Investing three billion dollars means different things to different people. To Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana), it means giving it back to Pennsylvania citizens versus new spending by Democrats. An amendment offered on a bill granting a tax credit to volunteer emergency medical technicians was approved on 11-5 party-line vote by the Senate Rules Committee that calls for lowering the 3.07% tax rate to 2.8% and eliminating the 140-year-old gross receipts tax on electricity. Not surprisingly, Democrats voted against it, noting they had only received the proposed ame ..read more

Two weeks prior to its Commencement, Dickinson College has rescinded its invitation to national radio and television host Michael Smerconish to speak at the ceremony. President John E. Jones sent a message to the Dickinson community on Saturday. “We hold humility, reflection, engagement and dialogue as the most important values to build understanding of complex issues. As the controversy related to our Commencement speaker, who I have known for many years, developed, I found myself defending concepts that are inconsistent with those values. “It has become clear that our selected spe ..read more

Let’s Get It Started. Make it a great week. PA Weather Marion Center | Mostly Cloudy, 73 Mount Carmel | Cloudy, 69 Coopersburg | Cloudy, 70 PA Sports Pirates (16-19) | Colorado 5-3 | Mon-Wed vs. LA Angels Phillies (24-11) | San Francisco 5-4 | Mon vs. San Francisco Union (3-5-2) | D.C. United 2-2 What We’re Listening To. The latest Voices of Reason podcast has dropped. Our topic is Election Integrity and our guests include Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, along with Jeff Greenburg, Jerry Feaser, Annie Mendoza and Guy Ciarrocchi.  What’s Happening Today. The House convenes ..read more

The latest edition of the PoliticsPA podcast, “Voices of Reason,” discusses elections, their integrity, and what can be done to fix trust in their conduct and results. Joining us are: Al Schmidt, Secretary of the Commonwealth Jeff Greenburg, Senior Election Advisor, Committee of Seventy Jerry Feaser, retired Dauphin County Elections Director Annie Mendoza, elections expert, The Elections Group Guy Ciarrocchi, senior fellow, The Commonwealth Foundation Steve Ulrich, former York County Elections Director; Managing Editor, PoliticsPA   And Paul Westcott, executive vice president at L ..read more

File this one under the category, “Every Vote Matters.” The race for the Republican nomination in the 117th Legislative District between incumbent Mike Cabell and challenger Jamie Walsh is still too close to call even 10 days after primary day. Walsh, a Ross Township gutter installation company owner, holds the slimmest of leads over Cabell, the first-term representative from Butler Township – four votes. The final count on Election Day had Walsh ahead by eight votes, 4,723 to 4,715, but his lead narrowed due to evaluating previously uncounted ballots. During the adjudication process, th ..read more

And Down The Stretch We Come. Thanks for reading and supporting PoliticsPA. PA Weather Lower Burrell | Increasing clouds, chance of showers, 86 Grantville | Partly Sunny, 75 Horsham | Partly Sunny, 67 PA Sports Sixers (2-4) | New York 115-118 Pirates (14-17) | Fri-Sun vs. Colorado Phillies (21-11) | Fri-Sun vs. San Francisco Union (3-4-2) | Sat vs. D.C. United What We’re Hearing. “I think it’s an albatross in the sense of, if he leans more into the climate side of the party he’s going to lose people in these industries … [but] if he leans the other way, he runs the risk of isolating th ..read more

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has pulled funding for the reelection campaign of Rep. Scott Perry (R-Cumberland/Dauphin/York) as well as 14 other Republican lawmakers over their vote against $14 billion in emergency military assistance to Israel. The powerful and divisive Israel-U.S. lobby group is fighting back against these GOP legislators who promote themselves and frequently sound off against those who criticize the Jewish state. According to FEC filings, AIPAC has already funneled $12,751 into Perry’s reelection campaign in the last four months, including a $5,000 d ..read more

Cellphones and K-12 students. If you have a child in that age range that has a phone, you probably think it is welded to them. The hold that these devices have on students today is well-documented, but teachers say that parents often do not realize the extent that their children use them inside the classroom. More than three-quarters of U.S. K-12 public schools prohibit non-academic cellphone use, according to a report from the 2021-22 school year. And two Pennsylvania legislators want to take charge and put laws in place to ban phones during classes. In January, Rep. Barb Gleim (R-Cumberland ..read more

As former NFL head coach Bill Parcells once said, “You are what your record says you are.” Preston Nouri agrees and wants to see Rep. Mike Kelly (R-16) stand by his record. The Erie Times-News reported that Kelly’s family-owned car dealership – the Mike Kelly Automotive Group – received a $314,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to install solar panels at a dealership in Uniontown – in the home district of Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-14). At issue? Kelly vehemently opposed the legislation. Nouri, the Democratic nominee for the seat held by Kelly, is urging the ..read more

Pennsylvania Revenue Secretary Pat Browne announced that the Commonwealth collected $5.7 billion in General Fund revenue in April. That figure is $373.3 million or 7.0 percent more than was originally anticipated for the month. This is the second consecutive month that the state has brought in much more than anticipated with its forecasts, as March saw an influx of $289.9 million beyond expectations. Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections totaled $38.5 billion for April, which is $739.3 million, or 2.0%, above estimate. This amount is within the range (2 percent) the Department of R ..read more