(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – The desk of hospitalized Pennsylvania state Rep. Matt Gergely, D-Allegheny, is empty at the start of the state House’s new two-year legislative session, Jan. 7, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. Gergely died January 19, leaving his seat vacant and the chamber deadlocked. (AP Photo/Marc Levy, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters from opposite ends of Pennsylvania will fill two state legislative vacancies in special elections Tuesday. Democrats are defending a state House seat on friendly turf with control of the deadlocked chamber on the line, while Republicans look to maintain their comfortable advantage in the state Senate in a reliably GOP district.

In the state House, voters in District 35 in western Pennsylvania southeast of Pittsburgh will elect a replacement for Democratic state Rep. Matt Gergely, whose death in January left the parties tied at 101 seats each. The major-party nominees to succeed him are Democrat Dan Goughnour, who’s a McKeesport school board member and a police officer, and Republican Chuck Davis, who’s president of the White Oak Borough Council and a volunteer firefighter. Libertarian Adam Kitta is also on the ballot.

On the other side of the commonwealth in the state Senate race, three candidates are running to replace former Republican state Sen. Ryan Aument, who left his seat in December to work as state director in Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick’s office. The nominees are Republican Josh Parsons, a Lancaster County commissioner; Democrat James Andrew Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg; and libertarian Zachary Moore.

Democratic candidates have a strong track record in the Allegheny County-based state House district. Gergely first won the seat in a 2023 special election with 75% of the vote and ran unopposed in 2024. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris carried the district with about 58% of the vote in the 2024 presidential election, compared with about 42% for former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

Trump, who won the election and a second term in the White House, performed well in some parts of the district, receiving comfortable majorities in Liberty, Lincoln, Port Vue, South Versailles and White Oak, but those municipalities collectively made up less than a third of the district’s total vote. The most competitive battlegrounds in the district were Versailles and West Homestead, both of which Harris carried narrowly. She won most of the district by huge margins.

State Senate District 36, located within Lancaster County between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, had roughly the opposite voting record as House District 35 in the 2024 general election. Trump received 57% of the district vote in the presidential race, while McCormick received 56% in his successful bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. Aument ran unopposed in his last election in 2022.

Trump won 18 of the state Senate district’s 22 municipalities by comfortable to large margins. Harris narrowly carried East Hempfield, East Petersburg, Lititz and Manheim, but those four areas comprised only about 37% of the total district vote.

Democrats won a slim majority of state House seats in 2022 for the first time in more than a decade and have had to defend their narrow advantage in a series of special elections since then.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Pennsylvania requires an automatic recount for close statewide races, but that law does not apply to state legislative races. For non-statewide races, voters may petition a county board of elections or the courts to order a recount. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

Special election day

Pennsylvania’s special elections for state Senate and House will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in the special elections for state Senate District 36 and state House District 35.

Who gets to vote?

Any voters registered in state Senate District 36 or state House District 35 may participate in the special election in their district.

What do turnout and advance vote look like?

As of Monday, Senate District 36 had about 185,000 registered voters, of whom 53% were Republicans, about 30% were Democrats and the rest had no party affiliation or were members of minor parties. House District 35 had roughly 43,000 registered voters, with Democrats comprising about 61% and Republicans about 25%.

Turnout in House District 35 was between 52% and 53% of registered voters in both the 2022 and 2024 general elections. Roughly a quarter of the votes in those elections were cast before Election Day. A special election in the district in 2023 had about 21% of registered voters participating.

Turnout in the 2022 general election in Senate District 36 was about 51% of registered voters. About 14% of the voters in that election cast their ballots before Election Day.

As of Friday, nearly 2,800 of the approximately 4,000 absentee ballots requested by voters had been cast in Allegheny County before special election day. About 83% was from Democrats. As of Wednesday in Lancaster County, voters had requested nearly 16,000 absentee ballots, of which about 11,000 had already been cast. The county did not provide a breakdown by party.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported results just as polls closed at 8 p.m. ET in Allegheny County (home of House District 35) and at 8:13 p.m. ET in Lancaster County (home of Senate District 36). The election night tabulation ended in Lancaster County at 11:59 p.m. ET and in Allegheny at 12:08 a.m. ET, both with about 98% of total votes counted.

(Photo Taken by Frank Sparks)

(New Brighton, Pa.) Mayor Valerie McElvy confirmed to Beaver County Radio’s Frank Sparks during her monthly appearance on “Driving in the Fast Lane” that New Brighton will be getting a Dunkin’ Donuts in the borough. McElvey said it will be at the corner of 5th Avenue and  5th Street where the former Pizza Joe’s was located.  Mayor Val said it was touch and go for awhile but it is now official. Work has already started and Mayor Val threw in that there will be  a drive-thru as well.

