(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today the House passed bipartisan legislation introduced by Representative Conor Lamb (PA-17) and Representative Tracey Mann (KS-1) to lift an outdated employee cap on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) counselors.  Currently, there are fewer than 40 full-time equivalent EEO counselors for a workforce of almost 400,000 employees.  The VA Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor Modernization Act (H.R. 2788) would enable the VA’s Office of Resolution Management, Diversity, and Inclusion (ORMDI) to remove the cap and place additional counselors in the regional offices around the country.

“The number of EEO counselors has been capped since 1997, but it did not stop unequal treatment in the workplace.  The VA is one of the largest federal agencies and consistently has among the most complaints,” said Lamb.  “These counselors are our front line of defense against racism, sex discrimination and other unlawful conduct, and they need reinforcements.”

“The Equal Employment Counseling Modernization Act is another commonsense reform to the Department of Veterans Affairs,” said Mann.  “I appreciated working with Representative Lamb on this bipartisan legislation, which would remove the cap of the number of full-time employees providing equal employment opportunity counseling at the Department of VA.  The broad support for this bill shows a willingness by the House of Representatives to implement small, but impactful changes for our veterans across the country and help the VA to employ, educate, care for, guide, and better assist our nation’s heroes.”

VA’s Office of Resolution Management, Diversity, and Inclusion (ORMDI) is responsible for multiple important functions at VA, including resolving workplace discrimination and EEO disputes and leading VA Diversity and Inclusion strategic planning.  VA EEO counselors serve in a range of roles including listener, educator, information gatherer, facilitator, trainer, suggestion maker and de-escalation expert.

H.R. 2788 is supported by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

Polling places run out of ballots in Pennsylvania primary
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press
Pennsylvania election officials ran out of ballots in several counties amid higher-than-expected turnout for the statewide primary. York, Delaware and a few other counties ran short of ballots Tuesday, but election officials say voters were able to use alternative means to make their selections. Election officials reported several other scattered problems, including a “coding error” in one northeastern county that caused Republican primary ballots to be mislabeled as Democratic ballots on some voting machines. The state’s top elections official says there were other “isolated incidents in a handful of counties” but that the election otherwise ran smoothly.

Voters back bid to ban race discrimination in constitution
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania voters are backing a proposal to amend the state constitution to outlaw discrimination based on race and ethnicity. The question was added to Tuesday’s primary ballot amid worries over whether federal judges appointed by former President Donald Trump will roll back civil rights protections. Meanwhile, two separate questions seek to limit a governor’s emergency disaster declarations and put more power in the hands of lawmakers. Republican lawmakers across the country are reeling in emergency powers that governors wielded during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Pennsylvania is in the unique position of being the first to take the question to voters.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has lost his bid for re-election to five-term state representative Ed Gainey, as the city took a big step toward electing its first Black chief executive. Peduto had been seeking a third term against three primary challengers but instead called to congratulate Gainey. Peduto tweeted late Tuesday that he was “wishing him well.” Meanwhile, Pennsylvania voters were given the opportunity to limit a governor’s emergency authority, more than a year after Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic restrictions drew fierce backlash among legislative Republicans. It was the headline question in an otherwise quiet off-year primary election.

By BEN FINLEY and JONATHAN DREW Associated Press
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina prosecutor says sheriff’s deputies were justified in their fatal shooting of a Black man in April. District Attorney Andrew Womble said Andrew Brown Jr. struck a deputy with his car and nearly ran him over while ignoring commands to show his hands and get out of the vehicle. Womble told a news conference Tuesday that he won’t file any criminal charges against the deputies. Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II said in a video statement Tuesday afternoon that the deputies will keep their jobs but will be “disciplined and retrained.”

By CLAUDIA LAUER undefined
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Voters in Pennsylvania will cast ballots Tuesday in the Democratic Primary for Philadelphia District Attorney that pits reform-minded incumbent Larry Krasner against veteran homicide prosecutor Carlos Vega. The race likely will decide the future of the office in the overwhelmingly Democratic city. But Philadelphians will also be casting votes in what many pundits nationally say is the first referendum on whether a wave of prosecutors elected on promises of criminal justice reforms can survive a rising tide of gun violence and homicides across the country that opponents are seeking to frame as their fault.

PA State Police have reported via release that on May 11th, 2021 at approximately 11:34 p.m. PSP – New Castle stopped to check on a disabled motorist operating a 2015 Ram 2500 on Pa-376 East at the 11.4 mile marker near Neshannock Township. Upon further investigation, the front right passenger of the vehicle, Female, Alison Marie Falba, was discovered to have a warrant for her arrest of drug paraphernalia originating from the Beaver County Sheriff’s office. Falba was placed into custody and incarcerated at the Lawrence County Jail.

(Muddy Creek Twp., Pa.) Pa State Police have released the identity of the person that Pennsylvania State Police reported was killed along East Portersville Road in Muddy Creek Township, Butler County on Monday evening . David Hines, 38, of New Castle was fond shot to death around 8 PM in an SUV that was over an embankment.  The vehicle was near the entrance to a mining facility.

The incident is being investigated as a homicide.

Anyone with information is asked to call PSP Butler at 724-284-8100.