Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives voted 151-49 Wednesday for legislation allowing state prosecutors to handle some of Philadelphia’s gun-related cases.
The bill would renew the state attorney general’s “concurrent jurisdiction” with the Philadelphia district attorney, letting the commonwealth shoulder part of the effort to prosecute firearm-related offenses in a city where many feel the job isn’t getting done.
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FBI data currently indicate that Pennsylvania’s violent crime rate exceeds any other northeastern state’s, and a county prosecutor told state senators this week he attributes much of that reality to difficulty recruiting and retaining police officers.
Cambria County District Attorney Gregory Neugebauer testified before the Senate Republican Policy Committee alongside other law-enforcement professionals to illuminate what is driving up crime in the Keystone State and what can be done about it. The hearing, held at the Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensberg, was the first of several the panel is hosting this week to address crime prevention in conjunction with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
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A Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee hearing on crime and public safety dwelled on two issues: the need for more funding and officers to address crime, and the lack of mental health support for struggling people.
Two panels spoke to a number of Republican senators; one comprised local law enforcement officers and the other a state judge, public defender, and district attorney.
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The Satanic Temple has filed a civil lawsuit against the Northern York County School Board in Pennsylvania, claiming the board discriminated against it by voting down its plan to begin an “after-school Satan Club,” while other groups’ clubs have been accepted.
“The First Amendment prohibits a government from considering the popularity of communicative activity when determining whether to facilitate that communicative activity on equal terms with other, similarly situated, groups,” said Mathew Kezhaya, general counsel for The Satanic Temple, according to CBS 21 News.
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Charlie Gerow has worked with Republican public officials for over four decades. He hasn’t been among them, though he contends that augurs well for how he would perform if elected governor.
“I’m an outsider who knows what’s going on inside,” he told The Pennsylvania Daily Star. “And that’s what voters are looking for — somebody who’s not an officeholder, who’s not part of what’s going on right now but who knows what needs to be done and knows how to do it.”
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A push from the liquor lobby to end Pennsylvania’s monopoly on wine and spirits looks like it has majority support from the public, though the timeline of any deregulation is unclear.
A new poll released by the Distilled Spirits Council, conducted by the Tarrance Group, found that 64% of Pennsylvanians support a constitutional amendment to end the government retail sale of wine and spirits, allowing private businesses to sell them. The model of nearby states like Ohio and West Virginia, where the state still distributes wine and spirits but private businesses sell them, garnered the support of 61% of Pennsylvanians in the poll.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced on Friday that his Secretary of Education Noe Ortega is stepping down and that Wolf’s Deputy Chief of Staff Eric Hagarty will replace him.
The administration said Ortega will be presently dedicating his free time to his family and mulling potential next career steps.
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Though a majority of states allow nurse practitioners full authority to deliver care, Pennsylvania still requires oversight from a physician. A bill in the legislature could change it though, but it’s unclear if it will advance through the General Assembly soon.
The legislation, SB25, sponsored by Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, would update state requirements for nurses and would remove a requirement for nurse practitioners to have a collaborative agreement with a physician for them to practice and write prescriptions.
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Jobs in nursing and residential care facilities fell dramatically during the pandemic and have yet to recover. Due to economic factors and long-term aging trends in Pennsylvania, bouncing back won’t be easy.
About 202,000 workers were in long-term care facilities in Pennsylvania in March 2020 before the pandemic hit, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since then, the numbers have fallen to 172,300 as of February. The worker loss may have finally ended, as preliminary figures for March show 172,700 workers.
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Internal polling shows Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz surging past rival David McCormick by 10 points, according to sources close to the candidate’s campaign not authorized to talk to the press.
McCormick, a former hedge-fund executive and former undersecretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush, spent several weeks as the frontrunner in the Republican primary that will be decided on May 17, but recent public polls showed Oz quickly closing that gap.
