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VP Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump put focus on Pennsylvania on eve of 2024 election

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VP Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump put focus on Pennsylvania on eve of 2024 election


What to Know

  • The focus is on Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes as both Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris work to get out the vote the day before Election Day.
  • Harris will spend all of Monday in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes offer the largest prize among the states expected to determine the Electoral College outcome.
  • Donald Trump makes four stops in three states, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan. He’ll end in Grand Rapids, where he completed his first two campaigns.

A presidential campaign that has careened through a felony trial, an incumbent president being pushed off the ticket and multiple assassination attempts comes down to a final push across a handful of states on the eve of Election Day.

Kamala Harris will spend all of Monday in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes offer the largest prize among the states expected to determine the Electoral College outcome. The vice president and Democratic nominee will visit working-class areas including Allentown and end with a late-night Philadelphia rally that includes Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

Allentown public schools were closed due to the Kamala rally that’s “expected to draw large crowds, heavy traffic, and potential disruptions that may impact the safety and security of our students and staff,” the Lehigh Valley school district said.

Donald Trump plans four rallies in three states, beginning in Raleigh, North Carolina and stopping twice in Pennsylvania with events in Reading and Pittsburgh. The Republican nominee and former president ends his campaign the way he ended the first two, with a late Monday night event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

About 77 million Americans already have voted early, but Harris and Trump are pushing to turn out many millions more supporters on Tuesday. Either result on Election Day will yield a historic outcome.

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A Trump victory would make him the first incoming president to have been indicted and convicted of a felony, after his hush-money trial in New York. He will gain the power to end other federal investigations pending against him. Trump would also become the second president in history to win non-consecutive White House terms, after Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century.

Harris is vying to become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office, four years after she broke the same barriers in national office by becoming President Joe Biden’s second in command.

The vice president ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden’s disastrous performance in a June debate set into motion his withdrawing from the race. That was just one of a series of convulsions that have hit this year’s campaign.

Trump survived by millimeters a would-be assassin’s bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. His Secret Service detail foiled a second attempt in September when a gunman had set up a rifle as Trump golfed at one of his courses in Florida.

Harris, 60, has played down the historic nature of her candidacy, which materialized only after the 81-year-old president ended his reelection bid after his June debate against the 78-year-old Trump accentuated questions about Biden’s age.

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Instead, Harris has pitched herself as a generational change, emphasized her support for abortion rights after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision ending the constitutional right to abortion services, and regularly noted the former president’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Assembling a coalition ranging from progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, Harris has called Trump a threat to democracy and late in the campaign even embraced the critique that Trump is accurately described as a “fascist.”

Heading into Monday, Harris has mostly stopped mentioning Trump. She is promising to solve problems and seek consensus, while sounding an almost exclusively optimistic tone reminiscent of her campaign’s opening days when she embraced “the politics of joy” and the campaign theme “Freedom.”

“From the very start, our campaign has not been about being against something, it is about being for something,” Harris said Sunday evening at Michigan State University.

Trump, renewing his “Make America Great Again” and “America First” slogans, has made his hard-line approach to immigration and withering criticisms of Harris and Biden the anchors of his argument for a second administration. He’s hammered Democrats for an inflationary economy, and he’s pledged to lead an economic “golden age,” end international conflicts and seal the U.S. southern border.

But Trump also has veered often into grievances over being prosecuted after trying to overturn Biden’s victory and repeatedly denigrated the country he wants to lead again as a “failed nation.” As recently as Sunday, he renewed his false claims that U.S. elections are rigged against him, mused about violence against journalists and said he “shouldn’t have left” the White House in 2021 — dark turns that have overshadowed another anchor of his closing argument: “Kamala broke it. I will fix it.”

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The election is likely to be decided across seven states. Trump won Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016 only to see them flip to Biden in 2020. North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada add the Sun Belt swath of the presidential battleground map.

Trump won North Carolina twice and lost Nevada twice. He won Arizona and Georgia in 2016 but saw them slip to Democrats in 2020.

Harris’ team has projected confidence in recent days, pointing to a large gender gap in early voting data and research showing late-deciding voters have broken her way. They also believe in the strength of their campaign infrastructure. This weekend, the Harris campaign had more than 90,000 volunteers helping turn out voters — and knocked on more than 3 million doors across the battleground states. Still, Harris aides have insisted she remains the underdog.

Trump’s team has projected confidence, as well, arguing that the former president’s populist appeal will attract younger and working-class voters across racial and ethnic lines. The idea is that Trump can amass an atypical Republican coalition, even as other traditional GOP blocks — notably college-educated voters — become more Democratic.

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1 dead, 2 hospitalized after crash in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, police say

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1 dead, 2 hospitalized after crash in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, police say



One person is dead, and two others were taken to the hospital after a crash involving multiple vehicles in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, Tuesday afternoon, police said. 

