We’re following the latest updates in the wake of last Friday’s mass shooting in Erie, in which a man fatally shot eight others, including seven family members, before killing himself.

Investigators still don’t know why family patriarch Matthew Stone Sr. gunned down his wife, their three children, two grandchildren, and two women who had rushed to the home and were shot outside, Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said at a news conference Thursday. Lorah said they learned Stone had exercised strict control over his relatives, including their finances and interactions with others.

Lorah painted a picture of a family living in a home in isolated, filthy conditions. He said the authoritarian behavior of Stone, 45, started after his wife became pregnant with their first child more than two decades ago.

In 2019, Stone was arrested and charged with threatening his wife with the same .40-caliber handgun that he used in the Oct. 9 shootings. However, at a preliminary hearing, Michelle Stone “changed her original statement and those charges were withdrawn,” Lorah said.

We have more details from Thursday’s news conference here.

Details are also emerging about the victims who rushed to the home in an effort to help the family members inside.

Lora Roberts, who raced to the home over concern for her sister, Michelle Stone, was described by a co-worker as someone who “wouldn’t let you have a bad day.”

Twila Tanner’s last words to her 16-year-old daughter before she accompanied Roberts to the house at 722 Perry St. were, “I love all my kids and all my grandkids.”

In autumn, Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Cemetery looks inviting—before nightfall, at least. (Matt Niemi/Creative Commons)

With a mere 15 days until Halloween, we are officially in the thick of the “spooky season.” And what’s spookier than a cemetery that is supposedly haunted?

Cemeteries are places of memory and mourning, but they’re also fertile ground for folklore. Across Pennsylvania, burial grounds not only hold the remains of those who came before us, but they also inspire stories about restless spirits—some rooted in history, some in legend.

From sweeping landscaped cemeteries to tiny family plots, our Kalena Thomhave has dug up the details behind 10 supposedly haunted cemeteries in Pennsylvania.

• Latino voters in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, which includes the Lehigh Valley, are angry about higher prices for fuel and groceries, and Republicans could face the consequences in the midterm elections. Learn about their growing frustration in this story.

• State Attorney General Dave Sunday’s office is suing more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy middlemen, accusing them of working together to “artificially” inflate insulin prices by more than 1,000%. Get the details here.

• Amid climbing costs for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, some Pennsylvania school districts that initially embraced covering those drugs are now looking to backtrack, alarmed by a rapid takeoff in pharmaceutical spending. Find out more here.

• Nearly two dozen former power plant sites across Pennsylvania are part of a study to identify potential locations for new generating facilities that could help ease the region’s power crunch. Learn about the study here.

(Brenda Rick)

Brenda Rick from Berks County shared this colorful photo of the 40-foot-tall autumn chrysanthemum display at Ott’s Exotic Plants in Schwenksville. Known as “mum mountain,” the display features a scenic overlook, allowing visitors to walk through a flower-lined tunnel carved into the hill and browse pumpkins and seasonal plants.

LET’S SEE YOUR PENNSYLVANIA—whether it’s a gorgeous sunset, sparkling fall foliage, or something purely Pennsylvania, like an intersection with a Wawa at one corner, a Sheetz at another corner, and a horse and buggy parked outside a Rutter’s at another corner.

Send us your photos with your name, location, and a brief description of what you’re sharing.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Patrick Berkery with stories from Kalena Thomhave, The Associated Press, USA Today via Reuters Connect, and Whitney Downard and Peter Hall of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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