Politics Election category, Page 211
Biden has history with contentious Supreme Court hearings. Now he’s trying to avoid one
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden knows a thing or two about contentious Supreme Court hearings, having presided over a pair of the most heated confirmations that still reverberate in U.S politics. That experience is shaping the process of naming the first Black female justice in a bitterly divided Washington. Biden...
Florida House passes GOP ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
TALLAHASSEE — Republicans in the Florida House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill to limit discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, advancing a measure that has drawn widespread condemnation from LGBTQ activists and the White House. The House passed the bill on a party-line vote, with...
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo confirmed despite controversy
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo was confirmed to his position Wednesday, as Senate Republicans approved the nomination of the state’s top doctor over criticism that his opposition to coronavirus mandates is too aligned to the politics of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Ladapo, who was appointed by DeSantis in September,...
Jake Corman’s campaign calls for probe into GOP gubernatorial opponent’s campaign finance filings
Republican gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman is calling for an investigation into suspected violations of the state’s campaign finance law by opponent and Senate colleague Doug Mastriano. In a letter sent on Wednesday to Franklin County District Attorney Matt Fogel, Corman’s campaign counsel questions whether Mastriano complied with the law when...
Florida GOP ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill advances in House
TALLAHASSEE — Florida House Republicans on Tuesday advanced a bill to forbid discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, rejecting criticism from Democrats who said the proposal demonizes LGBTQ people. The measure, dubbed by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is now set for a final vote...
Florida Sen. Rick Scott wants to ‘rescue America’ through Pledge of Allegiance, strict gender roles
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Rick Scott wants to rescue the nation by declaring men and women biologically different, raising taxes on low-income earners and spurring children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The Florida senator and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee issued his “11 Point Plan to Rescue...
Supreme Court shuts down Trump bid to shield records from Jan. 6 investigation
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has formally rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to block release of documents from his administration to the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, bringing a formal end to his executive privilege claims in connection with the records. The decision follows the court’s Jan. 19 order...
What are the U.S.’s toughest sanctions against Putin, Russia?
WASHINGTON — With the White House calling Russian deployments in eastern Ukraine an invasion, it’s expected to follow up with tough sanctions. President Joe Biden has made clear the United States intends to deploy sweeping financial penalties, not American troops, to hit Russia over President Vladimir Putin’s moves against Ukraine....
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack: Some price increases are the result of businesses ‘taking advantage’
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said some recent price increases were the result of businesses “taking advantage” of the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain disruptions to push up food costs. Food prices have soared globally in the past year as economies recover from the pandemic and amid a jump in...
Pittsburgh market has seen the most ads in high-stakes Senate race
The Pittsburgh television market has been flooded with more campaign ads in Pennsylvania’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race than any other place in the state, according to data obtained by the Tribune-Review. So far, all of the ads are from Republicans. Advertising data shows the Pittsburgh market received 18,074 Gross Rating...
Dems, GOP set inflation, covid mandates as election themes
WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans each want to flash election-year signals that they are riding to the rescue of families struggling with rising costs and the 2-year-old coronavirus pandemic. Not surprisingly, the parties differ over how to do that. And in comments and votes in the Senate last week, each...
Pennsylvania high court eyes how to pick House districts map
Ranks of lawyers packed the courtroom of Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court on Friday, with most of them aiming to persuade justices to pick their clients’ preferred map of new congressional districts for the state and reject a Republican-backed map recommended by a lower court judge. Oral arguments were on course...
Republican lawmakers bar journalists from statehouse floors
Republican lawmakers in several states are scaling back access to government business, extending pandemic-era rules that restrict when journalists can report from the floors of state legislative chambers and, in effect, making it easier to dodge the press. As the public returns to the corridors of state capitols, new rules...
Senate sends Biden bill averting federal shutdown
The Senate gave final approval Thursday to legislation averting a weekend government shutdown, sending President Joe Biden a measure designed to give bipartisan bargainers more time to reach an overdue deal financing federal agencies until fall. Final passage was by a bipartisan 65-27 vote, five more than the 60 votes...
‘The brand is so toxic’: Democrats fear extinction in rural U.S.
SMETHPORT — Some Democrats here in rural Pennsylvania are afraid to tell you they’re Democrats. The party’s brand is so toxic in the small towns 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh that some liberals have removed bumper stickers and yard signs and refuse to acknowledge their party affiliation publicly. These Democrats...
Investigation: Zinke misused position as Interior secretary
BILLINGS, Mont. — Former U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke misused his position to advance a commercial development project that included a microbrewery in his Montana hometown and lied to an agency ethics official about his involvement in the project, according to a report by federal investigators released Wednesday. The investigation...
Abortion ban after 15 weeks passed by West Virginia House
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Republican-dominated West Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill Tuesday that would ban abortion after 15 weeks, a piece of legislation almost identical to the Mississippi law currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court’s ruling in the Mississippi abortion case could lead...
Jury rejects Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against New York Times
NEW YORK — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lost her libel lawsuit against The New York Times on Tuesday when a jury rejected her claim that the newspaper maliciously damaged her reputation by erroneously linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting. A judge had already declared that if the...
Poll: DeSantis leads Democratic rivals for Fla. governor, with Crist on top in primary
ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis holds sizable advantages over his potential Democratic opponents in this year’s race for governor, a poll released Tuesday shows. The Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy survey also has U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist well ahead among Democratic candidates for the job. But this far out, those...
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger endorses overlapping election investigators
ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is for the first time endorsing a separate agency hiring election investigators, a plan that will overlap what the Republican says is his own underfunded investigation unit. Raffensperger made the announcement Monday as he also called on Georgia leaders to do more...
Budget report on Pa. education agency provokes spat between lawmakers, watchdogs
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — With a single sentence tucked 15 pages into an otherwise dry budget report on the state Department of Education,...
Trevor Noah to headline White House correspondents’ dinner
WASHINGTON — Trevor Noah, the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, will be the featured entertainer for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 30. It will be the first time the event, usually held annually, will take place since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. “Trevor...
Democrats eye key governors’ races as backstop against GOP
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers was in a familiar spot earlier this month when Republican legislators sent him a bill that would have banned anti-racist teachings in schools. For the 66th time since taking office in 2019, he pulled out his veto pen. The rejection was the latest reminder of the...
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin prods Fed to tackle inflation, citing economy riskVideo
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin said the Federal Reserve needs to “stop pussyfooting around” and “tackle inflation head-on,” renewing his call for the central bank to act against the fastest pace of price increases since the early 1980s. The West Virginia Democrat has warned for months about the impact of...
Lamb touts experience in crowded Senate primary field
If Democratic voters want a candidate who has dealt with the crucial issues a senator will grapple with next year, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb told a group of Norwin Democrats he is the only one in the crowded primary field who has the track record for voting for what they...
