Politics Election category, Page 161
Why is Biden announcing 2024 bid now, and what will change?
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has formally announced he’s seeking reelection. But he’s also still the president, with roughly 20 months left in his term regardless of whether he wins a second one on Election Day 2024. With Tuesday’s campaign video release, Biden is following through on months of saying...
President Joe Biden announces 2024 reelection bid
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish this job” and extend the run of America’s oldest president for another four years. Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a...
House committee passes anti-discrimination bill for LGBTQ Pennsylvanians
The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee approved a bill Monday that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s nondiscrimination law, a step forward in what was described as a two-decade effort to codify rights for LGBTQ people in the state. The legislation, House Bill 300, is a fundamental...
Pa. House panel advances election reform bill that makes ballot secrecy envelopes optional
Legislation that would give counties a seven-day head start on getting ballots ready for tabulating and require voters be given the chance to correct minor issues to ensure their ballot gets counted won passage by a state House committee on Monday. The bill, sponsored by House State Government Committee Chairman...
Biden’s 2024 campaign has been hiding in plain sight
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign has been hiding in plain sight all along. The contours of the 2024 campaign that Biden will formally launch with a video as soon as this week will look a lot like his messaging and policy moves from the past few months: Play...
Kevin McCarthy says House will pass GOP debt limit bill this week
WASHINGTON — Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that the House will pass his $1.5 trillion debt ceiling increase plan this week, but he dodged when asked if he has already secured the 218 Republican votes he needs. “We will hold a vote this week and we will pass it,” McCarthy said...
How rich are the U.S. Supreme Court justices?
WASHINGTON — The nine Supreme Court justices in total are worth at least $24 million. Or it might be closer to $68 million. It’s impossible to get more specific than that. That’s because federal ethics laws require justices to disclose only those assets that might pose a conflict of interest....
Trump defends push to restrict abortion rights after rebuke
CLIVE, Iowa — Donald Trump, stinging from a rebuke by the nation’s leading anti-abortion group, used a speech Saturday before influential evangelicals in Iowa to spotlight his actions as president to try to restrict abortion rights. Chief among the accomplishments Trump listed were his nominations of three conservative judges to...
Extreme weather is nearly universal experience: AP-NORC poll
WASHINGTON — An overwhelming majority of people in the United States say they have recently experienced an extreme weather event, a new poll shows, and most of them attribute that to climate change. But even as many across the country mark Earth Day on Saturday, the poll shows relatively few...
Biden to sign order prioritizing ‘environmental justice’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday plans to sign an executive order that would create the White House Office of Environmental Justice. The White House said it wants to ensure that poverty, race and ethnic status do not lead to worse exposure to pollution and environmental harm. Biden is...
Conservative commentator Dan Bongino leaving Fox News
Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and New York City cop turned conservative talk show host, told his radio listeners Thursday he is leaving Fox News where he had a weekly TV show since June 2021. Bongino, 48, said his departure is amicable. It comes after Bongino and Fox...
Tennessee GOP lawmaker resigns after ethics panel finding
NASHVILLE — A Republican lawmaker in Tennessee resigned Thursday because of an ethics violation involving the Legislature’s workplace discrimination and harassment policy. Rep. Scotty Campbell, vice chair of the House Republican Caucus, was among the GOP legislators who voted two weeks ago to expel two Black Democratic lawmakers for protesting...
Greensburg business group schedules forum for city mayoral, council candidates
Greensburg Business and Professional Association is organizing its first ever candidates’ forum for those running for mayor or council seats in the city. According to the business group, all candidates for the city’s open elected positions in the May 16 primary have been invited to participate in the public forum,...
IRS agent alleges Hunter Biden probe is being mishandled
WASHINGTON — An IRS special agent is seeking whistleblower protection to disclose information about what the agent alleges is mishandling of an investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, according to a letter sent to members of Congress. Mark Lytle, the attorney for the IRS whistleblower, wrote to lawmakers...
More say Trump broke law in Ga. case than NY’s: AP-NORC poll
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has emerged largely unscathed politically from his New York indictment. But a new poll suggests that investigations in Georgia and Washington could prove more problematic. Only 4 in 10 U.S. adults believe Trump acted illegally in New York, where he has been charged in...
Florida expands ‘Don’t Say Gay’; House OKs anti-LGBTQ bills
TALLAHASSEE — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis added more wins to his agenda targeting the LGBTQ+ community as a state board approved an expansion of what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law Wednesday, and the House passed bills on gender-transition treatments, bathroom use and keeping children out of drag...
Fulton County sanctioned over copying 2020 voting machine data
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania Republican-majority county government where two commissioners secretly allowed a third party to copy voting-machine data last year to help former President Donald Trump overturn his 2020 reelection defeat received contempt sanctions Wednesday from the state’s highest court. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled against Fulton County commissioners...
Sen. John Fetterman posts video trolling body-double conspiracy ‘fringy fringies’Video
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is back on Capitol Hill and back on social media, trolling conspiracy theorists who claimed last month that he had a body double. Tuesday evening on his non-official Senate Twitter account, Fetterman posted a short video referring to the “fringy fringies” and their conspiracy theory targeting...
Fitzgerald endorses Joanna Doven in Allegheny County Council race
Longtime Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald is finally weighing in on the upcoming Democratic primary election. Fitzgerald endorsed Democratic county council at-large candidate Joanna Doven on Wednesday, issuing his first primary endorsement of the 2023 campaign. Fitzgerald is serving his third term as county executive, Allegheny County’s highest elected position,...
Pa. primary election 2023: Everything you need to know about requesting, filling out, and returning your mail ballot
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 — Voters in Pennsylvania’s May 16 primary election will choose their parties’ statewide candidates for the Commonwealth, Superior, and Supreme...
Ballot mailings to Westmoreland voters await court action
Nearly 22,000 mail-in ballots are scheduled to be sent out to Westmoreland County voters this week, but a dispute over the candidacy of two Republican candidates for commissioner might put that delivery on hold. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is considering whether to hear an appeal filed Monday by the county’s...
Iowa’s Senate advances bill to loosen child labor laws
DES MOINES — Lawmakers in Iowa’s Senate passed a controversial bill Tuesday that would allow minors to work longer hours and work in currently banned roles, such as serving alcohol at restaurants, the Des Moines Register reported. Supporters of the bill — mainly Republicans — said it would give children...
Expecting more than $1B in opioid settlement money, Pa. grapples with policing versus treatment
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 — A historic settlement to resolve claims against opioid companies is expected to bring Pennsylvania more than $1 billion, but...
Republicans object to replacing Dianne Feinstein on Judiciary panel
WASHINGTON — Republicans blocked a Democratic request to temporarily replace California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, leaving Democrats with few options for moving some of President Joe Biden’s stalled judicial nominees. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, objected to...
Lawmakers steer toward food stamp clash on work requirements
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers, as they work on the 2023 farm bill, are staking out positions on nutrition and food stamps — the Agriculture Department’s biggest single program and a perennial source of contention. The draft bill may still be months away, but Republican members of Congress have already said they...
