HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Democratic Pennsylvania state lawmaker announced Tuesday that he will run for treasurer in 2024, positioning himself as an ideological opposite to the Republican incumbent regarding abortion access and the 2020 election.

Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, 37, announced his party primary candidacy for the seat held by incumbent Stacy Garrity, a Republican, who has said she plans to run for a second term.

The Erie representative couched the campaign as a “battle to stop the spread of extremism here in Pennsylvania,” saying Garrity has used “Harrisburg as a platform, spreading lies and promoting extreme agendas.”

“I’m running for State Treasurer to protect taxpayer assets, protect pensions, and to protect you from Stacy Garrity,” Bizzarro said in his campaign announcement video.

He targeted Garrity’s anti-abortion stance in the wake of last year’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Democrats have tapped abortion access as a top issue for voters heading toward the polls. It was a focal point in the 2022 national elections but has also played a significant role in Pennsylvania state elections, where Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the House, which they have said gives them leverage to protect access.

Bizzarro also tied Garrity to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, noting that she and other GOP politicians in the state rallied in Harrisburg the previous day, protesting the 2020 election results.

“As State Treasurer, I’ll strengthen programs that protect seniors, help families save for college, provide low-interest loans for our farmers, non-profits, cities and towns,” Bizzarro said in a news release.

Garrity campaign adviser Dennis Roddy, a senior adviser at ColdSpark consulting firm, said that Garrity has been a guardian of taxpayer dollars in her first term and Bizzarro is talking about everything but what a treasurer actually does. He called Bizzarro “a so-called leader in the laziest, least accomplished state Legislature in recent memory.”

“All he is attempting to do is to nationalize an election that has nothing to do with the issues he’s raising,” Roddy said.

Bizzarro, an Erie County native, was first sworn in to the Legislature in 2013. Before his tenure in the Capitol, Bizzarro worked as a victim/witness coordinator and advocate for the Office of the Erie County District Attorney and the Crime Victim Center. He’s policy chairman for the House Democrats, a caucus leadership spot.

Garrity, a retired U.S. Army Reserves colonel who served as vice president of a tungsten smelting plant, ousted a Democratic incumbent when she was elected in 2020. She said her major goal was to use the Treasury Department’s leverage to push lawmakers and the governor to limit state government spending to money that has been formally appropriated by the Legislature.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Groups of teenagers swarmed into stores in several areas of Philadelphia, stuffing plastic bags with merchandise and fleeing, and police arrested 15 to 20 people, authorities said.

The flash mob-style ransacking Tuesday night at stores, including Foot Locker, Lululemon and Apple in Center City, followed an earlier peaceful protest over a judge’s decision to dismiss murder and other charges against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver, Eddie Irizarry, through a rolled-up window.

However, the ransacking was not connected to the protest, Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford said at a news conference.

“What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists take advantage of a situation and make an attempt to destroy our city,” he said.

The thefts and unrest stretched from Center City to Northeast and West Philadelphia.

Stanford said that people appeared to have organized efforts on social media. He said police are investigating “that there was possibly a caravan of a number of different vehicles that were going from location to location” and that a couple of people in that group were in custody.

Police said there was an increased presence of juveniles in the Center City business corridor shortly before 8 p.m. and that some officers stopped a group of males “dressed in black attire and wearing masks,” according to a police department news release.

At that time, reports and 911 calls were coming in about the Foot Locker store. When police arrived, they found it had been “ransacked in a coordinated attack,” the news release said. The juveniles fled and at least one adult as arrested.

By 8:12 p.m., police responded to similar calls at Lululemon, where multiple people were arrested. Shortly after that, calls directed police to the Apple Store. No arrests were made there, but the store lost phones and tablets, although many of those items have since been recovered, the news release said.

Video posted on social media showed masked people in hoodies running out of Lululemon with merchandise and police officers grabbing several and tackling them to the sidewalk.

No injuries were immediately reported, but CBS Philadelphia said a security guard was assaulted at the Foot Locker.

The thefts also occurred on the same day that Target announced it will close nine stores in four states, including one in New York City’s East Harlem neighborhood, and three in the San Francisco Bay Area, saying that theft and organized retail crime have threatened the safety of its workers and customers.

(Sandy Giordano/Beaver County Radio)

Beaver County Radio news correspondent Sandy Giordano reports that the Hopewell School Board approved for Dr. Robert Kartychak to assume the duties of acting high school principal, following the retirement of current principal Michael Allison. Dr. Kartychak will receive an additional $750 weekly stipend as a result of the new position.

The board also hired Deborah Engelman to be the new District Business Manager at a rate of $110,000 per year, along with the hiring of five new paraprofessionals. Also approved was the increase for hourly pay for lifeguards employed by the school, from a rate of 8.25 an hour up to a flat ten dollars per hour.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio News Director with contributions by BCR News Correspondent Sandy Giordano. Published September 27, 2023 12:55 A.M.
Photo of Medivac Helicopter at New Brighton High School courtesy of Justin Stone.

