Latest news with #Stambaugh
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
Cumberland County Public Safety launches dementia and autism registry
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – This new initiative will help law enforcement identify, locate, and assist community members diagnosed with autism, dementia, and other special needs. 'I hope at some point that this saves a life and if it saves one life, it's going to be worth every effort that we've made to do this,' said Silver Spring Township Police Department Sgt. Keith Stambaugh. Many years ago, Sgt. Stambaugh was out on the job when he encountered an elderly woman with dementia. Berks native to lead F-16 Viper Demonstration Team at Harrisburg air show 'Really didn't know where she was going, really didn't know where she was coming from, couldn't give me any emergency contact information, had very little information to help me out,' said Sgt. Stambaugh. Sgt. Stambaugh says he spent about two hours trying to figure out who she was. 'That stuck in my mind. It's like there's got to be a better way,' said Sgt. Stambaugh. Now in Cumberland County there is. The County partnered with Simple Tracking System. You can register loved ones with conditions impacting their mental capacity and development as well as those prone to wandering. 'This isn't to stigmatize,' said Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack. Police will be able to use the registry to find the information you provide them to get that person to safety. Information they will ask for includes a picture of the person, name, address, emergency contact, medicines they take, and what medical condition they have. 'Knowing how to calm the person down, knowing what's going to make them react and how they're going to react, that changes everything. You know, our decisions and how we speak to them, how we approach them,' said Sgt. Stambaugh. Download the abc27 News+ app on your Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Apple TV devices If the person is non-verbal or doesn't know who they are, police can search through photos. Police say this will also be helpful for when a person with autism, special needs, or dementia goes missing because they already have a picture to immediately send to the media. The hope is to get this initiative statewide. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania could be getting an official state reptile
(WHTM) — A Pennsylvania lawmaker proposed a bill that would make the Eastern Box Turtle Pennsylvania's official state reptile. House Bill 401, created by Rep. Perry Stambaugh (R-Perry/Juniata), would designate the ubiquitous Eastern Box Turtle as Pennsylvania's state reptile. The bill has garnered support from the House Game & Fisheries Committee. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now 'The Eastern box turtle can be found across the Commonwealth in rural, suburban, and even urban habitats: shrubby grasslands, marshy meadows, open woodlands, and field forest edges,' Rep. Stambaugh said. 'The turtles are often found near streams or ponds, or areas that have experienced heavy rainfall. Box turtles generally live for 25 to 35 years, but they have been known to survive for more than 100 years.' According to Stambaugh, the Eastern Box Turtle is becoming an at-risk species, as its population is declining due to habitat fragmentation. He argues that making the turtle the state reptile would significantly help with conservation efforts. Pennsylvania's state animal is the White-tailed deer. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State Rep. moves to impeach York County judge
YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – State Rep. Seth Grove (R-York) introduced a resolution to begin the process of impeaching York County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven Stambaugh after he was indicted last year. In October, a federal grand jury indicted Stambaugh on more than two dozen charges of wire fraud, among other charges, for allegedly instructing employees to file and collect compensation benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic while they were working for Stambaugh Law P.C. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Stambaugh is also accused of attempting to intimidate and persuade a witness to provide false testimony. Grove's resolution, filed on March 10, called for a committee to investigate Stambaugh's conduct and determine whether the judge 'is liable to impeachment for misbehavior in office' and offer a recommendation to the full House. Creepy 'Box Demon' identified by York County police 'No one is above the law, especially those who are supposed to judge and sentence those who have violated the law,' Grove said. 'A rogue judge who violates the law gives a blackeye to all those who hold dear our justice system to be fair and impartial.' Should Stambaugh be impeached by a simple majority in the State House, he would face a State Senate trial where two-thirds of the members could vote to remove him from office. In 2022, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner was impeached by the State House, however, his case has not gone to the Senate for a trial. This is a developing story. Stay with abc27 News as more information becomes available Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Teachers fear shuttering Department of Education will diminish vital programs
Heather Stambaugh, a high school teacher in rural Ohio, said she sees the impact of federal funding every day in her classrooms. It opens up opportunities for individual aides to work one-on-one with high-need students, she said, or to lead small group learning sessions that help students achieve "light bulb" moments they may not have otherwise. "At the end of the day, this is the next generation of doctors and lawyers, business executives," Stambaugh told ABC News. "But they're not going to have as many opportunities if we don't have enough staff and we don't have the tools." Federal funds from the Department of Education support programs, resources and sometimes even staffing to address educational barriers faced by low-income, low-performing, disabled and rural students, among others. If the department is dismantled, as President Donald Trump and some Republican lawmakers have said they hope to do, public school K-12 educators fear these programs could be diminished. "The first people that are going to feel that are second- and third-graders who are getting specific reading interventions that will help them be closer to grade level. I have high schoolers who are reading well below a ninth-grade level, and that would only get worse," Stambaugh said. "And then to wonder to yourself will this child be able to read a medical document to sign? Will this child be able to conduct just the