Category: The Northeast

Democrats Propose Strengthening Pennsylvania’s Price-Gouging Act Despite Economists Pointing to Unintended Consequences

Bradley Vasoli

State Senator Katie Muth (D-PA-Royersford) announced this week she will introduce legislation to toughen Pennsylvania’s anti-price-gouging law despite economists’ general skepticism about such efforts.

As currently written, the state’s 2006 Price Gouging Act prohibits any entity “within the chain of distribution of consumer goods or services” to sell those products at “an unconscionably excessive price” during an official “state of disaster emergency” or 30 days thereafter. The law defines such a price as “an amount equal to or in excess of 20% of the average price” in the affected region before the emergency declaration.

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Connecticut Parent Leader: Superintendent’s Support for Teacher Who Introduced Woke Worksheet ‘Slap in the Face to Parents’

Susan Berry, PhD

A leader of Southington, Connecticut’s Families for Freedom organization told The Connecticut Star she views the district superintendent’s support for a teacher who introduced a vocabulary worksheet for high school students, instructing them in the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender ideology, a “slap in the face to parents.”

“We are going to be pushing for policy change because it was clear that this teacher taught outside the curriculum,” said Susan Zabohonski during a telephone interview. “Taught a biased paper without following the proper procedure. Yet, the superintendent said he’s still going to back this teacher and all teachers going forward.”

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Pittsburgh Schools to Partner with Nonprofit with Ties to Obamas on Student-Led Voting Initiative

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Pittsburgh Public Schools is looking to partner with a nonprofit headed by high-level former Obama administration officials to implement a program created by former First Lady Michelle Obama to get students involved in political activities, including voter registration drives.

A critic of the partnership said schools should focus on improving lagging performance, not indoctrinating students.

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Yale University Set to Research $1 Million Project to Combat Racist Hair in Video Game

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Yale University’s Computer Science Department recently announced a $1 million donation given to them from the Bungie Foundation for a research project that fights against racist hair graphics in video games.

“It is widely assumed that the algorithms used to generate virtual humans are based in biological underpinnings that accurately reflect all races and ethnicities,” the announcement reads. “In reality, however, these algorithms are deeply biased and based on predominantly European features.”

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Mastriano Condemns FBI Raid of Pennsylvania Pro-Life Activist

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano this weekend condemned the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s raid and arrest of Bucks County resident Mark Houck, a prominent pro-life activist. 

According to a LifeSiteNews.com report citing Houck’s wife Ryan-Marie’s firsthand reaction to the SWAT team’s Friday-morning visit to the home where the two live with their seven children, between 25 and 30 armed agents arriving in approximately 15 vehicles surrounded the house. 

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Democratic Judge Questions Differing Ballot-Curing Rules Across Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

As political-party attorneys and the state of Pennsylvania argued over “curing” election ballots on Thursday, the Democratic judge hearing the case suggested that differing county rules could undermine confidence in election integrity.

Judge Ellen Ceisler, one of two Democrats on the seven-member Commonwealth Court, conducted the hearing in which Republican Party lawyers pressed their case against Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman (D). Per litigation filed three weeks ago, the plaintiffs contended that the court should not permit the secretary to let counties notify absentee or mail-in voters that their ballots contain mistakes that can supposedly be corrected or “cured.” 

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New York City Education Department Fires 850 More Teachers for Refusing COVID Vaccine

Susan Berry, PhD

The New York City Department of Education has fired another 850 teachers and aides for refusing to comply with its COVID vaccine mandate, bringing the total number of school staff terminated over the mRNA shots that have not prevented the spread of infection to 2,000.

Some 1,300 department employees agreed to comply with the vaccine mandate by September 5 after taking a year of unpaid leave with benefits, the New York Post reported. The department informed personnel they would have to be vaccinated by that date or be “deemed to have voluntarily resigned.”

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Fetterman Being Outspent by Oz as Polls Show Narrowing Race

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Allies of Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania have dramatically increased their funding for his candidacy in the state, with new polls released Tuesday suggesting that their contributions are impacting the race.

