Son of US District Judge Esther Salas killed, husband shot
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
Judiciary officials say a gunman shot and killed the 20-year-old son of a federal judge as he answered the door of the family home Sunday in New Jersey, and shot and wounded the judge’s husband before fleeing. The attack occurred at the North Brunswick home of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, and killed her son, Daniel, Chief District Judge Freda Wolfson told The Associated Press. Wolfson says her husband, defense lawyer Mark Anderl, was injured. A judiciary official who wasn’t authorized to comment and spoke anonymously to the AP says a gunman posed as a FedEx delivery driver. The official said Salas was in the basement at the time and wasn’t injured. The FBI says it’s searching for one suspect.

Changes Erode Support for Probation Reform Bill

Andrea Sears,Keystone State News Connection

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Criminal justice reform advocates say several changes to a bill meant to reform Pennsylvania’s probation system would make the system worse.

One of every 34 adults in the Keystone State is under community supervision, the third highest rate in the country.

The original version of Senate Bill 14 was praised as significant and long overdue reform.

But according to Elizabeth Randol, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, while the bill that passed unanimously in the state Senate last week contained a few improvements, it eliminated all of the major reforms contained in the earlier version.

“It leaves in place some of the worst elements that are at the root of the problem and sets up an entirely unnecessary and convoluted process to deal with trying to get people off of probation early,” she states.

The ACLU and other advocacy groups have dropped their support for the Senate bill. That revised version of the bill is still pending in the House.

Other states and the federal government put limits on probation. The national average is three years.

Randol points out that in Pennsylvania there is no cap and judges can add years for each individual offense, costing the state and counties millions of dollars every year.

“It seems absurd that Pennsylvania would continue to waste money on keeping people under criminal supervision for years if not, in some cases, decades,” she states.

Randol notes that the added expense is particularly burdensome in light of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and county budgets.

Randol says the ACLU is now urging the House to vote “no” on SB 14.

“I think we can come back to the drawing board and agree on some important elements of probation reform,” she states. “But I think this not only doesn’t make the corrections that we were hoping for but in fact in some cases make the probation system worse.”

Randol would like to see the General Assembly take up a more effective and meaningful reform bill in the legislative session that begins next January.

Civil Rights Groups Challenge Mail Vote Suit

Andrea Sears, Keystone News Service

PHILADELPHIA – Civil rights groups are calling a Trump campaign lawsuit over mail-in ballots an attempt to suppress voting and they’re challenging that lawsuit in court.

The Trump campaign lawsuit seeks to make it more difficult for Pennsylvanians to vote by mail and to have those votes counted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A number of civil rights and voting rights organizations have taken legal action to intervene as defendants in that suit.

Ben Geffen, a staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia, notes more than 1.5 million Pennsylvanians used mail-in ballots in the June primary, and record numbers are likely to do so for the general election in November.

“Voting by mail makes it easier to vote and it does not open the door to widespread fraud of the sort that the plaintiffs in this lawsuit allege,” he states.

The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. On Friday the judge set hearings in the case for Sept. 22 and 23.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit want to stop voters from depositing their absentee ballots in secure drop boxes instead of mailboxes.

But Geffen says the drop boxes were needed because the pandemic forced many primary polling places to close.

“This was a lawful and appropriate response to a dramatic situation and there’s every indication that there will be similar problems in November and that the solution of drop boxes will again be necessary,” he stresses.

Geffen adds that counties need to begin making preparations for the November election now.

He says there is a high degree of inconsistency on the part of those who filed the lawsuit, including Republican members of Congress from Pennsylvania.

“The president of the United States himself voted by mail in the most recent election in his new home state of Florida,” Geffen points out. “Two of the plaintiffs in this very lawsuit voted by mail in last month’s primary in Pennsylvania.”

Organizations intervening in the lawsuit include the Pennsylvania NAACP, the League of Women Voters and Common Cause Pennsylvania.

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

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing bridge washing activities on I-376 (Beaver Valley Expressway) in Potter Township, Beaver County will occur Monday and Tuesday, July 20-21 weather permitting. Bridge washing operations requiring single-lane closures in each direction on I-376 over CSX rail road tracks at the Shell Cracker Plant will occur from noon to 3 p.m. each day. Crews from DeAngelo Brothers, LLC will conduct the work.

(File Photo)

(Brighton Twp.,Pa.) Slide repair work will began this morning requiring the closure of Bradys Run Road between Route 51 (Constitution Boulevard) and Achortown Road. Crews from A. Folino Construction, Inc. will conduct work on the nearly $1.50 million slide remediation project which also includes pavement restoration, guiderail updates, drainage upgrades, sign and pavement marking installation, and other miscellaneous construction activities. To allow the work to occur, Bradys Run Road will close to traffic in the slide area continuously through mid-November.

One reporter, two executions and haunting last words
By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The lead Justice Department and federal law enforcement writer for The Associated Press, Michael Balsamo, spent more than 32 hours inside a prison this past week — and watched two men die. Daniel Lewis Lee and Wesley Ira Purkey were among three convicted killers executed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. The executions were the first carried out by the federal government in 17 years. In a first-person report, Balsamo describes the experience of waiting as their appeals played out, then watching as each condemned man lay strapped to a gurney, allowed last words, and then given a lethal injection of drugs.

Congress confronts new virus crisis rescue as pandemic grows
By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the coronavirus pandemic worsening, it’s clear that  the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill in March was only the start. Even though it was the biggest rescue of its kind in U.S. history, Congress returns to work Monday to try to draft another one. The current round of aid is running out. Extra employment benefits expire and so does a federal eviction freeze. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is poised to roll out his $1 trillion-plus proposal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi already has pushed through a more sweeping $3 trillion effort. Big spending that Congress hoped to avoid now seems inevitable.

Floating boat cinema coming to Pittsburgh, other cities
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, watching movies from cars at drive-ins has been making a comeback — and now there are plans for a floating cinema in western Pennsylvania with people watching from mini-boats. Beyond Cinema, an Australian production company, is bringing Floating Boat Cinema to cities worldwide with a stop in Pittsburgh in September. The location for the aquatic theater planned Sept. 16 to Sept. 20 hasn’t been released, and the movies to be shown haven’t been announced.