Politics Election category, Page 191
Pennsylvania school directors speak out against Doug Mastriano’s education funding plan
An open letter to Pennsylvania families and voters being circulated around the state by public school board members issues a warning about the threat that they believe Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano poses to the public education system. The letter drew 59 signatures from school directors from 24 school districts...
Gloves off, Biden embraces tough tone on ‘MAGA Republicans’
WASHINGTON — In recent days, President Joe Biden has sharpened his attacks against Donald Trump and the so-called MAGA Republicans for posing a threat to democracy. He’s likened the philosophy undergirding the dominant strain of the modern-day GOP to “semi-fascism.” And Democrats are taking notice. The gloves-off, no-holds-barred approach from...
Texas judge rules against required coverage of HIV prevention drug
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that required coverage of an HIV prevention drug under the Affordable Care Act violates a Texas employer’s religious beliefs and undercut the broader system that determines which preventive drugs are covered in the U.S. The ruling was handed down by U.S. District...
Gov. Tom Wolf announces $100 million in new funds to curb gun violence across Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced more than $100 million in new funding for community groups working to curb gun violence across the commonwealth. The governor made the announcement from Mander Playground in North Philadelphia, one of many neighborhoods that have seen firsthand the toll of rapidly...
John Fetterman agrees to 1 debate against Mehmet Oz in Pa. Senate race
HARRISBURG — Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman of Pennsylvania will participate in just one debate, his campaign said Wednesday, after weeks of his Republican rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz, pressuring Fetterman and aggressively questioning the severity of his lingering health problems from a stroke. Fetterman’s campaign said he will participate in...
Oz, Toomey call on Fetterman to debate in Pa. Senate raceVideo
HARRISBURG — Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz teamed up with U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey on Tuesday to publicly call on his Democratic rival, John Fetterman, to participate in a debate in their high-profile Pennsylvania race. Oz and Toomey, holding a news conference in Philadelphia, also questioned Fetterman’s fitness for...
Video fills in details on alleged Georgia election system breachVideo
ATLANTA — Two months after the 2020 presidential election, a team of computer experts traveled to south Georgia to copy software and data from voting equipment in an apparent breach of a county election system. They were greeted outside by the head of the local Republican Party, who was involved...
New Mexico bars commissioner Couy Griffin from office for insurrectionVideo
SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico state district court judge has disqualified county commissioner and Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin from holding public office for engaging in insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. State District Court Judge Francis Mathew issued a ruling Tuesday that permanently...
Red wave crashing? GOP momentum slips as fall sprint begins
NEW YORK — The possibility of a great red wave still looms. But as the 2022 midterm elections enter their final two-month sprint, leading Republicans concede that their party’s advantage may be slipping even as Democrats confront their president’s weak standing, deep voter pessimism and the weight of history this...
Biden talks about importance of labor unions, democracy in Labor Day speech in West Mifflin
President Joe Biden spoke about the importance of labor unions and democracy in a Labor Day speech Monday outside a Mon Valley union hall, while also touting his efforts to bring more infrastructure funding to Western Pennsylvania and boost manufacturing. At a United Steelworkers hall in West Mifflin, Biden addressed...
Judge grants Trump bid for special master in document search
WASHINGTON — In a legal victory for former President Donald Trump, a federal judge on Monday granted his request for a special master to review documents seized by the FBI from his Florida home and temporarily halted the Justice Department’s use of the records for investigative purposes. The decision by...
America’s secrets: Trump’s unprecedented disregard of norms
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump isn’t the first to face criticism for flouting rules and traditions around the safeguarding of sensitive government records, but national security experts say recent revelations point to an unprecedented disregard of post-presidency norms established after the Watergate era. Document dramas have cropped up from time to...
Wendy Bell talks with Trump: Pardons promised to Jan. 6 rioters
In an interview Thursday with conservative Pittsburgh broadcaster Wendy Bell, former President Donald Trump said — if he becomes president again — he would issue full pardons and an apology to rioters involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “We’ll be looking very, very seriously at...
Michigan high court asked to OK ballot question on abortion
LANSING, Mich. — An abortion-rights group on Thursday asked the Michigan Supreme Court to approve a November ballot question on whether a right to abortion should be enshrined in the state constitution. Reproductive Freedom for All filed its request with the high court after the state canvassing board rejected the...
Doug Mastriano sues Jan. 6 committee over deposition authority
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor on Thursday sued the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, contesting its legal ability to force him to answer questions about it. The lawsuit filed by Doug Mastriano contends that the committee lacks appointees of House Minority...
Biden at Independence Hall: Trump, allies threaten democracy
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden warned Thursday night that “equality and democracy are under assault” in the U.S. as he sounded an alarm about his predecessor, Donald Trump, and “MAGA Republican” adherents, labeling them an extremist threat to the nation and its future. Aiming to reframe the November elections as...
Fetterman says no to Oz offer to debate, calls list of ‘concessions’ insulting
John Fetterman isn’t about to debate opponent Mehmet Oz, saying the GOP candidate’s campaign thinks “it is funny to mock” his recovery from a stroke. “I’m eager to put my record and my values up against Dr. Oz’s any day of the week,” Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, said in a...
More Republicans backing Josh Shapiro for Pennsylvania governor
The ranks of Republicans rejecting State Sen. Doug Mastriano, their party’s nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, grew this week as a former national security Cabinet member and a former Trump administration lawyer endorsed the Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Michael Chertoff, who served as secretary for the U.S....
Biden defends FBI, promotes ban on assault-style weaponsVideo
WILKES-BARRE — President Joe Biden on Tuesday forcefully defended the FBI as the agency and its employees have come under withering criticism and threats of violence since executing a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence earlier this month. “It’s sickening to see the new attacks on the...
Fetterman says Biden should decriminalize marijuana ahead of Pittsburgh visit
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman has called on President Joe Biden to reclassify marijuana before Biden visits Pittsburgh on Monday. Fetterman, a long-time champion of recreational marijuana, also said he would like for Biden to decriminalize the drug at the federal level. “It’s long past time that we finally...
Oz courts GOP voters at town hall event in Monroeville
Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former TV personality and celebrity surgeon, has struggled with his approval ratings ever since narrowly winning the Republican primary election in May, and at a campaign event in Monroeville he attempted to persuade his Republican base to come out and support his campaign for Pennsylvania’s open...
Sen. Lindsey Graham warns of ‘riots’ if Trump is prosecutedVideo
Sen. Lindsey Graham warned there “will be riots in the streets” if former President Donald Trump is indicted. “If they tried to prosecute President Trump … there literally will be riots in the street,” the South Carolina Republican said on Fox News. “I worry about the country.” Despite mounting evidence...
Biden will give prime-time speech about democracy from Philadelphia
President Joe Biden will give a prime-time speech Thursday from outside Independence Hall, warning about threats to democracy, as he makes a swing of appearances to boost Democrats with roughly two months until the midterm election. Biden will speak about “how the core values of this nation — our standing...
Josh Shapiro breaks with Democrats on covid policies in governor’s race
HARRISBURG — As attorney general, Josh Shapiro went to court repeatedly to defend Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration against legal challenges to his pandemic-era mandates and shutdowns. Now, as he’s running to succeed Wolf as governor, Shapiro says he is against some of the same covid-19 containment measures that his...
President Biden to visit Pittsburgh
President Joe Biden is planning a Labor Day trip to Pittsburgh, the White House announced. The location wasn’t specified, but in a statement, the White House on Monday said Biden “will deliver remarks to celebrate Labor Day and the dignity of American workers.” Biden will also travel to Milwaukee that...
