurer would not bail out lawmakers by issuing another short-term loan.
A House package passed Wednesday, but the Senate still needs to conference with the bill. That chamber is not scheduled to convene until Monday.
"Without a completed budget, the commonwealth’s Treasurer and Auditor General have said they are not currently inclined to authorize the normal short-term lending that would typically allow for seasonal cashflow interruption," Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott said. "Delayed payments will remain stalled until funding exists to meet commitments."
He said the treasury delayed $1.169 billion in payments to managed care providers for medical assistance services as well as $581 million in the state's share of pension obligations to the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System (PSERS).
Treasurer Joe Torsella warned state lawmakers that the general fund would run out of money Sept. 15. He previously issued a short-term loan to allow the government to meet its financial obligations through August. But he said more recently he would not issue another loan through what is called the Short-Term Investment Program (STIP).
Torsella seemed inclined earlier in the week to issue another loan if the General Assembly approved a funding package that balances the 2017-2018 budget. The $32 billion budget was approved in June by the Republican-controlled General Assembly even though lawmakers knew of the revenue shortfall.
The House did narrowly approve a funding package late Wednesday night. It relies on transfers of money from funds dedicated to transportation, environmental protection and numerous other state programs as well as future expected revenue.
But Wolf expressed dissatisfaction with the House package. Abbott had told PennLive.com that it "fails the basic test of solving the fiscal problems."
Here's a detailed look at what immediately happens when the general fund goes to zero.
A pack of coyotes descended on a dog walker in a New Jersey community Thursday, prompting police to warn residents about leaving pets and small children unattended outside.
Saddle River police said a dog walker on Oak Road reported being confronted by five coyotes, which circled the dog walker and the small leashed dog within a six-foot radius.
A passing driver spotted them and began honking their horn and got out to help, and the coyotes ran off, police said.
Wildlife officials are working with police to monitor coyotes in the area. Saddle River police say people walking or jogging outside, especially with pets, should consider carrying a compressed air horn or a walking stick to ward off coyotes if they encounter them.
Saddle River has seen a number of coyote attacks in recent years: in one monthlong period in 2015, four aggressive coyote attacks were reported.
Wildlife experts say people can reduce the risk of coyote conflicts by not feeding them and securing trash and pets, among other steps.
Officials in Franklin Township are installing cameras on the outside of their school buses in an attempt to stop violators from passing stopping school buses. NBC10's Cydney Long has the story.
NBC10's Deanna Durante has details from Eagleville where teachers in Methacton could walkout on Monday.
A Jersey Shore town was rattled by a terrorist one year ago during the Semper Five Marine Corps Charity Race. This year's race is set to happen Saturday in Ocean County and authorities are stepping up security in a major way. NBC10's Ted Greenberg has the details.
What kind of weather can you expect when you walk out the door this weekend? NBC10 Chief Meteorologist Tammie Souza has the details in your first alert neighborhood forecast.
A heartwarming moment turned into a heart stopping moment after this Kansas city man proposing to his girlfriend dropped the engagement ring through planks on a bridge.
Friends of the couple jumped in to search for the ring but unfortunately came up empty handed. However, the couple decided to make a memorable moment out of the accident by getting some memorable pictures.
"Sometimes our love stories aren't always as perfect as we planned, but always work out in the end," the couple said.
Wives of PECO employees are stepping up to help their lineman husbands as they spend two weeks trying to get the power back to hurricane victims in Florida. NBC10's Steven Fisher has the story.
Three attempted lurings in the city's Frankford section have residents and police on high alert. NBC10's Brandon Hudson as the details.
Children have reported troubling encounters with an unknown man six times in Northeast Philadelphia this week, prompting a police investigation. In several of the cases, the man tried to lure children into a vehicle, police said. Police released a photo of the vehicle they believed was the suspect's Friday night.
Of the six incidents reported since Tuesday, three occurred within an hour of each other.
Details of the incidents being investigated by the Special Victims Unit were detailed in a news release Friday afternoon.
The first was reported Tuesday along along the 400 block of Tomlinson Road. At 3:15 p.m. students reported being approached by a man in a vehicle while leaving school. They said the man offered them money to get into the car, but they ran away.
On Wednesday, two students of the Watson Comly School on Byberry Road reported to school workers around lunchtime that they saw a suspicious man dressed in a mask and dark clothing outside of the school.
On Thursday a student at the Sullivan School on Ditman Street reported seeing a strange man recording students from outside the schoolyard.
And on Friday morning, three incidents were reported within an hour and within a mile of each other.
In all of the incidents Friday morning, girls reported they were approached by a man in a dark vehicle with tinted windows asking them to take their photo for cash. One girl reported the man got out of his car and was unzipping his pants.
All of the girls were able to run away and report the incidents to school officials.
