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Meet new and familiar faces from throughout Pennsylvania region being sworn in to Congress

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Meet new and familiar faces from throughout Pennsylvania region being sworn in to Congress


The new year brings a new Congress to Washington after the contentious 2024 elections. 

Republicans will control the U.S. House, Senate and White House when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20. But the GOP captured a narrow lead in the Senate, and it holds on to one of the smallest House majorities since the Great Depression [219-215 with the resignation of Rep. Matt Gaetz.]

Our area is seeing some new faces taking the oath of office in Washington, and some are changing titles.

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA-7)

A former State Representative since 2012, Ryan Mackenzie was one of two Republicans to flip Democratic-controlled House seats in Pennsylvania. Mackenzie narrowly ousted incumbent Democrat Susan Wild to represent parts of the Lehigh Valley, Carbon County and a small portion of Monroe County.

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Republican Rob Bresnahan also defeated Democratic incumbent Matt Cartwright in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Mackenzie ran a campaign focused on the economy, inflation and border issues. He represents one of the most purple districts in the commonwealth, having topped Wild in the November election by a little over 4,000 votes.

Rep. Herb Conaway (D-NJ-3)

A longtime lawmaker, Herb Conaway has represented New Jersey’s 7th District in the state assembly since 1998, most recently serving as deputy speaker since 2022. Conaway won the Garden State’s 3rd District Congressional seat [vacated by Andy Kim who won one of the state’s Senate seats] with 53.2% of the vote in November.

According to his campaign website, Conaway holds a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College and a law degree from Rutgers Camden.

Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE)

Sarah McBride makes history, becoming the first openly transgender member of the United States Congress. A member of the Delaware State Senate since 2021, McBride won the First State’s only congressional seat with nearly 58% of the vote in November.

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A Wilmington native, McBride worked in the Obama White House and later served as the national spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign. Her priorities laid out in her campaign were expanding access to health care, tackling economic issues and ensuring access to reproductive healthcare.

But McBride’s initial reception in Congress has already been rocky, as transgender rights have become a flashpoint in several Republican-led states. 

Congresswoman Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, proposed banning transgender people from U.S. Capitol bathrooms. 

McBride brushed off the situation, saying in a statement, “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms.”

“This effort to distract from the real issues facing this country hasn’t distracted me over the last several days, as I’ve remained hard at work preparing to represent the greatest state in the union come January,” McBride wrote in a November post on X.

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Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA)

Republicans were able to retake control of the U.S. Senate due to some key flipped seats, including Dave McCormick‘s win in Pennsylvania. The West Point graduate ousted longtime incumbent Democrat Bob Casey for his Senate seat in November, winning an extremely narrow election by just 0.2%.

It was McCormick’s second time running for a U.S. Senate seat in the commonwealth. McCormick lost to Mehmet Oz in the GOP Senate primary during the 2022 election, a race ultimately won by Democrat John Fetterman.

“The one message we heard over and over again was ‘we need change,’” said McCormick while declaring victory in the tight race in November. “We need leadership to get our economy back on track, to get this horrific inflation under control. We need leadership to secure the border, to stop this scourge of fentanyl.”

McCormick campaigned heavily with President-elect Trump in the key battleground state throughout the 2024 cycle. His campaign featured several top Trump priorities, including issues related to inflation, and securing the U.S.-Mexico border. As a veteran, McCormick, on his campaign site, says it’s also a priority for him to “restore America’s military might.”

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Changing Roles

Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ)

Andy Kim of New Jersey isn’t new to Washington, but he’ll be taking on a new role starting in 2025. The three-term congressman in November became the Garden State’s first Asian American senator. Kim will also be the first Korean American to serve in the U.S. Senate.

The former congressman will also be the first senator from South Jersey in 70-plus years.

Kim won the seat vacated by longtime Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez following his conviction on federal corruption charges. The former congressman garnered 53.6% of the vote, topping Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw.

Kim ran on a platform of supporting small businesses and growing jobs, expanding access to health care, making raising a family more affordable and restoring faith in government following the Menendez indictment.

“It’s important to make sure we step in quickly and to be able to show that we are moving in a different direction, that this is a new era of politics in New Jersey,” Kim told CBS News Philadelphia in December.

