Category: The Northeast

Soros-Backed Pennsylvania Candidate Loses DA Bid Despite Landslide Primary Win

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Matt Dugan, the Democratic candidate running for district attorney in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, lost his election bid despite receiving nearly $2 million of funding from megadonor George Soros, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Dugan first challenged incumbent District Attorney Stephen Zappala in the county’s May primary election, beating Zappala by 10 points after receiving $700,000 in funding from the Soros-funded Pennsylvania Justice and Public Safety Political Action Committee (PAC), according to the Post-Gazette. The PAC donated an additional $1.1 million to Dugan’s campaign between June and October, but Zappala managed to beat the Democratic challenger by 3 points despite his major loss just months earlier.

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Pennsylvania Convictions for Driving Past School Bus Stop Arms Up 47 Percent

The Center Square

Convictions for driving past school bus stop arms in Pennsylvania increased 47% in 2022, according to state data.

Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary for Driver and Vehicle Services Kara Templeton said that 511 residents faced penalties for violating the law, up from 348 in 2021. During the agency’s Oct. 18 event to raise awareness for school transportation safety, she said law enforcement and bus drivers witnessed 164 incidents in just one day.

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Pennsylvania Set to Receive $4 Million for Rural ‘Renewable Energy’ Projects

The Center Square

On the heels of $22 million in federal cash for energy efficiency projects, Pennsylvania will get another $4 million more.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that $3.6 million will support another 30 projects for efficiency upgrades and renewable energy projects “to lower energy costs, generate new income, and strengthen the resiliency of their operations in rural Pennsylvania.”

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Pennsylvania Rectifies Its Rainy Day Fund

The Center Square

Pennsylvania’s rainy day fund will receive a big deposit after lawmakers settled a dispute with the governor’s administration this week over the definition of “surplus.”

State Treasurer Stacy Garrity said the $898 million contribution into the account, which helps agencies and programs withstand economic downturns, will keep the government operational for 48 days before running out of money – 3.5 days above the national median.

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Judge Finds Trump’s Former Attorney John Eastman ‘Culpable’ in His Bar Disciplinary Trial as He Refuses to Express Remorse

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of former President Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, finished its 32nd day on Thursday. California Bar Disciplinary Judge Yvette Roland could not get the former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to express remorse for his actions, and she pronounced him “culpable.”

The proceedings began with more cross-examination and redirect of Eastman on the witness stand. The California Bar’s attorney, Duncan Carling, attempted to get Eastman to admit that he was inciting violence by giving a speech at January 6. He asked Eastman if his speech risked causing violence. Eastman responded and said there was a risk to the republic if the election was illegal and allowed to stand.

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Commonwealth Court Strikes Down Carbon ‘Tax’

The Center Square

Commonwealth Court struck down Pennsylvania’s entry into an emissions regulatory program Wednesday, agreeing with critics that it’s an unconstitutional tax.

The decision delivers a blow to supporters of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – a multi-state program that charges power generators for the pollution they produce – who had hoped Pennsylvania might join the rest of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast in the agreement.

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Former Biden New Hampshire Co-Chair Backs Phillips in Primary

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Former New Hampshire Speaker of the House Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook), who co-chaired Joe Biden’s 2020 Granite State campaign, announced Tuesday he’s endorsing Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) in the First in the Nation primary.

“Because of the New Hampshire primary, that is my prime reason for supporting the congressman,” Shurtleff told WGIR radio host Chris Ryan. “For 100 years now, we’ve done the New Hampshire primary right.”

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Tong and 18 Other Attorneys General Oppose Opt-Out Option from LGBTQ+ Books for Second Graders

The Center Square

 A coalition of 19 attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of a local Maryland board of education’s policy that does not allow parents to opt their children out of LGBTQ+ inclusive texts. The lawsuit was filed by three families against the Montgomery County Board of Education, with two of the three families suing on behalf of policies for their second grade children, while the third did not list the grade level of its elementary school children. The parents, who are Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Ukrainian Orthodox, filed their lawsuit on religious freedom grounds. 

