Pennsylvania

November 6 Playbook: Closing Time

Published

1 year ago

November 6, 2023

⌛ 24 Hours to Go. Thanks for being a PoliticsPA subscriber.

PA Weather
🌂 Erie | Becoming Cloudy, Showers, 62
🌤️ State College | Mostly Sunny, 55
☁️ Scranton | Increasing Clouds, 56

What We’re Hearing
“These are the elections where the candidates have the greatest touch on your daily life.” – Gerald Feaser Jr.

Happy Birthday
Cake and candles for Rep. Paul Schemel and Rep. Mark Gillen.

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Subscribe to the PoliticsPA Playbook. It’s free and gives you all today’s PA political headlines in an easy-to-read format. All by 8 AM.

Top Story

1. Trump Leads in 5 Critical States as Voters Blast Biden, Poll Finds

“President Joe Biden is trailing Donald J. Trump in five of the six most important battleground states one year before the 2024 election, suffering from enormous doubts about his age and deep dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and a host of other issues, new polls by The New York Times and Siena College have found.

The results show Mr. Biden losing to Mr. Trump, his likeliest Republican rival, by margins of four to 10 percentage points among registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden is ahead only in Wisconsin, by two percentage points, the poll found.” (New York Times)

Related

Four Things We’re Watching For In Pennsylvania’s General Election. “Tuesday’s general election might not have the fanfare — or anywhere near the expected turnout — of a presidential election, but it will hold clues for next year’s race and act as a barometer for how both parties are doing in Pennsylvania.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Pennsylvania School Board ‘High Stakes’ Elections Carve A Path For 2024. “Pennsylvania conservatives are about to test the voltage of education politics. School board elections are set to occur across the country on Tuesday. But few of these once-quiet contests have become as vicious, sophisticated, expensive and injected with dueling endorsements from political committees and national organizations quite like campaigns in the Keystone State.” (POLITICO)

Big Money: Once-Sleepy School Board Campaigns Break The Bank In 2023. “Local school board candidates continued to pump unprecedented levels of money into their campaigns over the last few months, with Republicans in several districts raising nearly $20,000 or more.” (LehighValleyNews.com)

A School Board Race Is Pennsylvania Is Heating Up, With Gender Policies On The Ballot. (NPR)
Inside the Knock-Down, Drag-Out Fight Over the Soul of a Pennsylvania School District. (Mother Jones)

State

2. Can A Hedge-Fund Patriot Win A U.S. Senate Seat in Pennsylvania?

David McCormick taking steps to join tumultuous GOP Senate primary in Pa. | News | bradfordera.com

“Since last year’s losses, David McCormick has shown himself the better man, getting back into the arena and detailing his chops with a campaign manifesto and biography, Superpower in Peril. Indeed, the candidate comes across as more substantive on policy and far more grateful to his country than Mehmet Oz ever did.

But the presumptive GOP nominee faces a far tougher contest next cycle against third-termer Senator Bob Casey Jr.—and one more demanding than anything fellow veteran J.D. Vance faced next door to win Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat last year. ” (The American Conservative)

Related

Why Gov. Shapiro’s High-Wire Act On Environment, Energy Is Coming To An End In PA. “Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has to decide whether to side with the environmental or union labor wing of his Democratic Party.” (PA Pressroom)

Sipe Named State’s Chief Information Security Officer. “James Sipe, a cybersecurity leader who has worked with some of the largest companies in the world, has been named to serve as the Commonwealth’s next Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).” (PoliticsPA)

What Would Recreational Marijuana Legalization Do For Pennsylvania Tax Revenue? “Seven years after Pennsylvania legalized marijuana for medical use, lawmakers are debating whether to allow recreational use — and what that would look like.” (Tribune-Review)

Pennsylvania Lawmakers Look To Increase Voting Access For People Behind Bars. “People in jail over misdemeanors or awaiting trial can vote, but very few do. A big reason is because jails don’t have policies on voter registration or how to help inmates get mail-in ballots.” (WESA)

Around The Commonwealth

3. Candidates Race To The Finish Line In Critical Elections For Allegheny County Executive and District Attorney

Allegheny County executive debate on WTAE

“Four candidates in two critical Allegheny County races used the last week before Election Day to make final pitches to voters and get supporters to the polls, in elections with huge implications for local government that have drawn national attention as early bellwethers for the 2024 presidential contest.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Innamorato, Rockey Seek Remaining Votes In Last Stretch Of Allegheny County Executive Race. (WESA)
Allegheny County Executive Candidates Weigh In On Abortion And The Environment. (CBS Pittsburgh)

Related

These Delco Teens Aren’t Old Enough To Vote, But They Run Your Local Polling Station. “If you’re voting in Tuesday’s municipal elections in Delaware County, the friendly faces checking you in at the polling station may not be old enough to vote themselves.” (WHYY)

Election 2023

5 Things To Watch On Election Day In Allegheny County. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Will Heated Local Races Boost Turnout? What Are Pa.’s Latest Voter Registration Numbers? We Got That. (PennLive)
County Commissioner Seats Up For Grabs In Tuesday’s Election. (DuBois Courier Express)
Delaware Valley Election Preview. (DV Journal)
Lanco Voters Broke ‘off-Year’ Turnout Record In 2021; Will They Do It Again? (LNP)
Thousands Use Mail-In Ballots Locally. (Johnstown Tribune-Democrat)
Mail-In Ballot Returns Piling Up At Election Day In PA Approaches. (Meadville Tribune)