John Fetterman currently leads Oz by under 2%, gaining 47.7% of the vote to Oz’s 45.9%, per a September poll by the Trafalgar Group – within the margin of error of 2.9%. In July, the same poll showed Fetterman leading Oz by 5%, outside the margin of error.

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Pro-Lifers Pleased with Enthusiasm at Second Annual Pennsylvania March for Life

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvanians who support legal protections for innocent life including the unborn resoundingly celebrated the enthused showing at Monday’s Pennsylvania March for Life in Harrisburg, the Keystone State’s second such annual event.

Thousands of residents marched to the Capitol Building in support of legislation to prevent abortion, an issue that has seen a resurgence of interest since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide was nullified earlier this year. Pro-abortion activists held their own rally for Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s gubernatorial candidacy the day afterward, drawing few attendees.

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Fetterman Campaign Says Nominee’s Calls to ‘Free’ Second-Degree Murderers ‘Taken Out of Context’

Just the News

The campaign for Pennsylvania Democrat Senate nominee John Fetterman on Tuesday walked back the candidate’s apparent call to release all second-degree murderers with life sentences. 

A spokesperson for Fetterman’s campaign told Fox News that the lieutenant governor’s comments “are being taken out of context,” and the nominee does not support freeing all convicts serving life without parole for second-degree murder.

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Connecticut Residents Push Back Against Move to Expand ‘Section 8’ Affordable Housing

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As Connecticut has the sixth-highest median monthly housing costs, some residents and lawmakers are fiercely pursuing measures to prevent developers from building affordable housing units in their towns.

Renee Dobos, chief executive officer of Connecticut Housing Partners, told The Center Square that more than 30 years ago the General Assembly recognized steps should be taken to lead towns to recognize they have a responsibility to make housing affordable to essential workers, senior citizens, and a wide variety of others with diverse incomes.

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Legislators Propose Bill to Help Residents Recycle Electronic Devices in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Two Pennsylvania legislators on Friday proposed imposing an “eco-fee” on purchases of electronic devices in the Keystone State to fund recycling of those items.

In 2010, the commonwealth adopted the Covered Device Recycling Act (CDRA) to facilitate manufacturer- and retailer-based recycling of such devices as laptops, desktop computers, monitors, televisions, printers and keyboards. These objects become hazardous if improperly discarded because they often contain mercury, cadmium, lead and other poisonous metals. 

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Commentary: John Fetterman’s Progressive Fantasy Campaign

RealClearWire

In recent years, Americans have heard some new theories about the world from progressive activists and academics. First, that “your truth” is what matters, not the truth; you can be whoever you say you are. Second, that there is no need to debate “the other side” or confront its ideas. And third, that using the language of the oppressed – no matter how privileged you are yourself – means that you don’t need to listen or think about what would really help people.

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Pennsylvania’s Approach to Sealing Criminal Convictions Could Go National

The Center Square

Criminal justice reform that started in Pennsylvania to clear previous convictions may become the standard in federal law.

Two criminal justice reform bills, the Clean Slate Act and the Fresh Start Act, would “enable people with federal arrest and conviction records to petition to clear those records and support increased access to automatic record sealing for eligible offenses at the federal and state levels,” as described in a news release from the Clean Slate Initiative, a pro-reform group.

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Pennsylvania House Committee to Investigate ‘Ghost Flights’

Bradley Vasoli

A Pennsylvania House committee announced this week it will investigate cases of “ghost flights” of illegal immigrants, possibly including children, that reportedly landed in the Keystone State.

The state House Government Oversight Committee accepted a referral from House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Quarryville) and Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Bellefonte) which voiced concern about media accounts of nighttime air delivery of persons who unlawfully entered the United States. Cutler and Benninghoff observed that whistleblowers have suggested these flights into the commonwealth’s northeastern region, allegedly chartered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), contain minors as well as adults. The individuals were reported to have been driven out of state after arriving.