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University of Pennsylvania Took Money from School That Settled with U.S. Gov’t over Alleged Hezbollah Ties

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The University of Pennsylvania, which hosts the Penn Biden Center, took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2022, roughly five years after AUB paid a settlement to the United States government in connection with its alleged ties to Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terror organization.

UPenn received $474,947 from AUB in 2022, with the donations earmarked as “Education/Tuition/Scholarship,” according to a 2021-2022 foreign gift disclosure obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. AUB settled a lawsuit with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, paying $700,000 and promising to revise its policies, following a suit alleging the university assisted organizations linked to Hezbollah, Reuters reported.

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Trump’s Former Attorney John Eastman Foils California Bar Association During Disbarment Trial Cross Examination

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, began its final week Monday, as the renowned former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas handled hours of cross-examination from State Bar of California attorney Duncan Carling. The California Bar is attempting to disbar Eastman over advice he gave Trump’s legal team regarding former Vice President Mike Pence accepting electoral slates from states suspected of election fraud in the 2020 election.

Carling asked Eastman about his belief that tens of thousands of mail-in ballots were returned in the 2020 Pennsylvania election before the date they were mailed out and wanted to know how Eastman figured out what the mailed-out date was. Eastman, who is prohibited from looking at any documents while testifying unless placed on the screen for the court, responded, “Footnote 1 of your exhibit 132.”

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Boston Children’s Hospital Received $1.4 Million in Taxpayer Dollars for ‘Gender Transition Services’

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Boston Children’s Hospital was reimbursed $1.4 million by the state of Massachusetts for its “gender transition services” from January 2015 to May 2023, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation through a public records request.

Boston Children’s Hospital, which claims to have created the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the country, was hit with heavy backlash in 2022 for performing gender transition surgeries on minors, including vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, chest reconstruction and breast augmentation, according to a since-deleted website. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) of Massachusetts told the DCNF on July 25 that it paid the hospital over $1.4 million for “Gender transition services (i.e., physician’s services, inpatient and outpatient, hospital services, surgical services, prescribed drugs, therapies, etc.)” from January 1, 2015, to May 1, 2023.

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Infrastructure Crisis Escalating in Pennsylvania Public Schools

The Center Square

Lead paint, coal furnaces, hallway instruction, classrooms partitioned with teetering stacks of books and supplies, students and teachers struggling to work in unabated heat during sweltering weather — these are all images invoked by testifiers before the Basic Education Funding Commission over the last few months.

Experts say this barely scratches the surface of a massive infrastructural crisis across the state.

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Newly Declared Democratic Presidential Candidate Goes to New Hampshire

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U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) says President Joe Biden is too old to be the party’s nominee, he is putting the White House at risk, and Democrats are “sleepwalking” into another 2016. Polls show many Granite State Democrats agree.

But can Phillips, a virtual unknown in New Hampshire politics, turn that common viewpoint into votes in the First in the Nation primary? Or will he get nothing more than the Granite State version of “Minnesota Nice,” with Democrats politely dismissing his candidacy?

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Pennsylvania Ambulance Reimbursement Rates Made Whole

The Center Square

Emergency service agencies across Pennsylvania have warned of funding shortfalls and labor shortages, but a recently passed bill will help ease a fraction of the pain.

House Bill 1351, signed into law this week as Act 15, will require Medicaid to reimburse EMS agencies for every mile an ambulance travels with a patient. Previously, no payment would be made for the first 20 miles of travel.

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Group Seeks to Overturn Connecticut Religious Exemption Ban

The Center Square

Critics of a Connecticut law banning religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements have lost several rounds in federal court but are planning to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case.

A lawsuit, filed by We the Patriots USA Inc. on behalf of parents whose children attend a school at Milford Christian Church, argued that Connecticut violated their First Amendment rights by repealing the state’s long-held religious exemptions to childhood vaccines.

