Category: The Northeast

Republican State Representative Proposes Pennsylvania ‘Equal Pay’ Measure

Bradley Vasoli

A Republican member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly is asking fellow legislators to back a bill she is writing to amend the state’s Equal Pay Law, asserting a gap exists between what men and women earn. 

The “wage gap” has long been a subject of contention. State representative Karen Boback (R-Dallas) cites data from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) — a group that is also at the forefront in promoting abortion and supporting transgenderism among children — to suggest serious pay inequity persists. 

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University of Pennsylvania Environmental Scholar ‘Ashamed’ at School’s Response to Football Game Climate Protest

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During the University of Pennsylvania’s homecoming football game against Yale late last month, around 75 climate protesters stormed the field and delayed the start of the second half by about an hour.

Nineteen Fossil Free Penn protesters ended up being detained by campus police, and due to their actions some received notice that their membership in official Penn student groups could be in jeopardy.

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Governor Pledges Fiscal Responsibility in Connecticut Democrats’ Trifecta

The Center Square

Reelected Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday pledged fiscal responsibility for the coming four years in Hartford.

“With a lot of edging and hedging about what we do in terms of fiscal guardrails that help get this state back on track when it comes to getting our fiscal house in order, I call them the Fonfara Rules coming out in 2017,” Lamont said. “Basically, it says you are not going to spend more than what you can count on in terms of revenues.

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Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont Declares Early Voting Ballot Measure Passed in Connecticut

Susan Berry, PhD

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) announced a ballot measure for a constitutional amendment to allow in-person early voting in the state had been passed by voters, Hearst media reported Wednesday.

Lamont “said the question had been passed by voters as he began his speech Tuesday night in which he declared victory in his own race,” the report said.

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Party Control of Pennsylvania House Will Come Down to Two Undecided Races

Bradley Vasoli

As the week of Election Day 2022 draws to a close, it remains uncertain whether Republicans or Democrats will have the helm of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the next two years, with two southeastern races to decide the outcome. 

Pennsylvania has 203 legislative districts and electoral contests have been clinched by one major party or the other in 201 of them. Democrats prevailed in 101 of those races, meaning the GOP needs to win both of the still undetermined seats in order to keep control of the General Assembly’s lower chamber. 

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Pennsylvania Re-Elects State Representative Who Passed Away

Bradley Vasoli

Residents of Pennsylvania’s 32nd House District posthumously reelected deceased Democratic state Representative Anthony DeLuca (D-PA-Pittsburgh) on Tuesday, necessitating a special election in the months ahead. 

The lawmaker faced no Republican challenger this year and bested leftist Green Party candidate Zarah Livingston, garnering 21,244 votes (85.9 percent) to her 3,490 (14.1 percent). 

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Fetterman Edges Oz; Shapiro Defeats Mastriano for Governor

Bradley Vasoli

In the early hours Wednesday morning, multiple media outlets projected that Democrat John Fetterman would win the open U.S. Senate seat left by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

Fetterman, the state’s Lieutenant Governor who suffered a serious stroke just before the Democratic primary, won his party’s nomination, and then went on to defeat Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz for one of the only Democrat U.S. Senate pickups on the 2022 election cycle.

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Philadelphia Elections Department Says Counting of Up to 30,000 Ballots to Be Delayed After Lawsuit

Just the News

The department that oversees elections in Philadelphia said that it will delay counting of up to 30,000 ballots due to a lawsuit from a conservative group that sought oversight for possible “double counting” mistakes in the 2022 midterm elections. 

The Philadelphia City Commissioners “said it will delay counting thousands of paper ballots after the polls close Tuesday night because of a lawsuit that accused it of being open to double counting,” the New York Times reported on Tuesday. 

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Philadelphia Home Depot Employees Overwhelmingly Reject Unionization

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Philadelphia Home Depot employees voted overwhelmingly to reject joining what would have been the first store-wide union at the hardware store.

Out of the 266 employees in the Pennsylvania store, workers voted Saturday evening 165 to 51 against being members of Home Depot Workers United, according to the local NPR outlet. This means less than 20% of the stores’ employees voted in support of being in the union.

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Students Hope to Establish Conservative Club After College Tears Down Flags Supporting First Responders

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Trinity College (TC) students Lucas Turco and Finn McCole are looking to establish a conservative voice on campus after they were reportedly targeted by the college for hanging a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag and an American flag with green, blue, and red stripes for supporting first responders.