You can see the Facebook video below of Mayor McElvy’s interview below:

 

 

(File Photo of Hacker on Computer)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) A new scam is getting the attention of officials in federal cybersecurity that was first seen in 2021. A ransomware called Medusa is a data-breaking site that can take data from your email if you are not careful to avoid certain notifications. The system uses a pop-up to tell you to pay information to try to take personal details like your social security number. According to federal authorities, several email websites including Outlook and Gmail can be hacked.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Hannah Carson reads from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes inside her Charlotte, N.C., apartment on Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. At 90-year-old, Carson reads her Bible daily, particularly her favorite verse detailing the different seasons of life. As soon as she received her absentee ballot in the mail six weeks ago, she filled it out and sent it back to her local election office. (AP Photo/Sarah Blake Morgan)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Two Republicans in Pennsylvania are trying to get the Ten Commandments shown in public schools. Senator Doug Mastriano began the Creation of Law in Our Schools Act last week. This will put the Ten Commandments, the United States and Pennsylvania constitutions, and the Declaration of Independence in public schools to bring back knowledge of history, highlight civic duties and keep the heritage perserved. State Representative Stephanie Borowicz wrote a memo on Tuesday for legislation to put the Ten Commandments on copies in public schools. Borowicz made a comment that each generation of people in America realize that the Ten Commandments are part of the basis of the country and its civilization as well as a part of eduation in America.

(File Photo of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Canonsburg, PA) According to a release from Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, the company filed a request to revise rates to upgrade and replace parts of their underground natural gas distribution pipelines. This will help customers by the company undergoing a modernization and expansion of their system that distributes natural gas. If the rates get approval, they will not be in effect until the middle to the end of December of 2025.

(Photo Provided with Release)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to a release from Allegheny Health Network, AHN’s Schools of Nursing are now accepting applications for full-time and part-time nursing students for their incoming classes. May 1st is the last day that applications will be accepted for full-time programs at Citizens School of Nursing in Tarentum and West Penn Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh. August 18th, 2025 is when these classes will start. Citizens School of Nursing’s part time program accepts applications through September 1st.

(File Photo of Duquesne Light Company)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Moon Township, PA) Flaugherty Run Road in Moon Township has reopened after a tree fell and took out several power lines on Thursday. The incident occurred in the area of the road and the closure happened between Becks Run Road and Foxwood Drive. According to a report from Duquesne Light, eight hundred people did not have power as of 4 p.m. on Thursday.

(File Photo: Caption for Photo: PennDOT, PSP, PTC, Construction Industry Highlight National Work Zone Awareness Week)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) PennDOT District 11 announced that next week weather permitting, the bridge that carries Route 65 over Eckert Street in Pittsburgh will undergo inspection activities. On Monday, March 24th through Thursday, March 27th, single lane restrictions will go in each direction on the bridge on Ohio River Boulevard all four days from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. These restrictions will not happen simultaneously and routine inspection activities will be performed by crews from the Larson Design Group.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving to fulfill a campaign promise, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday calling for the dismantling of the Education Department, an agency Republicans have talked about closing for decades.

The order says Education Secretary Linda McMahon will, “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”

Eliminating the department altogether would be a cumbersome task, which likely would require an act of Congress.

In the weeks since he took office, the Trump administration already has cut the department’s staff in half and overhauled much of the department’s work. Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has cut dozens of contracts it dismissed as “woke” and wasteful. It gutted the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation’s academic progress.

The agency’s main role is financial. Annually, it distributes billions in federal money to colleges and schools and manages the federal student loan portfolio. Closing the department would mean redistributing each of those duties to another agency. The Education Department also plays an important regulatory role in services for students, ranging from those with disabilities to low-income and homeless kids.

Indeed, federal education money is central to Trump’s plans for colleges and schools. Trump has vowed to cut off federal money for schools and colleges that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content” and to reward states and schools that end teacher tenure and support universal school choice programs.

Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets — roughly 14%. Colleges and universities are more reliant on it, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition.

Here is a look at some of the department’s key functions, and how Trump has said he might approach them.

Student loans and financial aid

The Education Department manages approximately $1.5 trillion in student loan debt for over 40 million borrowers. It also oversees the Pell Grant, which provides aid to students below a certain income threshold, and administers the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA ), which universities use to allocate financial aid.

President Joe Biden’s administration made cancellation of student loans a signature effort of the department’s work. Even though Biden’s initial attempt to cancel student loans was overturned by the Supreme Court, the administration forgave over $175 billion for more than 4.8 million borrowers through a range of changes to programs it administers, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

The loan forgiveness efforts have faced Republican pushback, including litigation from several GOP-led states.

