FILE – Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., speaks during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race between three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick will help determine control of the chamber Tuesday in a battleground state contest that is one of the nation’s most expensive this year.
Casey, perhaps Pennsylvania’s best-known politician and the son of a former two-term governor, is seeking a fourth term after facing what he has called his toughest reelection challenge yet. Casey, 64, is a stalwart of the state’s Democratic Party, having won six statewide elections going back to 1996, including serving as the state’s auditor general and treasurer.
McCormick, 59, is making his second run for the Senate after losing narrowly to Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022’s Republican primary. He left his job as CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund to run after serving at the highest levels of former President George W. Bush’s administration and sitting on Trump’s Defense Advisory Board.
The race ran on national themes, from abortion rights to inflation. But it also turned on local ones, too, such as Casey’s accusation that McCormick is a rich carpetbagger from Connecticut’s ritzy ” Gold Coast ” — a caricature McCormick helped bring to life by mispronouncing the name of one of Pennsylvania’s local beers — trying to buy Pennsylvania’s Senate seat.
Casey also attacked McCormick’s hedge fund days, accusing him of getting rich at America’s expense by investing in Chinese companies that make fentanyl and built Beijing’s military.
McCormick, in turn, stressed his seventh-generation roots in Pennsylvania, talked up his high school days wrestling in towns across northern Pennsylvania — a sport that took him to the U.S. military academy at West Point — and his time running online auction house FreeMarkets Inc., which had its name on a skyscraper in Pittsburgh during the tech boom.
Casey, a staunch ally of labor unions and President Joe Biden, has campaigned on preserving the middle class, abortion rights, labor rights and voting rights, calling McCormick and former President Donald Trump a threat to all those.
McCormick, in turn, accused Casey of rubber-stamping Biden administration policies on the border, the economy, energy and national security that he blames for inflation, domestic turmoil and war. He has attacked Casey as a weak, out-of-touch career politician and a sure bet to fall in line with Vice President Kamala Harris if she becomes president.
Democrats currently hold a Senate majority by the narrowest of margins.
Both Casey and McCormick were uncontested for their party’s nominations in the primary election.
Also on the Nov. 5 Senate ballot are John Thomas of the Libertarian Party, Leila Hazou of the Green Party and Marty Selker of the Constitution Party.
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Follow Marc Levy at https://x.com/timelywriter.

FILE – Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. The intrigue surrounding Musk’s Twitter investment took a new twist Tuesday, April 12, 2022, with the filing of a lawsuit alleging the colorful billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his big stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices. (Patrick Pleul/Pool Photo via AP, File)
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes that Elon Musk ‘s political action committee is hosting in swing states can continue through Tuesday’s presidential election, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday.
Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta — ruling after Musk’s lawyers said the winners are paid spokespeople and not chosen by chance — did not immediately explain his reasoning.
District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, had called the process a scam “designed to actually influence a national election” and asked that it be shut down.
Musk lawyer Chris Gober said the final two recipients before Tuesday’s presidential election will be in Arizona on Monday and Michigan on Tuesday.
“The $1 million recipients are not chosen by chance,” Gober said Monday. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1 million recipient today and tomorrow.”
Chris Young, the director and treasurer of America PAC, testified that the recipients are vetted ahead of time, to “feel out their personality, (and) make sure they were someone whose values aligned” with the group.
Musk’s lawyers, defending the effort, called it “core political speech” given that participants sign a petition endorsing the U.S. Constitution. They also said Krasner’s bid to shut it down under Pennsylvania law was moot because there would be no more Pennsylvania winners before the program ends Tuesday.
Krasner believes the giveaways violates state election law and contradict what Musk promised when he announced them during an appearance with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ‘s campaign in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 19: “We’re going to be awarding a million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election,” Musk vowed.
Young also acknowledged that the PAC made the recipients sign nondisclosure agreements.
“They couldn’t really reveal the truth about how they got the money, right?” Krasner lawyer John Summers asked.
“Sounds right,” Young said.
In an Oct. 20 social media post shown in court, Musk said anyone signing the petition had “a daily chance of winning $1M!”
Summers grilled him on Musk’s use of both the words “chance” and “randomly,” prompting Young to concede the latter was not “the word I would have selected.”
Young said the winners knew they would be called on stage but not specifically that they would win the money.
Musk did not attend the hearing. He has committed more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.
“This was all a political marketing masquerading as a lottery,” Krasner testified Monday. “That’s what it is. A grift.”
Lawyers for Musk and the PAC said they do not plan to extend the lottery beyond Tuesday. Krasner said the first three winners, starting on Oct. 19, came from Pennsylvania in the days leading up to the state’s Oct. 21 voter registration deadline.
Other winners came from the battleground states of Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan. It’s not clear if anyone has yet received the money. The PAC pledged they would get it by Nov. 30, according to an exhibit shown in court.
More than 1 million people from the seven states have registered for the sweepstakes by signing a petition saying they support the right to free speech and to bear arms, the first two amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Krasner questioned how the PAC might use their data, which it will have on hand well past the election.
“They were scammed for their information,” Krasner said. “It has almost unlimited use.”
Krasner’s team called Musk “the heartbeat of America PAC,” and the person announcing the winners and presenting the checks.
“He was the one who presented the checks, albeit large cardboard checks. We don’t really know if there are any real checks,” Summers said.
Foglietta presided over the case at Philadelphia City Hall after Musk and the PAC lost an effort to move it to federal court.
Krasner has said he could still consider criminal charges, as he’s tasked with protecting both lotteries and the integrity of elections.
Pennsylvania remains a key battleground state with 19 electoral votes and both Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris have repeatedly visited the state, including stops planned Monday in the final hours of the campaign.
Krasner — who noted that he has long driven a Tesla — said he could also seek civil damages for the Pennsylvania registrants. Musk is the CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla. He also owns the social media platform X, where America PAC has published posts on the sweepstakes, and the rocket ship maker SpaceX.

