Politics Election category, Page 215
Rep. Greene’s speech at white nationalist event draws new calls for reprimand
Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene headlined a white nationalist conference in Florida where attendees cheered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and chanted the name of President Vladimir Putin shortly before she was introduced. The Rome lawmaker was the surprise guest at the America First Political Action Conference in Orlando,...
No notes, same logo: Dr. Oz’s campaign is like his TV show
NEWTOWN — The banners and big red video screen all said Dr. Oz, the host gave a rousing introduction and in strode the candidate, Mehmet Oz, to take up the microphone and become the center of attention for more than an hour. Welcome to Oz’s campaign for U.S. Senate, where...
Dr. Arvind Venkat announces run for North Hills state House seat
A newly vacant state house district in Pittsburgh’s North Hills has its first candidate. Dr. Arvind Venkat announced his Democratic candidacy on Thursday for Pennsylvania’s 30th State House District. Venkat is an emergency room doctor at Allegheny Health Network, serving as the core ER faculty at Allegheny General Hospital. He...
In trans people, GOP candidates find latest ‘wedge issue’
SCRANTON — Dr. Mehmet Oz leans in to ask a little girl, “Do you remember when your parents thought you were a boy?” The question was but a few seconds of a full 2010 episode of “The Dr. Oz Show” that focused on the experience of raising transgender children. But...
2 Pittsburgh Democrats vying for Jake Wheatley’s former state House seat
The Rev. Glenn Grayson said he lost “by a fluke” this month in a Democratic committee vote to become the party’s nominee in a special election to fill Jake Wheatley’s former state House seat for the rest of the year. Grayson, 62, tied social worker and community activist Aerion Abney,...
Oklahoma’s Inhofe confirms he is resigning U.S. Senate seat
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, says he will step down before his six-year term is up and that he is “absolutely” at peace with the decision. In an interview published Friday by The Oklahoman, the 87-year-old Inhofe said...
Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson, first Black woman, to Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman selected to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed segregation. Introducing Jackson, Biden called her a “proven...
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...
