Connecticut’s top law enforcement official said Friday he would sue to prevent a nationwide ban on abortions.
Attorney General William Tong said following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 landmark decision that prevented states from banning abortions, that if Congress tries to invoke legislation that would ban abortions across the nation, he would be the first to take court action.
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A Pennsylvania Senate panel this week passed a measure sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) to strengthen the commonwealth’s tracking of overdoses.
All Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee supported the bill. It awaits consideration of the state House of Representatives.
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A $1.25 million multistate settlement has been reached in a data breach case, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said.
Connecticut is one of 45 states named in the settlement against Florida-based Carnival Cruise lines. The case was filed after a 2019 data breach revealed personal information for 180,000 Carnival employees and customers across the country.
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LEGO Group’s decision to spend $1 billion to build a new factory near Richmond, Virginia, has led economy and industry experts to raise questions about the status of the Denmark company’s Connecticut headquarters.
The global toymaker announced at a press conference with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) its plans to build a new factory in Chesterfield, a move that would expand its production in the United States and create about 1,760 new jobs.
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Pennsylvania’s House State Government Committee on Wednesday passed a Senate bill to move the state’s presidential primary date and another measure to allow out-of-county poll watchers.
The first of the two bills was sponsored by Sen. John Gordner (R-Bloomsburg) and passed his chamber unanimously last December. And yet only two of the House panel’s 10 Democrats, Kristine Howard (D-Malvern) and Ben Sanchez (D-Abington), backed the legislation during Wednesday’s vote.
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John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, was endorsed by the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) and the National Education Association (NEA).
The top teachers’ union backed the Democrat, saying he is “exactly the kind of leader” they need in the nation’s capital.
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Comparing urban areas across America, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have struggled to recover since the pandemic, showing lackluster economic performance with job levels still below pre-pandemic times.
That performance puts Pennsylvania’s two biggest cities about average in America, according to an analysis from the Brookings Institution on urban economic recovery since COVID-19.
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John Toomey, flanked by other relatives of slain Philadelphians as well as state lawmakers at the Pennsylvania Capitol Building in Harrisburg on Tuesday, tearfully discussed the fate that befell his 15-year-old son Sean. Many who gathered near him showed similar anguish as they listened.
Toomey and dozens of his fellow bereaved Philadelphians convened at the legislative building’s front lobby to condemn the performance of District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) since he became the city’s top prosecutor in 2018.
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Residents are being advised to research solar companies before entering into contracts, Attorney General William Tong said.
The state’s top law enforcement official and Michelle Seagull, commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection, are warning Connecticut homeowners who are interested in installing solar panels on their property to perform research and be cognizant of misleading marketing and high-pressure sales tactics.
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Philadelphia has one of the worst city tax burdens in America, and voters aren’t pleased. It will also be a struggle for city leaders to find a politically popular solution.
A poll from the Pew Charitable Trusts found that Philadelphians have become more opposed to taxes, but an anti-tax revolt isn’t brewing in the city either.
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A bill to create a performance-based funding incentive for three public universities passed the Pennsylvania House Education Committee on Monday, with all 15 Republicans supportive and all 10 Democrats opposed.
Beginning in Fiscal Year 2023-24, the bill would apply to Pennsylvania State University, Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh, three of Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities. (The fourth, Lincoln University, is a historically black institution that relies primarily on commonwealth funding.)
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A bishop has revoked the “Catholic” status of a Jesuit middle school in Worcester, Massachusetts, for defying his order to stop flying flags supporting the LGBTQ “pride” and Black Lives Matter (BLM) movements.
“The Nativity School of Worcester is prohibited from this time forward from identifying itself as a ‘Catholic’ school and may no longer use the title ‘Catholic’ to describe itself,” Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester announced in a decree Thursday.
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State Sen. David Argall (R-PA-Mahanoy City) last week proposed a rule that Pennsylvania’s statewide elected officials must disclose urgent medical conditions to the governor and legislative leaders.
He indirectly mentioned the most recent example of a statewide elected official who apparently neglected to disclose a life-threatening condition: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D). Now a candidate for the U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Republican Pat Toomey, Fetterman suffered a stroke four days before the May 17 primary.
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A new law in Pennsylvania makes it easier for foreign nurses to get certified in the state, expanding the potential pool of health-care workers as the state confronts a nursing shortage.
