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Republican House Speaker visits Pittsburgh, says Dems have too much campaign cash

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Republican House Speaker visits Pittsburgh, says Dems have too much campaign cash


During a visit to Western Pennsylvania on Friday, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson called the amount of money Democrats are spending on House races this year “irrational” — even though both Democrats and Republicans are on track to spend less money in the area than they did two years ago.

“Democrats, I think irrationally, have raised a lot of money this cycle,” Johnson said during a stop at an Aliquippa trucking company. “They’ve raised more in a lot of the key races around the country. But ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s not about the quantity of the cash. It’s about the quality of the candidate.”

Johnson was stumping for Republican Congressional candidate Rob Mercuri, who is looking to unseat the Democratic incumbent Chris Deluzio in the 17th Congressional District — and whose own candidacy has been outgunned so far.

The Democrat-aligned House Majority PAC has reserved $1.9 million for ads on the race, while the Republican equivalent, the National Republican Congressional Committee, has reserved only around $700,000, according to AdImpact, which tracks campaign ad spending.

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Although Johnson called the amount of Democratic spending “irrational,” outside funders in both parties had each spent more than four times as much on ads — around $8 million — by this point in the 17th District race in 2022.

Mercuri is also being outspent when comparing each campaign head-to-head, without factoring in allied groups. Deluzio’s campaign is spending $1.7 million on ads, according to AdImpact, compared to just $400,000 for Mercuri. Deluzio spent a similar amount of money on ads in 2022, though resources in that race were more evenly matched: Republican candidate Jerememy Shaeffer spent four times as much money on ads in the district in 2022 as Mercuri’s campaign has so far.

Johnson said that Mercuri could make up the difference with help from outside groups.

“The campaign finance laws prevent me from coordinating with our super PACs and the conservative groups that are out there,” Johnson said. “But I know there’s a lot of buzz about Rob’s race. They’re watching it very closely. And my expectation is in the coming days, he’ll have a lot more air cover coming in here at the end, and that’s when it really counts.

That money has already started to flow in recent weeks. A Super PAC called the Eighteen Fifty-Four Fund has reserved around $1.8 million worth of ads in the final weeks of the campaign starting on October 15. Five family members of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary under former president Donald Trump, are listed as the committee members for the organization in a tax filing. No outside group has spent $3,000 or more on ads for Deluzio.

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The 17th Congressional District is expected to be the closest Congressional race in Western Pennsylvania. The Cook Political Report says the voter distribution in the district is about evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, but has listed the race as “lean Democrat.”





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Pittsburg, PA

17-year-old accused in deadly Kansas shooting

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17-year-old accused in deadly Kansas shooting


CRAWFORD COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating another deadly shooting involving a Kansas teen.

Just before 9p.m. Friday, police along with first responder units from Pittsburg Fire Department and Crawford County EMS, were dispatched to a shooting at Schlanger Park, 725 E 6th Street in Pittsburg, according to a media release. First responders found that an adult male had been shot and had subsequently died as a result of his injuries.

The victim, who was identified as 18-year-old Adam Basauri, of Girard, was pronounced deceased at the scene. Basauri’s body was sent to Kansas City for an autopsy.

The scene was secured and investigators with the Pittsburg Police Department responded to assist with the investigation. Witnesses on scene advised the suspect had fled the scene in a vehicle. Witnesses were transported to the police department to be interviewed while the search for the suspect was ongoing.

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At approximately 9:46 p.m. the suspect and suspect’s vehicle were located in Arma, Kansas, by deputies with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office.

The suspect, who was identified as a 17-year-old juvenile, was taken into custody and transported to the Pittsburg Police Department for questioning. The juvenile suspect’s vehicle was secured and towed to the Pittsburg Police Department to be processed.

After interviewing the witnesses’ investigators were able to determine that a brief altercation took place between Basauri and the juvenile suspect. During the altercation, the suspect shot Basauri.

As a result, the 17-year-old juvenile, of Pittsburg, was placed under arrest. Juvenile Intake responded and processed the juvenile suspect. The juvenile suspect was transported to the Southeast KS Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Girard. He is being held on a requested charge of murder in the second degree.



