This story originally appeared on Spotlight PA.
Democrat Matt Wolf, a Philadelphia municipal judge, will fill an open seat on Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court.
The Associated Press called the race at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Unofficial results show Wolf with 53% of the vote and Republican Megan Martin, a former legislative official, with 47%.
Commonwealth Court is the first stop for civil actions brought against state and local governments and regulatory agencies. It regularly hears high-profile cases on important political issues such as election law, redistricting, and abortion.
Its rulings — such as a 2020 order that temporarily paused the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results — can be reviewed and overturned by the state Supreme Court.
Not every Commonwealth Court ruling is appealed or taken up by the high court, and those decisions have an enormous impact on politics and policy in the state. For example, the court earlier this year found Pennsylvania’s public school funding system to be unconstitutionally inequitable and ordered the legislature to reform it.
The outcome of Tuesday’s election does not change partisan control of the court. Republicans have a 5-3 edge on the 9-member bench, which typically hears cases in 3-member panels. The vacancy on the Nov. 7 ballot was created when Judge Kevin Brobson was elected to the state Supreme Court.
Wolf currently sits on the Philadelphia Municipal Court, where he has served as a judge since 2017.
Before his election, Wolf worked as a trial attorney for 25 years at various firms, primarily in New Jersey, including his father’s practice and his own. He also served in the Army Reserves as a legal officer and is an active member of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
Wolf decried judicial activism in a candidate forum earlier this year, calling it “not productive.”
“I don’t believe that it is productive to be activist at all and change things for the sake of a political reason,” Wolf said.
His Republican opponent, Martin, is a Cumberland County resident, Widener University law school graduate, and the former parliamentarian of the state Senate. In that role, she was charged with advising the Pennsylvania Senate’s presiding officer on how to run floor proceedings in accordance with the state constitution, law, precedent, and chamber rules.
The state bar association recommended Martin. She has compared her judicial philosophy to that of Brobson and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
“I am a strict constructionist,” she wrote in response to a survey by the Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Justice Reform, a nonprofit that primarily advocates for friendlier laws for the health care industry and other business interests in civil cases. “I am a textualist and an originalist; I do not believe the constitution is a ‘living document.’”
Martin’s campaign outspent Wolf’s in the lead-up to the general election. Martin’s campaign has spent $556,000 since May, while Wolf’s campaign has spent $110,000, according to a Spotlight PA analysis of campaign finance records.
State appellate court judges serve 10-year terms. They earn subsequent terms through nonpartisan retention elections, in which voters are asked to approve or reject an additional 10-year term. Judges rarely lose these retention elections, which means that once on the bench, they often stay for decades. They must retire by age 75.
More than two dozen dogs were rescued after an investigation into a dog fighting ring in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania State Police said they seized 28 dogs from a home in West Hazleton, Luzerne County, last week.
Troopers said the dogs and “numerous items of animal fighting paraphernalia” were found at the home. Police found weighted collars, heavy chains and treadmills at the scene, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is now caring for the dogs and puppies.
After getting another search warrant, police said they found 19 dogs crated inside the home and eight outside. Another was found running loose and was captured, troopers said.
(Photo: ASPCA/PA State Police)
Griffin Pond Animal Shelter and the Luzerne County Animal Response Team helped remove the dogs, and the shelter temporarily cared for them until they were given to the ASPCA. The dogs will have to undergo forensic veterinary evaluations, general vet care and behavioral analysis.
The ASPCA said some of the dogs had scarring and injuries consistent with dog fighting.
In a Facebook post, the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter said it was one of “the most horrific cases we’ve been a part of.”
“Seeing these photos brings tears to our eyes. We’re beyond tired of experiencing these heartbreaking situations because of humans that have failed the voiceless. The cruelty they were subjected to is unimaginable,” the shelter said.
Police said the person at the center of the search warrant is in the Luzerne County Jail on other charges. The investigation is ongoing.
March 10 (UPI) — A small plane has crashed in rural Pennsylvania, injuring all five on board, officials said.
The plane crashed at about 3:18 p.m. EDT on Sunday in a parking lot of a retirement community in Manheim Township, located about 85 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Manheim Township said in a statement.
All five people on board sustained injuries of unknown severity and were transported to local hospitals for medical treatment, according to the township. No injuries were reported on the ground and there were no deaths, it added.
The Brethren Village facilities also avoided sustaining damage, though several cars in the parking lot were damaged.
Officials told reporters during a press conference that the aircraft was on fire when responders arrived at the scene. About a dozen cars were damaged in the crash, with at least five having been “severely damaged,” Manheim Township Police Chief Duane Fisher said.
The fire has since been extinguished, the officials said.
According to FlightAware, the aircraft had departed from Lancaster Airport near the crash site with a final destination of Springfield, Ohio.
The cause of the crash was under investigation.
Fisher said they initially imposed a shelter-in-place order for the retirement community following the crash as a “precaution.”
“At no point did the plane or the aircraft strike any part of the structure,” Fisher said. “So, we’re very confident that all safety concerns have been addressed as far as the facility here and everyone that lives here.”
“I don’t know if I consider it a miracle, but the fact that we have a plane crash where everybody survives and nobody on the ground is hurt is a wonderful thing.”
The FAA, which said it was investigating the crash, identified the plane in a statement as a Beechcraft Bonanza.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said state police were on the scene assisting first responders.
“All Commonwealth resources are available as the response continues,” he said on X.
The incident follows a series of high-profile aviation crashes in the United States, including a crash involving a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines Jet in Washington, D.C., in January.
A plane has crash-landed in a parking lot in suburban Pennsylvania.
Dramatic footage showed the aircraft erupt in flames in the parking lot, lined with other vehicles, in Manheim Township.
Medics, ambulances, and emergency vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County – as flames engulfed the plane. It is unclear how many people were on board.
The aircraft crashed, triggering a fiery inferno and causing multiple vehicles to burst into flames, between Fairview Drive and Meadowview Court.
The aircraft’s tail can be seen in the wreckage, squashed up next to parked cars and surrounded by thick black smoke billowing through the air.
Numerous injuries have been reported at the scene – including burn victims.
The parking lot where the plane landed is just two streets away from Lancaster Airport – and serves a retirement home, Fairview Meadows.
Public records provided by Lancaster Airport show that a commuter airline provided by Southern Airways Express was scheduled to land at the airport at 2:14pm. It took off from Dulles International Airport in Virginia earlier on Sunday.
Dramatic footage showed the aircraft erupt in flames in a parking lot, lined with other vehicles, in Manheim Township
The aircraft’s tail can be seen in the wreckage, squashed up next to parked cars and surrounded by thick black smoke
Emergency services are seen working on the small plane crash in Pennsylvania
Smoke is seen billowing from the site of the aircraft crash
This comes after a particularly tumultuous start to the year for the aviation industry.
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