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Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, covered the April 20, 2022, Bristol, Pennsylvania., townhall, featuring GOP Senate hopeful Dr. Mehmet Oz and former Housing and Urban Development head Dr. Ben Carson, which was hosted by talk radio’s ‘Godzilla of Truth’ John Fredericks.
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Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore and gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room Thursday to discuss his proposed reforms to make elections more secure in his state.
Corman promised to call for a special legislative session on election-related legislation the day he takes office. Items he said he intends to address foremost are requiring identification of all voters, rescinding a state policy allowing people to vote by mail without submitting an excuse, banning absentee-ballot drop boxes and banning the use of private grants for election administration.
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Pennsylvania Senate sponsors touted their proposal to permit its recreational use by adults on Wednesday, April 20, i.e. 4-20, the day marijuana users celebrate their indulgence and clamor for its legalization.
“Legalization must be done the right way, and my bill ensures a legalized Pennsylvania market is implemented safely and responsibly, with a thoughtful approach that provides opportunities to medical and recreational consumers, farmers and small, medium and minority-owned businesses,” State Senator Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) said in a statement.
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A Republican lawmaker is pressing the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to explain the use of material featuring characters called “Genderbread Person” and “the Gender Unicorn.”
A week ago, State Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Ellwood City) sent a letter to Pennsylvania Secretary of Education (PDE) Noe Ortega asking about a diagram apparently distributed by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) that depicts the two figures.
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Pennsylvania state Rep. Timothy O’Neal (R-Washington) has indicated he’s drafting legislation to bestow tax credits on power plants to cover costs of complying with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
Pennsylvania is among eleven northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to have joined RGGI, a compact to levy de facto taxes on electricity-generation facilities for emitting greenhouse gases — chiefly carbon dioxide and methane — which are associated with global warming. Because Keystone State legislators have balked at the program, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced in 2019 that he would enter the state into it using his own regulatory authority. Earlier this month, Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Commonwealth Court blocked the state’s entry into RGGI, insisting that Wolf breached the limits on his executive power, but the ruling is not ironclad as the Democrat-run state Supreme Court could reverse it.
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New polling shows Mehmet Oz pulling slightly ahead of David McCormick in the Republican Pennsylvania Senate primary for the first time since the latter announced his run in January.
The latest Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) Poll, conducted from March 30 to April 10, showed Oz with 16 percent of support among 317 registered Republicans compared with McCormick’s 15 percent, a statistical tie. Yet another survey by the Republican-aligned Trafalgar Group conducted between April 10 and 13 found Oz leading 22.7 percent to 19.7 percent among 1,074 polled Republicans, just slightly outside the 2.99-percent margin of error. The latter polling took place after former President Donald Trump endorsed the celebrity surgeon two Saturdays ago.
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As the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education adjusts to the merging of some of its colleges, selling dorms could be on the table.
At the latest PASSHE Board of Governors meeting, officials discussed the selling off of two Edinboro University dorm buildings built in 2011. The university only had a 57.8 percent occupancy rate during the fall semester.
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The two largest cities in Pennsylvania have prohibited single-use plastics at businesses after Pittsburgh City Council passed legislation on Tuesday, joining Philadelphia’s ban approved last year.
“This landmark piece of legislation will sharply curtail litter, mitigate stormwater risk, reduce the amount of microplastics in our soil and water, improve the city’s recycling efficacy, and begin to break our dependence on fossil fuel-based products,” Councilwoman Erika Strassburger said in a press release.
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A far-left nonprofit is advocating against a bill passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that says transgender athletes must participate in athletic competition based on their sex at birth.
“Transgender people want to participate in athletics for the same reasons as their peers: to challenge themselves, improve fitness, and be part of a team. Banning trans students from participation in athletics is cruel and discriminatory,” the Pennsylvania ACLU said in a petition on its website.
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Pennsylvania Republican Senators this week celebrated their chamber’s passage of two pieces of election-security legislation.
