Category: The Northeast

State Representative Proposes Emergency Response Devices for Pennsylvania Schools

Bradley Vasoli

State Rep. Karen Boback (R-PA-Dallas) on Friday proposed legislation to equip Pennsylvania K-12 public schools with emergency response devices. 

The representative modeled her bill on “Alyssa’s Law,” named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who was killed in the mass shooting that occurred on February 14, 2018. Alyssa’s Law, which Florida, New York, New Jersey and Nebraska have already enacted, requires all elementary and secondary schools to install panic alarms which are connected to area law-enforcement agencies. 

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Commentary: The Real Job Crisis in Connecticut

Admin

The real crisis in the U.S. labor market is not, as we keep hearing, that there are not enough people who can work. The real crisis is all of the working-age people on the sidelines, not even looking for a job. Yes, the unemployment rate is low, but that statistic covers only people who have looked for a job in the last four weeks. The labor force participation rate, which measures the share of working-age people working or at least looking for work, shows a long-term decline, especially for men without a college degree. This is especially true in states like Connecticut. When able-bodied men are not even looking for work, a host of social problems ensue — from crime, to drug addiction, to family breakdown. 

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Commentary: GOP Establishment Dismisses Party’s Pennsylvania Voters

RealClearWire

In May, state Sen. Doug Mastriano won the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania – much to the consternation of his party. Many Republicans felt that Mastriano had no chance of winning because of the far-right positions he took in the primary and during his brief career as a state senator. They pointed out that Democrats had even spent money to help make Mastriano the nominee because he was such a weak candidate.

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State Representative Pushes to Constitutionally Eliminate Pennsylvania School Property Taxes

Bradley Vasoli

State Representative Frank Ryan (R-PA-Palmyra) this week proposed amending the Pennsylvania Constitution to eliminate the portion of property taxes collected by localities to fund public schools.

In February, Ryan sponsored another bill to abolish school property taxes by statute; that measure has yet to receive a vote in the House of Representatives Finance Committee. While enacting a statute requires majority assent of the House and Senate and the signature of the governor, amending the state Constitution requires House and Senate approval in two consecutive sessions. The policy would then go before Pennsylvania voters as a ballot question for approval or rejection and the governor would play no role in that process.

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Republicans Condemn FBI Seizure of Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry’s Phone

Bradley Vasoli

One day after the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach home on Monday, agents seized the cell phone belonging to U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA-10), eliciting outrage on his side of the political aisle.

The FBI has refused to comment on the investigation, leaving it presently uncertain what messages or other data the bureau seeks to obtain from the lawmaker’s device. Perry, who represents Harrisburg, York and surrounding communities, has been at odds with Congress’s Democratic majority and Joe Biden’s White House over investigations related to the January 6, 2021 riot and Capitol Building breach. The U.S. House select committee probing the event issued a subpoena to the congressman with which he declined to comply.

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More Funding Sought to Subsidize Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Purchases

The Center Square

The Pennsylvania Department of Health released its annual report on the state’s medical marijuana program and is asking for more funding to subsidize patients who can’t afford medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana has been legal since 2016 in Pennsylvania and is approved for residents of the commonwealth with a “serious medical condition” and who get certified by a doctor registered with the program.

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Pennsylvania House Republicans Want Education Secretary’s Gender Policy Reversed — or His Resignation

Bradley Vasoli

Twenty Republican members of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week called on acting Pennsylvania Education Secretary Eric Hagarty to reverse controversial state guidelines concerning schools’ treatment of sex and gender. 

On a webpage titled “Creating Gender-Inclusive Schools and Classrooms,” the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) calls “binary gender,” e.g., the idea that gender and biological sex are properly denoted as either “male” or “female,” a “faulty concept.” The document also suggests that teachers host a “gender-neutral day” for students above the second grade wherein kids would identify ways in which they will eschew gender stereotypes on that day. Elsewhere, the guidance counsels teachers to ask a student his or her gender identity before assuming the right pronouns by which to call the child. 

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Pennsylvania Governor and Business Leaders Celebrate Corporate Tax Reduction

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania business advocates joined Governor Tom Wolf (D) at the York County Economic Alliance on Monday to welcome an upcoming change in tax policy championed by entrepreneurs across the commonwealth.

Via the new budget agreed to this summer by Wolf and the Republican-controlled General Assembly, Pennsylvania will begin a decade-long phased halving of its corporate net income tax (CNIT). Of the forty-four states with a business income tax, the size of the Keystone State’s current 9.99-percent rate is second only to New Jersey’s 11.5-percent tax. Besides these two states, only four others levy top business income tax rates that exceed nine percent.

