Politics Election category, Page 278
House Democrats drafting $2.4 trillion coronavirus relief bill
WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi has directed House committee leaders to put together a more slender coronavirus relief package than the one that previously passed the chamber, in their latest offer in talks with the White House. The House could vote on that as-yet-unreleased $2.4 trillion bill as soon as...
How do you cut the red tape out of government? Use common sense, panelists sayVideo
Before she joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili worked in various federal government positions. While she had hoped the work she was tasked with would make a difference, it didn’t always appear that way. Murtazashvili called her work with the U.S. Agency for International Development...
AP Explains: What’s next with the Supreme Court vacancy?Video
WASHINGTON — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is putting the Senate in uncharted political terrain. There’s no recent precedent for a confirmation vote so close to a presidential election. President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the Republican-run Senate to consider “without delay” his upcoming nomination, even...
Joe Biden’s Pennsylvania hurdle: Voters who fear a California-style energy planVideo
When US Airways stopped using Pittsburgh’s airport as a global hub in 2004, a billion-dollar renovation project completed in 1992 that was supposed to breathe life into the regional economy became a suffocating financial burden, and local leaders stopped looking to the sky for salvation. Instead, they looked beneath their...
Pa. Supreme Court denies motion to stay ballot decision requested by Republicans
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday denied a request by state Republicans to stay its decision allowing for the use of ballot drop boxes and an extended deadline for mail-in ballots. Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph B. Scarnati III, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, House Speaker Bryan Cutler and House...
Crowd jeers as Trump pays respects at court to GinsburgVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was booed Thursday as he paid respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He plans to nominate a replacement this weekend for the liberal justice, best known for her advancement of women’s rights. The president and first lady Melania Trump — both wearing...
Federal probe focuses on discarded Trump ballots in Luzerne County
A federal investigation into irregularities with mail-in ballots at the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections has turned up discarded ballots that were cast for President Donald Trump, U.S. Attorney David J. Freed said Thursday. In a prepared statement, Freed said FBI agents and Pennsylvania State Police who began investigating “potential...
Pittsburgh Bishop Zubik issues letter as pundits call Catholic vote ‘crucial’ to presidential race
Pittsburgh Catholic Bishop David A. Zubik won’t endorse either presidential candidate. By federal law, he isn’t allowed to in his official capacity. Church law also bans clergy from making endorsements. But Zubik, the spiritual leader of more than 600,000 Catholics in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington counties, said...
Trump pays respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump paid respects to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Thursday morning, just two days before he announces his nominee to replace her on the high court. The president and first lady Melania Trump — both wearing masks — stood silently at the top...
Trump-appointed judges under an election-year political lens
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson, a Trump administration appointee who bucked the president’s conservative base by blocking a Tennessee law that restricts mail-in voting, had an announcement to make before wrapping up his decision: it had nothing to do with politics. The declaration dropped as lower-court judges,...
Rejecting Trump, both parties’ leaders see orderly electionVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election drew swift blowback Thursday from both parties in Congress, and lawmakers were already turning to unprecedented steps to ensure he can’t ignore the vote of the people. Congressional leaders, including Senate...
New poll shows Biden still leading, but little change in presidential race among Pennsylvania voters
Nearly a month into the official 2020 general election campaign, with their camps moving full steam ahead and frequent rallies in Pennsylvania, President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have done little to move the needle among Keystone State voters, a new poll shows. A Franklin & Marshall College...
Trump won’t commit to peaceful transfer of power if he losesVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday again declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the Nov. 3 presidential election. “We’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump said at a news conference, responding to a question about whether he’d commit to a peaceful...
Florida seeks investigation on Michael Bloomberg’s donation on voting
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s attorney general asked state and federal law enforcement on Wednesday to investigate possible election law violations after billionaire and former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg helped raise more than $16 million for Florida felons to pay their debts so they can vote in the presidential election. Attorney...
Judge: Eric Trump must testify in New York probe before election
NEW YORK — Eric Trump must testify in a New York investigation into his family’s business practices before the November presidential election, a judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting his lawyers’ claims that his “extreme travel schedule” on the campaign trail warranted a delay. State Judge Arthur Engoron said President Donald Trump’s...
Pence brings law-and-order tour to city where Floyd died
MINNEAPOLIS — Vice President Mike Pence is bringing President Donald Trump’s law-and-order campaign message to Minneapolis on Thursday, showing support for law enforcement in the city where George Floyd’s death after police tried to arrest him sparked angry and sometimes violent protests that spread around the world. Pence and Ivanka...
Republicans seek to stay Pa. Supreme Court decision on ballot drop boxes and mail-in ballots
Top Republicans in Harrisburg have asked the state Supreme Court to stay part of its order allowing the use of ballot drop boxes and granting a three-day extension to count mail-in ballots while they appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. In an application filed Tuesday, the Republican lawmakers...
GOP Senate report on Hunter Biden alleges conflict of interestVideo
WASHINGTON — Two Republican-led Senate committees issued a politically charged report Wednesday alleging that the work Joe Biden’s son did in Ukraine constituted a conflict of interest for the Obama administration at a time when Biden was engaged in Ukraine policy as vice president. But the report also offered no...
Bob Woodward’s ‘Rage’ sells 600,000 copies in first week
NEW YORK — Bob Woodward’s “Rage” sold more than 600,000 copies in its first week of publication, continuing a yearlong wave of blockbuster books about President Donald Trump. Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday that Woodward’s book will be going into its fourth printing, with total books in print to be...
Covering the bases: Fenway Park expected as voting venue
BOSTON — There’s the windup, the pitch — and the vote. Election officials in Boston are expected to approve Fenway Park as an early voting venue when they meet Thursday, after Red Sox owner John Henry offered the storied ballpark for voters hesitant to cast ballots indoors. City officials toured...
Facebook: Fake pages from China tried to disrupt U.S. politics
Facebook says it has removed a small network of fake accounts and pages that originated in China and focused on disrupting political activity in the U.S. and several other countries. The U.S.-focused activity was just a “sliver” of the accounts’ overall activity and gained almost no following, Facebook said. Their...
Trump plays to strengths in crowd-pleasing stop at Pittsburgh International Airport
President Trump stepped off Air Force One on Tuesday evening to the loud cheers of thousands of people packed outside a private hangar at Pittsburgh International Airport. After a quick nod to the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, Trump told the crowd at Atlantic Aviation in Moon Township: “Forty-two days from...
House passes stopgap funding bill shortly after bipartisan deal
WASHINGTON — The House swiftly passed a stopgap funding measure needed to avert a partial government shutdown in eight days after top congressional leaders reached a deal resolving a fight over farm payments. On a lopsided vote of 359-57, the House sent to the Senate a revised continuing resolution that...
Cindy McCain endorses Biden for president in rebuke of Trump
PHOENIX — Democrat Joe Biden said Tuesday that Cindy McCain plans to endorse him for president, a stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump by the widow of the GOP’s 2008 nominee. Trump has had a fraught relationship with members of John McCain’s family since he disparaged the Arizona senator during...
U.S. Energy Secretary promotes energy versatility in Pittsburgh visit
U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette visited the Pittsburgh region this week, stopping at a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant being built in Beaver County, Carnegie Mellon University and the United Association Local 449 Steamfitters headquarters in Pittsburgh. The visit, according to Brouillette’s staff, was to highlight the importance of Appalachian natural...