One bill, sponsored by state Sen. Cris Dush (R-Wellsboro), would prohibit the use of drop boxes to collect mail-in and absentee ballots. The other, sponsored by Sens. Lisa Baker (R-Dallas) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-Jacobus), would bar state or county employees from approving the use of private donations to fund election administration.
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Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week passed legislation empaneling a task force to study ways to position Philadelphia as a leading exporter of natural gas to markets around the globe.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Martina White (R-Philadelphia), received the support of all Republicans in attendance but only 13 of the chamber’s Democrats. Among those Democrats were several representing areas above the Keystone State’s vast Marcellus Shale natural-gas deposit but also some legislators from the state’s southeast, including Reps. Tina Davis (D-Levittown), John Galloway (D-Fairless Hills), Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) and Kevin Boyle (D-Philadelphia).
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Citing a recent federal court ruling, a Pennsylvania lawmaker is touting legislation to require those registering to vote in the Keystone State to demonstrate U.S. citizenship.
In late March, District Court Judge Christopher Conner of the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled that the commonwealth must disclose documentation regarding problems in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT) record-keeping system. Conner’s opinion recalled that, in 2017, the state acknowledged that PennDOT errors “permitted non-United States citizens applying for or renewing a driver’s license to register to vote in the Commonwealth.”
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Mehmet Oz’s campaign will spend at least $1 million in Pennsylvania to inform voters of an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
Campaign advisers informed NBC News of the move, which will be the largest ad placement by the celebrity doctor’s campaign since he launched his bid.
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On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee approved term limits for the Philadelphia District Attorney as well as a bill allowing state prosecutors to pursue Philadelphia gun violations.
Both measures have the secondary effect of rebuking the performance of the city’s top prosecutor, Larry Krasner (D), under whose watch violence and crime have skyrocketed. In 2017, 315 murders occurred in Philadelphia and the number rose to an all-time high of 562 last year. Many attribute the increase in crime to Krasner’s tendency to release many defendants charged with illegal gun possession and violent offenses.
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Live from Virginia Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show – weekdays on WNTW AM 820/ FM 92.7 – Richmond, WJFN FM 100.5 – Central Virginia; WMPH AM 1010 / FM 100.1 / FM 96.9 (7-9 p.m.) Hampton Roads; WBRG AM 1050 / FM 105.1 – Lynchburg/Roanoke and weekdays 6-10 a.m. and 24/7 stream – host Fredericks welcomed Pennsylvania state Senator and candidate for governor Doug Mastriano to talk about how he’ll fight for election integrity.
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Philadelphia said Monday the city is bringing back its indoor mask mandates for public places, schools and daycares amid an increase in COVID-16 cases and hospitalization.
The mask mandate will officially return on April 18. The city’s previous mask mandate was dropped March 2, roughly just six weeks ago.
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According to the director of the nonprofit Amistad Project, the U.S. Postal Service has yet to release a report on thousands of ballots allegedly driven from New York to Pennsylvania in 2020.
The allegations originated from York, PA resident Jesse Morgan, a driver who said he made out-of-state deliveries for a USPS contractor. In an affidavit signed on November 26, 2020 and in a press conference on December 1, 2020, Morgan described delivering 24 large cardboard boxes filled with trays containing “completed ballots” from Bethpage, NY to Lancaster, PA on October 21, 2020.
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Pennsylvania, where deep-blue and deep-red politics collide, is in the midst of an unprecedented primary election season. The May primary is the first one in the Commonwealth’s 235-year history in which voters – except registered Independents – will have the chance to vote for candidates in open gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, new state House and Senate districts, and new congressional districts.
In the marquee races for Senate and governor, both major parties are struggling to nominate candidates who can not only make it through the paddlewheel of the primary, but also win in the general election – especially in a state that typically plays politics between the 40-yard lines.
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LAFAYETTE HILL, Pennsylvania— Pennsylvania Phyllis Schlafly Eagles held their 2022 Awards Ceremony at the Green Valley Country Club just north of Philadelphia on Friday, honoring Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg).
