Northeast
2028 lines being drawn among conservatives as two top names emerge among AmericaFest activists
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PHOENIX – The 2028 presidential election will potentially be a rumble in the Rust Belt if AmericaFest attendees’ predictions come to pass, with Vice President JD Vance the odds-on favorite to succeed President Donald Trump, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro surpassing California Gov. Gavin Newsom as the most-predicted Democrat nominee.
Such a contest would also pit two younger figures against each other – with Shapiro at 52 and Vance at 41 — while also potentially reshaping the idea of the “blue wall” that Trump shattered in 2024 as Shapiro’s name recognition in Pennsylvania could return the state to the Democrats’ column.
For his part, Shapiro has dismissed any curiosity about a White House run, recently telling HBO’s Bill Maher he’s “not an expert” on Beltway politics and “live[s] in the real world in Pennsylvania where we have to balance budgets.”
But, that sentiment didn’t keep him from being considered more viable for the role than the more gregarious Newsom.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, left; VP JD Vance, right. (Win McNamee/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Barbara, from Camarillo, Calif., said she hopes Vance is able to step into President Donald Trump’s shoes, calling him a “great candidate” who comes from the “team that Trump built.”
“I think we’re in a good place right now,” she said.
Barbara also named Shapiro as the most likely Democrat to take that party’s mantle.
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“I think he’s going to have the most effect because I don’t think anybody else has any credibility.”
If Shapiro went up against Newsom, she said, “he would wipe the floor with” the Californian.
Shapiro has occasionally broken with the far-left, particularly on the issue of antisemitism. But, when New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli wished aloud that the Garden State would be run more like its neighbor across the Delaware, Shapiro hit back that he was fully supporting Gov-elect. Mikie Sherill.
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Nick from Nashville also named Shapiro as the most viable Democratic prospect. While he predicted Newsom or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. may be the nominee chosen by the base, the Democratic National Committee would be smart if it facilitated a Shapiro nomination, he said.
Speaking about the future of post-Trump conservatism, Nick said he expects a lot of competing yet largely ideologically unified voices.
“I think the conservative party will kind of conglomerate over somebody like Trump. I think Trump’s going to have a very big hand and who’s going to be the nominee in 2028. But I think the conservative [movement] is still going to be alive. But I think that it’s mostly going to be whoever Donald Trump kind of wants, because, you know, he basically built the conservative movement,” he said.
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“I’m very much hoping [Republicans choose] JD Vance or Marco Rubio,” Karen from Wisconsin told Fox News Digital.
“We have so many good conservatives that could come in and take over. And I hope that we get another eight, 16 more years of Republicans that have put our country in the right direction.”
“I hope after Charlie Kirk that especially the youth get involved more … because you know, that’s how I got involved and I just hope that someone brings up the whole [conservative] program a lot more.”
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On the Democratic side in 2028, Karen predicted Newsom would be Democrats’ pick.
“I seriously don’t think [Kamala Harris] is going to get the money-backing, but Newsom probably will try really hard. I hope [the GOP chooses] JD Vance. Ron DeSantis already cleaned the carpet with Newsom [on “Hannity”], so I don’t think JD Vance will have much problem, because he is a very well spoken, intelligent, smart man.”
Amy from Michigan also predicted the Pennsylvanian as the Democrats’ top pick in 2028, envisioning a battle between Vance and Shapiro for the presidency.
Elizabeth from San Diego said she hopes it won’t be her governor who gets named the nominee in 2028, but feared it is trending his way moreso than Shapiro or Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the Hyatt Hotels heir whose name has also been mentioned.
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“I’m hoping that other Latinos see another Latina being in a position where I support [Homeland Security Investigations agents] going out and looking at all of the illegal immigrants and taking them out because of the fact that it gives us (Latinos and Latinas) more opportunities,” said Elizabeth, who is Latina.
Ed, who was also from San Diego, predicted Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio would take the Republican mantle after Trump.
A representative for Shapiro’s 2026 gubernatorial re-election campaign did not offer comment when reached for a response.
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Boston, MA
When did Southie get richy-rich? – The Boston Globe
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Born and raised in Southie, Heather Foley has seen her neighborhood morph over the past three decades of scrubbing, renovation, and new construction for higher-income new arrivals.
But even Foley was surprised to discover that her South Boston, where kids once went to the corner to buy milk and cigarettes for parents, has emerged with the city’s second-highest average income, even ahead of Charlestown and Beacon Hill.