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Won’t Fast-Track Hearing for Proposed Abortion Amendment

Bradley Vasoli

Pro-lifers and scored a momentary win this week as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided against bypassing the Commonwealth Court and hearing a case against a proposed constitutional amendment. 

The Pennsylvania Family Institute and the Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia were among organizations that filed amicus briefs with the majority-Democrat Supreme Court urging it to make Governor Tom Wolf (D) first take his case to the Republican-controlled lower court. In that forum, judges will rule on the validity of a proposed amendment stating that the commonwealth does not confer a constitutional right to abortion.

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Pennsylvania House Votes Overwhelmingly to Hold Krasner in Contempt

Bradley Vasoli

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 162 to 38 on Tuesday to hold Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) in contempt for failing to comply with a committee subpoena. 

The vote came just hours after Pennsylvania’s House Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order voted to recommend holding Krasner in contempt. Panel members have asked the prosecutor’s office to provide them with various documents including grand-jury records concerning the upcoming homicide trial of former police officer Ryan Pownall who shot and killed 30-year-old illegal-firearm carrier David Jones during a foot chase in 2018. Krasner balked at the committee’s request and is suing in Commonwealth Court to nullify it. 

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Connecticut High School English Teacher’s Woke Worksheet Draws Outrage

Susan Berry, PhD

A Southington High School English teacher’s student worksheet that defined terms often associated with the concepts of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and radical gender theory drew anger from parents, students, board of education officials, and members of the community.

School board members said they were unaware of the three-page worksheet packet until they read about it on social media.

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Election Integrity Measures Advance in Pennsylvania

The Center Square

A trio of bills are working their way through the Legislature to enhance the security of election ballots and remove deceased residents from the voter rolls. 

The House State Government Committee met on Monday to vote on House Bill 34, House Bill 143, and House Bill 2484, advancing all three of them past first consideration. The bills will need to get through three considerations before a final vote can be held.

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Connecticut AG Threatens Project Veritas with Subpoena over Video Exposé of Public School Hirings

Just the News

Project Veritas, the investigative journalism group, was put on notice by the state of Connecticut with a records hold request and an indication of potential subpoenas coming their way as part of an investigation into discriminatory hiring practices at Greenwich Public Schools.

Veritas in late August published a secretly recorded interview with Cos Cob Elementary School Assistant Principal Jeremy Boland in which he appeared to admit to discriminatory hiring practices against Catholics and conservatives.

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Counties in Ohio, Tennessee, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and More Flooded with Requests for 2020 Election Records as Mandatory Preservation Window Expires

Just the News

With the recent expiration of the federally mandated 2-year window for preservation of 2020 presidential election records, counties across the country have been inundated with public records requests from Americans concerned about election integrity.

During his “Moment of Truth Summit” last month spotlighting 2020 presidential election irregularities, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell exhorted “every single person in the country” to ask for cast vote records from the election from their local county clerk’s office. His website links to the Ordros Analytics, Inc., website, which provides templates of public records requests for cast vote records.

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Pennsylvania Turnpike: More Debt than the State, with Toll Increases Likely

The Center Square

The auditor general noted “growing financial issues” with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the news is not good for drivers who pay tolls.

“Today, the Pennsylvania Turnpike has more debt than the entire state government of Pennsylvania, and the only way to pay it is to raise tolls,” Auditor General Timothy DeFoor said in a press release. “This is an unsustainable situation which highlights the need for innovative ideas and different solutions to rectify an issue that is decades in the making.”

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Connecticut Program Up for National Award

The Center Square

A Connecticut family-based program has been nominated for a national award.

Care 4 Kids Parent Portal has been named for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers as a finalist in the 2022 State IT Recognition Awards, Gov. Ned Lamont said. The program, run through the office of Early Childhood, was created in 2021 to give low- to -moderate-income families a subsidy to pay for child care.

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Pennsylvania Counties Take the Lead in Spending Opioid Settlement Dollars

The Center Square

Pennsylvania is set to spend $1 billion from the National Opioid Settlement – and the focus is on the county level.