Editorial

4. What They’re Saying

Cherelle Parker For Philadelphia’s 100th Mayor. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
A Simple Way To Improve Politics: Elect Good Candidates. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Josh Shapiro Is The Least Productive Pennsylvania Governor Of The Last 50 Years. (Jennifer Stefano)
Bethany Hallam’s Infamous Tweet Meant More Than She Thought. (Salena Zito)
Dark Money Has No Place In Pennsylvania Courts. (Kadida Kenner)
With The World On Fire, A Cowardly, Timid News Media Is A Threat To U.S. Democracy. (Will Bunch)
The Last Chance For A Two-Party Allegheny County — Forever. (Brandon McGinley)
A Republican In Moderate’s Clothing Is Still A Republican. (Adriana E. Ramírez)
We Must Return Truth To Politics In America. (Mark S. Singel)
The Best Defense Of Democracy Is An Informed Electorate. (Beth Ann Rosica)

1 Thing

5. The Hot New Wedding Gift

This Season's Trendiest Wedding Registry Gift? A Brand New Home - Inman

“With the cost of buying a home at historic highs, more couples are asking for help with a down payment as a wedding gift.

🏡 By the numbers: The share of couples who include “home funds” in their wedding registry has increased by 55% since 2018, according to the wedding planning and registry website The Knot.

Nearly a fifth of couples who registered on the website are asking for help on a down payment for their first home, The Knot and Zillow Home Loans found.” (Axios)

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Pennsylvania

Partly to mostly cloudy overnight, partly sunny & seasonable tomorrow in south-central Pennsylvania

Published

3 hours ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Partly to mostly cloudy overnight, partly sunny & seasonable tomorrow in south-central Pennsylvania

Temperatures stay close to seasonable averages through Monday until an Arctic front comes through with a significant change in airmass for midweek. We have some chances for sprinkles and flurries, check our full extended forecast for the timing

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Pennsylvania

Native trout prized by anglers is getting nearly $4M in habitat help in N.J., Pa. and N.Y.

Published

15 hours ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Native trout prized by anglers is getting nearly M in habitat help in N.J., Pa. and N.Y.

Millions of dollars are coming to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York waterways to improve habitat for the native Eastern brook trout.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced Wednesday it will lead the multi-state partnership to help restore the fish to waterways in parts of all three states.

The grant for $3.5 million was announced by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as part of nearly $122.5 million awarded through the America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative: America the Beautiful Challenge. This is a competitive grant program funded by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, other federal conservation programs and private sources.

Recipients agreed to at least $8.7 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $131.1 million spread among 61 grants supporting landscape-scale conservation projects across 42 states, 19 Tribal Nations, and 3 U.S. territories. The match for the Eastern brook trout grant is $389,200, for a total project amount of $3,889,200.

Eastern brook trout, known as brookies, are the official state fish species for New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York — and considered an indicator of good water quality, the N.J. DEP said in a news release. Prized by anglers, it’s the Garden State’s only native trout species.

Like the lake trout, it’s part of the genus Salvelinus, different from other trout species familiar to local anglers. Rainbow trout are in the genus Oncorhynchus, while brown trout are in the genus Salmo, though all three genera are part of the subfamily Salmoninae in the family Salmonidae.

The grant will fund cold-water conservation projects in priority watersheds over the next four years, including removing barriers such as dams and culverts, enhancing in-stream habitat, restoring floodplain habitat and mitigating upstream stressors that can lead to higher water temperature, according to the release. It is focused on safeguarding the biodiversity of the Appalachian Corridor highlands and streams within the three states, according to the N.J. DEP’s release.

“New Jersey is proud to be part of this effort,” stated New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. “This species holds a special place for anglers and anyone who cares about the health of our cold-water streams and lakes.

“We thank the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for this opportunity and look forward to working with our partner states in developing projects that will enhance habitat not only for Eastern brook trout, but for other cold-water fish species as well.”

Amy Wolfe, director of Trout Unlimited’s northeast coldwater habitat program, told the public radio station WHYY the tri-state initiative is the first of its kind in the region: “Our goal in this will be to focus on projects that can reconnect fragmented habitat and reduce pollution from sediment runoff and from other land use impacts in these areas.”

Biden launched the America the Beautiful Challenge grant program in 2021, setting the nation’s first-ever goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, according to the N.J. DEP release.

The program being administered by N.J. DEP Fish & Wildlife is a collaboration with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Trout Unlimited, the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Wildlife Management Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“This initiative is fundamentally about aligning implementation resources with identified projects to help conserve a priority species for all three states and our partners,” stated Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Executive Director Tim Schaeffer. “In so doing, we are affirming a commitment to landscape-level conservation that capitalizes on unprecedented partnerships here in the Northeast.”

Steve Hurst, chief of fisheries for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, says in the release: “The work that will be accomplished under the America the Beautiful Challenge grant marks a new phase for the already successful joint venture, as states will now use the knowledge compiled over the past 20 years to collectively improve upon the habitat brook trout depend upon in the Delaware watershed.”

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.

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Pennsylvania

Lingering clouds overnight, mostly sunny start for Sunday

Published

1 day ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Lingering clouds overnight, mostly sunny start for Sunday

We’ve had some lingering clouds across the area so far tonight, some areas are seeing more clearing than others. Skies will clear up for our Sunday with temperatures ranging in the mid to upper 20s for our mornings temps. We have some more snow chances this week as well as next weekend. Check the full forecast for the timing.

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