Top Stories category, Page 1313
Biden has the presidency in his reach, with Pa. in the balance and Trump railing against counting votes
SCRANTON, Pa. — Joe Biden appeared to be on the cusp of winning the presidency Wednesday, even as Pennsylvania’s election results remained uncertain and President Donald Trump made increasingly desperate attempts to stop the vote count. Biden won the critical swing states of Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to The...
Trump backers converge on vote centers in Michigan, Arizona
Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting centers in Detroit and Phoenix as the returns went against him Wednesday in the two key states, while thousands of anti-Trump protesters demanding a complete tally of the ballots in the still-undecided election took to the streets in cities...
With narrow lead U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb declares victory over Republican challenger Sean ParnellVideo
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb declared victory Wednesday night as incomplete results showed the Democratic incumbent take a whisker-close lead over Republican challenger Sean Parnell, with barely 700 votes separating the candidates in the hotly watched race for the 17th Congressional District. By noon Thursday, Lamb’s lead had grown to about...
Greensburg rally: ‘Count all the votes,’ speakers sayVideo
In a sea of some 60 people rallying Wednesday in front of the Westmoreland County Courthouse for counting all mail-in ballots that reach county election bureaus by Friday, Bill Wertz of Greensburg stood out. At the Voice of Westmorelan rally, a community activist organization, Wertz admitted to the crowd carrying...
The monthslong political saga that guaranteed a long vote count in Pennsylvania
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 — It didn’t have to be this way in Pennsylvania. Yes, the state’s universal mail voting law is only a...
‘You killed my son!’ Philly releases bodycam footage and 911 calls in police killing of Walter Wallace Jr.
PHILADELPHIA — In the moments before two Philadelphia police officers fatally shot Walter Wallace Jr. outside his family’s West Philadelphia home last week, the officers repeatedly told Wallace to put down a knife he was holding, while people on the street yelled that Wallace was “mental” and screamed “no” as...
Protesters in Downtown Pittsburgh disperse, 3 from splinter group arrested
Pittsburgh police have arrested three people in connection with a protest downtown Wednesday night, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety officials. The arrests came after a small group of protesters broke off from a larger group and began overturning every garbage can they passed and knocking over traffic signs shortly before...
Oakmont’s Carrie DelRosso holds small lead over House Minority Leader Frank Dermody
A first-term Republican councilwoman from Oakmont held a small lead Friday over House Minority Leader Frank Dermody with thousands of votes yet to be counted in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. The state’s unofficial election results on Thursday showed Carrie DelRosso’s early lead tighten to a margin of just 4 percentage...
Pennsylvania could be key in Republican legal election challenges
It is likely that Pennsylvania will remain the epicenter of Republican legal challenges to continuing election results in coming days, but whether those challenges will even matter was in doubt Wednesday evening. The state Republican Party on Tuesday filed two lawsuits in Pennsylvania challenging whether counties could follow Secretary of...
Pennsylvania’s presidential vote could be moot before it is even finished
After more than five dozen campaign visits to Pennsylvania by President Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden and an estimated $100 million in campaign and PAC spending, the final count in the Keystone State’s election could be insignificant in determining Tuesday’s national outcome. The state — with 20 Electoral College...
Editorial: Pennsylvania is more than 20 electoral votes
Late night humor is often political, frequently gleeful and generally a fluid blend of accurate and exaggerated. That’s comedy. Stephen Colbert may be the reigning king of the savage political snark, but Tuesday, he took a Twitter stab at the Keystone State that might have seemed like humor but could...
Trump sues in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, laying ground for contesting outcome
WASHINGTON — As Democrat Joe Biden inched closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, President Donald Trump’s campaign put into action the legal strategy the president had signaled for weeks: attacking the integrity of the voting process in states where the result could mean...
Will you trust the election results regardless of the outcome?Video
President Donald Trump’s campaign is filing lawsuits over ballot counting in Michigan and threatening to do so in other states. Similar election-related lawsuits were filed in Pennsylvania over the previous several weeks. All of which leaves voters wondering whether society will accept the results of this year’s presidential election if...
Maine GOP Sen. Collins beats Sara Gideon in hard-fought race in Maine
PORTLAND, Maine — Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has won the hardest-fought race of her career, turning back a challenge by Democrat Sara Gideon. Collins survived to serve a fifth term following a costly race that was viewed as pivotal to control of the Senate. Collins, one of...
Westmoreland vote count continues, showing Trump with expected big lead
President Trump is on his way to another big victory in Westmoreland County. According to unofficial results, with more than 77% of the vote counted, Trump continued to hold a commanding lead over former Vice President Joe Biden among county voters. With all 307 precincts reporting votes cast in-person on...
Pa. reports 2nd-highest coronavirus case total
Pennsylvania’s Department of Health reported 2,795 new positive cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, the second-highest total since the pandemic began in March. The new cases bring the state’s total to 217,666, following Tuesday’s record high total of 2,875 new cases. The health department had 49,087 test results reported through 10...
Wolf: ‘Every vote is going to count,’ Trump lawsuit is ‘simply wrong’Video
Gov. Tom Wolf reiterated his confidence in the state’s elections process Wednesday night as workers statewide raced to tabulate hundreds of thousands of ballots left to be counted and the Trump administration attempts to block the count. “Pennsylvania has made important progress in counting millions of mail-in ballots. That continues...
Peters Township School District apologizes for ‘insensitive’ costumes at Woodland Hills game
Peters Township School District officials formally apologized to their counterparts at Woodland Hills for an “insensitive” choice of costumes by two drum majors during an Oct. 30 football game between the schools. The two students wore black, full-body spandex suits that appeared to some as if they were in blackface...
Allegheny County reports 200 new coronavirus cases
Allegheny County added 200 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the first time the county has hit 200 cases since Oct. 4. The new cases — 121 confirmed and 79 probable — bring the county’s total to 16,410, according to the Allegheny County Health Department. The 121 confirmed cases came from...
Voters in pivotal Pennsylvania keep nation on edge of seat
HARRISBURG — Legal challenges and a mountain of uncounted ballots promised a long watch Wednesday to find out who the people of Pennsylvania chose as president, even as a host of other major races in the state — including for several congressional seats, statewide officers and the Legislature — remained...
Trade deficit falls to $63.9 billion in September
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The U.S. trade deficit fell in September after hitting a 14-year high in August as exports outpaced imports. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the gap between what the U.S. sells and what it buys abroad fell to $63.9 billion in September, a decline of 4.7%...
Election Wednesday: 313,000 mail ballots scanned thus far, Allegheny County officials say
The waiting continues. Pennsylvania is in the spotlight, as predicted, but officials are making progress on counting all of the ballots. The Tribune-Review will continue to provide extensive election coverage today. Counting ends for the night, continues Thursday Allegheny County officials reported at 10:55 p.m. that vote counting has ended...
Fayette man dies week after crash
A passenger involved in a crash in Fayette County last month has died, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. Brian Keith Benedetto, 49, of Uniontown was pronounced dead Friday at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, a week after the Oct. 23 crash in Dunbar Township. State police said Benedetto was a...
Southwestern Pa. counties resume counting votes
Allegheny County has resumed its efforts to count mail-in ballots after a pause early Wednesday morning, according to county spokeswoman Amie Downs. Voters sent in 348,485 mail-in and absentee ballots. As of 3 a.m., 173,068 had been processed and electronically scanned. Another approximately 29,000 ballots had been set aside for...
Presidency hinges on tight races in battleground states
WASHINGTON — The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance Wednesday morning, as President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden battled for three familiar battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House. It was unclear...