The students all described the man they reported as Hispanicand in his 30s. Police said they were investigating the incidents as a pattern based on the description of the offender, geographic proximity and his suspicious actions.
A teachers strike looms at one Montgomery County school district. NBC10s Drew Smiths reports it could come down to the wire Sunday night.
It will be a summerlike end to summer with highs in the 80s this weekend. NBC10 First alert Weather chief meteorologist Tammie Souza explains how Jose could impact the work week.
Enjoy a relatively dry weekend, as analysis of Hurricane Jose's route continues.
The security guard of a local hookah bar shot and killed another man, as the man who was shot allegedly opened fired on pedestrians passing by.
Firefighters in Lower Southampton rescued two stuck dogs from an enclosed storm drain Friday night after a resident heard barking coming from 15 feet below street-level.
The unusual operation ended successfully when the two female dogs were eventually pulled to safety, but not without challenges, Feasterville Fire Co. Deputy Chief Jim McKeon said.
On top of the difficulty of removing two dogs from a confined space 15 feet below a side street called Clover Lane, once the cold dogs were safe and warming up in a Lower Southampton police van, everyone realized they had no dog tags with identification.
They were taken to a nearby kennel, Town and Country Kennel on Langhorne Avenue, for observation, McKeon said, with the hope that their owner might come looking for them.
He said the dogs know each other, but neighbors on Clover Lane said they didn't recognize the canines.
"In that neighborhood, there are no open inlets or access points. It's a closed system," McKeon said of the perplexing question: How would two dogs end up in the storm water drain? "Some residents think they may have come from another neighborhood on the other side of Bustleton Pike, which is about half a mile to three-quarters of a mile away."
The entire operation took about two and a half hours, McKeon said.
Firefighters' efforts were hampered initially because the dogs were scared when the six-foot, steel grate was removed. They scurried into the 36-inch pipe connecting the drainage system throughout the neighborhood.
But McKeon said he came up with the idea of opening a fire hydrant up-pipe and washing a couple inches of water through the pipe to force the dogs back to waiting firefighters.
"It worked and we got them out," he said.
An owner of the kennel in Langhorne, Liz Lowney-Carpino, said both dogs were recovering Saturday morning after a good night's rest.
But the older dog, a Beagle-Labrador retriever mix about 10 or 11 years old, needed a massage first time after waking up.
"She was really sore," Lowney-Carpino said.
Her friend, a German Shorthaired Pointer, is 3 or 4 years old, Lowney-Carpino said.
"The German pointer's tail has been going a mile a minute," she said.
Neither has a micro chip.
Anyone with information about the dogs can reach Town and Country Kennel at (215)752-3661. The facility is at 393 Langhorne Avenue.
A train on SEPTA's Market-Frankford elevated line derailed Saturday morning near the Spring Garden Station.
The incident occurred about 11 a.m. just north of the Center City tunnel. No cause was immediately known. A SEPTA spokesman said no injuries were initially reported.
A traffic camera along Interstate 95 showed one car in a series turned almost perpendicular to the tracks just south of the station. The station is known to thousands of commuters because it sits between the northbound and southbound lanes of I-95.
As police and paramedics rushed to the scene, emergency responders initially warned of possibly numerous injuries.
SEPTA described the incident in a tweet as related to "equipment issues." They also said shuttle buses would operated north and south of the Spring Garden Station.
The incident comes a week after a judge dismissed charges against the engineer in a 2015 Amtrak 188 derailment north of 30th Street Station that killed eight people and injured 200 others. And last month, dozens were injured when a Norristown High-Speed Line train crashed at 69th Street Station.
Check back for more details as they become known.
Passenger Shontai Sterling, of Southwest Philadelphia, said she and others riding a SEPTA train that derailed along the Market-Frankford elevated line Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017, were stuck without any information for a while before everyone had to tensely find their way out.
About 30 passengers were temporarily stranded when a front car left the tracks just before the Spring Garden Station north of Center City, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017.
A security guard killed a man accused of shooting two people outside a hookah lounge in North Philadelphia late Friday night.
The security guard was on-duty outside the J/F Hookah Lounge on the 2400 block of Germantown Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. when he spotted a gunman open fire on a man and woman, according to police.
“The guard was on duty at the time standing by the front door when he observed only feet away from him this male approach from Cumberland Street and begin opening fire on pedestrians that were walking down the street,” Philadelphia Police Captain Drew Techner told NBC10.
The two pedestrians, a 25-year-old woman and 30-year-old man, were both struck in the left leg. The security guard then took out his own weapon and fired at the gunman, investigators said.
“Security guard had a weapon,” Captain Techner said. “He was armed and he shot multiple times on the shooter.”
Police said the guard shot the gunman several times. The suspect was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:19 a.m. Saturday. Police have not released his identity but say he was a 30-year-old man.
The wounded man and woman were both taken to Temple University Hospital and are both in stable condition.
Police continue to investigate the incident.
