Black Corrections Officer Alleges He Was Called the N-Word, His Co-workers Tainted His Food After He Revealed Racist Treatment of Inmates In Pennsylvania Jail
By Niko Mann
Jan. 14, 2024 – A former corrections officer at the Beaver County Jail in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Beaver County on Jan. 8.
Titus Shields claims that he was fired after reporting the treatment of Black inmates and himself by other corrections officers.
According to the lawsuit, Shields moved to the county from California in search of a better life, only to “endure horrific racism” while employed at the Beaver County Jail. The complaint alleges that Shields was called the N-word, and his car was vandalized before he was fired in October 2022.
Shields began working at the jail in February 2022. The lawsuit states that Shields was forced to work in “a hostile environment” after he reported the racial abuse suffered by Black inmates of the jail and that the county “discriminated against him due to his race, complaints of race discrimination, and reports of wrongdoing.”
The former corrections officer said he was given “positive feedback” during his probationary period until he began reporting about the discrimination against Black inmates at the jail. Shields revealed one incident where an officer removed an inmate’s mattress and bedding during freezing weather with cold air blowing into his cell. The inmate was placed in a restraint chair without explanation and forced to sleep on a metal bed frame for approximately eight days.
Another inmate was also strapped to the restraint chair as several officers assaulted him, and after one officer questioned if the abuse was excessive force, Sgt. Decanini said, “What excessive force? It’s part of your job, dude!” the complaint describes. Shields said he was reporting the abuse, and Decanini yelled, “Do it! Do you think anybody really cares? What do you think you are going to change something? You’re not!”
Another inmate whose bedding was taken without cause for an entire month stayed awake all night to avoid the cold, which eventually “caused his legs to swell and start to burst with blood and blisters.”
Shields claims that when he made complaints about the abuse and said he no longer felt safe, Deputy Warden White told Shields to “get over it. It’s not about you.” Shields was also allegedly told by a Sgt. Harris, who is Black, “Yes, it is very racist here” and “You have got to watch your back.” Harris also told Shields, “These people do a lot of dirt and can get away with it. So just keep your head down, and you will be all right.”
In this image from video, Alan William Byerly, center, attacks an Associated Press photographer during a riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. On Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, federal prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of nearly four years for Byerly, of Fleetwood, who pleaded guilty to assaulting the AP photographer and using a stun gun against police officers during a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
By The Keystone Staff
January 4, 2024
Democracy didn’t die in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, despite the efforts of state Republicans like Doug Mastriano and Scott Perry, and the 85 Pennsylvanians who have been arrested to date for participating in the deadly attack on the US Capitol.
Pennsylvania is inextricably linked to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, in which five people died and dozens were seriously injured after a swarm of Donald Trump supporters — fresh from being told to “fight like hell” by the former president at a nearby “Stop the Steal” rally — descended upon the Capitol with the intent to upend democracy by any means necessary.
Major political players in the state, such as state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) and US Rep. Scott Perry (R-Dauphin), allegedly played significant roles in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election — a failed criminal venture that led to the attack on the Capitol.
Then there is the role that Pennsylvanians played on the ground in the Jan. 6 attack. Some 85 Pennsylvania residents were arrested for taking part in the insurrection, tying the commonwealth with Texas for the second highest total among states. According to arrest records from the Department of Justice, 95 Floridians were arrested for participating in the attack, the highest total of any state.
To date, 52 Pennsylvanians have been sentenced, with others expected to be sentenced this month. Three died (two by suicide) while awaiting sentencing, and two others, a married couple, moved out of state before being sentenced.
Overall, according to the DOJ, more than 1,230 defendants have been arrested in nearly all 50 states and Washington, D.C. in connection with the attack, accused of crimes ranging from trespassing, a misdemeanor, to seditious conspiracy, a felony. More than 350 cases are still pending. Around 170 people have been convicted at trial, while only two people have been fully acquitted. Approximately 710 people have pleaded guilty and among those, around 210 pleaded guilty to felony offenses.
Here’s where things stand with each of the 85 Pennsylvanians arrested to date in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack.
Terry Allen – Spring Mills
Allen was arrested in July 2023 and faces charges including entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in restricted building or on restricted grounds; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; and assaulting a federal officer.
Melanie Archer – Shaler
Archer pleaded guilty in October 2022 to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. She is awaiting sentencing.
Mark Roderick Aungst – South Williamsport
Aungst pleaded guilty in June 2022 to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He died by suicide in July 2022 while awaiting sentencing.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano and former state Rep. Rick Saccone, outside the US Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021 (Facebook screen grab).
