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Biden pushes his economic populism in battleground Pennsylvania as Trump is stuck in a New York courtroom – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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Biden pushes his economic populism in battleground Pennsylvania as Trump is stuck in a New York courtroom – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden is seeking to make a sharp economic argument against former President Donald Trump during a three-day swing through Pennsylvania with campaign officials framing the election as a debate between his “kitchen table” Scranton outlook and Trump’s “Mar-a-Lago vision.”

The trip, which kicks off Tuesday in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, also will set up a stark split screen as the president is on the campaign trail while Trump spends most of the week in a New York City courtroom for his criminal trial.

“No matter where Donald Trump is, whether it’s in Mar-a-Lago, a courtroom or anywhere else, he’ll be focused on himself, his toxic agenda, his campaign of revenge and retribution. That’s going to be a continuation of the contrast the American people have been able to see since this campaign began,” said Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler.

Biden’s Pennsylvania push comes as he’s also seeking to move the needle with voters who continue to hold sour views about the president’s handling of the economy. Recent polling has also shown a close contest between Biden and Trump fewer than seven months from Election Day.

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Biden’s speech on Tuesday is expected to be heavy on economic populism as he seeks to portray Trump as out of touch with Americans’ concerns. He will zero-in on the two candidates’ differing plans on tax policy as the president outlines “how Trump’s tax plan is a handout to the rich and leaves the middle class holding the bag,” Tyler said.

The president is expected to take aim at Trump’s pledge to extend the sweeping tax cuts that congressional Republicans approved in 2017 – a measure that reduced taxes for most Americans, but from which the rich benefited far more than others. Meanwhile, Biden is campaigning on raising taxes on the wealthy to fund his social and other priorities while protecting those who earn less than $400,000 a year from tax hikes.

In 2020, Biden used his hometown to frame the election as a “Scranton vs. Park Avenue” choice for voters. Ahead of the president’s trip this week, campaign officials sought to cast the election as a debate between Scranton and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago country club.

“You got Joe Biden, a candidate who sees the world from the kitchen table where he grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Donald Trump, who sees the world from his country club down at Mar-a-Lago. Nowhere is that contrast of world views on display more clearly, than when it comes to who each candidate believes should be paying more in taxes and who they believe should be paying less,” said Tyler.

The president will also travel to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, where he will speak at the United Steelworkers Headquarters, and Philadelphia for a campaign event on Thursday where he will continue to push his economic message.

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Differing views on taxes

Biden’s tax plans contain a variety of tax increases on the wealthy and big corporations, which he wants to use to shore up Medicare’s finances, create two new tax breaks for buying homes, temporarily extend the enhanced child tax credit, reduce child care costs and permanently extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, among other initiatives.

His most recent budget proposal, which outlines the policies that he will also campaign on, calls for a 25% minimum tax on all the income of the wealthiest .01% of Americans, including their appreciated assets, which are not currently taxed. It would hit those with a net worth of more than $100 million.

Biden also proposes taxing capital gains at the same rate as wage income for those earning more than $1 million and increasing the net investment income tax rate on earned and unearned income above $400,000 to 5%, up from 3.8%.

The president wants to increase the corporate tax rate to 28%, up from the 21% rate set by the GOP tax cut package in 2017, and raise the corporate minimum tax rate on billion-dollar corporations to 21%, from 15%. Also, he would reduce incentives for multinational businesses to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions and raise the tax rate on their foreign earnings to 21% from 10.5%. Plus, he would quadruple the tax on companies that buy back their own stock instead of investing in workers or lowering prices.

Trump sought to preempt Biden’s speech with a social media post Monday touting the 2017 tax cuts and criticizing Biden’s plans to raise taxes for the wealthy and corporations.

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“If Joe Biden gets his way you will soon be facing colossal tax hikes, the likes of which no one has ever seen before,” Trump said in a video on Truth Social.

The former president has told supporters – including wealthy donors – that extending the 2017 tax cuts will be one of his main goals for a second term. The law reduced individual and corporate income tax rates, changed international tax rules, repealed personal exemptions, increased the standard deduction and child tax credit, limited or restricted certain itemized deductions and doubled the estate tax exemption, among other provisions.

Most Americans benefited from the tax law, but the wealthy benefited the most.

Nearly all the individual income and estate tax provisions expire at the end of 2025, while most of the corporate measures are permanent. The next president and Congress will have to deal with the expiring provisions next year.

Biden’s tax returns

Ahead of the trip, Biden used Tax Day to tee up another contrast with his predecessor by releasing his tax 2023 return. Trump declined to voluntarily release his tax returns as president.

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“President Biden believes that all occupants of the Oval Office should be open and honest with the American people,” the White House said in a statement on Monday, “and that the longstanding tradition of annually releasing presidential tax returns should continue unbroken.”

The president’s events this week come as his campaign continues to build out its infrastructure Pennsylvania, where recent polling has shown no clear leader in a two-way race between Biden and Trump.

