Northeast
Pennsylvania business owner says 'liberal myopia' swinging voters toward GOP: Dems 'can't see' our problems
Pennsylvania is suffering from a “liberal myopia,” fueling an exodus from the Democratic Party as more voters flee to the GOP, one Pittsburgh business owner told Fox News on Wednesday.
“We’re suffering from a liberal myopia. They can’t see the crime. They can’t see the vacancies on the buildings. They can’t see the crumbling infrastructure. And downtown Pittsburgh, we have the largest homeless encampment in the tri-state area,” Rich Cupka, who owns Cupka’s Cafe in the Steel City, told “Fox & Friends First.”
He appeared alongside two other voters from the Keystone State, a hotly-contested battleground zone up for grabs between Trump and Harris, with polls indicating no clear winner. With just under four weeks until voters cast their ballots, its political attitudes on the ground are in focus.
The sentiment draws on a recent article from The Philadelphia Inquirer, finding that working-class voters in deep blue Philadelphia are making a pivot to the GOP. The article warned that Democrats losing ground in lower income areas could signal bad news for Vice President Harris next month.
FOX NEWS POLL: HARRIS, TRUMP LOCKED IN TIGHT RACE IN BATTLEGROUND PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh business owner Rich Cupka told Fox News that a “liberal myopia” is driving voters away from Democrats. (Fox News)
Pennsylvania also saw one of the most pivotal moments of the current election cycle, when shots rang out at former President Trump’s first Butler rally in July, marking the first of two attempts on his life.
Noreen Johnson, also a resident of the state, said those shots heard around the world had a lasting impact.
“They say there were 100,000 people there over the weekend,” she said, speaking of Trump’s recent return to the site. “That alone, I think, speaks volumes.”
“Butler’s attempted assassination, I think, really changed the landscape, not only in Pennsylvania, but across the nation,” she added.
“To see a former president be nearly killed by a hair. I think a lot of people – even people that don’t care for Donald Trump – that affected them and that may or may not have swayed their vote… We are where we are with our candidates. It is crunch time but, at the same time, people are hurting all over the country, and while Kamala is busy with her last-minute interviews and not answering questions and word salads, people are suffering, dying all over the country, and we have to make a change, and there’s only one change, and that is Donald Trump on November 5th.”
PA GOV TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER SUPREME COURT REJECTS GOP BID TO OVERTURN ELECTION LAW ‘USURPATIONS’
A panel of Pennsylvania voters shared their thoughts on the upcoming election on “Fox & Friends First.” (Fox News)
Registered Democrat Jahmiel Jackson, a resident of Philadelphia, also joined the panel and was asked to weigh in on Harris’ recent media tour, during which she has spoken to personalities like Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert and the women of “The View.”
Jackson, echoing many others, voiced concern about her reluctance to answer tough questions.
“I think when we see her, what we’re really missing from her is a really hard interview where she’s being grilled, where she’s being fact-checked, and her feet are being held to the fire because Donald Trump has been doing this for eight years but, even when he’s been running now, it’s been two years. He hasn’t been scared of a single interview, so I think when we see her keep dodging on very important issues, then she doesn’t represent Philadelphia at all,” he said.
“For example, with the economy that’s looming over her, she keeps saying that, ‘We aren’t going back.’ That’s one of her main catchline phrases that so many young people see as well, but when I talk to many people in Philadelphia, when I’m doing street interviews, I’m talking to my friends and families and their friends, they’re always saying, well, we do want to go back to lower priced groceries, to a more stable world where there aren’t as many embassy evacuations or there aren’t as many foreign wars, a more stable country, for example, so a lot of us do want to go back to the 2019 amazing economy.”
Read the full article from Here
Maine
Small Maine town votes to close a school that serves 5 students
The remote Washington County town of Topsfield voted Thursday to close its five-student school, opting to send a shrinking student population elsewhere.
Residents voted 42 to 18 to shutter the East Range II School after high costs began to drive students from out of town elsewhere, bringing the number of students down from 25 in 2023 to the small total it has today. Turnout was robust in a town with only about 175 residents and 130 registered voters.
School district officials projected that the school, which had once served pre-K through eighth grade but would have been left only with pre-K through early elementary school students, would teach no more than seven students at a time over the next five school years. They also expected it would cost nearly $500,000 per year to keep the school open.