Pennsylvania’s share of the $26 billion settlement will be divvied up so that 70% goes to counties, 15% is appropriated by the General Assembly, and 15% goes to counties involved in the opioid litigation, subdivisions, district attorneys, and special districts.

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Connecticut GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Bob Stefanowski Announces ‘Parental Bill of Rights’

Susan Berry, PhD

Connecticut Republican candidate for governor Bob Stefanowski announced a “Parental Bill of Rights” that seeks to empower the state’s parents to make education and healthcare decisions for their children.

“During the last several years, the pendulum has swung too far against the rights of parents and their ability to make critical decisions for their children in terms of education, healthcare, and the teaching of moral values they hold dear,” Stefanowski said Tuesday. “As Governor, I am going to reverse that trend and restore parental rights in a significant and meaningful way.”

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Commentary: Pennsylvania’s Utility Disconnections Spike Amid Energy Affordability Crisis

Admin

Pennsylvania earned a dubious distinction recently that underscores the economic pain wreaking havoc statewide for millions of residents struggling to make ends meet.

We, along with four other states, account for 69% of all 3.6 million utility disconnections between January 2020 and December 2021, according to a report from the Center for Biological Diversity. 

It gets worse.

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Pennsylvania State Representative Proposes Bill to Lighten Businesses’ Unemployment Obligations

Bradley Vasoli

State Representative Tim Twardzik (R-PA-Frackville) this week proposed legislation to lighten the burden of unemployment compensation (UC) on businesses that have seen major rate increases since COVID-19 hit in 2020. 

Twardzik indicated his bill will be similar to legislation that state Senator David Argall (R-PA-Mahanoy City) has introduced in his chamber. 

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Lawsuit Alleges Students Were Bullied in Connecticut School District for Their Political Beliefs

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by Reagan Reese   Parents of a Connecticut school district are suing over a school policy which has led to their students being bullied because of their political beliefs. The lawsuit filed Wednesday to the U.S. District Court against Board of Education at Guilford Public Schools in Guilford, Connecticut, alleges that a school policy implemented in 2020 has encouraged bullying and “racial discrimination.” Because of the school policy, the lawsuit alleges that the parent’s children in the school district have been “bullied” and “harassed” over their political beliefs. The school allegedly announced a new training for educators in 2020 that focused on “race, racism, justice, equity and identity” and required educators to read Ibram X. Kendi’s book “How To Be An Anti-Racist,” the lawsuit states. The teachers were allegedly advised to assign the book to students as a part of their curriculum. The parents spoke out about the curriculum, which they believe led to their children being bullied for their own political beliefs, the lawsuit alleged. One student in middle school was allegedly disciplined by an administrator who cited his mother’s political views as the reason for punishment. The middle schooler was allegedly stabbed with a pencil by a peer, causing him to bleed, and was…

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Fetterman Agrees to One Debate with Oz in Pennsylvania Senate Contest

Just the News

Pennsylvania Democrat Senate nominee John Fetterman has agreed to one debate with GOP rival Dr. Mehmet Oz, amid efforts to recover from a mid-May stroke, in a key general election race that will help determine whose political party will next control the Senate.

“We’re absolutely going to debate Dr. Oz, and that was really always our intent to do that,” Fetterman told the news outlet Politico on Wednesday. “It was just simply only ever been about addressing some of the lingering issues of the stroke, the auditory processing, and we’re going to be able to work that out.”

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Commentary: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate Candidate John Fetterman Is Soft on Crime

RealClearWire

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, maintains that he agrees with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a socialist, on “virtually every issue.” Sanders, in turn, has endorsed Fetterman and appeared at events with him. But if Fetterman is taking his economic advice from the Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, where is he getting counsel on dealing with violent crime? Sadly for Pennsylvania voters, Fetterman seems to be taking his lead from the City of Brotherly Love’s Larry Krasner, district attorney of Philadelphia.