FILE – Allegheny County Election Division Deputy Manager Chet Harhut carries a container of mail-in ballots from a secure area at the elections warehouse in Pittsburgh, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

By MARC LEVY and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — More than 4,000 mail ballot applications have been challenged across 14 Pennsylvania counties, leaving election officials to decide voter eligibility during hearings that will extend well past Election Day.
State elections officials say the “mass challenges” focused on two separate groups — people who may have forwarded their mail without also changing their voter registration and nonmilitary U.S. voters living overseas. The overseas voters are only entitled to cast ballots under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act for president and congressional seats.
The state had a 5 p.m. Friday deadline to for anyone to challenge mail-in ballot applications; any ballots from those voters whose applications were challenged must be sequestered until the county elections board officials hold a hearing to adjudicate the claims. Those hearings must be no later than Friday, three days after Election Day.
Pennsylvania is a critical swing state that could be a deciding factor in the contest between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump, a very close race on the eve of Election Day. If the margin is tight, the 4,300 mail ballots at issue could be enough to determine who wins the state and its 19 electoral votes.
The effort follows a federal judge’s ruling last week to throw out a lawsuit by six Republican members of Congress seeking to make Pennsylvania election officials institute new checks confirming military and overseas voters’ eligibility and identity.
The first county elections board hearing, conducted Friday in suburban Philadelphia’s Chester County, resulted in rejection of all of the challenges made to mail ballot applications, claims that people have moved and should have changed where they vote.
“The scary part was that they had sent this letter with a voter registration cancelation form and claimed they got 2,300 voters to cancel voter registration” in Pennsylvania, Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell, a Democrat, said Monday.
The challenges cost $10 a voter and it’s not entirely clear who filed each of them. In Chester County, they were filed by Diane Houser, a Trump supporter who said they were nonpartisan and from a grassroots network.
Lycoming County will conduct a hearing Friday on the 72 challenges it received from Karen DiSalvo, a lawyer with PA Fair Elections, a conservative group that has fueled right-wing attacks on voting procedures. DiSalvo said she made the challenges in her capacity as an individual and not as a member of any organization.
“The challenges submitted simply point out that the county election officials must properly process the voter registration applications that they already have for these applicants. The voters do not need to do anything –- all have received their ballot. To resolve the eligibility issues noted in the challenges, county officials should properly register the applicants,” DiSalvo wrote in an email.
In York County, all the challenges — 354 — were denied Monday by the elections board, but chief clerk Greg Monskie said the board agreed to keep those ballots segregated during a period in which an appeal can be made.
The Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections, said that by Saturday there were some 3,700 challenges to mail ballot applications by overseas voters pending in 10 counties. There were also challenges pending in four counties to 363 voters based on supposed changes of address — plus the 212 that were rejected or withdrawn in Chester County in that category.
Maxwell said people who had been challenged included active-duty military members, college students and people who left Pennsylvania seeking medical care.
“That is alarming to me that someone take up such an approach to disenfranchise legitimate Pennsylvania voters,” Maxwell said. “And I can’t think of anything less American than that.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania says filling out a change-of-address form does not necessarily mean a voter has moved out of the state permanently — those forms can also be used to get mail forwarded.
There are also 52 challenges being reviewed in Lawrence County, said Tim Germani, director of voter and elections services in Lawrence, and it appears most if not all relate to overseas mail ballot requests. The elections board may need to conduct a hearing by Friday, he said.
In suburban Philadelphia’s Bucks County, where about 1,300 challenges were filed — most of them by Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman — officials were trying to notify voters Monday about a hearing scheduled for early Thursday. Until then, those votes will be segregated during the vote counting, said Bucks governmental spokesman Jim O’Malley.
“We are doing our best to provide notice today to those voters and that notice will include information about how to contact the Board of Elections,” O’Malley said in a phone interview Monday.
A message seeking comment was left for Coleman.
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This story has been corrected to show that the comments in the 13th and 14th paragraphs should have been attributed to Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell, not Commissioner Eric Roe.