Dawn Bancroft – Doylestown
Bancroft was sentenced in July 2022 to 60 days of incarceration, three years of probation, 100 hours of community service, and $500 in restitution for charges including disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
Steven Boyd Barber – Scranton
Barber was arrested in July 2023 and faces charges including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Pauline Bauer – Kane
Bauer pleaded not guilty in May 2021 to charges including obstruction of justice and Congress. Bauer was near then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite during the riot when she yelled at police officers to bring out the California Democrat so the mob of Donald Trump supporters could hang her. She was sentenced in January 2023 to more than two years in prison.
PA Democratic Senator John Fetterman on December 6 defended ‘reasonable’ border talks. This follows his staunch support for Israel’s war in Gaza, which has also befuddled some of his typical allies on the left.,(Photo credit: Politico)
“I’m not a progressive. I’m just a regular Democrat.” Fetterman is in the first year of a six-year term. He has time to repair relations with progressives or sever ties altogether. At this point, the latter is rapidly happening anyway.
By Ross Barkan
Political Currents
Dec 21, 2023 – Labels in the American political system have always been slippery. Progressive, liberal, leftist, conservative, hard-right, and hard-left can mean very different things to very different audiences. MAGA, perhaps, offers the most clarity—an unabashed supporter of Donald Trump. But even then, within the vast array of Republicans who back Trump, are disparate political views. Some want a national abortion ban. Some, like Trump himself, don’t quite know what they want.
Others strive to shed labels altogether. Many politicians, for somewhat obvious reasons, embrace them when they’re convenient—rounding up votes in primaries, appealing to activists, and raising cash—and abandoning them once they become a burden. The burden, or perceived burden, arrives when a politician has to campaign in a competitive general election. John Fetterman, the famous senator from Pennsylvania, is deep into his rebrand, and seemingly considering how to position himself when he faces voters again in 2028. His campaign proudly promoted a clip from the 2022 Democratic primary when he told a journalist who asked if he’s a progressive that “no, I’m just a Democrat that has always run on what I believe and know to be true.” Interestingly enough, Fetterman’s social media account doesn’t quote this verbatim. Instead, the post above the clip reads “I’m not a progressive, I’m just a regular Democrat.”
It’s a notable approach from a politician who has caught heat, of late, for his hawkish views on Israel. Fetterman, unlike several other Democratic senators, has not called for a ceasefire or denounced the Israeli military for slaughtering thousands of civilians in Gaza. As pressure has grown on the Biden administration to do more to curb Benjamin Netanyahu’s military ambitions, Fetterman’s rhetoric has been mostly indistinguishable from Mike Johnson or any other conservative Republican. His simultaneous embrace of tougher immigration laws has led NBC News to label him a “maverick” for breaking with progressive Democrats.
Calling Fetterman a maverick is understandable, if inaccurate. A maverick politician—few hardly exist anymore, and John McCain barely qualified—will break with their party on major policy questions. Imagine a Republican who loudly supports abortion rights or a Democrat who denounced the first or second impeachment of Trump. Strengthening the border doesn’t count; Democrats themselves have a range of views on immigration and Biden himself has pushed for more border fencing of late. Fetterman, unlike Trump, has not said immigrants are poisoning the blood of America. That would be one way, in a far darker manner, to become a maverick. And defending Israel at all costs certainly doesn’t qualify. The Democratic Party, these days, might be less hawkish on Israel than the GOP, but staunch Zionists occupy all the leadership posts. There is no daylight between Fetterman and Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, or Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, when it comes to Israel.
But Fetterman is punching left. There’s nothing new to this—see Sister Souljah—and Fetterman might even be earnest. His staff has certainly argued his views on Israel are decades-old, solidified in graduate school. What is more obvious, and helpfully collated on X, is that Fetterman used to happilyidentify as a progressive. He called himself one in 2016, 2018, and 2020. He inched away from the label in 2022, when he became the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for Senate, but never disavowed the movement of left-leaning activists and organizations that backed him earlier in his career. Fetterman ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2016 as a Bernie Sanders supporter and remained close to Sanders when he was elected lieutenant governor in 2018. He benefited from Sanders’ enormous network of online donors in all of his statewide campaigns. He took the Vermont senator’s endorsement multiple times and championed key planks of his platform: a $15 federal minimum wage, Medicare for All, and new wealth taxes. He never identified as a socialist or embraced the more confrontational flavor of leftist politics favored by the Squad, but he was, undeniably, a member of his party’s progressive wing.