Act 22 updates nursing license requirements by allowing the State Board of Nursing to approve graduates of international nursing programs to sit for the registered nursing examination. So long as the education they received outside the United States meets the state board’s standards, graduates can get licensed much quicker than before.
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Greater safeguards to personal data are the focus of legislation that has now become law in Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont said.
The governor announced Public Act 22-15 has been signed. The legislation creates a comprehensive set of protections designed to help consumers by creating a stronger ability to safeguard personal data that is collected with online businesses.
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The attorney general’s office has charged eight Philadelphia municipal workers, alleging they claimed more than $300,000 in pandemic-related unemployment funds.
Thanks to a referral from Philadelphia’s Office of Inspector General, the eight were found to have received payments from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program while still on city payroll. Each worker received between $20,000 and $60,000 in PUA benefits.
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The pandemic has not been kind to Pennsylvania higher education: Its colleges have seen a 6.4% enrollment drop for freshmen since spring 2020.
The data, from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, is a reminder that Pennsylvania’s shrinking population of college-aged youth has made it harder for colleges to fill seats. The two-year decline means that 22,738 fewer students are on campuses now.
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Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) on Thursday announced he will soon introduce legislation to strengthen penalties for fentanyl pushers whose sales result in deadly overdoses.
The senator is naming his measure “Tyler’s Law” after Tyler Shanafelter, an 18-year-old constituent who bought what he believed was Percocet but turned out to have acquired a fentanyl-laced product. The young man fatally overdosed.
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A new tax will be hitting certain drivers in Connecticut, as the state’s tax commissioner announced an increase of the state’s diesel tax.
According to an announcement from the office, the rate will increase from 40 cents to 49 cents—a 23 percent increase for consumers.
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Republicans very recently used to dominate the locale composing much of Pennsylvania’s Fifth Congressional District. Geographically overlapping with much of the erstwhile Seventh District (nixed four years ago by the state Supreme Court), the Delaware-County-based territory had Republican Pat Meehan as its U.S. representative from 2011 to 2018. Before Meehan’s predecessor Joe Sestak (D) won the seat for two two-year terms, GOP Congressman Curt Weldon held it for two decades.
The district today is, well, different: Republicans’ old stronghold of Delaware County has flipped Democratic (though the GOP still fares well in some municipalities). And anyone waging a general-election campaign against Democratic Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon must also make inroads in south Philadelphia, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, Narberth, Bridgeport and Norristown — all places where “blue” voters have long outnumbered “red” ones.
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Pennsylvania’s above-estimate tax revenues have been a boon for its public education system – per-pupil spending hit an all-time high, according to an analysis from the Commonwealth Foundation.
In 2020-21, school district spending per student reached $19,900, new data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education noted.
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A new Connecticut program that aids residents with down payment assistance for home purchases is now open, Gov. Ned Lamont said.
The governor announced the Time to Own program offering down payment assistance to low- and moderate-income homebuyers is now accepting applications. The program is funded with $20 million the State Bond Commissioner allocated in December 2021 to help families purchase homes.
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State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) asked colleagues Tuesday to co-sponsor a bill he plans to introduce to let teachers carry guns in Pennsylvania schools.
Under the proposal, teachers who hold concealed carry permits may be armed on school property provided they complete “a rigorous firearms course from a certified instructor.” Similar measures are now in effect in 28 states.
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Since the pandemic hit and government relief attempted to ease the pain of economic shutdowns, concerns of taxpayer money being wasted or fraudulently obtained has been a pressing issue.
In Pennsylvania, the state may see a special prosecutor appointed to focus on cases related to unemployment fraud.
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Parents and school district officials in Connecticut are considering hiring armed security guards in schools in the wake of the recent shooting massacre of 21 children and staff in Uvalde, Texas.
“We are proposing, due to our concerns over police response time, and I don’t say that as a fault to the police, that’s simply just a matter of reality that the police can’t get to a school immediately,” said Ian Neviaser, superintendent of Regional School District 18, Lyme-Old Lyme.
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Republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday circulated a memorandum seeking cosponsors for articles of impeachment for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D).
Reps. Josh Kail (R-Monaca), Torren Ecker (R-Abbottstown) and Tim O’Neal (R-Washington) wrote in their message to House colleagues that impeachment is a severe option that they would only initiate in the face of a prosecutor’s clear “dereliction of duty.” They charged Krasner with a “willful refusal to enforce Pennsylvania’s criminal laws” in Philadelphia.
