Karns City students Aaron Wimer (left, Ava Kaminski and Aubrey Price sit masked during a veteran appreciation assembly Wednesday.

An application was submitted late Thursday afternoon to overturn a stay placed on the state mask mandate after the state Department of Health appealed a Commonwealth Court decision on the matter Wednesday.

Attorney Thomas King III, representing the plaintiffs, confirmed the filing, which seeks to negate the stay on the mask mandate, which was automatically awarded due to the state's appeal.

“Within mere hours of this court's order, the acting secretary appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court with complete disregard to the ongoing violation of Pennsylvania law,” the application said.

Read more in Friday's Butler Eagle.