Roommates Turco and McCole explained to Campus Reform that on Oct. 27 they noticed two women had suddenly appeared outside their dorm with a ladder and started tearing down their “Don’t Tread on Me” and American flag-supporting first responders that were hung outside their windows.

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Reports Indicate Connecticut GDP Fell in Second Quarter

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The economy in Connecticut has some catching up to do.

Initial figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show the state’s economy fell behind the rest of the nation in the second quarter of 2022.

Connecticut’s gross domestic product fell by 4.7 percent between April and June, putting the state second-to-last in the nation. Meanwhile, personal income grew by only 2.2 percent.

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Pennsylvania Senate GOP Leaders Ask Secretary of State to Comply on Undated Ballots, Other Election Rules

Bradley Vasoli

Days before the 2022 midterm elections, Pennsylvania Republican Senate leaders wrote to their commonwealth’s chief voting overseer seeking assurance that laws governing undated absentee ballots will be followed. 

The letter from Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward (R-Greensburg) and Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) goes on to urge acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman (D) to follow official procedure on other electoral matters as well. 

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Barriers Mean Pennsylvania Parents Can’t Easily Switch from One Public School to Another

The Center Square

In Pennsylvania, like much of America, parents will struggle if they want to transfer their children from one public school to another.

In a new policy brief, the Reason Foundation found that only 11 states have mandatory open enrollment laws to let parents transfer children to another public school. Furthermore, if families do switch schools, 26 states let public schools charge tuition for transfer students, making it harder for poorer families to choose a different school.

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Judge Allows Lawsuit Against Pennsylvania School’s Transgender Lessons to Proceed

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In Pennsylvania, a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by a group of parents against a school for allegedly teaching transgenderism to first-grade students will be allowed to proceed.

Fox News reports that in her ruling, U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti rejected a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed, determining that the parents in question had a right to allege that, if they are right in their accusations, their constitutional rights have been violated as a result of the school’s lesson.

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Richard Blumenthal Runs from Grading the Economy in Debate with Leora Levy, Says It’s ‘Ongoing,’ Can’t Give It a Grade ‘Midstream’

Susan Berry, PhD

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sidestepped giving the economy a letter grade during his only debate with Connecticut Republican Senate candidate Leora Levy Tuesday night, but when pressed to do so by the panelist, he responded the grade is “ongoing,” and “I don’t think that we can give it a grade midstream.”

Levy, however, plainly answered, “I would grade the economy ‘F.’”

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Fetterman’s Stroke Costs Him Seven Points in Polls

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Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who is running to be the state’s U.S. senator against Republican physician Mehmet Oz, may have lost up to 7% of voter support following a stroke he suffered earlier this year, according to a new survey by Suffolk University and USA Today.

The survey revealed that as many as 7% of respondents, who would have otherwise voted for Fetterman, are now supporting other candidates due to his stroke. Fetterman suffered the stroke in May, following his victory in the Democratic primary, and spent four months in recovery before returning to the campaign trail.

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Commentary: Early Vote Data Suggests Trouble for Dems in Pennsylvania

RealClearWire

Democrats are getting some warning signs in the mail. Voting data in the key states show that mail-in voting, which traditionally favors Democrats, is down. In-person voting, meanwhile, will likely continue to be dominated by Republicans.

Take, for example, my home state of Pennsylvania. In 2020, there were 1,564,483 ballots cast nine days out from Election Day. As of Sunday, nine days out from the midterm election, there were only 777,309 ballots cast. That’s a drop of more than half. And it is even steeper for traditionally Democratic voting groups like black voters. In 2020, approximately 147,539 black Pennsylvanians had voted at this point; now, it’s only 47,830. 

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STAND America PAC Runs over 1,000 Ads Urging Black Voters to Abandon Democrats in the Midterm Elections

Susan Berry, PhD

A political action committee (PAC) associated with STAND America has purchased over 1,000 ads for U.S. Senate and House races on black radio stations to urge black voters to abandon the Democrat Party.

“Black and Latino voters are turning away from Democrats toward Republicans who share their commitment to faith, family, public safety and educational choice for their children,” Bishop E.W. Jackson, STAND America PAC (SAPAC) chairman, said in a press statement. “They are also feeling the ravages of inflation.” 

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decides Against Counting Undated Ballots

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court this week ordered counties to decline to count any absentee or mail-in ballot delivered in an undated envelope.

State law, which has permitted no-excuse absentee voting since 2020, requires those not voting in person to place their ballot into a secrecy envelope before placing it into a return envelope. Voter must sign and date that outer envelope for their ballot to be valid under state statute. 