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Pennsylvania’s Senate voted 30-20 last week to approve legislation banning biological males from competing in females’ school and college sports programs.
Sens. Judy Ward (R-Hollidaysburg) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-Jacobus) offered the measure so that female athletes need not compete against males who, they noted, have “distinct and meaningful physical advantages over women” including greater height, bone density, heart size and lung size.
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Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed SB 350 into law Friday which establishes Juneteenth Independence Day as an official, legal state holiday.
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While Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled General Assembly has been at odds with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on spending and budget priorities, both parties have shown bipartisan cooperation for billions in energy-related federal funds.
Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, along with Wolf, issued a letter lending their support for a hydrogen hub in the state that would “modernize our industrial and manufacturing base with less carbon intensive forms of energy,” according to the letter.
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College 529 savings plans are a common way to offer families tax breaks for higher education, but their benefits get heavily concentrated among the well-off.
The plans also may not be the best way to save money for the future, due to their high management fees.
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Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives Liquor Control Committee this week passed legislation to privatize liquor sales.
While the Republican-run General Assembly passed and Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed a 2016 measure allowing grocery stores to sell wine and liberalizing some other alcoholic-beverage regulations, the Keystone State remains among the most tightly controlled in terms of liquor distribution. The commonwealth owns 600 “Fine Wine & Good Spirits” stores which have sole permission to sell both wine and hard liquor; only Utah’s system is equally monopolistic.
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An advanced coatings manufacturer is undertaking an expansion project in Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont said.
The governor announced Element 119, which currently employs 14 people, plans to add an additional 36 workers over the next two years at its production facilities in Thomaston and Cheshire.
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Connecticut’s nine planning regions will now be used by the U.S. Census rather than traditional counties when the next decennial county rolls around, Gov. Ned Lamont said.
The governor announced the state has received approval of a request sent to the U.S. Census Bureau that will allow each planning region, represented by a Council of Government, to be used for tabulating and disseminating census data. The planning regions will be used as a county equivalent.
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Former Pennsylvania Congressman Michael “Ozzie” Myers pleaded guilty this week to an election-fraud scheme that spanned the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 elections.
Federal prosecutor Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that the 79-year-old ex-representative admitted to “conspiracy to deprive voters of civil rights, bribery, obstruction of justice, falsification of voting records and conspiring to illegally vote in a federal election.” He arranged to have ballots stuffed on behalf of Democratic candidates in two divisions of Philadelphia’s 39th Ward which is located in South Philadelphia East.
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Recent state audits have called attention to some Pennsylvania school districts’ lackadaisical controls that have made auditing how tens of millions of dollars were spent impossible.
The audits do not suggest any illegal activity, but poor compliance measures can hide how taxpayer dollars are being wasted or improperly spent.
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Pennsylvania’s state Senate passed legislation this week that would permit a Pennsylvania voter to serve as a poll watcher in an election precinct outside of his or her county.
Current law lets candidates and parties appoint poll watchers — volunteers who are often party committee members — to election precincts only in those watchers’ respective counties. State guidance allows these appointees to “make good-faith challenges” to an elector’s residence, identity or voting eligibility.
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Kathy Barnette, a Republican former U.S. Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, hinted on Monday at possibly supporting primary winner Mehmet Oz, something she previously refused to do.
An Army Reserve veteran, political commentator and former adjunct finance professor who lives in Huntingdon Valley — a Montgomery County town neighboring Bryn Athyn where Oz lives — Barnette earlier balked at voting for the celebrity surgeon. On Primary Election Day, May 17, the eventual third-place finisher declared she had “no intentions of supporting globalists,” referring to Oz and fellow top-tier candidate Dave McCormick.
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The Hartford Courant has reported recent polling shows the popularity of Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) – described as a “fixture” on television news programs – appears to be fading.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Blumenthal, 76, with his lowest job approval rating, 45-43 percent, since being elected to the U.S. Senate nearly 12 years ago.
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Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), a candidate for U.S. Senate, released a statement Friday indicating serious unaddressed health problems preceded the stroke he suffered in the days leading up to the May 17 primary.
Fetterman called the heart clot which caused the stroke “preventable,” as he recalled he should have heeded medical advice following a visit to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center East in 2017. He went to the hospital to have this then-swollen feet examined. After assessing Fetterman’s foot condition and vital signs cardiologist Ramesh R. Chandra diagnosed him with an irregular heartbeat, atrial fibrillation (which means the heart’s upper chambers beat inconsistently with the lower chambers) and a decreased heart pump.
