State Rep. Liz Hanbidge is one of several female lawmakers behind a package of bills aimed at educating and promoting health access for women experiencing perimenopause and menopause.

Her efforts include an education partnership between the Department of Health and medical providers; required insurance coverage for pelvic floor therapy; and required private insurance coverage for hormonal and non-hormonal therapy. 

As Hanbidge and state Reps. Maureen Madden (D-Monroe) and Morgan Cephas (D-Philadelphia) have been promoting their bills, they’ve been encountering dismissive and discriminatory attitudes from some of their male colleagues in Harrisburg.

One asked Hanbidge to stop talking about menopause because “he thinks it’s gross,” the Montgomery County Democrat said.

In response to one of Cephas’ proposed measures, Republican state Rep. Scott Barger (R-Blair) admitted that he would not hire women going through menopause if lawmakers passed a bill requiring businesses to provide accommodations and workplace protections for women experiencing menopause conditions, saying the bill would make women “more costly to hire.”

“For generations, women have been expected to quietly manage these changes, figure it out themselves and keep going. We are done with that,” Hanbidge said.

Our supporter drive wrapped up on Wednesday, and we’re grateful to every reader who chipped in. Whether you gave $5 or $500, you helped keep The Keystone delivering factual, free information to communities across Pennsylvania.

That support matters more than ever. More than 3,500 newspapers have closed across the country since 2005, and the newsrooms that remain face shrinking funding and growing pressure, including attacks from the federal government. Your support is how we keep doing this work.

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A replica of the acorn-shaped, unidentified object that allegedly landed in the small town of Kecksburg in 1965 stands as a monument to the curious incident. (Creative Commons)

People have reported hundreds of UFO sightings in Pennsylvania over the decades, whether we’re talking about folks who simply saw unexplained lights in the sky or those who have claimed having encounters with strange objects.

Many of these cases date back to the 1950s and 1960s—when the Cold War and the space race had people’s attention on the sky, and the US Air Force was actively investigating UFO reports. Even so, people continue to make reports of UFOs every year, often to groups like the National UFO Reporting Center.

“A lot of things that may seem strange can be explained,” paranormal investigator Stan Gordon, who lives in Greensburg, told Uniontown’s Herald-Standard in 2014. He noted that UFO sightings often turn out to be planets, stars, satellites, meteorites, or drones. Yet, he added, “Year after year, incidents occur that cannot be easily dismissed.”

Let’s look into some of the strangest stories involving UFOs in the commonwealth, including some that are famous and some that even had government investigators shaking their heads in confusion.

• Pennsylvania health officials confirmed the state’s fifth measles-related death of 2026. Find out more in this story.

• Leaders of the Pennsylvania House Black and LGBTQ Equality caucuses called for the resignation of Republican state Rep. Aaron Bernstine after he reportedly made homophobic remarks about state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta at a Harrisburg bar Tuesday night. Get the details here.

• Despite US Rep. Scott Perry’s history of comparing Democrats to Nazis and sharing antisemitic memes, one Jewish organization is standing by the lawmaker after the York County congressman likened Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to a member of the Third Reich in a radio interview. Get the story here.

(Ellen Brown)

Ellen Brown shared this photo of a magnificent sunset near her home in Greenfield, Lancaster County.

Have a shot of something beautiful? Something quirky? We want to see Pennsylvania through your eyes! 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 alena Thomhave, Sean Kitchen, The Associated Press, USA Today via Reuters Connect, and Whitney Downard and Peter Hall of Pennsylvania Capital-Star. It was edited by Crystal Niforos.

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