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Philadelphia officials demand more action to reduce gun violence
Sen. Sharif Street choked up discussing his cousin-in-law’s murder. April, Street’s wife, left the news conference at one point, sat beside a nearby statue, and cried.
Wolf vetoes Republican voting bill; GOP pivots to constitutional referendums
Such measures are approved by the Legislature before they go before voters in a referendum. Governors have no say on their ratification.
‘We don’t just stop at Juneteenth’: Civil rights leader, lawmakers call for more action on social justice reform
“It is important that we don’t just stop on Juneteenth. It’s important that we look at all of the systemic issues and racism in legislation and policy and how that has impacted our community,” said Rep. Donna Bullock, D-Philadelphia, the chairperson of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.
‘I’m not tired of standing up. Are you?’ As deadline looms, progressives push their budget agenda | Thursday Morning Coffee
With less than a week to go before the end of the fiscal year, progressives press the case to spend a $10 billion windfall on those who need it most.
Philly Sen. Hughes says he’s ‘deathly afraid’ GOP will squander $10B in surplus, federal stimulus
Hughes said the state’s revenue surplus combined with the federal pandemic funding was the largest influx of capital into the economy since President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
‘These folks are not Hannibal Lecter’: Push to reform Pa. second-degree murder statute continues
“We finally have to invest in our communities to do everything possible to interrupt a vicious cycle,” House Minority Leader JoannaMcClinton said.
To spend or not to spend, Harrisburg asks this budget season
The question of how to spend $7.3 billion in federal stimulus funds has quickly -- and predictably -- cleaved along party lines.
McClinton calls for safeguards against prison gerrymandering in Pa. legislative maps
(*This story was updated at 9:10 p.m. on Wednesday 5/26/21 to include comment from House Republicans, and to reflect that G. Reynolds Clark no longer works at the University of Pittsburgh and that Robert Byer did not donate to President Donald Trump.) Potentially upsetting decades of precedent that has aided rural, white Pennsylvanians at the […]
Faced with limited Republican backing, statute of limitations reform on thin ice in House
The Republican division could sink the emergency amendment, which requires a two-thirds majority, or 136 votes in the House and 34 in the Senate, to pass.
‘We are all in the crossfire’: With gun violence on the rise during the pandemic, one Philadelphia mom is fighting back | Thursday Morning Coffee
“There’s a frustrating sense of normality about murders in our country … the reality is that we are all in the crossfire," an activist said. "The only way to reduce gun violence is to work together."
Wolf, legislative leaders tap the well-connected for big salaries as oversight board members
Such appointments certainly aren’t new. But reformers were quick to call the trend, at best, discouraging to citizens, and at worst, feeding widespread and record low distrust in all levels of government.
Pa. Democrats call for investigation of GOP statehouse colleagues’ role in Capitol siege
House Minority Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, said the full scope of Republican involvement won’t be known without a formal investigation.