Ups and Downs
Our look at the week just passed in the Commonwealth with up and down arrows.
November 30, 2023
2 Comments
Our look at the week just passed in the Commonwealth with up and down arrows.
It’s been a while since we have revisited our feature, highlighting the “ups” and the “downs” of political actors and activity around the Commonwealth. We’ve
August is now behind us and we enter the final third of 2023. The real fun still awaits in Harrisburg and Washington so as the
Ah, August. The time for lawmakers to enjoy some well-deserved time off. The state budget has been finalized, kind of. Nominees are being selected for
Goodbye to July. As we get ready to enter the eighth month of 2023 next week, let’s take a look back at last week’s Ups
The state budget. The Senate has approved it. The House has approved it. The Senate is mad at Gov. Josh Shapiro and has no plans to return to session to sign the bill. The fun continues at the state capitol.
What a week … and it’s not over yet. From the Supreme Court to the halls of Harrisburg, here are our Ups and Downs for June 26-30.
It’s party time in Hershey … as well as Philadelphia. For completely different reasons. The Bears are bringing the Calder Cup back to the region
It’s Pennsylvania Society weekend, so we wanted to give the movers and shakers from around the Commonwealth a chance to see how they fared during the week past.
Safe travels to all … and may you accomplish all you set out to do in the Big Apple this weekend.
Scott Perry. The 10th Congressional District Republican had new text messages disclosed that were contained in a court filing that appears to have been erroneously made public on Wednesday. The newly disclosed documents revealed an extraordinary web of communications between Perry, who is now the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, and key figures in Trump’s orbit.
City of Aliquippa. Federal officials are investigating a cyberattack on the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa. Hackers targeted a small substation and disabled a device that is used to automatically control water levels at the authority’s tanks. The hackers left a message identifying themselves as part of Cyber Avengers, a group linked to Iran.
Pennsylvania. Governor Josh Shapiro announced that Fitch Ratings has upgraded Pennsylvania’s credit rating to ‘AA’ from ‘AA-,’ building on positive credit rating outlooks from Moody’s and S&P’s Global Ratings in September. Fitch also has assigned a ‘AA’ rating to the following Commonwealth of Pennsylvania general obligation (GO) bonds.
PA Department of State. The Department of State announced on Wednesday that it is refining its mail ballot materials in time for the 2024 primary election. The redesigned envelopes and instruction sheets have revised language to better inform voters how to properly fill out and return their mail-in ballots, with the goal of decreasing voter confusion that can lead to completed ballots being rejected and assisting county election workers in efficiently processing mail-in ballots.
PA Lawmakers. The base salary of Pennsylvania’s 253 state legislators is the third highest in the nation behind New York and California, but when benefits are added, it likely pushes them into second place. Legislators are eligible for lifetime medical benefits and retirement benefits unlike their counterparts in California but still trail New York where lawmakers there have a similar benefits package to Pennsylvania’s.
Rep. Patrick Harkins. The Erie Democrat has gotten $154,686.97 in taxpayer-funded mileage reimbursements since 2018, including $30,530.64 in 2019. Fellow Democrats Ryan Bizzarro and Bob Merski also represent Erie. In 2021, Merski’s mileage reimbursement was $6,731.16. Bizzaro’s reimbursements were $4,322.64 and Harkins had $23,224.66 in reimbursements.
Dave Sunday. The York County District Attorney picked up a second endorsement from a U.S. Congressman in his quest for the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania Attorney General, as Rep. Dan Meuser (R-09) offered his backing. “Dave is a veteran prosecutor and someone Pennsylvanians can trust to protect all its residents, particularly our most vulnerable.” Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-11) endorsed Sunday a day earlier.
Kat Copeland. The former Philadelphia-based federal prosecutor was endorsed for Pennsylvania Attorney General by Pennsylvania’s longest-tenured district attorney – Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin – on Monday. “I know her qualifications, and she stands above and beyond, in my opinion, of the other candidates in the field.”
Harrisburg. According to a recent U.S. News and World Report ranking, the state of Pennsylvania dominates the list of best places to retire in the U.S. Seven out of the top 10 places were in the Keystone State, including No. 1 – Pennsylvania’s Capital City. Reading, Lancaster, Scranton and Allentown rounded out the top five.
Newville, PA. How to close a projected $783,000 projected operating deficit for 2024. That’s the question facing the Cumberland County borough. To complete the balancing of the 2024 budget, Newville’s council will also be asked to choose between a significant increase in the borough’s property tax rate, or making some level of cuts in staff to the small, three-person police department.