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Pennsylvania School Staff Appeared to Hide ‘Gender Identity’ of Bullied Student Being Told to Commit Suicide

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Educators at a Pennsylvania middle school acknowledged that the school was withholding information about a student’s “gender identity” and preferred name after the child was bullied and told to commit suicide, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Southern Lehigh School District (SLSD) instructed teachers and staff in October 2021 to use students’ preferred names or pronouns but told them to keep the information from parents if students request it, according to a DCNF investigation. Tara Cooke, a counselor for SLSD’s Joseph P. Liberati Intermediate School, and Deanna Webb, formerly the school’s vice principal, discussed an incident in which several male students allegedly told a “female” student to kill herself. The administrators noted that they had yet to inform the child’s parents about the victim’s “gender identity,” according to a May 18, 2022 email in a public records request by several concerned parents, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

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Supply Problems Stoking Pennsylvania’s Housing Shortage

The Center Square

As housing costs rise in many parts of the commonwealth, Pennsylvania policymakers want to boost supply to meet demand.

“If we don’t continue to increase the inventory at all levels, we’re never going to get to where we need to be,” Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, said during a House Housing and Community Development meeting on Monday. “We can’t build our way out by just building subsidized housing.”

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University of Pennsylvania Faculty Cry ‘Intimidation’ After Donors Pull Funding over Statements on Hamas

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Three leaders of the University of Pennsylvania faculty senate released a statement Thursday condemning those who “use their pocketbooks to shape our mission” after donors began withdrawing support over the school’s response to the Israel-Hamas war.

UPenn donors began pulling their funding from the university after President Liz Magill failed to initially label Hamas as a terrorist organization in an Oct. 10 statement about the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians. The university’s faculty senate tri-chairs, Tulia G. Falleti, Eric A. Feldman and Vivian L. Gadsden, accused individuals of trying to censor free speech by “surveilling both faculty and students” and criticized those who would try to use their “pocketbooks” to buy the speech of university students and faculty, according to the statement.

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In Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Former Attorney John Eastman, He Discussed How Nixon Exercised Substantive Authority Accepting Electoral Slates

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman is in its eighth week, and expected to continue into a ninth week. On Wednesday, Eastman testified all day, focusing especially on the 1960 election and then-Vice President Richard Nixon’s role deciding which of three electoral slates from Hawaii to accept. 

Eastman said Nixon received three slates of electors from Hawaii, including one that was not certified — the second one from the Democrats. Nixon opened up all three envelopes and chose which one to accept, the third Democratic one that was certified by the governor after the recount. None of the alternate slates of electors in the 2020 election were certified by a state government entity.

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Blumenthal and Other Democrat Lawmakers Urge Biden to Reduce Energy Costs

The Center Square

A group of Democratic senators are calling on President Joe Biden to provide more funding for fuel assistance with winter approaching. 

In a letter to Biden administration officials, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, led by nearly 30 other Democrats, urged the White House Office of Management and Budget and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to “take additional steps” to reduce energy costs for Americans through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. 

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Explicit Book Access in Pennsylvania School Libraries Faces a Reckoning

The Center Square

Sexually explicit books in school libraries make many parents uncomfortable, but some educators say policies that limit access for students are ineffective, at best.

Still, local officials want guidance from the state about how to allay concerns over books available to children, some as young as sixth grade, that depict or describe graphic sexual acts, incest and pedophilia.

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University of Pennsylvania Loses Major Donor and Board Member over Anti-Semitism

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The University of Pennsylvania lost the support of one major donor and saw one board of trustees member resign, both out of protest against the rise of anti-Semitism at the university in the wake of the massive Palestinian attacks against Israel.

As reported by Breitbart, Jon Huntsman, a former Governor of Utah, former U.S. ambassador, and former presidential candidate, announced publicly that he would not be donating to the school any further, due to the school’s refusal to issue a statement of any kind on the matter.

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Former Trump Attorney John Eastman Testifies in His Disbarment Trial that he Told Mike Pence Rejecting Electoral Slates Would be ‘Foolish’

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman entered its fifth and likely final week on Tuesday, featuring testimony from Eastman and Kari Lake’s attorney Kurt Olsen. The State Bar of California is attempting to disbar Eastman for allegedly advising Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that Pence could reject electoral slates from states suspected of election fraud, but Eastman disputed that characterization of his advice on Tuesday. 