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The senator was sworn in early, on Dec. 9, after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy appointed him to the seat following his election certification. He replaced George Helmy, who served for several months after Menendez resigned.

Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)

Another local member of Congress is moving across the U.S. Capitol and is making history in the process.

Lisa Blunt Rochester, who held Delaware’s lone congressional seat since 2017, becomes the state’s first woman and first person of color elected to the U.S. Senate. Blunt Rochester defeated Republican Eric Hansen in November, garnering 56.6% of the vote.

She takes over for longtime Democratic Sen. Tom Carper who opted not to seek reelection.

Blunt Rochester’s campaign focused on health care reforms, economic issues and social equality. But the lawmaker has also put a focus on bipartisanship, and in her exit from the House, put out a call for legislators to work together to get things done.

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“If we are to build a democracy, a planet, and a future that endures, it will take each and every one of us doing our part,” said Blunt Rochester in her farewell remarks on the U.S. House floor in December.





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Pennsylvania man arrested for allegedly feeding pet parakeet marijuana and beer

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Pennsylvania man arrested for allegedly feeding pet parakeet marijuana and beer


A Pennsylvania man was arrested on animal cruelty charges for allegedly feeding marijuana and beer to his pet parakeet after bringing the injured feathered friend to a bar, according to reports.

Timothy Grace, 40, was busted on Feb. 21 after carrying his wounded pet budgie named “Blue Skies” in his pocket to Callaghan’s Bar in Greensburg, according to CBS Pittsburgh.

Timothy Grace was arrested on animal cruelty charges for allegedly feeding marijuana and beer to his pet parakeet after bringing the injured feathered friend to a bar. WTAE

“The caller’s a bartender. She says there is a white male at the bar with a parakeet,” a dispatcher reported on the police radio transmissions obtained by the outlet.

“The patron was bragging to other people that were inside the bar that he feeds the parakeet marijuana and has it drink beer on a daily basis,” Detective Sergeant Justin Scalzo told the outlet.

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Grace “appeared extremely intoxicated” when police showed up to the bar and found the pet bird in distress, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.

“Its leg appeared to be broken,” Scalzo said, according to WTAE. “Its foot was actually facing the wrong direction.”

Grave was initially arrested for public intoxication and now faces charges including aggravated cruelty to animals and transporting animals in a cruel manner, the outlet said.

The pet bird was brought to PEARL Parrot Rescue in the Pittsburgh area, which rushed him to an emergency care facility.


Exterior of Callaghan's bar, with a sign showing
The injured parakeet is still breathing hard, remains on antibiotics, and has to wear a splint on his right leg. WTAE

Blue Skies spent four days in the hospital and was later taken in to be fostered by Teri Grendzinski, the president of PEARL. The injured parakeet is still breathing hard, remains on antibiotics, and has to wear a splint on his right leg, CBS reported.

“They realized his leg was broken. He also had some respiratory issues going on,” Grendzinski told the outlet. “He was also very, very skinny.”

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“The leg was broken badly enough there is a chance they’re going to have to amputate the leg if it doesn’t heal correctly,” she added.

If Blue Skies is eventually put up for adoption, he will require specialized care, the outlet said.

“When we got that call, it was horrifying. Why would you do that to a bird?” Grendzinski said.



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Pa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico

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Pa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico


A Pennsylvania man was found guilty of repeatedly raping his daughter’s best friend over a three-year span before fleeing with the teen to Mexico.

On Thursday, March 5, 2026, Kevin Esterly, 53, of Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, was convicted on all counts of rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary sexual intercourse and endangering the welfare of children.

Esterly shook his head as the verdict was read but said nothing in the courtroom.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.

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Esterly’s trial began on Tuesday, March 3, after a judge denied his pretrial motion for the charges against him to be dismissed and for the Lehigh County District Attorney to be removed as a prosecutor in the case.

Both Esterly and his victim testified on Wednesday, March 4.

The victim — who is now 24-years-old — told the courtroom that she met Esterly and his family while attending church as a child and became best friends with one of his daughters. Esterly was a youth leader and elder at the church at the time. The victim said Esterly also coached her soccer team.

