Politics Election category, Page 233
Biden team aware of political perils from pipeline shutdown
The Biden administration swung aggressively into action after a primary gasoline pipeline fell prey to a cyberattack — understanding that the situation posed a possible series of political and economic risks. The pipeline shutdown was an all-hands-on-deck situation for a young presidency that has also had to deal with a...
NYC mayoral race heats up with 6 weeks to go before primary
NEW YORK — With less than six weeks to go, the Democratic primary that may decide the next mayor of New York City has reached a new stage of unpredictability. Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang is clinging to front-runner status while City Comptroller Scott Stringer fights off a sexual misconduct...
Republicans purge Liz Cheney for ‘unity,’ but Trump bent on retribution
WASHINGTON — Republican leaders insisted that purging Trump critic Rep. Liz Cheney from their ranks was necessary to unify the party ahead of next year’s midterm elections. But former President Donald Trump, who celebrated Cheney’s ouster by calling her a “bitter, horrible human being,” has made clear he has no...
Congressional hearing on Jan. 6 violence at Capitol devolves into partisan divisionsVideo
WASHINGTON — Republicans sought to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 insurrection during a rancorous congressional hearing Wednesday, painting the Trump supporters who attacked the building as mostly peaceful patriots and downplaying repeatedly the violence of the day. Democrats, meanwhile, clashed with Donald Trump’s former Pentagon chief about the...
Some Pa. lawmakers tout expense transparency, but their websites tell a different story
Over the next year, The Caucus and Spotlight PA will examine and make public specific areas of spending by the legislature as part of their ongoing efforts to follow the money and track taxpayer dollars. Be the first to know by signing up for Spotlight PA’s free newsletters. Spotlight PA...
Biden, Republican leaders build no bridges in White House infrastructure meeting
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s first meeting with all four top congressional leaders ended with the usual platitudes on Wednesday — it was “productive,” “good,” “very strong,” and suggested “a place we can find bipartisanship.” By today’s toxic standards in Washington, that’s something of an accomplishment. But it hardly means...
Pa. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. pushes police reforms aimed at dealing with those with disabilities
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and other Pennsylvania lawmakers are sponsoring legislation aimed at reducing the chance police encounters with those with disabilities or mental health issues will end tragically. Casey, D-Pa., is sponsoring what he’s dubbed the Law Enforcement Education and Accountability for People with Disabilities (LEAD) Initiative. It...
Sen. Susan Collins grills CDC Director Rochelle Walensky over covid transmission guidelinesVideo
For Sen. Susan Collins, it was more than just a numbers game. Collins, the Republican senior senator from Maine, questioned CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Tuesday during a Senate Health Committee about a New York Times newsletter that said a statistic in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline...
State Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward reveals breast cancer diagnosis
State Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, revealed Tuesday that she has undergone treatment for stage-one breast cancer for several months and soon will undergo surgery with the hopes of preventing the disease from returning. Ward said she learned of the diagnosis in December, weeks after she won reelection and made history...
Pennsylvania Republicans’ plans for election reform take shape in new report
PHILADELPHIA — As Republican lawmakers across the country have moved to tighten voting laws following former President Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election, Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled Legislature has waited to act during months of hearings. Now Republicans in Harrisburg are making their first moves, with the state House GOP releasing...
AP source: Biden to tap Rahm Emanuel for ambassador to Japan
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is expected to nominate former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Japan, according to a person familiar with the president’s decision. The person, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday,...
Idaho governor signs bill to halt Biden moves on gun laws
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed legislation aimed at thwarting a half-dozen executive actions by President Joe Biden to combat gun violence. The new law came less than a week after a shooting at an eastern Idaho middle school injured two students and a custodian. The Republican...
Inside Arizona’s election audit, GOP fraud fantasies live on
PHOENIX — On the floor of Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where NBA stars like Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan once dunked basketballs and Hulk Hogan wrestled King Kong Bundy, 46 tables are arrayed in neat rows, each with a Lazy Susan in the middle. Seated at the tables are several dozen...
GOP readies blitz against Democrats’ voting rights bill
WASHINGTON — Republicans are preparing to launch an all-out assault on sweeping voting rights legislation, forcing Democrats to take dozens of politically difficult votes during a committee hearing that will spotlight the increasingly charged national debate over access to the ballot. The bill, as written, would bring about the largest...
Retired Army colonel announces run against Liz Cheney
GILLETTE, Wyo. — A retired U.S. Army colonel from California says he will challenge Liz Cheney in next year’s Republican U.S. House primary in Wyoming. Denton Knapp, of Trabuco Canyon, Calif., said he plans to move back to Gillette, where he graduated from high school in 1983, the Gillette News...
AP-NORC poll: Biden approval buoyed by his pandemic response
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is plunging into the next phase of his administration with the steady approval of a majority of Americans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey shows Biden is buoyed in particular by the public’s broad backing...
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy says he backs ousting Liz Cheney from No. 3 jobVideo
WASHINGTON — Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy on Sunday publicly endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik for the post of No. 3 leader, cementing party support of the Donald Trump loyalist over Rep. Liz Cheney, an outspoken critic of the former president for promoting discredited claims that the 2020 election was stolen....
Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ imperils Republicans who don’t embrace it
WASHINGTON — Allegiance to a lie has become a test of loyalty to Donald Trump and a means of self-preservation for Republicans. Trump’s discredited allegations about a stolen election did nothing to save his presidency when courtrooms high and low, state governments and ultimately Congress — meeting in the chaos...
Pa. politicians walk fine line on vaccine endorsements to hesitant constituentsVideo
As vaccine rates slow with the threat of a new surge looming this fall, elected officials on both sides of the aisle are stepping forward to encourage constituents to get a covid-19 vaccine — even as they acknowledge this is a personal decision. While experts say such efforts could be...
Stefanik’s rise toward GOP leadership position in House irks conservatives
Conservatives in and out of Congress are expressing opposition to Rep. Elise Stefanik’s rise toward House Republicans’ No. 3 leadership job, grumbling that’s unlikely to derail her but serves notice that the right wing is battling again to affect the party’s future. House Republicans plan to meet privately next week,...
Nearly 120K OK’ed to vote by mail, absentee in Allegheny County; Tuesday marks deadline to apply
Allegheny County elections officials on Friday urged voters who want to vote by mail in the May 18 primary to do so as soon as possible so their applications can be received and processed by Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline. The county has approved 118,195 applications from voters seeking early ballots...
Ohio becomes latest state to propose transgender sports ban
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Transgender girls would be banned from participating in female sports teams in high school or college in two bills introduced by Republican lawmakers in Ohio, which became the latest state to take up the contentious debate. The proposals, titled the Save Women’s Sports Act, would require schools...
Ohio GOP censures 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio — The Ohio Republican Party censured U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez and nine other GOP representatives Friday for voting in February to impeach former President Donald Trump, in a nearly unanimous vote of the powerful central committee. The vote made the Cleveland congressman the eighth of the 10...
Front-line, farm-state Democrats push back against Biden tax plan
WASHINGTON — A group of 13 House Democrats, led by Iowa’s Cindy Axne and California’s Jim Costa, is pressing party leaders to exempt family farms from a tax increase President Joe Biden has proposed on inherited assets to help pay for new child care, education and other spending. Under Biden’s...
South Carolina cuts federal unemployment boost from weekly payments
COLUMBIA — South Carolina will leave the federal unemployment programs providing extra money to jobless residents in light of “unprecedented” workforce shortages across the state, Gov. Henry McMaster announced on Thursday. The state will opt out of the coronavirus pandemic assistance programs beginning June 30. The federal benefits include an...
