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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

Police: Pennsylvania priest spent $41K in parish funds on phone games

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Police: Pennsylvania priest spent $41K in parish funds on phone games


The complaint revealed that an archdiocesan official observed incorrect coding in the parish’s financial records. The subsequent review revealed “an astronomical amount of Apple transactions” in the parish books. 

According to the parish records, nearly 2,200 transactions were related to a category of spending identified as “gaming.” The total amount spent in that category was just under $41,000. 

Among the games purchased using parish funds were Candy Crush, Pokemon GO, and several “slots” games. 

In an interview with law enforcement as part of the investigation, Kozak said he “didn’t realize when he went past the balance on his Apple Card [that] the charges were kicked over to the parish card,” the complaint said.

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The priest “expressed that he’s disappointed that he let it get like this and that there’s no excuse except that he wasn’t paying attention and should have been.”

Law enforcement in 2023 met with the new pastor of the Pottstown parish who said that Kozak had paid the parish roughly $41,000 in “reimbursement” after he was put on leave. 





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Outdoor garden centers popping up at Lidl stores in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey

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Outdoor garden centers popping up at Lidl stores in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey


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Lidl stores in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York will offer a little something new this spring: outdoor garden centers.

Ever since the boring, broken-supply chain days of the pandemic, there’s been a gardening boom in the United States. Starting in 2022, German-owned discount grocer Lidl has been looking to get in on the game.

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The chain, which boasts 170 stores along the East Coast, piloted an outdoor garden store in New York’s Long Island beginning two years ago, in partnership with a century-old local grower named Gabrielsen Farms.

This year, Lidl expanded this concept with outdoor garden stores in select locations, spanning 76 stores across the eastern seaboard.

As of Wednesday, April 24, a number of Lidl stores in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will boast outdoor pop-up garden centers in their parking lots. This will include both of Lidl’s stores in Delaware, in Dover at 150 Dupont Highway and in Middletown at 359 Auto Park Drive. (It will not, however, include the forthcoming Bear store, which has yet to set an opening date.) The Lidl garden centers will remain open until May 28 and will feature a variety of flowers, plants, soil, hanging baskets, planters and other gardening accessories, according to company spokespeople.  

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“We are excited to bring the Lidl Garden Center concept to even more customers this year. At Lidl, we are relentlessly focused on quality and freshness at low prices and our Garden Centers are no exception,” said Tammy Roberts, Lidl’s purchasing director, in a statement.

More details, including products for sale, are viewable at lidl.com/garden-center.

Which Lidl stores will include a garden center in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware?

Delaware

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New Jersey

  • Bellville
  • Glassboro
  • Park Ridge
  • Union
  • Vineland

New York

  • Commack
  • Deer Park
  • East Meadow
  • East Patchogue
  • East Rockaway
  • Farmingdale
  • Garden City Park
  • Islip
  • Massapequa
  • Merrick
  • Plainview
  • Riverhead
  • Selden
  • Syosset
  • West Babylon

Pennsylvania

  • Easton
  • Folsom
  • Philadelphia
  • Port Richmond
  • Reading
  • Trooper
  • York



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University of Pennsylvania Pool To Close in July For Renovations

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University of Pennsylvania Pool To Close in July For Renovations


Next season, the Penn swim team will be relocated to alternative practice sites as their home facility, Sheerr Pool, is set to close in July for renovations that will take the entire 2024-25 academic year to complete.

The plan to renovate was announced in July 2023. This month, Penn provided an update on the project, including the plan to close the pool on July 1, 2024.

The plans for the renovation are still being finalized but will include a new bulkhead, diving board, starting blocks, pool tile, and gutter system. In addition, Penn is planning to upgrade the filtration and pool mechanical equipment, ventilation, and bleacher seating and make accessibility improvements.

“These renovations are necessary to keep the pool facility up to date and in working order,” Penn wrote in their April bulletin. Director of Campus Recreation Shelbi Long told the Daily Pennsylvanian she does not forsee the renovation taking longer than the planned June 2025 completion date.

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While Sheerr Pool is closed, Penn swimmers will practice at Drexel University and the West Philadelphia YMCA. The Penn and Drexel campuses are adjacent, and Drexel’s pool is approximately a 15 minute walk from the Penn pool and the YMCA is about 30 minutes. Non-varsity swimmers will also be able to use Drexel’s facilities during the year at the reduced affiliate rate.

The timing of the project allows any Penn swimmers qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials to complete preparations for the event at their home pool.

This includes Matt Fallon, who earned bronze in the 200 breast at the 2023 World Championships. Fallon, the 6th fastest 200 breastroker in American history, is one of the favorites to make the Olympic team in that event. Fallon trained at UGA for the past two summers but confirmed to the Daily Pennsylvanian that he plans to train at Penn leading up to Trials.

Penn was the only mid-major program to have swimmers from both their women’s and men’s teams score at the 2024 NCAA championships. At the 2024 Ivy League Championships, the men finished 4th and the women took 5th.





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