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Pennsylvania House Democrat Introduces Bill to Create Gun Purchase Permits

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Representative Emily Kinkead (D-Pittsburgh) announced on Friday that she will sponsor a bill to require residents to obtain permits to buy guns. 

Her legislation is a companion to a Senate measure authored by Art Haywood (D-Philadelphia). The senator began touting his legislation the day after the May school shooting in Uvalde, TX in which an 18-year-old killed 19 children and two teachers. 

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Connecticut Will Use Federal Funds to Get People Back to Work

The Center Square

Connecticut is focusing on a workforce investment designed to place state residents from underserved communities into high-demand jobs.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday the state was awarded $23.9 million through the American Rescue Plan’s Good Jobs Challenge through the U.S. Department of Commerce. The funds will be invested into the Office of Workforce Strategy programs designed to place more than 2,000 residents into the workforce.

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Pittsburgh Loosens Residency Requirement for Firefighters

The Center Square

Union disputes in Pittsburgh over residency requirements for city workers have weakened requirements for police and firefighters to live in the city proper.

A policy brief from the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy detailed the shift away from residency requirements. Pittsburgh voters approved an amendment to the home rule charter in 2013 to require city residency for all municipal workers. However, a union grievance weakened that requirement for firefighters.

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Senators Introduce Pennsylvania Data Privacy Measure

Bradley Vasoli

Two Pennsylvania legislators this week proposed a law to protect consumers’ data from merchants who collect such information.

Authored by Senators Maria Collett (D-North Wales) and Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem), the bill would ensure Pennsylvania consumers are informed about what personal information businesses collect. The policy would also require disclosure of any entities to whom the data is being sold and allow customers to decline to have any of their information trafficked or utilized for profit. Selling the data of consumers under the age of 16 would be prohibited outright.

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Connecticut Making Investment in Sewer Pollution Prevention Projects

The Center Square

Preventing sewage pollution is the focus of a new investment in Connecticut.

Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, who will be challenged by Republican Bob Stefanowski in November’s general election, says the state is pledging $580 million to shovel-ready municipal water pollution control projects around the state. The investment is designed to cut down on sewage pollution in the state’s waters.

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After Pennsylvania Court Ruling on Absentee Voting, Republicans Renew Call for Reform

Bradley Vasoli

This week’s decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholding Act 77 which legalized no-excuse absentee voting in the Keystone State is spurring Republican lawmakers to renew their push for election reform. 

A Republican-led legislature passed and Democratic Governor Tom Wolf signed Act 77 three years ago. Moderate Democratic Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) initially drafted the bill to get rid of straight-party voting, a policy on which Republican legislators largely agreed with her. More Democrats came around to support the measure once a section was added allowing voters to cast mail-in ballots without providing a reason they could not come to the polls (i.e., illness, injury or travel). 

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Pennsylvania Department of Education Instructs Teachers to Host ‘Gender-Neutral Day’ with Southern Poverty Law Center Affiliate’s Resources

Susan Berry, PhD

The Pennsylvania Department of Education is encouraging teachers to host a “Gender-Neutral Day” for children with resources from the disgraced Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) Learning for Justice social justice education program.

The education department’s webpage titled “Gender/Gender Identity: Creating Gender-Inclusive Schools and Classrooms” contains a list of “Words You Should Know,” from “The Gender Spectrum,” which was published in 2013 by SPLC’s former Teaching Tolerance program.

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Mastriano Denounces Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Gender Policies

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) on Tuesday denounced guidelines the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has outlined for the treatment of controversial gender issues in public schools. 

The senator, who is running for governor against Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, particularly objected to recommendations that teachers consider utilizing nonconventional pronouns like “ne, ve, ze and xe” that some who claim to be neither male nor female have begun using to refer to themselves. Mastriano also criticized Governor Tom Wolf (D) and PDE for denying the link between biological sex and the gendered terms (i.e., male and female) that correspond to it. 

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Connecticut General Assembly Conservatives Want to Know Why Democrats Are ‘Erasing’ Records of Violent Criminals

Susan Berry, PhD

While the Connecticut General Assembly Conservative Caucus agrees, “Violent and threatening people should not possess firearms,” its members want to know why Governor Ned Lamont (D) and Democrat state lawmakers passed a law that is “automatically erasing many of the criminal convictions” that could now allow violent and threatening individuals to buy a gun.