Her first thought?: “I gotta start being nicer to my neighbors if that’s the kind of money they’re making.”
What’s a household?
Decades ago, when “Good Will Hunting” was filmed in the neighborhood and Southie was known as a working-class area, there were more kids around and maybe just a single breadwinner in some homes.
Since then, Southie saw more two-earner households, fewer kids, and spiffier rental units where three or four roommates could contribute to a “household.” The changes, along with spillover from the adjacent, pricier Seaport, or South Boston waterfront, are factors in Census data showing more than 40 percent of Southie households earn more than $200,000 a year.
Staying put
Foley, 46, a photo shoot producer, considers herself lucky. She didn’t move out to the South Shore like many neighborhood longtimers. She’s living in a family home on a block with residents — oldtimers and newer arrivals — who aren’t flipping properties for big bucks.
Another blessing, particularly valuable this winter? She has a driveway.
As a kid, she went to church and school at Gate of Heaven, St. Brigid, and St. Peter, and jokes that she’s “so sad I didn’t buy a three-decker with my First Communion money, because I probably could have.”
Waves of gentrification
She remembers the earlier waves of newcomers, when glassy sports bars like Stats Bar & Grille muscled in among longtime restaurants like Amrheins.
But now, even the popular Stats is moving out at the end of the month. The property owner is developing a five-story, mixed-use residential building at the site.
A small silver lining
Foley notes that some of the onetime “newcomers” have been here for three decades — and in some ways, have stabilized the place. Many have raised kids, who, like her son, may return to the neighborhood as young adults (albeit splitting a rented apartment with friends). Stats, the sports bar, says it will also return to the neighborhood’s thriving food scene.
“We have a lot of great restaurants now,” Foley says, “and everyone cleans up after their dog.”
Read: These maps show Boston’s wealthiest and most populous neighborhoods — plus other key trends.
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Thanks for reading Starting Point.
This newsletter was edited by Heather Ciras and produced by Ryan Orlecki.
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Pittsburg, PA
As his polarizing Pitt career winds down, a banged-up Cam Corhen has saved his best for last
Connecticut
Hartford community grieves men killed in police shootings
The Hartford community is grappling with two police shootings that happened within eight days of each other. Both started off as mental health calls about someone in distress.
People came together to remember one of the men killed at a vigil on Wednesday evening.
With hands joined, a prayer for peace and comfort was spoken for the family of Everard Walker. He was having a mental health crisis when a family member called 211 on Feb.19.
Two mental health professionals from the state-operated Capitol Regional Mental Health Center requested Hartford police come with them to Walker’s apartment on Capitol Avenue.
A scuffle ensued, and police said it looked like Walker was going to stab an officer. The brief fight ended with an officer shooting and killing Walker.
The family is planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
“All I will have now is a tombstone and the voicemails he left on my phone that I listen over and over again at night just so I can fall asleep,” Menan Walker, one of Walker’s daughters, said.
City councilman Josh Michtom (WF) is asking whether police could have acted differently.
“To me, the really concerning thing is why the police were there at all, why they went into that apartment in the way that they did, in the numbers that they did,” he said.
The president of Hartford’s police union, James Rutkauski, asked the community to hold their judgment and wait for a full investigation by the Inspector General’s office to be completed.
A different tone was taken in a statement released about another police shooting on Blue Hills Avenue on Feb. 27.
Rutkauski said the union fully supports the officer who fired at 55-year-old Steven Jones, who was holding a knife during a mental health crisis.
In part, the union’s statement says that Jones “deliberately advanced on the officer in a manner that created an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. This was a 100% justified use of deadly force.”
The Inspector General’s office will determine if the officer was justified following an investigation.
The officer who shot Jones was the fourth to arrive on the scene. Three others tried to get him to drop the knife, even using a taser, before the shooting.
“It just feels like beyond the conduct of any one officer, we have this problem, which is that we send cops for every problem,” Michtom said. “I don’t know how you can de-escalate at the point of a gun.”
Jones died from his injuries on Tuesday.
The union’s statement went on to say that officers should not be society’s default for mental health professionals. The statement said in part, “We ask for renewed commitment from our legislators to remove police from being the vanguard of what should be a mental health professional response.”
The officers involved in both shootings are on administrative leave.
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