Eastman said that Pence asked him during a meeting with Trump on January 4, 2020, if the vice president had the power to reject electoral votes. Eastman responded and said it was an open question that has never been resolved, but even if Pence had the power, it would be “foolish” to exercise it. Eastman advised Pence to consider having merely a brief delay in certification in order to allow the state legislatures to investigate whether there was illegal activity that affected the election.

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Suburban Leaders Blast Philadelphia DA Krasner for Crime Wave

The Center Square

Suburban Philadelphia legislators and law enforcement officials lambasted the city’s crime policies, blaming District Attorney Larry Krasner for not prosecuting criminals.

“My district has seen an increase in crime in our area — a majority of which is not even committed by Bensalem residents but by individuals crossing over the border from Philadelphia,” Rep. Kathleen C. Tomlinson, R-Bensalem, said during a House GOP Policy Committee hearing on crime.

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Other States’ Film Tax Credits Dwarf Pennsylvania’s Program

The Center Square

Pennsylvania’s investment in film tax credits hasn’t delivered the economic returns policymakers had anticipated, according to a recent analysis.

In its five-year review, the Independent Fiscal Office said the program’s $8.5 million net tax revenue does accomplish its legislative intent, even if tens of thousands of dollars in potential profit seep out of the state in the meantime.

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Pennsylvania Policy Group Says $200 Million Rail Service Deal Picks Taxpayers’ Pockets

The Center Square

Though many celebrated expanded Amtrak service for Pittsburgh, critics cry foul, pointing to long-term trends that work against train travel in western Pennsylvania.

The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy warned the $200 million state investment announced in September to bring twice-daily service from Pittsburgh to New York City was a misuse of taxpayer dollars, benefiting Norfolk Southern and Amtrak more than residents.

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Former Iowa Democratic Party Chair Says Giving Up First Caucus Status Is a ‘Dark Day’ All Around

M.D. Kittle

After signing the 1938 Munich Agreement that gave Nazi Germany the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia in exchange for Adolph Hitler’s promise that he had “no more territorial demands to make in Europe,” British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said the deal had secured “peace in our time.”

Dave Nagle says Chamberlain’s spirit of appeasement lives on in the leadership of the Iowa Democratic Party.

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Connecticut Attorney General Pledges to Scrutinize Gas Rate Hike

The Center Square

Connecticut’s consumer advocates are pushing back against natural gas rate increases sought by one of the state’s largest utilities, which comes as the company fights state regulators’ rejection of an electric rate hike in court.

In filings to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Southern Connecticut Natural Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas request approval to increase their average gas distribution rates by 5-9% during the winter season.

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Pennsylvania Spends $600,000 to Fix Up Recovery Houses

The Center Square

As Pennsylvania invests more taxpayer money into drug addiction treatment, about $600,000 has gone to recovery homes for building upgrades to put them in compliance with state and federal rules.

The commonwealth’s licensed recovery homes – overseen by the Department of Community and Economic Development and the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs – give people recovering from addiction a place to live, as well as access to resources like medication-assisted treatment. 

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Pennsylvania Bill Relaxes Licensing Rules for Veteran First Responders

The Center Square

Pennsylvanians serving in the military may soon see their credentials as first responders preserved while deployed.

House Bill 404, introduced by Rep. Dane Watro, R-Hazleton, would expand the commonwealth’s policy of using military experience to fulfill licensing and certification rules for EMTs. The bill would exempt those serving from continuing education or in-service training requirements. 

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In Disbarment Trial of Former Trump Attorney John Eastman, Kari Lake’s Attorney Goes over Significant Laws Broken in Various States During 2020 Election

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, wrapped up its seventh week on Friday, with more testimony from Kari Lake’s attorney Kurt Olsen, and Eastman resuming the stand briefly at the end. Olsen discussed several laws he said he believes were violated by state election officials in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Olsen began testifying about a Motion for Leave to File a Bill of Complaint that he and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking to stop Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin from certifying their 2020 election results due to multiple violations of state law and constitutional problems. One of the reasons he said he brought the complaint was that signature verification was halted in the 2020 election in Detroit. 

