(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania House committee is voluntarily relinquishing its control over four bills to address gun violence, instead asking the speaker to have another panel take them over. After a testy exchange between the two parties during a Judiciary Committee meeting on Monday, the vote concerned proposals regarding safe gun storage, an assault weapons ban, a red flag bill and a measure to give local governments power to enact their own protections. The Democrats who voted with the GOP to send the bill package back to the speaker with a recommendation that he pass them over to the Local Government Committee said they hoped the proposals might somehow advance there.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Republican nominee for governor Doug Mastriano has appointed former President Donald Trump’s former campaign lawyer as a senior legal adviser to his campaign. Lawyer Jenna Ellis has endorsed Mastriano in Pennsylvania’s Republican primary, she has campaigned with Mastriano and has hosted Mastriano on her podcast to discuss election fraud. Mastriano said Monday that Ellis brings the “talent, experience and legal expertise” to help defeat Democrat Josh Shapiro in the November election. If Mastriano were to win in the fall, he’d shape how elections are conducted in Pennsylvania where the governor appoints the secretary of state, who oversees elections.

(File Photo)
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf and state lawmakers are launching into the busiest stretch of their year. These last weeks of June are vastly different this year than any other in memory because they have billions of extra dollars to spread around. Assembling a spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 will play out in the shadow of partisan fights over abortion rights and gun violence. A Democrat, Wolf wants about $1.8 billion more for instruction, operations and special education in public schools, or about one-fifth more. Republicans preach restraint, worrying over projections that the economy is heading for a slowdown.

(File Photo)

(Pittsburgh, PA) PennDOT District 11 is announcing that that an overnight closure of the northbound I-79 local lane at the traffic crossover in Aleppo Township, Allegheny County, will occur Wednesday night, June 15 weather permitting.

(File Photo)

(North Sewickley Twp, Pa.) Pa State Police in Gibsonia reported yesterday that they were called to the scene of a one vehicle accident at mile marker 17.7 East bound on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in North Sewickley Township last Wednesday, June 8, 2022 around 4:30 PM.
Troopers are reporting that upon arriving and investigating it was learned that 44-year-old Jadie Nightingale, of Big Beaver, was traveling east bound when she looked down at a check engine light that was on in the 2010 Chevy Tahoe that she was driving. Troopers said Nightingale failed to pay attention to a right curve in the road and her vehicle struck the concrete barrier median along the right side of the road causing the vehicle to spin and continue traveling to the right shoulder where it struck several more concrete barriers along the left side of the roadway. She was not injured in the accident but her vehicle did sustain heavy front end damage and had to be towed from the scene. She was cited by troopers with not driving properly on roadways laned for traffic

(Photo taken by Frank Sparks)

(Beaver Falls, Pa.) The National Weather Service in Moon Twp. is predicting a bumpy start to your Tuesday with Showers and Thunderstorm being predicted for this morning with some storms producing heavy rainfall. The warm up will continue into Thursday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms and heat indexes over 100 each day. Friday will set us up for a beautiful weekend with sunny skies and a high of 85. Saturday and Sunday we are expecting sunny skies and high’s in the mid 70’s. You can see a detailed forecast for the next five days below:

(File photo of Kail’s official photo)

(HARRISBURG, Pa.)On Monday, Reps. Josh Kail (R-Beaver/Washington), Torren Ecker (R-Adams/Cumberland) and Tim O’Neal (R-Washington) announced they are starting the process of impeachment of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been nearly 1,000 people injured or killed by gun violence in Philadelphia with over 220 people murdered in the city.
The June 5th South Street shooting underscored the need to take immediate action to ensure the district attorney is enforcing the law in Philadelphia.
The three members said they are, as of today, circulating a co-sponsorship memo for supporters of Articles of Impeachment they hope to have completed in the near future.
“We did not arrive at this decision lightly or easily. In fact, we are taking this action after we have taken significant steps to pass legislation that addresses violent crime in Philadelphia by ensuring our current laws are enforced,” said Kail. “We are starting this process now because the unchecked violent crime in Philadelphia has reached a breaking point due to the willful refusal by District Attorney Krasner to enforce existing laws.”
Ecker detailed Krasner’s persistent dereliction of duty in willfully refusing to enforce current criminal laws already on the books in Pennsylvania that are designed to keep communities safe.
“Unfortunately for the people of Philadelphia, and the people of Pennsylvania at large, the problem of violent crime in Philadelphia has reached a point that demands this action be taken,” he said. “Taking this step today and undertaking this process continues what we have been doing and what we need to do to combat violence and crime here in Pennsylvania – ensure the laws already on the books are enforced.”
O’Neal explained that what happens in Philadelphia, especially relative to the issue of violent crime, is ultimately a statewide problem.
“Across the country, people are standing up to unchecked and uncontrolled violence and lawlessness allowed because of radical politicians in district attorneys’ offices, like Larry Krasner,” he said. “Just last week, city businesses said they are thinking of relocating because of spikes in crime. Philadelphia is Pennsylvania’s major economic engine, a tourist attraction, and the birthplace of our freedoms. If unchecked crime is keeping businesses and tourists from visiting and locating in Philadelphia, it impacts Pennsylvania as a whole.”
To hear from the people of Pennsylvania who have been impacted by the District Attorney’s actions, there is a publicly accessible website where people can submit their stories or share information: www.stopkrasner.com.
Once the Articles of Impeachment are introduced, they will then be referred to committee. Once the committee approves them, the Articles of Impeachment can be considered by the full House of Representatives. If approved by the House, there will be a trial in the Senate to determine whether the impeached official should be removed from office.

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

Pennsylvania’s Senate race is garnering national attention, with Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz running to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. A new report examines how outside spending from Super PACs and national donors affects voters.

The report from American Promise includes recent survey results that say more than 70% of Pennsylvanians think big donors have too much political influence.

As they can expect to see hundreds of millions of dollars poured into political ads for the Senate race, Bill Cortese of American Promise said “dark money” can create a sense of mistrust among voters.

“Pennsylvania voters deserve to learn about the candidates who are running and make their own decisions on this, without being influenced by outside groups,” said Cortese. “Democrats, Republicans, Independents all agree that this outside money – from people who, most of the time, don’t reside in Pennsylvania – is troubling.”

Lt. Gov. Fetterman’s team has raised over $16 million, a large portion from organized labor, as well as a big donation from a D.C.-based progressive super PAC.

TV Celebrity and patent medicine pitchman Oz has raised over $15 million. He’s supported in part by the American Leadership Action PAC, which raised over $4 million.

Jennifer Mann is an Allentown-based consultant and former state representative. She said over the years, the money funneled into races has skyrocketed, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

Mann added that when a majority of campaign donations are coming from a small but wealthy group of people, it discourages others from participating in the electoral process.

“What we want to do is go back to what the intent is, in the founding of this country,” said Mann. “And that’s for citizen legislators, for regular folks from all walks of life, to participate in the process. They’re just being drowned out by specific agendas and big money.”

State Rep. Meghan Schroeder – R-Bucks – is calling on Congress this month to enact the “For Our Freedom” constitutional amendment, which would give state lawmakers the “authority to regulate” political campaign donations.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.