THE CONTEXT

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is in Bucks County all week for hearings on a high school mascot, starting yesterday.   

State officials are getting public input in response to a lawsuit filed in 2015. The case says that, in calling its sports teams “the Redskins,” Neshaminy School District discriminates against Native Americans, creates a hostile environment and promotes damaging stereotypes.

Neshaminy hasn’t changed a thing in the years since, despite local controversy predating the lawsuit, the national trend of schools dropping the moniker and a prior initial ruling that it must drop the name.

There’s a special election April 2 to fill the seat of former state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler representing parts of Allegheny and Washington counties. Reschenthaler resigned last week to take his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Voters will choose between party picks, rather than narrowing down the field first with a primary.

Tolls are up again in 2019. Effective Sunday, EZ-pass rates rose from $1.30 to $1.40; cash rates, $2.10 to $2.30. The York Daily Record reports that the cost to travel all 360 Pennsylvania Turnpike miles is now $50.40 — about six percent, or $2.85, more than in 2018.

More than two dozen people have been convicted under Pennsylvania’s human trafficking law since it was passed four years ago. But now, advocates and legislators are focused on implementing new rules meant to protect victims. WITF’s Katie Meyer has what we know so far about how they’ll work in this story.