Charles M. Dertinger. The Northampton County Director of Administration resigned last Friday, a victim of the Election Day problems that plagued the county. The director of administration oversees the county’s elections division. Election Day on Nov. 7 got off to a rocky start when poll workers discovered a problem with voting machines. Errors with the machines’ printout summaries led officials to stop using the machines temporarily and rely on emergency paper ballots.
Pennsylvania Society. In 1899, Barr Ferree, owner of a Manhattan publishing company, founded “The Pennsylvania Society of New York” and invited 55 fellow Pennsylvanians also living in Manhattan to join him for dinner at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Barr wrote then that their goal was to establish a society “uniting all Pennsylvanians at home and away from home in bonds of friendship and devotion to their native or adopted state.” Eventually shortening their name to The Pennsylvania Society, they would meet for dinner every year, same time, same place. The tradition continues this weekend for the 125th year.
It’s Pennsylvania Society weekend, so we wanted to give the movers and shakers from around the Commonwealth a chance to see how they fared during the week past.
Safe travels to all … and may you accomplish all you set out to do in the Big Apple this weekend.
Scott Perry. The 10th Congressional District Republican had new text messages disclosed that were contained in a court filing that appears to have been erroneously made public on Wednesday. The newly disclosed documents revealed an extraordinary web of communications between Perry, who is now the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, and key figures in Trump’s orbit.
City of Aliquippa. Federal officials are investigating a cyberattack on the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa. Hackers targeted a small substation and disabled a device that is used to automatically control water levels at the authority’s tanks. The hackers left a message identifying themselves as part of Cyber Avengers, a group linked to Iran.
Pennsylvania. Governor Josh Shapiro announced that Fitch Ratings has upgraded Pennsylvania’s credit rating to ‘AA’ from ‘AA-,’ building on positive credit rating outlooks from Moody’s and S&P’s Global Ratings in September. Fitch also has assigned a ‘AA’ rating to the following Commonwealth of Pennsylvania general obligation (GO) bonds.
PA Department of State. The Department of State announced on Wednesday that it is refining its mail ballot materials in time for the 2024 primary election. The redesigned envelopes and instruction sheets have revised language to better inform voters how to properly fill out and return their mail-in ballots, with the goal of decreasing voter confusion that can lead to completed ballots being rejected and assisting county election workers in efficiently processing mail-in ballots.
PA Lawmakers. The base salary of Pennsylvania’s 253 state legislators is the third highest in the nation behind New York and California, but when benefits are added, it likely pushes them into second place. Legislators are eligible for lifetime medical benefits and retirement benefits unlike their counterparts in California but still trail New York where lawmakers there have a similar benefits package to Pennsylvania’s.
Rep. Patrick Harkins. The Erie Democrat has gotten $154,686.97 in taxpayer-funded mileage reimbursements since 2018, including $30,530.64 in 2019. Fellow Democrats Ryan Bizzarro and Bob Merski also represent Erie. In 2021, Merski’s mileage reimbursement was $6,731.16. Bizzaro’s reimbursements were $4,322.64 and Harkins had $23,224.66 in reimbursements.
Dave Sunday. The York County District Attorney picked up a second endorsement from a U.S. Congressman in his quest for the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania Attorney General, as Rep. Dan Meuser (R-09) offered his backing. “Dave is a veteran prosecutor and someone Pennsylvanians can trust to protect all its residents, particularly our most vulnerable.” Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-11) endorsed Sunday a day earlier.
Kat Copeland. The former Philadelphia-based federal prosecutor was endorsed for Pennsylvania Attorney General by Pennsylvania’s longest-tenured district attorney – Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin – on Monday. “I know her qualifications, and she stands above and beyond, in my opinion, of the other candidates in the field.”
Harrisburg. According to a recent U.S. News and World Report ranking, the state of Pennsylvania dominates the list of best places to retire in the U.S. Seven out of the top 10 places were in the Keystone State, including No. 1 – Pennsylvania’s Capital City. Reading, Lancaster, Scranton and Allentown rounded out the top five.
Newville, PA. How to close a projected $783,000 projected operating deficit for 2024. That’s the question facing the Cumberland County borough. To complete the balancing of the 2024 budget, Newville’s council will also be asked to choose between a significant increase in the borough’s property tax rate, or making some level of cuts in staff to the small, three-person police department.
Charles M. Dertinger. The Northampton County Director of Administration resigned last Friday, a victim of the Election Day problems that plagued the county. The director of administration oversees the county’s elections division. Election Day on Nov. 7 got off to a rocky start when poll workers discovered a problem with voting machines. Errors with the machines’ printout summaries led officials to stop using the machines temporarily and rely on emergency paper ballots.