In an op-ed published Friday at CT Examiner, the caucus members observed the hypocrisy of Connecticut Democrats crying out “something must be done” following the horrific shooting massacres that have recently plagued the nation, but then turning around to pass a law that automatically deletes many criminal convictions that would block a person from purchasing a gun.

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Pennsylvania Governor Promotes Abortion with Lawsuit and Executive Order

Bradley Vasoli

As the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania General Assembly advances a constitutional amendment to preserve its ability to restrict abortion, Governor Tom Wolf (D) is suing to defeat that amendment and taking executive action in favor of the practice. 

Keystone State governors typically don’t play a role in the constitutional-amendment process. If both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate pass an amendment in two consecutive sessions, the commonwealth submits the measure as a ballot question for voters to accept or reject at the ballot box. If a majority agrees to it, the amendment becomes law, with or without gubernatorial blessing. 

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Election 2022: Connecticut Primary Elections Set for August 9

The Center Square

Connecticut’s primary election election day is eight days away.

Voters will turn out to the polls on Tuesday, August 9 to set the general election ballot in November for attorney general, and one U.S. Senate seat and five seats in the U.S. House.

The primary for the governor’s race has been canceled since only one candidate from each major party is running. Democratic incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont will face Republican challenger Bob Stefanowski in November’s general election.

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Third Parties Merge in Pennsylvania, with Candidacies Potentially Coming Soon

Bradley Vasoli

As three national political third parties proceed with a merger they announced last week, several independent state-legislative candidates are seeking approval to run under the Forward Party banner in Pennsylvania.

The expanding centrist political organization includes the Forward Party, founded by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang; the Renew America Movement, founded by several former Republican public officials; and the Serve American Movement (SAM), currently led by former Republican Florida Congressman David Jolly. Yang and former Republican New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman will co-chair the newly consolidated party. 

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Federal Funding Kept Pittsburgh Transit Running During Pandemic

The Center Square

Pittsburgh Regional Transit agency’s annual increase in federal money in 2020 was nearly 75%, following similar trends in transit agencies across the country.

This financial support by the federal government was an important part of maintaining service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when ridership dropped significantly, according to the transit agency. 

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Pennsylvania Has More Teachers, Fewer Students, and There’s Still a Teacher Shortage

The Center Square

Teachers unions, public school officials and the Pennsylvania’s Department of Education say the state has a teacher shortage.

Data analyzed by The Center Square, however, shows there has been an increase in the number of teachers against a dropping enrollment. Still, the communications director for the Pennsylvania Department of Education explained how shortages do remain.

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Pennsylvania State-Related Universities Going Ahead with Tuition Hikes

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities are moving ahead with tuition increases in spite of Republican lawmakers’ exhortations that they freeze their prices. 

Earlier this week, state Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) sent a letter to the administrators of Temple University, Lincoln University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University to urge them not to further economically burden students or their families as inflation rages. Soon thereafter, GOP leaders of the state House of Representatives sent their own message to the four schools which operate independently but rely heavily on state funding.

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GOP Endorsed Candidate Themis Klarides Touts Stance as Pro-Abortion Career Politician in Connecticut Race to Beat Sen. Richard Blumenthal

Susan Berry, PhD

Former Connecticut state Representative Themis Klarides touted her 22 years as a state lawmaker and her support for abortion and gun control as she faced off against two conservative Republican candidates during a GOP primary debate for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by career Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Klarides’ liberal positions on several issues, portrayed as what is acceptable for Connecticut Republicans, clashed with those of Greenwich fundraiser and former trader Leora Levy and immigration attorney Peter Lumaj.

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Veteran-Benefit Bill That Would’ve Facilitated Miscellaneous Spending Blocked; Pennsylvania Senator Toomey Urges Refocusing It

Bradley Vasoli

On Wednesday, a U.S. Senate vote to proceed with veteran-benefits legislation failed to receive the 60 votes needed for cloture, as Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and other fiscal conservatives noted the PACT Act would have permitted up to $400 billion to be spent on unrelated programs.

Earlier this week, Toomey urged Senate colleagues to accept his proposed amendment to keep the bill focused entirely on aiding those who served in the Armed Forces.

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Mastriano to State-Related Universities: Ditch Tuition Hikes

Bradley Vasoli

State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) this week wrote to Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities to urge them to abandon their planned tuition increases and freeze in-state tuition in light of skyrocketing inflation.

