Pennsylvania
Jack Stollsteimer, Delco’s top prosecutor, becomes fifth Democrat to run for Pa. AG
The office also defended the integrity of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election against repeated attempts to overturn it in state and federal courts by Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican allies.
Perhaps Stollsteimer’s most-touted achievement is fighting gun violence in the impoverished city of Chester, using a partnership based on a model used successfully elsewhere to connect offenders or known criminals with job training, school or community-building programs.
His office says gun homicides are down by 68% since 2020 and there have been 65% fewer shootings.
As Philadelphia’s state-appointed safe schools advocate, Stollsteimer clashed with district officials and the state Department of Education over what he described as an unwillingness to report violent incidents.
“Things have gotten worse, not better,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2011. “You can’t address the problem until you’re honest about it, and the district is not honest about it.”
Stollsteimer mounted a brief campaign for attorney general in 2015 but dropped out before the primary.
In 2019, he won his race for district attorney, becoming the first Democrat to hold the office in Delaware County, once a Republican bastion that Democrats now control. Stollsteimer won reelection earlier this month by 22 percentage points, drawing support from unions for building trades and police.
Stollsteimer had a busy four years in office. In perhaps the highest-profile case, his office prosecuted three police officers for responding to a shooting outside a high school football game by opening fire at a car, killing an 8-year-old girl, Fanta Bility, and wounding two others.
Stollsteimer is now the fifth Democrat to announce his candidacy, after state Rep. Jared Solomon of Philadelphia, former state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, former federal prosecutor Joe Kahn and Keir Bradford-Grey, the former head of Philadelphia’s and Montgomery County’s public defense lawyers.
On the Republican side, York County District Attorney Dave Sunday and former federal prosecutor Katayoun Copeland have announced their candidacies.
Candidates must file paperwork by Feb. 13 to appear on the April 23 primary ballot.
Attorney General Michelle Henry does not plan to run to keep the office.
The disappearance of a 64-year-old Pennsylvania woman is being investigated by state authorities, who said on Tuesday they fear she may have fallen into a sinkhole.
What Happened?
Elizabeth Pollard went missing on Monday evening after heading out to find her missing cat, Pepper, in the village of Marguerite, located about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh. The family of Pollard then called police at about 1 a.m. local time on Tuesday to say she had not been seen going out.
Pennsylvania State Police soon discovered her vehicle parked near Union Restaurant with her 5-year-old granddaughter inside, unharmed but alone.
According to trooper Steve Limani, Pollard lives in a small neighborhood across the street from where her car and granddaughter were located.
However, a sinkhole had recently opened up as emergency crews worked through the frigid night, using advanced equipment to probe the manhole-sized sinkhole.
A pole camera outfitted with a sensitive listening device revealed no signs of life, though a second inspection hinted at the presence of what may be a shoe about 30 feet below the surface.
Pennsylvania State Police/AP
Authorities suspect the sinkhole, likely caused by subsidence from historic coal mining in the region, opened suddenly beneath Pollard as the opening had not been seen by hunters and restaurant workers who were in the area in the hours before Pollard’s disappearance.
“It almost feels like it opened up with her standing on top of it,” Limani said.
Rescue efforts have since been intensified, with heavy machinery brought in to excavate the area.
“We’re pretty confident we are in the right place,” John Bacha, chief of the Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Company told Triblive. “We’re hoping there is still a void she could be in.”
How Did the Sinkhole Appear?
The sinkhole is believed to be linked to the long-abandoned Marguerite Mine, which operated until 1952 by the H.C. Frick Coke Company, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The Pittsburgh coal seam is about 20 feet below the surface in that area.
Police said sinkholes are not uncommon because of subsidence from coal mining activity in the area.
However, this incident highlights the lingering dangers of Pennsylvania’s coal mining legacy, with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection on-site to assess the area.
After the search concludes, experts from the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation will determine if mine subsidence definitively caused the sinkhole, Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Neil Shader said.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
Pennsylvania
Photos show New York, Pennsylvania residents digging their way out after Thanksgiving snowstorm batters Great Lakes region
Snow rests on top of a cow sculpture in Lowville, N.Y., on Sunday. (Cara Anna/AP)
The Great Lakes region was hit with its first widespread lake-effect snow event of the season over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with some areas getting between 3 and 5 feet of snow. The snow bands haven’t let up, as they continue to dump snow on the region.
Castorland, located in northern New York, has seen the most snow, with 65.9 inches, about 5 and a half feet.
Meanwhile, Erie, Pa., had one of the least snowy starts to the season on record, with 0.1 inches of snow through Thanksgiving. But on Friday, 22.6 inches of snow fell, making it an all-time calendar-day snow record, according to the Weather Channel.
The photos below show the massive amounts of snow that fell in the region — and people digging their way out.
Unforgiving lake-effect snow blankets the Great Lakes on Monday, disrupting daily life in New York and Pennsylvania. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A person tries to clear the snow at Highmark Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, on Sunday. (Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
A mountain of snow obstructs the view of the Lawrence Park Athletic Club in Erie, Pa., after a record snowfall left over 3 feet on the ground on Monday. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Riley Coblentz, 13, shovels the sidewalk in front of her friend’s house in Erie, Pa., after a record snowfall left 3 feet of snow on the ground on Monday. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
A buried vehicle along the shore of Lake Erie. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
A grounds crew member blows snow off the field during a time-out in the game between the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Sunday. (Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
A snowplow on rounds in Lowville, N.Y., on Monday. (Cara Anna/AP)
Parking meters are buried in snow on Monday on State Street, one of the main streets in downtown Erie, Pa. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)
A statue is covered in snow in Erie, Pa., on Monday. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)
Boys walk down a snow-covered side street in Erie, Pa., on Monday. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)
Pennsylvania
Jury selection starts today in federal civil rights trial involving Jordan Brown’s lawsuit against Pa. State Police, troopers
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (KDKA) — Jury selection is set to begin today in the federal civil rights trial involving a lawsuit that was filed by Jordan Brown against the Pennsylvania State Police.
The lawsuit was filed in 2020, alleging that Brown’s rights were violated by the State Police and by the Troopers who were investigating the 2009 homicide in Lawrence County that resulted in his conviction that was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Brown was 11 years old when he was charged with shooting and killing his father’s fiancee, Kenzie Houk with a shotgun inside a home just outside New Castle.
He was tried as a juvenile and found delinquent, spending more than 7 years behind bars.
In 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously overturned Brown’s conviction, saying there was not enough evidence to prove that the shotgun was the murder weapon.
The lawsuit claims that Troopers manipulated interviews, evidence, and procedures in order to get a conviction in the case.
The trial is expected to last approximately two weeks.
Jury selection is scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m. at the Joseph F. Weis, Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh.
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