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Labor Shortage Impacting Connecticut’s Economic Recovery

The Center Square

A labor shortage across Connecticut has caused issues as employers are having difficulty finding qualified job applicants, hampering efforts to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, one industry expert said.

Chris DePentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said in a statement the state has 41% more job openings than before the pandemic, but over that same period of time more than 45,000 people have left the workforce.

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Endorses Oz over Fetterman, GOP Senate Nominee Says Newspaper’s ‘Had Enough’

Just the News

Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz is touted an endorsement from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a major newspaper in the state whose readership is largely in Democratic opponent John Fetterman’s home county.

The editorial board of the Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania’s second-largest paper, questioned Fetterman’s capabilities in a Sunday opinion piece. The board said Fetterman’s “lack of transparency” following a serious stroke he suffered in May “suggests an impulse to conceal and a mistrust of the people.” The paper also said Fetterman’s “life experience and maturity are also concerns” as he has “lived off his family’s money for much of his life.”

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Poll: Republican Lee Zeldin Gains Lead In New York Governor’s Race

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Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, who is running for governor against Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul, has taken the lead in the race for the first time, per a new poll.

Zeldin currently has the support of 48.4% of respondents, compared to Hochul’s 47.6%, a lead of 0.8 points, according to the poll by The Trafalgar Group released Monday. Per RealClearPolitics, this is the first major poll that has shown a lead for Zeldin, a Long Islander representing New York’s 1st Congressional District.

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Government Unions, Progressive Donors Finance Assault on Pennsylvania’s Charter Schools

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Liberal groups aligned with the Washington consulting firm Arabella Advisors have spent over $1 million to support attacks on school choice in Pennsylvania, joining public employee unions that have pumped tens of thousands of dollars into targeting charter schools.

An organization called Education Voters of Pennsylvania has published a series of articles and reports critical of the state Legislature’s funding of charter schools in general and so-called cybercharter schools in particular.

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Commentary: Carbon County Could Hold the Key to PA-07

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This election is not only an important one but a costly one. It has been crisis after crisis under the Biden administration and Pennsylvanians are paying the price. As the crises continue to grow, Biden has become a drag on Democrats. Democrats like Susan Wild and John Fetterman are detached from Pennsylvanians and the issues that matter to families and business have fallen to the wayside under their leadership.

Gas prices and energy costs are crippling Pennsylvania families. This year as a country, we surpassed the highest recorded average gas price ever and those that heat their homes with oil are facing serious cost increases that are a direct result of the Biden-Democrat agenda.

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Mehmet Oz Commentary: My Plan to Fix Crime in Philadelphia and Across the Commonwealth

RealClearWire

Much like the inflation crisis created by misguided economic policies, violent crime is running rampant nationwide. Here in Philadelphia, over 400 homicides and 1,000 carjackings have already been reported thus far in 2022 – and those figures are not unique among major cities. Thanks to progressive leaders who refuse to enforce the law, violent criminals are roaming free and American families are left to feel unsafe.

Just last week, Philadelphia’s “Conviction Integrity Unit” earned the praise of John Fetterman. This misguided program, implemented by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, allowed a convicted murderer to be back on the street, and last week he was arrested again for involvement in a second murder. Allowing violent criminals to be let out of prison is a deadly consequence of the soft-on-crime policies that John Fetterman supports.

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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Seek Audit of Taxpayer-Supported Baseball Parks’ Rental Payments

Bradley Vasoli

Two Pennsylvania state representatives this weekend proposed an audit of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh’s major-league sports teams’ rental payments for their stadiums. 

Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and PNC Park in Pittsburgh were among several stadiums benefiting from the Capital Facilities Debt Enabling Act of 1999, whereby the commonwealth would pour $320 million into the construction of new sports buildings. The arrangement entailed each arena paying $25 million in rent to the state every decade minus some deductions based on tax revenues the stadiums brought into government coffers. 

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Taxpayers Have Tab for Estimated $2 Billion After ‘Reckless Policy Changes’ in Pennsylvania Medicaid

The Center Square

In Pennsylvania, Medicaid eligibility has expanded at the same time that officials have suspended verification. The result is that costs have gone up — along with the number of people getting benefits while not legally qualifying for them.

So explains a new report from the Commonwealth Foundation on Pennsylvania’s “Wayward Welfare State.”

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Election Integrity Storm Brewing in Pennsylvania: Over 250K Ballots Sent to Voters with Unverified I.D.

