Keystone State News Connection

September 14, 2021

Emily Scott

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvanians will vote this November to elect judges in the state’s three appellate courts, and a virtual candidate forum next week will allow voters to get to know those running for the Commonwealth, Superior, and Supreme Court positions who will make influential decisions.

Two seats are up for grabs in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, and one each in its Superior and Supreme courts. Pennsylvania differs from some states in that it votes for judges in partisan elections, rather than by merit selection.

Debbie Gross, CEO of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, said it limits the information voters can gather from candidates as they are expected to remain impartial in light of issues that could arise on the bench.

“You can’t ask them how they feel on a controversial topic because all these types of cases could potentially reach the court, even a decision over the pandemic and the masks,” Gross explained. “You can’t ask a judge any of these questions when these are real cases that they may be deciding in the near future.”

You can register online to join the candidate forum at 7:00 p.m. next Monday, Sep. 20. The deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania for the Nov. 2 election is Oct. 18.

In off-year elections, Pennsylvania often sees low voter turnout. During the May 2021 primary, participation was sparse, compared with the record-breaking 70% of the state’s eligible population who voted during the 2020 presidential election.

Meghan Pierce, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, said it’s important for residents to be civically engaged since the elected judges could play a big role in issues such as redistricting in the future.

“I think what a lot of voters don’t realize is, is how much responsibility judges really carry, and how decisions that they make really affect all aspects of their lives,” Pierce pointed out. “Judges are also elected for a really long time. So, it’s really important to do your research on the candidates. Who we elect in November really matters in the long term.”

The forum will be moderated by attorney Maureen McBride, a co-chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Appellate Advocacy Committee.

(Harrisburg, Pa.) The Pennsylvania Game Commission is reminded hunters that earlier this year they authorized that hunters and trappers will be allowed to carry digital versions of there license, though paper harvest tags will still have to be carried and used in certain seasons. That includes tags for deer, bears, turkeys and bobcats.

If you’ve already purchased your hunting license for this season, you can download a PDF copy of it by logging in to your profile on HuntFishPA and accessing the purchase history.

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) Under the new proposal, sponsored by Allegheny County council members Bethany Hallam and Olivia Bennett, people would be required to wear masks at all indoor events any outdoor gathering of more than 250 people. Anyone who fails to comply could be fined up to $100.

If passed, it would be effective until Apr. 30, 2022, unless repealed earlier by council

Hallam caused an uproar on social media due to photos she posted on her Twitter account of herself at the Steelers Game in Buffalo over the weekend without a mask on.

(Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Curtis Walsh)

(New Brighton, PA) The New Brighton Area School Board met Monday night for their first of two meetings this month.  The board started off by approving a final reading of revisions to multiple policies within the school handbook, as well as a final reading to a new policy to be added titled “Threat Assessment”.  Board members then approved 2022 Pennsylvania School Boards Association candidates President Elect David Schaap, Vice President Allison Mathis, and PSBA Insurance Trust Trustees Richard Francis, William LaCoff, and Nathan Mains.  The board also approved to exonerate 2019 school property taxes for a parcel located at 1120 6th Avenue.  The property is used as a church and the owners are applying to be on the list of tax exempt properties maintained by the Beaver County Assessor’s Office.

PennDOT is announcing the closure of a portion of Hitzel Hill Road (Route 4045) in Bell Acres Borough, Allegheny County, has been extended.

Public’s help sought after teen killed at Halloween event
NORTH VERSAILLES, Pa. (AP) — Authorities are asking for help from the public in their search for a teenage suspect who opened fire at a popular Halloween attraction in western Pennsylvania over the weekend, killing one 15-year-old youth and wounding another. Allegheny County police said 15-year-old Steven Eason of Wilmerding was shot in the chest and stomach Saturday night at the Haunted Hills Hayride in North Versailles. The other youth is in stable condition. Detectives said Eason and friends knew the other youth casually and went to his aid when they saw him in a confrontation with the 15- to 17-year-old suspect, who drew a handgun and fired three times.

By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Bill McSwain, top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia under former President Donald Trump, will run for governor. He made the announcement Monday, joining a crowded Republican field that may still yet get bigger. McSwain’s announcement was not a surprise. He had written to Trump in July, seeking the former president’s endorsement for governor and, before that, had told party figures that he intended to run. It is his first run for public office. The 52-year-old McSwain lives in Chester County and went back to private law practice after more than three years as the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, which included Philadelphia.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel is soon leaving the job he’s held for a more than decade.  Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday Wetzel will be replaced by George Little, a top administrator at the agency. Little has served Corrections as a deputy secretary overseeing community corrections, parole and probation field supervision services, and parole re-entry operations. Wetzel was first named to the job in 2011 by then-Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican. His last day with the state is Oct. 1, and he plans to work in the private sector. Little joined the state prison system as director of community corrections in 2016 before becoming an executive deputy secretary.

Prison guards union asks court to review vax-or-test mandate
By MARK SCOLFORO and MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The union that represents corrections officers in Pennsylvania prisons wants a state court to intervene over the governor’s recent mandate that they all get coronavirus vaccines or submit to weekly testing. The six-page Commonwealth Court complaint over a rule Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf announced last month requests that the court issue a preliminary injunction to end mandatory testing unless inmates, visitors and outside vendors are also subject to the requirement. Wolf a month ago announced that about 25,000 employees of Pennsylvania’s prisons and state health care and congregate care facilities would have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 7 or take weekly tests for the virus.

(Scott Twp., Lawrence County, Pa.) Pa State Police in New Castle are reporting that they were dispatched to the scene of a one vehicle accident on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, on Rose Point Harlensburg Road in Scott Twp., Lawrence County around 5:54 PM.

Troopers stated via release that upon arriving on the scene and investigating they determined that 24-year-old Kayla Haswell from Ellwood City was operating a 1996 Jeep Cherokee at and unsafe speed around the bend and lost control of her vehicle causing it to roll over and come to rest on its right side facing north.

Haswell was not injured and requested that EMS not respond. She was cited for driving a vehicle at an unsafe speed and her vehicle was towed from the scene.