The victim said she became so close to Esterly’s family that she called his wife “mom” and eventually spent almost every weekend at their home in Lowhill Township, Pennsylvania. She also said she vacationed with them in New York state and Ocean City, Maryland.

The victim said Esterly first sexually assaulted her in August 2015 when she was 13-years-old after he gave her alcohol during a family birthday party.

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“I was scared. Frozen in fear,” the woman told the courtroom on Wednesday. “I pretended I was sleeping.”

The woman accused Esterly of sexually assaulting her almost every time she slept over at his home. She told the courtroom she eventually became addicted to alcohol and drugs, which Esterly gave her in exchange for sex. According to the woman, Esterly gave her cocaine and methamphetamine to keep her awake during school because she “would be up with him all night.”

The woman said Esterly continued to sexually assault her until he was confronted by his wife in 2017. Esterly’s wife then threw him out of the house, according to the victim. She said Esterly continued to sexually assault her over the next year.

Esterly was later arrested and then sentenced to prison after federal agents found him with the victim in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in 2018. She was 16-years-old at the time.

The woman said she moved on and went to college after Esterly’s sentencing though she still struggled with drug addiction. She said she sought counseling in February 2025. She told the courtroom she received a message from Esterly on LinkedIn that same month in which he apologized for “failing you as a person I was supposed to be for you.” At that point Esterly had been released from prison.

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The woman said she had not told anyone about her relationship with Esterly up to that point and replied to him, “I live with our secret every day as I promised. I would appreciate an apology.”

The woman told the courtroom that Esterly responded by writing, “I hope one day you can forgive me. Nobody knows I reached out to you. That is the best for both of us.”

On Feb. 21, 2025, Allentown Police received a report of Esterly’s sexual assaults which led to the new charges being filed against him. He was arrested in West Virginia in June 2025 after two police pursuits. He was then extradited to Pennsylvania.

The victim told the courtroom on Wednesday that she kept quiet about Esterly’s abuse for years because she “was afraid to speak,” and felt “dirty and ashamed.”

“I wasn’t ready to tell anyone,” she said. “He was a father figure in my life. I loved him.”

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The woman also said she didn’t want to hurt Esterly’s daughter who was her best friend.

When the District Attorney asked her why she was “here today,” she replied by saying, “I want to tell the truth. I want to be set free.”

The woman ended her testimony by saying, “I don’t want to live with this secret anymore.”

After her testimony, Esterly took the stand for 45 minutes, denied all of the accusations against him and accused the woman of lying.

Closing arguments then took place Thursday morning. It then took an hour for the jury of seven women and five men to reach their verdict.

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3 dead in apparent murder-suicide spanning from Pennsylvania to Illinois, police say

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3 dead in apparent murder-suicide spanning from Pennsylvania to Illinois, police say



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Two women are dead in Pennsylvania and a man is dead in Illinois after an apparent murder-suicide, police said on Wednesday.

According to a report from the Pennsylvania State Police, the investigation began in Hillside, Illinois, when police there were dispatched after a man reported two women dead in Jackson Township, Pennsylvania. Police said that when officers got to Hillside, about 15 miles west of Chicago, they found that the man had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

After identifying him, troopers said Hillside officers contacted police from Jackson Township to request a welfare check at the man’s home on Dior Drive, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. 

Map shows distance from Hillside, Illinois, to Zelienople, Pennsylvania

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KDKA


Police said officers used forced entry to get into the home and found two women dead from apparent gunshot wounds. It’s believed the two women were family members of the man who died by suicide in Illinois, investigators said. 

Pennsylvania State Police said they’ve assumed control of the case and are “actively investigating” what happened surrounding the three deaths.

Police didn’t release any names, saying the process of formal identification and notification of next of kin hasn’t been completed. Sources told KDKA that the victims were a husband, wife and their daughter.

“At this time, investigators believe there is no ongoing threat to the public, and law enforcement is not searching for any additional individuals in connection with this incident,” police wrote in the public information release report. “This remains an active and ongoing investigation.”

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State police didn’t release any other details on Wednesday but said more information will be made public when it’s available.  

“My first reaction was shocked because this is such a close-knit neighborhood, and to think something that horrible could happen here is very tragic because they were such a good family,” neighbor Danielle Sporer said on Wednesday. 



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