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After Student Walkout, Pennsylvania School District Reverses Transgender Bathroom Policy

Just the News

The Perkiomen Valley School District in Pennsylvania recently passed a policy that mandates kids use the bathroom associated with their biological sex after students staged a walkout in protest of the school board for originally rejecting the proposal. 

The school board originally voted against the policy titled “Policy 720” in a 4-5 vote. However, the vote changed earlier this week after board member Don Fountain voted to approve the policy instead.

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Ramaswamy Rallies at ‘Vektoberfest’ in Suburban Des Moines Following Heated Exchange with Liberal Protesters in Grinnell

M.D. Kittle

After last week’s disorderly, hostile debate, some fun and games on the presidential campaign trail may have been just what the doctor ordered.

Multi-millionaire businessman and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy rolled out Vektoberfest Thursday evening in suburban Des Moines, bringing Iowans “family-friendly fun” mixed with a serious campaign speech dredging the depths of America’s soul-sucking void.

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Voting Changes Rejected; Moving Pennsylvania Presidential Primary Still Possible

The Center Square

The state House has overwhelmingly rejected a joint proposal to move the primary election date and implement sweeping voting changes that frustrated lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

The chamber struck down Senate Bill 224 by a vote of 177-26. In total, all 101 Republicans and 76 Democrats, including House Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia, disapproved.

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Nikki Haley Jumps to Second in New Hampshire: Poll

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Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley jumped to second place behind former President Donald Trump in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire, according to a Wednesday poll.

Haley garnered 19% support among likely Republican primary voters in the state, following Trump’s lead at 49%, according to a Suffolk University/Boston Globe/USA Today survey. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in third with 10% ahead of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 6%, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy both garnered 4% support.

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In Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman, Retired DoD Analyst Reveals Biden Got Fewer Votes than Hillary in Philadelphia

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman entered into its seventh week on Tuesday, with two of Eastman’s witnesses returning to the witness stand for cross-examination. Physicist John Droz discussed the reports he oversaw on election anomalies in the 2020 election, and retired Department of Defense analyst Ray Blehar revealed that despite the huge increases in votes for Joe Biden compared to Hillary Clinton in 2016, Biden got fewer votes than she did in Philadelphia. 

The proceedings began with a discussion of whether Eastman’s witnesses would be allowed to testify about the vote spikes report, which revealed large net dumps of votes solely for Joe Biden on election night. Both Droz and Blehar worked on the report, but the Democrat donating California Bar Disciplinary Judge Yvette Roland has refused to allow them to testify about it or allow it into evidence, mainly asserting that it’s because she hasn’t designated them as expert witnesses. She said last week that the report would likely be allowed into evidence this week since a forthcoming witness for Eastman, statistician Stan Young, has been designated an expert witness, but she and the California bar’s attorney Duncan Carling started discussing how even he would probably not be enough to allow it into evidence.

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Legal Experts Say Summary Judgment of Fraud Against Trump by NY Judge Contains Legal Abuses

Rachel Alexander

New York Judge Arthur Engoron, a registered Democrat, granted summary judgment against Donald Trump last week in a case alleging real estate fraud by the former president. Not waiting for the trial to begin, where evidence would be produced, experts would testify, and discovery would conclude, Engoron revoked the licenses for Trump’s key properties, including Trump Tower and the Trump International Hotel, and set up a fast timeline to dissolve the Trump Organization and its connected entities. Engoron said Trump and his associates inflated the values of his properties, but several legal experts disagreed. 

Viva Frei, a lawyer who hosts a show with fellow lawyer Robert Barnes called Sidebar,  broke down his assessment of the case with Barnes in an 18-minute video on Monday. “It would seem that the REAL fraud is coming from the Court and from the corrupt Attorney General,” he said. “A breakdown of the absurdity coming out of New York from last night’s stream.”

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Ramaswamy Campaign Urges RNC to Limit GOP Presidential Primary Debate Stage to Five Candidates

M.D. Kittle

Asserting the current crowded GOP presidential primary debate stage is too cluttered, the campaign for Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is asking the Republican National Committee to trim the number of contestants for the next debate in November.

Ben Yoho, CEO of the Ohio businessman’s presidential campaign, proposed revised criteria for candidates to make next month’s debate stage in Miami.

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