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Lack of Affordable Housing Remains a Problem in Pennsylvania

The Center Square

Housing shortages and rising rents are a national problem, and the process for building more housing, especially affordable housing, is only one of many barriers.

In Pennsylvania, rents have increased mainly in the southeast and central parts of the state. As The Center Square previously reported, a report from pro-housing group Up for Growth estimated Pennsylvania has underproduced 98,000 units of housing. Statewide, rents increased by 14% from 2020 to 2021.

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Connecticut Task Force Begins Examining Early Childhood Workforce Concerns

The Center Square

Licensure requirements, professional development opportunities and employment compensation are among some of the weighty issues a new Connecticut task force will delve into in the coming months.

The state’s Early Childhood Workforce Development Task Force held its first monthly meeting recently and began laying the groundwork for its deep-dive conversations in the coming months.

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Commentary: For Pennsylvania Families, the Midterms Can’t Come Fast Enough

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The critical midterm election is in less than 70 days, but it can’t come soon enough for Keystone State families being crushed under the weight of failed Democrat policies. Reckless spending by Democrats in Washington has driven us into a recession and burdensome policies by Tom Wolf, John Fetterman, and Josh Shapiro have left Pennsylvania with high unemployment and shuttered small businesses. As State Treasurer, I know the importance of fiscal responsibility. I oversee an office of more than 300 employees and am tasked with protecting more than $150 billion in state assets. As a Pennsylvanian living in Joe Biden’s economy, I know firsthand the consequences of reckless spending and see the painful impact on every town in the commonwealth.

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Pennsylvania Senate Bill Proposed to Address First-Responder Shortage

Bradley Vasoli

State Senator Michele Brooks (R-PA-Greenville) is encouraging colleagues to back two upcoming bills she proposes to allay shortages of first responders in Pennsylvania. 

The first piece of legislation concerns insufficiencies among volunteer-firefighter companies. In a memorandum to fellow senators asking them to cosponsor her bills, the senator noted that certain professionals including corrections officers undergo rudimentary training in fire suppression. Nonetheless, that instruction does not yet count toward the over 200 training hours that aspiring volunteer firefighters must acquire in order to qualify. Brooks’s bill would make workers’ basic-firefighting lessons applicable to those seeking to join local fire departments. 

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Yale University Recieves $1 Million to Conduct Study on ‘Racism’ of Video Game Characters’ Hair

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The Ivy League university at Yale was recently gifted $1 million by a nonprofit group to carry out a study for the purpose of drawing a connection between racism and the hair colors of video game characters.

As reported by the Daily Caller, the study will be lead by Professor Theodore Kim, and will seek to “develop new tools and algorithms to bring inclusivity to the digital screen,” as stated in a press release by Yale. The statement went on to add, with no evidence, that video game algorithms are “deeply biased” and favor “predominantly European features” whenever creating a player’s in-game avatar.

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Major Pennsylvania Newspaper Says Fetterman’s Stroke ‘Raises Serious Concerns’ About His Ability to Serve

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A major newspaper in Pennsylvania questioned Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s ability to serve in the Senate in a Tuesday editorial after he declined another debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz.

“Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman has not fully recovered from the serious stroke he suffered in May,” the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said. “His campaign has acknowledged his obvious struggles with ‘auditory processing’ and speech, but the persistence of those struggles has contrasted with the campaign’s rosier predictions of a return to the rigors of campaigning, including debating his opponent, Mehmet Oz.”

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New Hampshire Community in Turmoil as Political Activist LGBTQ Organization Scheduled to Conduct Teacher Training

Susan Berry, PhD

The firestorm in New Hampshire School Administrative Unit (SAU) 21 is continuing over a scheduled teacher training September 13 by political activist LGBTQ organization Seacoast Outright, which also stands with Black Lives Matter.

“In SAU21, the upcoming teacher training on September 13th has caused political factions to argue against each other,” wrote education researcher and parental rights advocate Ann Marie Banfield at Granite Grok Friday.

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