Amanda Fries

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP — Contractors were installing a fence on Ge Fangyuan's Old Route 100 farm when crews unknowingly hit a sewer pipe and shot raw sewage into the air.

This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom.

This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for Good Day, Berks, a daily dose of essential local stories at spotlight…

Students in Pennsylvania are organizing walkouts to protest ICE. Learn what the law says about free speech, school rules, and possible discipline.

READING — Do students have the right to leave school as a protest tactic?

This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for Good Day, Berks, a daily dose of essential local stories at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/gooddayberks

Pennsylvania students have a First Amendment right to protest ICE, but schools can discipline walkouts as they would any unexcused absence and not more harshly due to the political message.

Upper Bern Township will receive $82,390 to address unfinished work tied to a warehouse that was sold to ICE and the Trump administration.

This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for Good Day, Berks, a daily dose of essential local stories at

UPPER BERN — Developers of a warehouse in Upper Bern Township will pay $82,390 to address outstanding issues they failed to complete before selling the building to the Trump administration and ICE earlier this year.