Fetterman: I think Biden will win Pennsylvania in 2024

Senator John Fetterman tells CNN’s Jake Tapper “I do believe that Joe Biden is going to carry” Black voters by wide margins in November, but the election is “going to be very close.”

A report from the National Weather Service was issued on Sunday at 6:03 a.m. for dense fog until 8 a.m. for Westmoreland Ridges, Fayette Ridges and Higher Elevations of Indiana as well as Mercer, Venango, Forest, Lawrence, Butler, Clarion, Beaver, Allegheny, Armstrong, Washington, Greene, Westmoreland, Fayette and Indiana counties.

“Patchy dense fog is ongoing this morning, especially in and around river valleys and areas that saw the heaviest rainfall this weekend. If traveling, take it slow and allow extra time to reach your destination. Fog should begin to lift in most locations after 8 am,” according to the weather service.

Fog safety: Tips from the weather service for safe travels

If you must drive in foggy conditions, keep the following safety tips in mind:

Reduce speed:

• Slow down and allow extra travel time to reach your destination safely.

Visibility priority:

• Ensure your vehicle is visible to others by using low-beam headlights, which also activate your taillights. If you have fog lights, use them.

Avoid high-beams:

• Refrain from using high-beam lights, as they create glare, making it more difficult for you to see what’s ahead of you on the road.

Keep your distance:

• Keep a considerable following distance to account for sudden stops or shifts in traffic patterns.

Stay in your lane:

• Use the road’s lane markings as a guide to staying in the correct lane.

Visibility near zero:

• In situations of near-zero visibility due to dense fog, activate your hazard lights and seek a secure location, such as a nearby business’s parking lot, to pull over and come to a stop.

Limited parking options:

• If no parking area is available, pull your vehicle as far to the roadside as possible. Once stationary, turn off all lights except the hazard flashers, engage the emergency brake, and release the brake pedal to ensure your tail lights are not illuminated, reducing the risk of other drivers colliding with your stationary vehicle.

By adhering to these weather service precautions, you can navigate foggy conditions more safely, reducing the likelihood of accidents and ensuring your personal safety.

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.

Abortion is a hot issue

Salon senior politics writer Amanda Marcotte led a panel titled “Will abortion decide this election?”

Local speakers Lizbeth Rodriguez of the Philadelphia Women’s Center, Drexel University law professor David Cohen, and Rutgers Law professor Kimberly Mutcherson participated in the discussion.

Marcott asked how the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization which overturned Roe v. Wade has affected abortion access in the state.

“In Pennsylvania, abortion is legal,” Rodriguez said. “However, legality has never meant accessibility for folks. For a lot of marginalized communities, these barriers, bad laws and restrictions on providers have been affecting us for the past 50 years.”

Cohen said states like Pennsylvania have a responsibility to expand access.

“We’ve seen states around the country where abortion remains legal, where pro-choice legislators and governors have actually started actually doing what we’ve wanted them to do for decades – which is get rid of restrictions that have remained on the books even in liberal states and fund abortion,” he said.

Panelists said they are seeing some women come to Pennsylvania from other states seeking abortion support. But Rodriguez says the state is “still very restricted.”

“We have the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act with mandatory waiting periods, restrictions on young folks, and a number of restrictions on providers that truly make it difficult for folks in red states to come and seek care here,” she said.

Mutcherson told Marcotte that New Jersey has gone much farther in terms of expanding access.

“There are lots of jokes about New Jersey, but if you are a person who cares about reproductive healthcare and abortion in particular, New Jersey is at the top of the list,” she said. “We have a great reproductive freedom act that was passed even before Dobbs came down. We do not have the kinds of restrictions that a lot of states have, including gestational limits. You can use Medicaid to pay for abortion in New Jersey. So low income women have access to abortion in ways that are not true in a lot of other states.”

All eyes on PA

Biden is expected to heavily focus on Pennsylvania this election cycle, given the importance of a win for either candidate but also his affinity for his birth state.

“Biden loves Pennsylvania,” writer and author Molly Jong-Fast said, noting that a Biden staff member told her “Biden is always in a good mood when we go to Harrisburg.”

She added that she doesn’t believe in polls – which are giving an edge to Donald Trump in Pennsylvania – and that Biden had advantages the former president doesn’t.

Biden is “a politician because he’s good at connecting with people,” she said.

Saturday’s event was co-sponsored by Project on Government Oversight. Other speakers included University of Pennsylvania law professor Claire Finkelstein, Drexel Klinke School of Law professor David Cohen, The Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson, Salon politics writer Amanda Marcotte, Democracy Forward CEO Skye Perryman, The New Republic staff writer Walter Shapiro, and POGO Action policy counsel Joe Spielberger.