Biden campaign battleground states director Dan Kanninen told reporters on a call Monday that the Biden campaign is investing heavily in the commonwealth with a particular focus on driving turnout in Philadelphia. The Biden campaign has opened 14 new offices in Pennsylvania in March as they work to train volunteers and hire campaign staff.

“We’re obviously looking at Pennsylvania right now where the president is spending the week campaigning, and it’s a textbook example of how we’re going to run those votes,” said Kanninen.

Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez also released a campaign strategy memo ahead of the visit, pointing to the coordinated campaign’s early investments in Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, as well as in the central part of the state in York and Lancaster counties – two counties Trump won in 2020 where the team sees “opportunities for Democratic growth as shown by gains made at the local level.”

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Chavez Rodriguez argued Biden’s support for unions, abortion rights, and protecting democracy will play with Pennsylvania voters in November.

“With all of these issues remaining salient for voters and Trump and MAGA Republicans only becoming more extreme, they continue to alienate the voters that decide elections in Pennsylvania – and show no signs of being able to win them back,” she wrote.

(Copyright (c) 2024 CNN. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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Pennsylvania

Bill would create alert when children with autism go missing in Pennsylvania

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Bill would create alert when children with autism go missing in Pennsylvania


(WHTM) — Legislation is in the works for a statewide warning system to locate missing children with autism.

State Rep. Robert Leadbeter (R-Columbia County) announced the formal introduction of a bill to create a “Purple Alert” system. It would quickly notify police and community members when a child with autism, or other cognitive issues, is missing.

His bill is called “Aiden’s Law,” named for a young boy in Columbia County, who disappeared earlier this year and drowned in the Susquehanna River. Leadbeter said a “Purple Alert” system would fill a gap in Pennsylvania.

“So, individuals with cognitive disabilities are able to then, if they go missing, have an alert go out to law enforcement organizations that work directly with them and that’ll save time expand resources, and ideally result in a safe return home for the missing individual,” Leadbeter said.

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In this bill, the system would mirror others like Amber Alerts for missing children in danger and Silver Alerts for missing seniors.



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Bethlehem man sentenced under Pennsylvania’s new AI child porn law

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Bethlehem man sentenced under Pennsylvania’s new AI child porn law


A Bethlehem man is among the first to be sentenced under a Pennsylvania law passed last year, making it a crime to possess AI-generated child sex abuse material.

On Monday, Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge Kristie M. Marks sentenced 35-year-old Adam Erdman to two years, four months to 10 years.

Erdman in September pleaded guilty to felony possessing child sex abuse material. He faced a possible sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced the sentencing in a news conference Monday afternoon. The DA credited U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who introduced the new legislation and state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, who championed the final version of the law last year.

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“Before this law was passed, the use of AI to generate child sexual abuse materials went unpunished,” Holihan said. “Prosecutors like me need legislation like this to arrest and convict the criminals who use evolving technology to victimize others.”

Macungie-based attorney Michael Ira Stump, representing Erdman, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Tuesday morning.

Bethlehem police on March 31 were called by Erdman’s estranged wife, who reported finding three AI-generated nude images of juvenile girls on his personal computer.

Prosecutors said Erdman downloaded photos of the children on vacation from their parent’s social media account, and then used artificial intelligence photo-editing software to make the children appear naked.

Erdman was charged on April 17.

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The case was investigated by Bethlehem Police Det. Stephen Ewald and was prosecuted by Lehigh County Senior Deputy District Attorney Sarah K. Heimbach.



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Central Pennsylvania awarded over $1M for Chesapeake Bay Watershed conservation

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Central Pennsylvania awarded over M for Chesapeake Bay Watershed conservation


PENNSYLVANIA (WTAJ) — Over $17 million has been awarded to county teams across the Commonwealth for projects in reducing nutrient and sediment pollution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Grants were awarded to counties with projects taking place over the next 12 to 24 months. Many different human activities cause nutrient pollution and eroded sediment to enter streams, rivers, and lakes. This pollution can come from fertilizer, plowing and tilling farm fields and can cause stripping away of trees and vegetation, and increasing paved surfaces. 

Here are the grants awarded in our area:

  • Blair County Conservation District: $308,095
  • Cambria County Conservation District: $200,000
  • Centre County Government: $566,399
  • Clearfield County Conservation District: $368,209
  • Huntingdon County Conservation District: $409,134

“Pennsylvania’s clean water successes are rooted in collaboration—state, local, federal, legislative, and non-governmental partners, and of course landowners,” Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Jessica Shirley said. “The work will continue to evolve, and our focus will remain on setting our collaborative partnerships up for success well beyond 2025. The momentum is real, and you can see it in our improved water quality.”

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In total, 222 projects were approved, and it’s estimated to reduce nitrogen by 113,493 pounds/year, phosphorus by 28,816 pounds/year, and sediment delivered to the Chesapeake Bay by 1.8 million pounds/year.

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