“I am absolutely honored to be here,” Flynn told the crowd. “It’s really amazing for me to be up at this dais with this great group of people here.”
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In the day since Donald Trump endorsed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz for Senate in Pennsylvania Saturday evening, many supporters of the former president criticized the move.
Even Sean Parnell, the Pittsburgh-area Army veteran who had Trump’s endorsement in the Republican primary until dropping out last November, expressed disappointment with the erstwhile chief executive via Twitter on Sunday.
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A bill to “modernize and streamline the Neighborhood Improvement District Act and allow for the development of a Tourism Improvement District in Allegheny County” was approved Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Senate.
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Before the pandemic hit, Pennsylvania’s economy had been steadily growing for a decade – but not its population. The population loss has both political and economic consequences.
Federally, Pennsylvania’s influence will lag. The state lost a Congressional district thanks to net emigration from the state. The future of economic growth, too, may fall off as natives and would-be migrants from other states look to growing areas of the South and West.
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Former President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Republican U.S. Senate primary.
Trump selected Oz from a crowded field of GOP contenders, including Dave McCormick, Carla Sands, and Jeff Bartos.
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Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Thursday proposed a new plan to disperse a portion of the state’s unused coronavirus relief funds.
Wolf’s plan would appropriate $500 million of the state’s available $2 billion for direct payments of up to $2,000 to certain households throughout the state.
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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) released a report this week on elections in his state—focusing especially on Maricopa County—advocating similar election reforms to those Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers currently seek.
While the report did not make criminal allegations regarding recent elections, it did declare that Arizona’s election system suffers from major procedural vulnerabilities including insufficient time to confirm signatures on ballots submitted during early voting and problems with the chain of custody for ballots placed in drop boxes. Altogether, the attorney general estimates that between 100,000 and 200,000 early ballots were transported without proper protocol being followed.
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A committee of the GOP-run Pennsylvania Senate voted Wednesday to change the state’s voter-records system as recommended by a Democratic former state auditor general.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ryan Aument (R-Lititz), passed the State Government Committee seven to four, with all Republicans and no Democrats backing the measure.
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Wednesday morning on The John Fredericks Radio Show, host Fredericks welcomed Pennsylvania US Senate Candidate Dr. Oz to the show to announce his endorsement by Fredericks and the gap in reality between the working class and Wall Street.
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Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court this week blocked the state’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an 11-state compact requiring de facto taxation of power plants’ carbon emissions.
Gov. Tom Wolf (D) tried to effect Pennsylvania’s participation in the initiative by issuing an executive order in 2019, thus neglecting to seek approval of the Republican-led General Assembly. The court’s new opinion comes one day after the state Senate failed to override the governor’s veto of legislation letting the General Assembly end the state’s membership in the compact. Legislative leaders have argued that the governor’s unilateral action violated the state Constitution and were heartened upon hearing of the judges’ decision.
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Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is investigating dozens of potential violations of the state’s gas tax holiday by gas stations throughout the state.
If a specific station is found to have violated the law, the Attorney General’s office may impose penalties, including injunctive terms, restitution, and civil financial penalties.
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At a Pennsylvania Senate hearing Tuesday, Republican Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein joined his two Democratic colleagues in supporting continued allowance of private grants for election administration.
Left-wing nonprofits, particularly the Chicago-based Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), awarded many such grants to election offices in Pennsylvania and across America in 2020. The organization received $350 million that year from Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
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Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks show, host Fredericks welcomed President Donald Trump to the show to weigh in on Dr. Oz, David Perdue, and the disaster of Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp.
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Most state senators voted to end Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) on Monday but fell short of the two-thirds needed to succeed.
In 2019, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) initiated Pennsylvania’s entry into the 11-state compact to reduce carbon emissions by charging power plants for their discharge in hope of counteracting global warming. Unlike most of the other northeastern and mid-Atlantic states that participate in RGGI, the Keystone State’s governor could not get sufficient backing from state legislators for Pennsylvania’s membership and thus acted via executive order. Republicans and some Democrats have argued Wolf exceeded his constitutional authority in rebuffing the legislature.