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Masontown Borough unanimously votes to reinstate police department

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Masontown Borough unanimously votes to reinstate police department


During an emergency meeting on Saturday night, Masontown borough council voted 6-0 to reinstate its police department after council initially voted on Monday to lay off the entire department, citing budgetary reasons as the leading factor for the decision.



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Pittsburgh Pirates Swap with A’s That Makes Sense For Both Clubs

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Pittsburgh Pirates Swap with A’s That Makes Sense For Both Clubs


The Pittsburgh Pirates could use some bats, and the A’s are still looking to add some pitching this winter, so how likely is it that these clubs come together on a deal?

According to Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates are still on the lookout for some help on the left side of the infield. Over at Roster Resource, their starters at short and third as listed as Nick Gonzales (82 wRC+ in 2025) and Jared Triolo (86).

While the A’s are having a little showdown of their own at third base this spring, they have a number of players in the mix. Perhaps they could move one of them in a deal with Pittsburgh in order to land a relief pitcher with some upside.

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The proposed deal that we have in mind is the A’s sending third baseman Brett Harris, who may be starting as the third option at the hot corner this spring. Harris has a tremendous glove at third, and statistically it appears to be at least on par with the glove what Triolo provided last season.

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In just 183 2/3 innings with the A’s in 2025, Harris put up a +5 DRS, and +2 in both OAA and FRV. Triolo, in roughly 80 extra innings finished with a +7 DRS and +4 in both OAA and FRV. Both players are solid defensively.

Triolo has had more experience in the big leagues, which does account for something, but if you’re the Pirates, do you consider making a change and taking a chance on a similar defender with more upside in the bat? Their current option hit .227 with a .311 OBP and an 86 wRC+ last season in 376 plate appearances. Harris could put together a double-digit home run season at the very least.

Harris played in just 32 games (84 plate appearances) and hit .274 with a .349 OBP and a 96 wRC+. While he certainly looked like an improved player over his initial stint in the big leagues with the A’s in 2024, there was also some luck involved in his improvement—mainly his .377 BABIP. The risk for the Pirates would be taking the chance on that bat being for real.

In exchange, the proposed piece that the Pirates would send back in 30-year-old Yohan Ramírez. The right-hander ranks in the 94th percentile in extension on top of sitting at 96.4 miles per hour with his heater, which is quite appealing. He also held a 5.40 ERA (3.80 FIP) last season, so he’s far from a finished product, and given his age, he’s a flier himself.

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This is the type of pitcher that the A’s have had success with in recent seasons—guys that can collect strikeouts but also tend to issue free passes. In 2025 with the Pirates, he struck out 29% of the batters he faced and walked 10.3%.

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There are two interesting tidbits in his profile that could cause a little worry. The first is that he’s bounced around quite a bit in recent seasons, including spending time with the Dodgers, Mets, Orioles and Red Sox in 2024. Those are all teams that love to pull extra value from guys, and if they all gave up on him, then that’s not the greatest track record.

All of those teams seemed to view him as a guy that could provide a few innings when their bullpens were gassed, which led to him having short stints with each club, totaling a 6.20 ERA (4.26 FIP) across 45 innings.

The other interesting piece here is that when he has been with the Pirates, in both 2025 and back in 2022, his velocity has ticked up considerably. In 2022, he also spent time with the Mariners, and he was sitting 94.2. But with Pittsburgh, that went up to 96.5. In 2024, he topped out at 95.3 mph with the O’s and Mets.

This past season he was back to 96.2 mph. Is there something special for him about pitching in Pittsburgh? Do their radar guns run a little hot? Is this more of a time of year situation that gets hammered out over longer stints (like with the Pirates)? It’s unclear.

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But if he’s truly a 96-mile-per-hour reliever that the A’s could add to their ‘pen, then this trade may be worth some heavy consideration.

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Of course, Ramírez is out of options which would make this a little tricky, and Harris has roughly double the amount of team control, so the value may have to be squared away by adding another piece or two to the ledger. But these two players, Harris and Ramírez, could do a lot of good for the opposite clubs.

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