PITTSBURGH – (Nov. 4, 2024) – McDonald’s restaurants in Pittsburgh are honored to serve veterans, active-duty military members and their families each and every day. This year, McDonald’s restaurants across the region will be recognizing Veterans Day in a special way, by offering current and former military members free food.

Participating McDonald’s restaurants will offer a meal to all veterans, with a valid military ID, all day on Monday, November 11. For breakfast, veterans can enjoy a free Sausage Egg McMuffin meal, including a hash brown and any size soft drink, tea or coffee. For lunch or dinner, veterans can enjoy a free 10 pc McNugget Meal, with medium fry and any size soft drink, tea or coffee.

Throughout the Pittsburgh region, McDonald’s restaurants are proud to show up for the community in ways both big and small. From providing meals in honor of veterans, teachers and first responders to supporting youth sports leagues and neighborhood jobs, local McDonald’s owner/operators are committed to feeding and fostering communities.

The deals are only available via dine-in or drive-thru. The deals are not available in the McDonald’s app. Breakfast meals are only available until 10:30am.

 

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published November 5, 2024 8:21 A.M.

(Darlington Township, Pa) 17th Congressional District Congressman Chris Deluzio spent time welcoming voters in Darlington Township as the polls opened Tuesday morning. Beaver County Radio had the opportunity to speak with the Congressman.

When asked about what was at stake for voters in Beaver County, Deluzio said “Our dignity and our freedom”, adding that he has been standiung up for our freedom, and “to be free of the government messing with your rights”.

Regarding the East Palestine Train Derailment, Deluzio has been fighting for the Bipartisan Railway Safety Act legistation to be passed. He says getting the legistation passed is among his top priorities.

The congressman also supports an all hands on deck plan to make communities safer, including gun safety legislation.

Deluzio says “I hope I’ve earned votes for two more years, its been an honor to represent us”, “This is the best district in America”.

You can listen to the full interview here:

(Pittsburgh, PA) After getting an $87 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a generator manufacturer based in California will be planning to build a generator plant located near the Pittsburgh International Airport. Mainspring Energy will team up with construction firm Al. Neyer to make a total of about nine hundred jobs, some involving construction and the rest for permanent operations at the nearby Northfield Industrial Park. Mainspring Energy is looking to make one thousand generators a year in the facility, as well as to use those generators to give power to supermarkets, data centers, and hospitals across the nation. The funding was announced by U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, John Fetterman, and U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-17, coming from the Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Grants Program, through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to go further in the advancement of the project. According to the company, the facility and its groundbreaking will occur at some point next year. 

(Unity Township, PA) If you are looking for a job this winter, PennDOT is offering job opportunities to operate snowplows temporarily as well as other winter service positions. As the snow gets ready to fall this winter, some of the requirements that PennDOT requires for plow operators is being able to drive a vehicle with a stick shift, being able to endure the bad conditions in a massive vehicle, as well as possessing a commercial driver’s license. There is also a two-week training program that all plow operators need to finish before starting the job. PennDOT District Executive of Engineering Rachel D. Duda encourages the public to stay away from snowplows for your safety. Three-hundred and thirty-six plow operators across the commonwealth are currently employed with PennDOT. 

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

Ahead of tomorrow’s presidential election, a nonprofit is raising concerns that Project 2025 and its proposed rollback of federal aid could disrupt economic growth in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. Pennsylvania is set to receive more than 15-billion dollars in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for over 450 projects. David Kieve of the Environmental Defense Fund Action says the Inflation Reduction Act has made Pennsylvania cleaner and greener, and is boosting the Lehigh Valley economy.

Source for Photo: FILE – Twenty dollar bills are counted on June 15, 2018, in North Andover, Mass. The number of Americans who do not have a bank account fell to a record low last year, as the proliferation of online-only banks and an improving economy is bringing more Americans into the traditional financial system, according to a report Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

PITTSBURGH According to a release from Nick Paradise, External Communications Manager for People’s Natural Gas, The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), opens for the 2024-25 heating season on Monday, November 4. 

Grants to provide money for heating costs to households that are both low-income and eligible are being received through LIHEAP, an assistance program that is federally funded. To qualify for a LIHEAP grant, customers must have a total gross household income at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Grants start at $200 and may be higher based on income and number of people living in the home. 

(South Beaver Township, PA) On Thursday, eight facilities were sold after approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, one of which was the Beaver Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center. GBK Eight, LLC received all of these facilities that specialize in healthcare that Guardian Healthcare, a company that not only holds services for rehabilitation but also nursing skills. According to a news release from Guardian Healthcare, all eight facilities will still help their patients and stay open.