Pennsylvania Society. In 1899, Barr Ferree, owner of a Manhattan publishing company, founded “The Pennsylvania Society of New York” and invited 55 fellow Pennsylvanians also living in Manhattan to join him for dinner at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Barr wrote then that their goal was to establish a society “uniting all Pennsylvanians at home and away from home in bonds of friendship and devotion to their native or adopted state.” Eventually shortening their name to The Pennsylvania Society, they would meet for dinner every year, same time, same place. The tradition continues this weekend for the 125th year.
It’s Pennsylvania Society weekend, so we wanted to give the movers and shakers from around the Commonwealth a chance to see how they fared during the week past.
Safe travels to all … and may you accomplish all you set out to do in the Big Apple this weekend.
Scott Perry. The 10th Congressional District Republican had new text messages disclosed that were contained in a court filing that appears to have been erroneously made public on Wednesday. The newly disclosed documents revealed an extraordinary web of communications between Perry, who is now the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, and key figures in Trump’s orbit.
City of Aliquippa. Federal officials are investigating a cyberattack on the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa. Hackers targeted a small substation and disabled a device that is used to automatically control water levels at the authority’s tanks. The hackers left a message identifying themselves as part of Cyber Avengers, a group linked to Iran.
Pennsylvania. Governor Josh Shapiro announced that Fitch Ratings has upgraded Pennsylvania’s credit rating to ‘AA’ from ‘AA-,’ building on positive credit rating outlooks from Moody’s and S&P’s Global Ratings in September. Fitch also has assigned a ‘AA’ rating to the following Commonwealth of Pennsylvania general obligation (GO) bonds.
PA Department of State. The Department of State announced on Wednesday that it is refining its mail ballot materials in time for the 2024 primary election. The redesigned envelopes and instruction sheets have revised language to better inform voters how to properly fill out and return their mail-in ballots, with the goal of decreasing voter confusion that can lead to completed ballots being rejected and assisting county election workers in efficiently processing mail-in ballots.
PA Lawmakers. The base salary of Pennsylvania’s 253 state legislators is the third highest in the nation behind New York and California, but when benefits are added, it likely pushes them into second place. Legislators are eligible for lifetime medical benefits and retirement benefits unlike their counterparts in California but still trail New York where lawmakers there have a similar benefits package to Pennsylvania’s.
Rep. Patrick Harkins. The Erie Democrat has gotten $154,686.97 in taxpayer-funded mileage reimbursements since 2018, including $30,530.64 in 2019. Fellow Democrats Ryan Bizzarro and Bob Merski also represent Erie. In 2021, Merski’s mileage reimbursement was $6,731.16. Bizzaro’s reimbursements were $4,322.64 and Harkins had $23,224.66 in reimbursements.
Dave Sunday. The York County District Attorney picked up a second endorsement from a U.S. Congressman in his quest for the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania Attorney General, as Rep. Dan Meuser (R-09) offered his backing. “Dave is a veteran prosecutor and someone Pennsylvanians can trust to protect all its residents, particularly our most vulnerable.” Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-11) endorsed Sunday a day earlier.
Kat Copeland. The former Philadelphia-based federal prosecutor was endorsed for Pennsylvania Attorney General by Pennsylvania’s longest-tenured district attorney – Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin – on Monday. “I know her qualifications, and she stands above and beyond, in my opinion, of the other candidates in the field.”
Harrisburg. According to a recent U.S. News and World Report ranking, the state of Pennsylvania dominates the list of best places to retire in the U.S. Seven out of the top 10 places were in the Keystone State, including No. 1 – Pennsylvania’s Capital City. Reading, Lancaster, Scranton and Allentown rounded out the top five.
Newville, PA. How to close a projected $783,000 projected operating deficit for 2024. That’s the question facing the Cumberland County borough. To complete the balancing of the 2024 budget, Newville’s council will also be asked to choose between a significant increase in the borough’s property tax rate, or making some level of cuts in staff to the small, three-person police department.
Charles M. Dertinger. The Northampton County Director of Administration resigned last Friday, a victim of the Election Day problems that plagued the county. The director of administration oversees the county’s elections division. Election Day on Nov. 7 got off to a rocky start when poll workers discovered a problem with voting machines. Errors with the machines’ printout summaries led officials to stop using the machines temporarily and rely on emergency paper ballots.
Pennsylvania Society. In 1899, Barr Ferree, owner of a Manhattan publishing company, founded “The Pennsylvania Society of New York” and invited 55 fellow Pennsylvanians also living in Manhattan to join him for dinner at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Barr wrote then that their goal was to establish a society “uniting all Pennsylvanians at home and away from home in bonds of friendship and devotion to their native or adopted state.” Eventually shortening their name to The Pennsylvania Society, they would meet for dinner every year, same time, same place. The tradition continues this weekend for the 125th year.