The senator noted that the Keystone State’s Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget allots $600 million in total to Lincoln University, Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University. Those institutions are also getting $40 million in new discretionary funding from Gov. Tom Wolf (D). With such generous state subsidies, Mastriano reasoned, partially public universities should make every effort to avoid putting new pressures on students and their families.

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Bill to Mandate Human Trafficking Awareness Training in Lodging Introduced in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

State Sen. Judy Schwank (D-PA-Reading) announced on Monday she will introduce a bill mandating that Pennsylvania hotel and motel businesses train their workers in human-trafficking awareness. 

Human trafficking, an industry the International Labour Office believes to generate $150 billion each year, is a form of slavery whereby human beings are defrauded or coerced into servitude that is often sexual in nature. The U.S. Department of State estimates that about 25 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking. Of those, nearly a third are children or teenagers and roughly half are women. 

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Fetterman’s Anti-Fracking History a Vulnerability in Pennsylvania Senate Race

Bradley Vasoli

John Fetterman handily won campaigns for mayor of heavily Democratic Braddock, PA in the 2000s and 2010s and won two statewide Pennsylvania primaries, one for lieutenant governor in 2018 and another for U.S. senator this year. His history of opposing hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking” to extract natural gas didn’t burden him in those races. 

But now the Democratic lieutenant governor faces a general election for U.S. Senate against Republican celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz. And although Fetterman now says he does not support prohibiting fracking, his past support for a fracking ban promises to complicate his appeal to working Keystone Staters on whose livelihoods fossil-fuel development depends. 

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Connecticut Governor Signs Auto Theft Prevention Bill

The Center Square

Car thieves in Connecticut will be seeing a swifter response from law enforcement.

Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, up for reelection in the Aug. 9 primary, signed Public Act 22-115 into law this week. The measure updates criminal justice statutes in the state, while providing law enforcement and the courts to act quickly while more effectively responding to youth that are charged with repeated car theft violations.

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Federal Dollars Earmarked to Combat Connecticut Youth Substance Abuse

The Center Square

Federal funding to combat youth substance abuse is coming to Connecticut, U.S. Rep. John B. Larson says.

The veteran legislator announced the state has received $375,000 from the Drug-Free Community Support Program that will be used to assist three coalitions working to prevent substance abuse in Connecticut’s First District, serving Hartford, Litchfield and Middlesex counties.

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Proposal Would Bar Pennsylvania Counties That Ban Gas Drilling from Getting Gas Revenues

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Sen. Gen Yaw (R-Williamsport) this week announced he is authoring a bill to bar any county that bans natural-gas development on county-owned lands from getting certain natural-gas revenues. 

Specifically, Yaw’s proposal would prevent those jurisdictions from receiving allocations from the commonwealth’s gas-drilling impact fee, including any grants from the Marcellus Legacy Fund that finances regional environmental improvement projects. Revenues collected from the levy on companies extracting gas from the sedimentary rock known as Marcellus Shale totaled $234.4 million last year. The fee has brought nearly $2.3 billion into the state Treasury over the last decade.

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Connecticut Attorney General Reaches $1.8 Million Settlement with Eversource

The Center Square

A settlement has been reached with one public utility company, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said.

The state’s top law enforcement official announced a $1.8 million settlement has been reached with Eversource over the company’s alleged false and deceptive high-pressure tactics that were used to try to and encourage people to convert to natural gas.

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New Report: Pennsylvania Suffers from ‘Myriad of Election Issues’

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania House State Government Committee Chairman Seth Grove (R-York) released a report Tuesday detailing “a myriad of election issues” in the Keystone State. 

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol Building, Grove reviewed his findings, including inconsistent vote-counting rules, ballot harvesting, fraud and administrative errors. The new report is the third he has issued concerning election problems since November 2020. 

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Campus Group in Pennsylvania Calls Surprise $1,800 Security Fee ‘Unfair and Irresponsible’

Admin

After an April 27 event held by the pro-free speech group Uncensored America at Pennsylvania State University, the campus group was hit with more than $1,800 in security fees from the school.

The event was a debate on the topic ‘Ukraine is Evil’, featuring Elijah Schaffer, a reporter for Blaze Media, and Steven “Destiny” Bonnell, a political YouTuber.

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Tennessee U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn Endorses Connecticut Republican Leora Levy for U.S. Senate

Susan Berry, PhD

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has endorsed Connecticut Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, Leora Levy.

“I am excited to endorse Leora Levy to be Connecticut’s next United States Senator,” Blackburn posted to social media. “She is a barrier breaking woman and the clear conservative choice to help us FIRE Democrats this November.”

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