MARC LEVY

Philadelphia’s voting machines challenged in federal court
A federal court is being asked to force Pennsylvania decertify a voting machine newly purchased by Philadelphia and at least two other counties in the state.
 
Senate sends fight over Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to House
Legislation to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage for the first time since 2009 passed the Senate against a deadline to stall Gov. Tom Wolf’s move to expand overtime pay eligibility.
 
Talks on Pennsylvania’s minimum wage heat up before deadline
Discussions toward raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage for the first time since 2009 are heating up, in part to get Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to abandon an effort to extend overtime pay eligibility to thousands of workers.
 
AP Exclusive: FBI eyes how Pennsylvania approved pipeline
The FBI is investigating how Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration came to issue permits for construction on a multibillion-dollar pipeline to carry natural gas liquids across Pennsylvania, The Associated Press has learned.
 
Toomey presses for a bulwark against a future fracking ban
Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is seeking passage of a measure that’s squarely aimed at several Democratic presidential candidates and designed to prevent a president from banning hydraulic fracturing.
 
Democrats sweep through suburban Philadelphia counties
Democrats have completed an electoral sweep of Philadelphia’s four suburban counties, long a bastion of Republican control and a crucial bellwether for statewide candidates.
 
Election reform bill speeds toward approval in Pennsylvania
Legislation speeding toward approval in Pennsylvania would deliver the biggest changes to state election laws in decades while approving much of the money it’ll cost counties to buy new voting machines ahead of next year’s presidential election.
 
Bill could usher Pennsylvania elections into a new era
Fast-tracked legislation negotiated behind closed doors could usher in some advancement to Pennsylvania election laws that critics say are hugely outdated.
 
Voting reform package emerges in Pennsylvania Capitol
Legislation heading to a vote in Pennsylvania would overhaul some aspects of how voters cast ballots while delivering much of the money counties need to buy voting machines ahead of next year’s presidential election.
 
Pennsylvania governor’s OT expansion rule heads to a vote
Gov. Tom Wolf is scaling back a proposal to extend overtime pay eligibility to thousands of workers in Pennsylvania, and is putting it on a path to a vote next month.
 
Pennsylvania expanding tax to more out-of-state corporations
Pennsylvania will start collecting corporate income taxes from companies that don’t have offices, employees or property in the state, making it one of the last states to target such companies.
 
Pennsylvania to move forward on power plant emission caps
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration says it’ll start working to bring Pennsylvania into a regional consortium that sets a price and caps on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
 
Lawmakers return to governor’s fall ‘conversation openers’
Gov. Tom Wolf busied himself in the quiet Capitol over the summer with plans: paying for new voting machines, writing new charter school regulations, creating gun violence prevention programs and more.
 
Three Mile Island nuclear power plant’s shutdown is imminent
The shutdown of Three Mile Island, site of the United States’ worst commercial nuclear power accident, is imminent.
 
Pennsylvania lawmaker facing child porn possession charges
A Pennsylvania state lawmaker is facing child pornography possession charges after authorities say a social media website told them the user had uploaded an image using their service. The state attorney general’s office said Sen.
 
Fighting gun trafficking gets ensnared in political fight
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro wanted lawmakers to expand the office’s authority to pursue gun trafficking crimes across the state, but it got put aside for the summer amid objections, apparently revolving around law-enforcement turf and gun politics.
 
Cash welfare program ends, court rejects injunction request
A state program that provided $205 a month in cash payments to poor or disabled Pennsylvanians has ended.
 
At town hall, Perry jousts over Trump, immigration and guns
Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania cast himself as a policy-first worker in Congress in a town hall meeting as he downplayed concerns about Russian meddling in elections and turned away suggestions about gun control after another mass shooting.
 
Court rules that Pittsburgh’s paid sick leave law can stand
Pennsylvania’s highest court is overturning lower court decisions and ruling that Pittsburgh has the authority to require paid sick leave for workers. Wednesday’s ruling by the state Supreme Court lets the city’s 2015 ordinance stand.
 
Voting machines bill vetoed in fight over election changes
Pennsylvania’s governor is vetoing legislation that carried $90 million to help counties buy new voting machines before 2020’s elections, but ordered changes to election laws that the Democrat says don’t improve voting security. Gov.
 
Wolf wants power plant emission plan to fight climate change
Gov. Tom Wolf is asking Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature to take steps toward authorizing the state to join a regional consortium that sets a price and caps on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
 
Pennsylvania has a surplus, and lots of budget patches, too
In Pennsylvania, good fiscal times may not necessarily mean good fiscal condition. The rage in the state Capitol right now is the surplus that state government rolled up in the almost-ended fiscal year.
 
GOP pushes back on cash governor seeks for voting machines
Republican lawmakers aren’t committing to the money sought by Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to back up his demand that counties replace their voting machines by 2020.
 
Strong cash flow smooths budget work, but not Wolf’s agenda
With strong tax collections oiling the gears, Gov. Tom Wolf and top lawmakers are working under the hood of a new spending plan as they head into the final weeks before lawmakers break for summer.
 
VP Pence touts trade pact benefits in Pennsylvania stop
Vice President Mike Pence has dropped in on the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he toured a robotics maker and urged Congress to pass a new trade pact with Canada and Mexico.
 
Pennsylvania accuses financial firms of bond price-fixing
Pennsylvania’s treasury department is accusing about a dozen large financial firms of inflating the price of bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over seven years.
 
Protesters chant ‘stop taking bribes’ in Pennsylvania House
Demonstrators chanted “stop taking bribes” and threw dollar bills from a balcony in Pennsylvania’s House chamber as part of a protest over state law that doesn’t set a limit on gifts to lawmakers.
 
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate, payrolls set new records
Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry says the state’s unemployment rate dropped in March to the lowest rate on record, as payrolls hit a new record high and the number of people unemployed shrank to its lowest level since 2000.
 
Sanders pitches a tougher line than Trump on GM closures
Sen. Bernie Sanders is challenging President Donald Trump to deny federal contracts to General Motors until the company reopens shuttered plants.
 
Fight over sexual abuse victims’ lawsuits returns to Senate
Pennsylvania’s battle over giving now-adult victims of child sexual abuse another chance to sue perpetrators or institutions that may have covered it up is returning to the Senate.
 
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