The crash happened around 4:45 p.m. at East Bristol Road and Brownsville roads, police said.

Police said a person driving a Toyota RAV4 was involved in a domestic-related incident in Lower Southampton Township before the crash. 

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The person driving the Toyota RAV4 was traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed, crossed into oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle while attempting to pass a Hyundai Kona, according to police.

The Toyota then became airborne, struck a Honda SUV and a Ford pickup truck and rolled over. The driver of the Toyota died in the crash, police said. 

The driver of the Hyundai Kona left the road and came to a rest after striking a fence on Bristol Road, according to police. 

It’s unclear if any drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash, police said. 

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Bensalem police.

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Digital News Publishers Launch Pennsylvania Independent News Association (PiNA) to Advocate for Local News Organizations – Saucon Source

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Digital News Publishers Launch Pennsylvania Independent News Association (PiNA) to Advocate for Local News Organizations – Saucon Source


The publishers of two dozen local news brands across Pennsylvania today announced the official formation of the Pennsylvania Independent News Association (PiNA).

The new Harrisburg-based organization is dedicated to bringing together digital-first local news organizations to strengthen the independent press, modernize laws and policies, and ensure the long-term sustainability of community news.

“The news industry is in a period of profound transformation, and digital news publishers need a seat at the table,” said Tom Sofield, PiNA’s president and publisher of LevittownNow.com.

PiNA’s mission is to provide these publishers with a collective voice, advocating for policies that reflect the modern reality of news consumers, local businesses and civic organizations.

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An immediate focus for the new association is the reform of Pennsylvania’s outdated public notice laws, which currently prohibit digital outlets from publishing legal notices. PiNA seeks the right for qualified and established digital outlets to compete against incumbent print outlets and for local municipalities to choose the publication and medium that’s best for their communities. PiNA’s proposed amendment draws from similar legislation in Virginia that was signed into law in 2024. 

“PiNA publishers have long been ready to compromise and find policy solutions that work for all Pennsylvanians,” said PiNA secretary and treasurer Davis Shaver, publisher of LebTown. “When lawmakers and local government organizations say they want the ability to self-publish notices, it’s a result of legacy newspapers treating the print monopoly over public notices as a profit center.”

PiNA’s position is that independent outlets can provide the third-party affidavits of publication required to demonstrate compliance with public notice mandates–an essential role of the notice process that would not be possible if agencies were allowed to publish on their own websites.

“We understand why self-publication is desirable, but it’s not the only way to provide urgently needed financial relief for the onerous print newspaper tax on public notices,” said Shaver. “We’re tired of waiting for legacy newspapers to disrupt themselves. Enough is enough, let’s move on.”

PiNA has already engaged with state legislators from across the Commonwealth. PiNA leadership said that the group has been encouraged to learn that its position has widespread support. In particular, PiNA commends Representative Robert Freeman (D-136) for his leadership on this issue.

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PiNA represents a group of serious-minded news organizations and leaders. Its membership spans the Commonwealth, from the most rural area to the suburbs and to the neighborhoods of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. PiNA member outlets are read by millions of Pennsylvanians monthly.

“We are coming together to advocate for our staffs, our readers and common-sense policies–like public notice reform–that support a free and modern press,” said Sofield. “By combining our strengths, we can ensure that every community in Pennsylvania has access to reliable local news.”

The association will work to bring collaboration among the locally-owned Pennsylvania small businesses to share ideas and solutions for growth, technology and sustainable revenue models.

“We believe in the power of local news to build stronger communities and improve lives,” said Sofield. “By forming PiNA, we’re creating a base for independent publishers to thrive together.”

PiNA is focused on ensuring that high-quality, trustworthy local news is a permanent fixture in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. The founding members of PiNA include Burb Media, EYT Media Group, Fideri News Network, Lazerpro, Lebanon Publishing Company, NCPA Media LLC and Street Light Media Group. The first associate members include West Hills Gazette and Saucon Source.

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Member Outlets: AroundAmbler.com, CentralBucksNews.com, explore814.com, exploreClarion.com, exploreJeffersonPA.com, exploreVenango.com, GlensideLocal.com, HorshamNow.com, LebTown.com, LevittownNow.com, MediaPANow.com, MoreThanTheCurve.com, NewHopeFreePress.com, NewtownPANow.com, NorthCentralPA.com, NorthPennNow.com, PerkValleyNow.com, PhillyDaily.com, SauconSource.com, StateCollege.com, WestHillsGazette.com, WillowGroveNow.com, and WissNow.com.

About PiNA

The Pennsylvania Independent News Association (PiNA) is a trade association representing digital-first local news publishers. PiNA works to promote the health and sustainability of independent news outlets through advocacy, collaboration and innovation.

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A gap in Pennsylvania law has put fire companies and county treasurers at odds over online raffles

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A gap in Pennsylvania law has put fire companies and county treasurers at odds over online raffles






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