Headlines:
• Gov. Wolf renews emergency declaration, both sides vow to cooperate: The renewal, the state's fifth, will last for 21 days. Signed Thursday, it took effect retroactively as of Tuesday, the same day the majority of Pennsylvania voters voted to limit the governor's emergency powers. The action keeps Pennsylvania fully eligible for federal pandemic assistance. (Source: CBS 21)
• Pa. Auditor General calls for oversight on billions in pandemic recovery aid: Auditor General Timothy DeFoor urged the General Assembly in a press conference Thursday to enact state-level oversight and safeguard measures to prevent federal pandemic recovery aid funds from being misused. (Source: ABC 27)
• Pa. Congressman downplays events of Jan. 6 insurrection: U.S. Rep. Scott Perry falsely claimed on C-SPAN that no weapons were brought into the U.S. Capitol during the attack. Perry voted against authorizing a bipartisan commission to investigate the unrest. (Source: WITF)
• Lancaster County begins manual vote count: The 14,000 ballots that will need to be hand-counted from the county represent about 15% of the total ballots. "Safe to say we've never done this many before," said county Commissioner Ray D'Agostino, chairman of the county Elections Board. (Source: ABC 27)
• National/world roundup: Palestinians see victory as Israel, Hamas call truce. (Source: AP) Biden signs bill aimed at stopping anti-Asian hate crimes. (Source: UPI) Wealthy nations try to tackle Covid-19 vaccine inequity. (Source: Reuters) U.S. extends border closures to Canada, Mexico until mid-June. (Source: UPI) CNN anchor Chris Cuomo had "inappropriate conversations" with his brother Gov. Andrew Cuomo's staff. (Source: NBC News)