Trump has criticized Biden’s efforts to cancel debt as illegal and unfair, calling it a “total catastrophe” that “taunted young people.” Trump’s plan for student debt is uncertain: He has not put out detailed plans.

Civil rights enforcement

Through its Office for Civil Rights, the Education Department conducts investigations and issues guidance on how civil rights laws should be applied, such as for LGBTQ+ students and students of color. The office also oversees a large data collection project that tracks disparities in resources, course access and discipline for students of different racial and socioeconomic groups.

Trump has suggested a different interpretation of the office’s civil rights role. Under his administration, the department has instructed the office to prioritize complaints of antisemitism above all else and has opened investigations into colleges and school sports leagues for allowing transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams.

In his campaign platform, Trump said he would pursue civil rights cases to “stop schools from discriminating on the basis of race.” He has described diversity and equity policies in education as “explicit unlawful discrimination.” His administration has launched investigations of dozens of colleges for alleged racial discrimination.

Trump also has pledged to exclude transgender students from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms. Originally passed in 1972, Title IX was first used as a women’s rights law. Last year, Biden’s administration said the law forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, but a federal judge undid those protections.

College accreditation

While the Education Department does not directly accredit colleges and universities, it oversees the system by reviewing all federally recognized accrediting agencies. Institutions of higher education must be accredited to gain access to federal money for student financial aid.

Accreditation came under scrutiny from conservatives in 2022, when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools questioned political interference at Florida public colleges and universities. Trump has said he would fire “radical left accreditors” and take applications for new accreditors that would uphold standards including “defending the American tradition” and removing “Marxist” diversity administrators.

Although the education secretary has the authority to terminate its relationship with individual accrediting agencies, it is an arduous process that has rarely been pursued. Under President Barack Obama, the department took steps to cancel accreditors for a now-defunct for-profit college chain, but the Trump administration blocked the move. The group, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, was terminated by the Biden administration in 2022.

Money for schools

Much of the Education Department’s money for K-12 schools goes through large federal programs, such as Title I for low-income schools and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Those programs support services for students with disabilities, lower class sizes with additional teaching positions, and pay for social workers and other non-teaching roles in schools.

During his campaign, Trump called for shifting those functions to the states. He has not offered details on how the agency’s core functions of sending federal money to local districts and schools would be handled.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a sweeping proposal outlining a far-right vision for the country, offered a blueprint. It suggested sending oversight of programs for kids with disabilities and low-income children first to the Department of Health and Human Services, before eventually phasing out the funding and converting it to no-strings-attached grants to states.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: A member of civil defense canine unit searches for Sudiksha Konanki, a university student from the U.S. who disappeared on a beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday, March. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Francesco Spotorno)

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Joshua Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud University in Minnesota who is believed to be the last person to see missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic, left the Caribbean country on Wednesday, his lawyers said.

Following a trial exceeding five hours, Judge Edwin Rijo ruled Wednesday that Riibe, classified as a witness in a disappearance case, should have full rights under Dominican law and unrestricted freedom of movement.

It was not immediately clear where Riibe traveled after leaving the Dominican Republic.

According to a statement from Guzmán Ariza, Abogados Consultores, the law firm representing the Riibe family, the La Altagracia prosecutor’s office offered to return Joshua’s passport. “While appreciating the offer, Joshua opted to obtain a new passport from the U.S. consulate for privacy reasons, which was expedited,” the law firm said.

Riibe had been detained by Dominican police, but on Tuesday judge Rijo ordered his release, saying he could cooperate with authorities without being detained. He was not named as a suspect.

According to the transcript of an interview with prosecutors, reported by Dominican media as well as NBC and Telemundo, Riibe told police he was drinking with Konanki on the beach and they were kissing in the ocean when they got caught in a current. Riibe said he was a former lifeguard and helped bring her ashore.

He told investigators he vomited upon reaching the beach and that Konanki said she was going to fetch her things. When he looked up, she was gone. He said he was later surprised to hear of her disappearance.

On Monday, Konanki’s parents asked Dominican authorities to declare their daughter legally dead.

Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki said in a letter that after an extensive search, local authorities believe that Sudiksha, 20, drowned.

“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence,” they wrote. “While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.”

Michael Chapman, sheriff of Loudoun County in Virginia, where the Konankis live, said in a statement Tuesday that officials have been working with Dominican authorities and continue to review evidence in the case.

“The disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki is tragic, and we cannot imagine the grief her family has been feeling,” he said. “Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned. While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible.”

Sudiksha Konanki and five female friends had traveled to the Caribbean nation on March 3 for spring break. Police said she disappeared at a beach by her hotel before dawn on March 6.

Konanki was born in India and later became a U.S. permanent resident.