(New Brighton, Pa) Reports indicate a Medivac helicopter transported at least one person from a landing zone of New Brighton High School late Tuesday night. Initial reports say that multiple people were allegedly stabbed at or around E.B. McNitt Apartments in New Brighton. We have heard one person may be in custody. We are currently gathering more information in this developing story.
The New Brighton Police Chief informed Beaver County Radio Wednesday that all information regarding the incident is being reviewed before they make a statement.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio News Director. Published September 27, 2023 12:47 A.M. 
Photo of demolition courtesy of Kevin Taylor

(Pulaski Township, Pa) Demolition began Tuesday afternoon at the former Marion Hill Car Wash building on Sunflower Road in New Brighton. Pulaski Township Supervisors Minutes over the past few months indicate that a Dollar General will be built on the property. Dollar General currently operates two locations in the New Brighton Area, downtown and on Route 68. Check back for more details as we gather more information.

FILE – An Amazon company logo marks the facade of a building in Schoenefeld near Berlin, March 18, 2022. The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorney generals filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, alleging the e-commerce behemoth uses its position in the marketplace to inflate prices on other platforms, overcharge sellers and stifle competition. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorney generals filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon on Tuesday, alleging the e-commerce behemoth uses its position in the marketplace to inflate prices on other platforms, overcharge sellers and stifle competition. The complaint is the result of a years-long investigation into Amazon’s businesses and one of the most significant legal challenges brought against the company in its nearly 30-year history. The agency and states that joined the lawsuit are asking the court to issue a permanent injunction court that they say would prohibit Amazon from engaging in its unlawful conduct and pry loose its “monopolistic control to restore competition.”

FILE – Striking writers take part in a rally in front of Paramount Pictures studio, Tuesday, May 2, 2023, in Los Angeles. A tentative deal was reached, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, to end Hollywood’s writers strike after nearly five months. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Striking actors have voted to expand their walkout to include the lucrative video game market, a step that could put new pressure on Hollywood studios to make a deal with the performers who provide voices and stunts for games. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists announced the move late Monday, saying that 98% of its members voted to go on strike against video game companies if ongoing negotiations are not successful. The announcement came ahead of more talks planned for Tuesday. Acting work in video games can include voice, motion capture and stunts.

FILE – This March 28, 2017, photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein. JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $75 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to settle claims that the bank enabled the sex trafficking acts of financier Jeffrey Epstein. JPMorgan said Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023 that $55 million of the settlement will go toward local charities and assistance for victims. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $75 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to settle claims that the bank enabled the sex trafficking acts committed by financier Jeffrey Epstein. JPMorgan said Tuesday that $55 million of the settlement will go toward local charities and assistance for victims. Another $20 million will go toward legal fees. The Virgin Islands, where Epstein had an estate, sued JPMorgan last year, arguing that JPMorgan had been complicit in Epstein’s behavior and did not raise any red flags to law enforcement or bank regulators.

FILE – President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden leaves after a court appearance, July 26, 2023, in Wilmington, Del. House Republicans plan to hold their first hearing next week in their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over his family’s business dealings. The Sept. 28 hearing is expected to focus on “constitutional and legal questions” that surround allegations of Biden’s involvement in his son Hunter’s overseas businesses. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A political adviser to Rudy Giuliani is slamming Hunter Biden’s lawsuit against the former mayor. Hunter Biden sued Giuliani and another attorney on Tuesday, claiming the two wrongly accessed and shared his personal data after obtaining it from the owner of a computer repair shop. Giuliani adviser Ted Goodman says it was false to claim Giuliani manipulated the laptop hard drive, but that he was “not surprised … considering the sordid material and potential evidence of crimes on that thing.” The lawsuit is the latest in a new strategy by Hunter Biden to strike back against Republican allies of Donald Trump who have traded and passed around his private data including purported emails and embarrassing images in their effort to discredit President Joe Biden.

FILE – President Donald Trump claps as he walks to the podium to speak at Ford’s Rawsonville Components Plant that has been converted to making personal protection and medical equipment, Thursday, May 21, 2020, in Ypsilanti, Mich. Former President Donald Trump will skip the second GOP presidential debate next week to travel to Detroit as the auto worker strike enters its second week. Trump is planning to speak with union members and will look to blunt criticisms from a United Auto Workers union leadership that has said a second Trump term would be a “disaster.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — When former President Donald Trump visits Detroit on Wednesday, he’ll be looking to blunt criticisms from a United Auto Workers union leadership that has said a second term for him would be a “disaster” for workers. Union leaders say Trump’s record in the White House speaks for itself. Union leadership cites unfavorable rulings from the nation’s top labor board and the U.S. Supreme Court under Trump and unfulfilled promises of automotive jobs. Trump will skip the second Republican presidential debate that day to travel to Detroit and visit striking autoworkers. Trump is running a radio ad in Michigan and Ohio praising autoworkers and claiming he’s “always had their back.”