Pennsylvania’s bell-to-bell school cellphone ban became law Monday morning at Lenape Middle School in Doylestown, with Gov. Josh Shapiro signing it in front of Central Bucks staff and students. Every public, charter, cyber charter and private school in the state now has until the start of the 2027-28 school year to adopt a policy barring student phone use for the entire school day.

Five From the Past Seven Days

Doylestown hosts the signing of the state phone ban
Senate Bill 1014 covers roughly 1.7 million Pennsylvania students and bans phone use through lunch, recess and class changes, not just instructional time. Districts write their own policies, must keep exceptions for documented medical needs and disability accommodations, and have to brief parents on how schools will reach them in an emergency.

A Trader Joe’s push gathers steam in Bensalem
A resident-led campaign to bring the grocer to Bensalem picked up attention this week and drew the most search traffic of anything we published. No site, developer pitch or lease has been made public, so treat it as organized interest rather than a deal in motion.

Neshaminy Shore Picnic Park hits the market at $2.25 million
The creekside Hulmeville venue that generations of company picnics and school trips passed through is listed with its pools and dock included. Any buyer inherits the floodplain questions that come with sitting on the Neshaminy.

Applebachsville writer becomes the county’s 50th poet laureate
Lynda Gene Rymond, a farmer and writer, takes a post that now stretches back half a century in Bucks County. She reads for free on Nov. 14 in Newtown.

Farry’s latest filing shows $4.7 million raised since June
State Sen. Frank Farry’s new campaign finance report covers the stretch from June through October, four days before voters decide the seat. The filing attributes most of the total to a political action committee funded by investor Jeff Yass.

On the Calendar Through Friday

• Saturday, Oct. 31, 9 a.m. to noon, Newtown. The Wrightstown Farmers Market runs at the Middletown Grange Fairgrounds, 576 Penns Park Rd. The season goes through Thanksgiving.
• Saturday, Oct. 31, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Doylestown. Fonthill Castle opens its tower and crypt on a ticketed behind-the-scenes tour of rooms that stay closed the rest of the year. Tickets run $50 for adults and $25 for ages 14 to 17, and the tour repeats Sunday.
• Saturday, Oct. 31, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Washington Crossing. Fall Lantern Tours walk Washington Crossing Historic Park by lantern light.
• Saturday, Oct. 31, 8 p.m., Sellersville. Guitarist Paul Bielatowicz plays a live score to the 1922 silent vampire film at Sellersville Theater 1894. Doors at 7:30.
• Saturday, Oct. 31, 9:45 p.m., Doylestown. The County Theater runs “Evil Dead II” as its Halloween night show.
• Sunday, Nov. 1, New Hope. “Rock of Ages” closes at Bucks County Playhouse after a run that opened Oct. 10. The playhouse has not posted a curtain time for the final performance.
• Tuesday, Nov. 3, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., countywide. Polls are open for the general election. The county Board of Elections says completed mail and absentee ballots have to be in its hands by 8 p.m. that night, and that a postmark will not do.
• Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2 to 3 p.m., Doylestown. The Bucks County Planning Commission board meets at 1260 Almshouse Rd.
• Friday, Nov. 6, 8 p.m., Sellersville. Steve Earle plays solo and acoustic at Sellersville Theater, doors at 7:30.

Cold, Clear and Mostly Dry

Halloween trick-or-treating gets cold air and no rain. The National Weather Service has Friday night mostly clear with a low around 39, then Saturday with increasing clouds and a high near 61 under a light northwest wind. Saturday night drops to about 36 with areas of frost after 1 a.m., and the frost hangs on until around 9 a.m. Sunday before the day turns partly sunny and reaches about 62. The forecast lists no chance of precipitation for any period from tonight through Sunday night.

Next week warms up before it breaks. Highs land near 64 Monday, 69 Tuesday, 68 Wednesday and 69 Thursday, with the first real rain chance arriving Wednesday night at 40 percent and climbing to 60 percent Thursday. As of the 4:08 a.m. Friday update, the weather service had no watches, warnings or advisories posted for Bucks County. More at our weather page.

In the Meeting Rooms

Bensalem approved a tax-abatement district in Trevose. Township Council held a public hearing Oct. 26 and signed off on a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance district covering 4626 Somerton Rd., according to the posted agenda. The Bucks County Herald reported the vote was unanimous and the site is a 19.5-acre parcel with a 320,250-square-foot industrial building. The school district and the county would each have to pass their own resolutions for the abatement to apply to their taxes.

Northampton Township took up data-center zoning. The supervisors’ Oct. 28 agenda listed a public hearing on an amendment that would define “data center” and allow one as a conditional use in the township’s planned industrial and office district. The township has not posted minutes or a recording from that meeting, so the outcome is not yet on the record. When the board voted in August to advertise the hearing, Supervisor Joe Lombardo said no data center applications were pending.

Lower Makefield heads into a Nov. 4 meeting with a $4.37 million hole. Budget workshop materials on the township finance page put the 2027 General Fund shortfall at $4,371,000 without new revenue. An Oct. 15 township notice lays out three paths: petitioning Bucks County Court of Common Pleas to lift the general-purpose property tax rate as high as 19 mills, adopting an earned income tax paired with a 5-mill property tax cut, or converting to a First Class Township, which would go to voters. Supervisors meet at 7:30 p.m.

Hilltown put off an ambulance decision. Supervisors delayed a vote Oct. 26 on moving from Chal-Brit Regional EMS to Central Bucks EMS, pushing it to at least their Nov. 23 public meeting, the Herald reported. The township advanced Chal-Brit $38,000 in the spring.

Fourteen ballot drop boxes stay open until polls close. The county lists seven drop boxes at its government service centers and community college campuses and seven more at libraries in Bensalem, Bristol, New Hope, Richboro, Perkasie, Riegelsville and Yardley, with hours posted per location on the county’s drop box page. The Board of Elections has noticed that it begins precanvassing ballots already in hand at 7 a.m. Nov. 3.

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