“I had no idea how the vote was going to go,” Eastern Maine Area School System superintendent Amanda Belanger said Friday. “I’m glad that a decision has been made and that we can move forward.”
The school board will finalize the closure plan and weigh what to do about the staff at East Range, at a meeting on May 7. The school would have likely had only one full-time teacher working there next year. That teacher, Paula Johnson, said she wasn’t sure what she would do if the school closed. She has worked there for 11 years.
Students will now likely be bused from Topsfield to schools in Princeton or Baileyville, about 30 minutes south. East Range will close at the end of this school year. After that, the town will take over the property.
It’s not clear what will become of the building. At an April meeting to discuss the future of the school, some residents were already speculating about whether it could turn into a senior center or similar community facility.
The result of Thursday’s vote was not unexpected. Many residents at the April meeting said they could not afford the taxes required to keep the school open. They will still have to pay for maintenance of the building but that cost is expected to be much lower than the cost of maintaining the school.
Taxpayers will also have to continue to pay for students, but the cost of busing kids out of town is also expected to be much lower than maintaining the local school.
Massachusetts
Inside NBC10 Boston’s investigation into a ‘tenant from hell’
The NBC10 Boston Investigators have been uncovering so-called professional tenants for years now, and now we’re getting a behind-the-scenes look at the reporting process on perhaps the most shocking story yet.
Ryan Kath joins JC Monahan on this week’s Just Curious with JC to discuss a story that is drawing attention from thousands — the story of an elderly Boston resident trapped inside her own home with the “tenant from hell”.
An elderly homeowner reached out to the NBC10 Investigators about her ordeal with a tenant living on the first floor of her property in Dorchester. Despite not paying rent, it took more than a year and numerous housing court appearances to get an eviction.
Since airing in April, the story has struck a nerve with tens of thousands of people, highlighting the broad scope of the issue.
See the full interview to learn how the story came to be, and what the reception has been, in the player at the top of this story and on NBC10 Boston’s YouTube channel.
New Hampshire
Theatre Productions | End Of Life Options | Storytimes | Open Studio: The Londonderry NH Patch Weekender
LONDONDERRY, NH — Here is the latest roundup of events posted on Patch sites around New Hampshire.
Event listings are free on one Patch site. You can share your calendar listing on other community sites for a modest fee, starting at 25 cents per day. To get started, visit the Events link on the front page of all Patch sites. Statewide calendar roundups are published on most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Saturday
Opening Day! Concord Farmers’ Market (Capitol Street, Concord)
Find out what’s happening in Londonderryfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Craftworkers’ Guild Spring Shop Opens This Week! (Bedford)
The Power of Angels! (Treasures Antiques, Collectables & MORE!, Amherst)
Find out what’s happening in Londonderryfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
End of Life Options in the Live Free or Die State — a talk by Rebecca Brown (Wilmot Public Library)
Multi-Family Yard Sale (3 Chase St., Concord)
Storytime Stations at the Heights (Heights Branch Library, Concord)
Talking Dirty in Rollins Park (Concord)
Concord Writers Group (Concord Public Library)
May The 2nd Be With You (Concord Public Library)
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (Saint Paul’s Church, Concord)
“To Kill a Mockingbird” (Concord City Auditorium)
Purple Sage Pottery Open Studio Sale (Merrimac, Massachusetts)
FREE Introduction to Digital Photography class (May 9: C1M Photography LLC, Amherst)
Great Bay Food Truck Festival (May 9: Stratham Hill Park)
It’s Alive Stuffy Puppets (May 15: Epping Elementary School)
Stuffed Animal Puppets- It’s Alive for Adults! (May 16: Epping Elementary School)
Bedford Garden Club Annual Plant Sale (May 16: Joppa Hill Educational Farm, Bedford)
GSBC’s FREE Annual Memorial Day Pig Roast (May 25: Granite State Baptist Church, Concord)
Graduation Parties — Open House (May 27: Lanam Club Inc, Andover, MA)
Introduction to AI — Free, in-person class (May 30: C1M Photography, LLC, Amherst)
Great Island Garden Club Plant Sale (May 30: New Castle Recreation Center, New Castle)
Diamonds in the Ruff Gala (May 31: Event Center, Nashua)
Do you have a news tip? Email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube or Rumble channels. Patch in New Hampshire is now in 217 communities — and expanding every day. Also, follow Patch on Google Discover.
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