general business of life? Because at the bare minimum, that's what schools are offering." Detroit high school teacher Rodney Fresh said he's seen students that might have been considered "a throwaway child by society … become a productive member of society when they graduate" because of the Michigan school's career and technical programs, which get federal funding. "I've seen students where traditional schooling hasn't necessarily been beneficial, but we get them in supportive career tech programs that are supported by federal finances, and they excel. They find their niche," Fresh told ABC News. Established in 1980 by Congress, the department is intended to collect data and research on schooling and education, direct supportive funds to targeted communities, and investigate and enforce civil rights anti-discrimination law. It's the smallest Cabinet-level department, with less than 5,000 employees. The department does not dictate or implement policy on school curriculum. President Trump said he wants to eliminate the department and "send all education work and needs back to the States," according to Trump's Agenda47 campaign. Trump's team hasn't clarified what it would mean to give the power back to the states, though he has cited the use of "block grants" by the federal government as a way to further expand school voucher programs. In the ongoing efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, lawmakers have recommended redirecting program enforcement and funds to other federal departments. "The federal Department of Education has never educated a single student, and it's long past time to end this bureaucratic Department that causes more harm than good," U.S. Senator Mike Rounds said when introducing legislation to dismantle the department. A statement from his office continued, stating: "Despite its inefficiencies, there are several important programs housed within the Department. Rounds' legislation would redirect these to Departments of Interior, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor and State." ABC News has reached out to the White House and the Department of Education for comment. "Many of the concerns that people have with education and the direction of education this country, whether it be curriculum, instruction or even instructional materials, are not handled by the Department of Education," Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, said in an interview with ABC News. "Those are already local decisions that are handled by local boards of education, state boards of education. So all of that is handled locally." Federal funding makes up 11% of school revenue nationwide, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. However, the weight this funding carries is heavier for some states than others; federal dollars make up roughly 20% of South Dakota school revenue and 19% of revenue in Mississippi and Montana. These are the biggest recipients of federal dollars in the country, the NCES noted. States like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are among the smallest recipients, with federal dollars making up just 5% of school revenue. Among the grants and funds delivered by the department are Title I funding and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funding. These federal financial assistance programs are geared towards communities facing high levels of poverty or disabled populations. They can support services like additional reading and mathematics instruction and staffing, speech or behavioral therapy, after-school and summer programs. Across Ohio, the state's Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities reports that almost 16% of students have a disability of some kind. Stambaugh said she sees the role that federal funding plays for the disabled students in her classrooms each day. She noted the money subsidizes the salaries or pay for tutors, individual aids for highly disabled children and intervention specialists aimed at helping struggling readers and performers. MORE: Trump's executive order aims to restrict education related to race, gender, politics Getting rid of federal funding, Stambaugh argued, "gives our highest vulnerability students less one-on-one attention, less individualized education, and it puts them at greater risk to be even further behind the peers that they're already testing behind." In Detroit, where about 84% of kids are eligible for free and/or reduced-price lunch, schools have become more than a place for students to learn. For those who come to school hungry, need a place to wash and dry their clothes, or need additional help with literacy and math after class, federal funding helps schools run additional services for students in need, according to Fresh. "For some students, I become a counselor, a social worker, a big brother, a dad, and so I don't think you ever really get to just turn off from being a teacher," said Fresh. "I think it's a 24/7 job." Title I and IDEA were established through Congress, just as the Department of Education was, and it would take Congress to lead their undoing, some lawmakers told ABC News. Hayes told ABC News that she expects Trump and billionaire businessman and Trump confidant Elon Musk to "strangle the funding" of the department if it can't be dismantled. "What we're seeing through some of the actions with other organizations is that we are dealing with an administration that is not following the rules as they've been established," Hayes said. "The Department of Education was set up by an act of Congress, and can only be dismantled by an act of Congress." Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has already made sizable cuts to the Education Department – slashing 89 independent research contracts at the department's Institute of Education Sciences worth nearly $900 million, according to DOGE's post on X and confirmed by a department spokesperson on Feb. 11. MORE: Department of Education dismisses book ban complaints, ends guidance But with the thin Republican majority in the House and Senate, it's unclear just how likely it would be for Congress to dismantle the department completely. Utah Republican Rep. Burgess Owens told ABC News it'll be a congressional numbers game to take down the Education Department, but noted that he has to "see if executive order can really do that or not." "All the things will be tested," he said. Owens, who supports dismantling the department, said that issuing block grants to states could serve as a replacement for the department's programs, adding that there would have to be some state accountability for funds. "If this is not working, let's be innovative. Let's be creative, and we figure out something else," he said. Teachers fear shuttering Department of Education will diminish vital programs originally appeared on