It’s Pennsylvania Society weekend, so we wanted to give the movers and shakers from around the Commonwealth a chance to see how they fared during the week past.
Safe travels to all … and may you accomplish all you set out to do in the Big Apple this weekend.
Scott Perry. The 10th Congressional District Republican had new text messages disclosed that were contained in a court filing that appears to have been erroneously made public on Wednesday. The newly disclosed documents revealed an extraordinary web of communications between Perry, who is now the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, and key figures in Trump’s orbit.
City of Aliquippa. Federal officials are investigating a cyberattack on the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa. Hackers targeted a small substation and disabled a device that is used to automatically control water levels at the authority’s tanks. The hackers left a message identifying themselves as part of Cyber Avengers, a group linked to Iran.
Pennsylvania. Governor Josh Shapiro announced that Fitch Ratings has upgraded Pennsylvania’s credit rating to ‘AA’ from ‘AA-,’ building on positive credit rating outlooks from Moody’s and S&P’s Global Ratings in September. Fitch also has assigned a ‘AA’ rating to the following Commonwealth of Pennsylvania general obligation (GO) bonds.
PA Department of State. The Department of State announced on Wednesday that it is refining its mail ballot materials in time for the 2024 primary election. The redesigned envelopes and instruction sheets have revised language to better inform voters how to properly fill out and return their mail-in ballots, with the goal of decreasing voter confusion that can lead to completed ballots being rejected and assisting county election workers in efficiently processing mail-in ballots.
PA Lawmakers. The base salary of Pennsylvania’s 253 state legislators is the third highest in the nation behind New York and California, but when benefits are added, it likely pushes them into second place. Legislators are eligible for lifetime medical benefits and retirement benefits unlike their counterparts in California but still trail New York where lawmakers there have a similar benefits package to Pennsylvania’s.
Rep. Patrick Harkins. The Erie Democrat has gotten $154,686.97 in taxpayer-funded mileage reimbursements since 2018, including $30,530.64 in 2019. Fellow Democrats Ryan Bizzarro and Bob Merski also represent Erie. In 2021, Merski’s mileage reimbursement was $6,731.16. Bizzaro’s reimbursements were $4,322.64 and Harkins had $23,224.66 in reimbursements.
Dave Sunday. The York County District Attorney picked up a second endorsement from a U.S. Congressman in his quest for the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania Attorney General, as Rep. Dan Meuser (R-09) offered his backing. “Dave is a veteran prosecutor and someone Pennsylvanians can trust to protect all its residents, particularly our most vulnerable.” Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-11) endorsed Sunday a day earlier.
Kat Copeland. The former Philadelphia-based federal prosecutor was endorsed for Pennsylvania Attorney General by Pennsylvania’s longest-tenured district attorney – Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin – on Monday. “I know her qualifications, and she stands above and beyond, in my opinion, of the other candidates in the field.”
Harrisburg. According to a recent U.S. News and World Report ranking, the state of Pennsylvania dominates the list of best places to retire in the U.S. Seven out of the top 10 places were in the Keystone State, including No. 1 – Pennsylvania’s Capital City. Reading, Lancaster, Scranton and Allentown rounded out the top five.
Newville, PA. How to close a projected $783,000 projected operating deficit for 2024. That’s the question facing the Cumberland County borough. To complete the balancing of the 2024 budget, Newville’s council will also be asked to choose between a significant increase in the borough’s property tax rate, or making some level of cuts in staff to the small, three-person police department.
Charles M. Dertinger. The Northampton County Director of Administration resigned last Friday, a victim of the Election Day problems that plagued the county. The director of administration oversees the county’s elections division. Election Day on Nov. 7 got off to a rocky start when poll workers discovered a problem with voting machines. Errors with the machines’ printout summaries led officials to stop using the machines temporarily and rely on emergency paper ballots.
Pennsylvania Society. In 1899, Barr Ferree, owner of a Manhattan publishing company, founded “The Pennsylvania Society of New York” and invited 55 fellow Pennsylvanians also living in Manhattan to join him for dinner at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Barr wrote then that their goal was to establish a society “uniting all Pennsylvanians at home and away from home in bonds of friendship and devotion to their native or adopted state.” Eventually shortening their name to The Pennsylvania Society, they would meet for dinner every year, same time, same place. The tradition continues this weekend for the 125th year.
Will tonight's U.S. Senate debate affect your decision?
Loading ...