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Small businesses worry about the power of larger corporations in the marketplace, but they’re also unhappy with the subsidies and tax breaks big businesses get from the government.
A survey of independent small businesses published by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance showed that small businesses perceive a business climate that favors bigger companies. A majority of respondents were retailers, and businesses had an average size of 15 employees.
Survey respondents suggested a handful of policy changes they’d like to see:
Ending subsidies and tax breaks for big businesses.
Breaking up and/or regulating Amazon.
Investing in downtowns and neighborhood business districts.
Strengthening antitrust policy and enforcement.
Capping credit card swipe fees.
Pennsylvania and other states will split about $11 billion to fund Acid Mine Land reclamation, and a proposed congressional bill would allow that money to fund treatment projects for Acid Mine Drainage, which affects rivers and waterways.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, introduced the STREAM Act which expands how states can use AML funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act. States would be able to approve projects to treat drainage that contaminates waterways and has long-term impacts, in addition to reclaiming formerly mined land.
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HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania— In a straw poll of conservative activists from across Pennsylvania last weekend, Kathy Barnette, Doug Mastriano, Bill McSwain and Clarice Schillinger finished ahead for the statewide offices they’re seeking. About half of the nearly 800 attendees from all around the Keystone State (and a few from nearby states) participated in the annual survey at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference (PLC) in Camp Hill, just across the river from Harrisburg. Information-technology expert Scott R. Davis oversaw the survey and discussed the results with attendees Saturday afternoon. Barnette, a veteran and political commentator, earned 35 percent of votes cast for that office at the gathering throughout Friday and Saturday. Her fellow Montgomery Countian, real-estate developer Jeff Bartos, came in second with 17.8 percent. Former Ambassador Carla Sands and former hedge-fund executive David McCormick both received roughly 14 percent and celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz got 12 percent. “I did have the opportunity to listen to the majority of the [GOP] Senate candidates,” Davis said, “and I will echo what I heard before I stepped on the stage. And each and every one of these candidates is going to be better than the candidate the other side puts up.” Pennsylvania will hold…
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Live from Virginia Friday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks welcomed US Senate Candidate for Pennsylvania, Dr. Oz to the show to discuss his opposition and natural energy in the state.
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Telehealth in Pennsylvania continues to make strides as temporary waivers approved during COVID-19 are made permanent.
A previous bill introduced by Rep. Jeff Wheeland, R-Lycoming, would align state and federal guidance on home health care. The latest one, HB2419, introduced by Rep. Tina Pickett, R-Bradford/Sullivan/Susquehanna, would allow psychiatrists to offer mental health services virtually like they do with in-person services.
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Television personality Dr. Oz is in a neck-and-neck race for first in the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary race, according to a new Emerson poll
With 14% support of those polled, Oz ties businessman David McCormick for the lead, with no other candidates garnering over 10% support. Notably, 51% of voters remain undecided, suggesting the primary race remains anyone’s game.
Oz is running to replace retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey who served a single term in office after winning his seat in the 2016 election cycle.
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Small businesses worry about the power of larger corporations in the marketplace, but they’re also unhappy with the subsidies and tax breaks big businesses get from the government.
A survey of independent small businesses published by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance showed that small businesses perceive a business climate that favors bigger companies. A majority of respondents were retailers, and businesses had an average size of 15 employees.
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A Republican congressional primary contest is underway in southeastern Pennsylvania between party-endorsed candidate Christian Nascimento and outsider Dan Burton.
Pennsylvania’s Fourth Congressional District, in which the two are competing for the nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean, comprises most of Montgomery County and parts of southern Berks County. The Montgomery County-born Nascimento lives in Lower Providence Township which is within the district, while Burton lives in Adamstown, Lancaster County, slightly outside the district.
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