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Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill (D) on Friday issued an opinion regarding a new statute that expands absentee voting, emphasizing that voters need not themselves be sick or away all day to vote by mail.
Merrill said she issued the interpretation to “more closely conform” the law, which Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed on April 8, to Article Sixth, Section 7 of the Connecticut Constitution which states, “In all elections of officers of the state, or members of the General Assembly, the votes of the electors shall be by ballot.”
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Gun violence erupted in one of Philadelphia’s most celebrated neighborhoods for nightlife on Saturday night, just a day after nine separate shootings in the City of Brotherly Love reportedly injured at least eight people and killed a pregnant woman.
Three are dead and 11 injured in multiple shootings on South Street around 11:30 pm despite a heavy police presence on the perfect weather evening, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The dead were identified as Kristopher Minners, 22; Alexis Quinn, 27; and Gregory “Japan” Jackson, 34.
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Connecticut is spending taxpayers dollars to help defray testing costs for teachers, Gov. Ned Lamont said.
The governor announced that $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding will be used to help aspiring teachers defray the costs of certification-related testing in the state over the course of the next two years.
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Fentanyl dominates Pennsylvania and has surpassed heroin as the major opioid in the commonwealth, posing greater health risks to those who use it and creating a bigger problem for law enforcement.
That’s according to a new report from the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office warning the public of rising overdose deaths and the threat opioids pose to public health.
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Connecticut’s child tax credit program is now taking applications, Gov. Ned Lamont said.
The governor announced the application period for the 2022 Connecticut Child Tax Rebate will accept applications through July 31. The rebate was developed within the budget bill Lamont signed last month and provides a rebate of up to $250 per child up to three children.
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U.S. House Republican Conference Chair Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) endorsed Connecticut Republican congressional nominee George Logan in his bid to unseat Representative Jahana Hayes (D-CT-05) in the state’s 5th Congressional District.
“George has a strong record as a champion for veterans, law enforcement, students, and small business, and he has what it takes to FLIP Connecticut’s 5th District red this November!” Stefanik tweeted.
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Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill (D) plan to channel the Biden administration by hiring a full-time “misinformation” expert who will seek to flag social media posts that suggest “bad information” about the state’s elections ahead of the midterms.
“We need to know what’s out there before it goes viral,” said Scott Bates, deputy secretary of the state, according to the New Haven Register. “We need to get ahead of the curve and knock down bad information to protect people from misinformation that would get in their way of voting.”
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Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate and hedge fund CEO David McCormick on Friday conceded the race to his Trump-backed opponent, reality star Dr. Mehmet Oz.
McCormick on Friday announced that he had called Oz to concede the race after it became clear he would lose the extremely tight race, per the Associated Press. The race is still going through an automatic recount.
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According to recent data from the center-right Tax Foundation, Connecticut taxpayers continue to shoulder nearly the highest revenue burdens of anyone in the U.S.
As stated in a report titled “State and Local Tax Burdens, Calendar Year 2022,” the average state resident paid 15.5 percent in combined state and local taxes last year. That places Connecticut in second among all states in that category, second only to New York which claims 15.9 percent of residents’ annual earnings on average. Neighboring Massachusetts and Rhode Island both have tax onuses under 12 percent, hovering around the national mean.
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A new survey released Thursday by the Commonwealth Foundation (CF), a Harrisburg-based think tank, suggests Pennsylvanians broadly support free-market reforms the institute urges policymakers to embrace.
CF publicized its Better Pennsylvania 2023 Plan, a list of 23 such recommendations, in conjunction with the poll. Executive vice president Jennifer Stefano said the foundation plans to distribute the agenda to state lawmakers and candidates for public office. She believes the ideas’ implementation will “restore hope to our citizens across the commonwealth and set us on a better path that allows all Pennsylvanians to flourish.”
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A far-left gun control group based in Arizona Thursday endorsed Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor, who is also the state’s Democrat nominee for Governor in this year’s election.
“For years, @JohnFetterman has been a powerful voice for Pennsylvanians who have lost their lives to gun violence, and I have no doubt that he will continue this fight in the Senate. I am proud to back Lt. Gov. Fetterman in his bid for US Senate,” Gabrielle Giffords said in a Thursday tweet.
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