Just the News

More than 250,000 ballots have been mailed to Pennsylvania voters without their identities being verified, according to state data collected by election integrity group Verity Vote.

On Tuesday, 15 Pennsylvania state legislators sent a letter to acting Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Leigh Chapman regarding unverified ballots sent to voters. As of Thursday, state data show that more than 250,000 ballots have been mailed to voters without verifying their identification.

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Suspended Vermont Student and Coach Father Sue School District for Retaliating After Complaint About Biological Male in Girls’ Locker Room

Susan Berry, PhD

A Vermont high school volleyball player who was suspended from school and her father, the team’s coach, who was suspended from his job, are suing the school district for retaliating against them following their complaint about the policy that allows biological males in the girls’ team locker room.

Blake Allen, 14, a student at Randolph Union Middle School, and her father, Travis Allen, who coaches his daughter’s volleyball team, spoke out against a biological male, claiming to be female, being allowed in the girls’ team locker room while they were changing. Now, the family is suing the school district after Blake was suspended and Travis was fired from his job, asserting the district retaliated against them, the Daily Signal reported Thursday.

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Articles of Impeachment Filed Against Philadelphia DA by Republican Officials

Just the News

Republicans in the Pennsylvania House have introduced articles of impeachment against Philadelphia’s district attorney Larry Krasner. 

The lawmakers introduced the measure Wednesday to impeach Kranser and said they might add days to the legislative session to complete the effort before the two-year legislative term expires next month, according to local TV station ABC6 News. 

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Obama Jumps into Pennsylvania Midterms After Fetterman’s Error-Filled Debate Performance

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Former President Barack Obama urged Pennsylvanians to vote for Democratic candidates in the November midterm elections during a campaign ad, just days after Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman struggled during his debate with Republican Mehmet Oz.

Obama told Pennsylvanians that their midterm vote would shape the future of American democracy and women’s abortion rights, according to the 15-second ad which was obtained by Axios. Obama’s efforts to ramp up support for the Democrats in Pennsylvania comes after most of the debate audience believed that Fetterman failed to win, according to a recent poll conducted by WXPI.

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Commentary: Fetterman’s Record in Braddock Is No Roadmap for Pennsylvania

RealClearWire

Aliquippa, Duquesne, Greenville, New Castle, and Rankin: western Pennsylvania has no shortage of economically distressed municipalities that seem to have been left by the wayside and forgotten. But the town of Braddock got something different: a political figure standing 6-foot-8, draped in gym shorts and a Carhartt hoodie. He promised to turn around a persistent economic depression, and he brought national media attention to the small town, which had seen a population decline from a peak of 20,000 in the 1920s to under 1,800.

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Pennsylvania GOP Prepares to Impeach Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner

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Republicans in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives are taking steps towards impeaching Larry Krasner, the far-left District Attorney of Philadelphia, due to his record of soft-on-crime policies that have made the city more dangerous.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, a group of Republicans in the lower house, led by State Representative Martina White (R-Penn.), filed articles of impeachment against Krasner on Wednesday. This comes after a bipartisan majority of the State House gave the House Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order the authority to investigate the causes of the rising crime wave in Philadelphia, and to propose solutions for solving the crisis.

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Connecticut Small Businesses Get $46.6 Million in Five-Year Plan

The Center Square

A five-year plan to invest in small businesses in Connecticut is now a reality.

Connecticut will invest $46.6 million in the coming years that will help small business expansion through assistance programs across the state. Nonprofit economic development groups will receive the state grants, authorized at a recent Bond Commission meeting, that will assist small businesses with formation, growth and innovation.

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Pennsylvania Business Leader Survey: Inflation Likely to Continue

Bradley Vasoli

Business leaders in Pennsylvania don’t see inflation subsiding in the near future, according to a survey released this week by the Harrisburg-based Lincoln Institute for Public Opinion & Research. 

A total of 212 businesses from across the Keystone State responded to the institute’s poll, with just over half of the respondents being business owners; 20 percent serving as either chief executive officer, head of finance or head of operations; and about a fifth serving as either state or local manager. 

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Connecticut GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Bob Stefanowski Vows to Reject COVID Shot Mandate for School Children

Susan Berry, PhD

Connecticut GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski said Thursday in a press statement that if he is elected Connecticut governor that the state would never mandate the COVID vaccine for “schoolchildren, public or private employees, or anyone else.”

“It’s time that we start allowing actual science — not political science — to inform how we approach public health decisions,” Stefanowski added. “I challenge Governor Lamont to make this same pledge to the people of our state.”

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