It would have been plausible for Fetterman to back a higher minimum wage without calling himself a progressive. “I just want people to make more money and have cheap healthcare” would have been enough. “It’s common-sense,” he might have said, to “make the wealthy pay their fair share. There’s nothing progressive or liberal about that. It’s how we should run a country.” But that would have been less exciting to the donors and activists who were going to power Fetterman’s early campaigns. Fetterman wanted to raise cash and he wanted to win. Hence, the Sanders associations were useful. When Dr. Oz, in the 2022 general election, tried to scare moderate Democrats away, the pivot began. He hasn’t looked back.
If Fetterman were being honest, he could simply declare he is no longer a progressive. He could say he used to be one in 2016 and 2018 and 2020 but he feels differently now. He doesn’t like how progressives talk about Israel or the border or some other hot button issue that might matter to a cross-pressured Pennsylvanian and he’s decided he’s going to operate separately from them. He could say he used to believe in Bernie Sanders and now he’s less sure. But doing that would permanently alienate the activist infrastructure that lifted him to prominence in the first place. Fetterman probably believes this is the safer route: to state, against all available evidence, he was never a progressive. This is dishonest and, in the long run, may not even be good politics. It’s not like Trump, when he was first running for president, ever sought to hide that he used to be a Democrat or pal around with the Clintons. If anything, he used his unscrupulousness to his advantage, boasting about how easy it was for him, as a well-heeled donor, to buy Democrats off. Fetterman needn’t be so venal, but he could acknowledge the past and point the way forward.
Politically, all of this can only matter so much. Fetterman is in the first year of a six-year term. He has time to repair relations with progressives or sever ties altogether. At this point, the latter is rapidly happening anyway. For the Pennsylvania activist class, Fetterman is increasingly persona non grata. Since he also needs to appeal to centrists and Israel-supporting Jews in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas, he might not care at all. If he does go down this path, though, he’ll have to find a new way to raise cash and wrangle volunteers. There are many young people who showed up to canvass for Fetterman 2022 that will not bother for Fetterman 2028. They’ll have long memories—and other heroes by then.
Dem Governor Josh Shapiro campaigning in Beaver County
By less than 100 voters, but Dems need to get busy with new registrations.
By Chrissy Suttles Beaver County Times
BEAVER — County Republicans hit a milestone decades in the making this week.
Beaver County now has more registered Republican voters than Democrats – an inflection point in a county considered a Democratic stronghold for the better part of a century.
Pennsylvania Department of State data shows that among Beaver County’s 111,725 registered voters, 48,170 are registered Republicans and 48,079 are registered Democrats – a difference of 91 registrations. That’s 43.1% Republican voters, 43% Democratic voters and 13.9% third party or unaffiliated voters.
Beaver County has steadily grown more supportive of Republican candidates and conservative principles in recent years.
As a traditionally blue-collar county once grounded in steel and a unionized workforce, Beaver has long had more registered Democrats than Republicans. A portion of those Democrats started voting Republican in the 1980s for former President Ronald Reagan, but kept their Democratic party affiliation. Still, Beaver County voters supported Democratic presidential candidates for much of the 20th century.
That changed in 2008, when Republican John McCain outperformed former President Barack Obama in the county. In 2012, Mitt Romney bested the former president again. Former President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton 58% to 39% in 2016 and President Joe Biden 57.9% to 40.3% in 2020 – despite Beaver County holding a clear but shrinking Democratic majority among registrations.
The county marked another clear shift in 2016, when Republicans took the Beaver County Board of Commissioners for the first time since 1958.
Beaver County Republican Chairman Roman Kozak said Tuesday the emergent Republican majority is “validation of the hard work of our Republican elected county team.”
“Ten to 20 years ago, most of us could never imagine this happening,” he said. “From our judiciary to our county commissioners and row offices, and down to our municipal offices and school directors, Republican-led government continues to represent true Beaver County values. The people of Beaver County are telling us they want a government that is responsive to them as well as one that is professionally and responsibly managed.”
Beaver County Democratic Chairwoman Erin Gabriel said the Democratic Party is “always excited to see more folks register to vote, and will continue our efforts to register voters across the county.
“Certainly, there will be ebbs and flows in which party has the majority of registrations in a tightly contested county like Beaver, and the margins really couldn’t be tighter in terms of registration,” she said. “I think that’s part of what makes us such an interesting county for politicos, but it also presents us with the necessary opportunity for bipartisan discussions.”
Gabriel noted Democrat Nate Bible’s win over two-term Republican incumbent David Lozier in this year’s Beaver County District Attorney race and shared enthusiasm for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s automatic voter registration initiative, adding that the party is focused on protecting voters’ rights “instead of trying to make it more difficult to vote,” because “this country works best when more people participate.”
The Democratic party will “continue to be a welcoming, safe and supportive space for all of our community members, regardless of the color of your skin, where you came from, how you worship or who you love,” she added. “In too many cases this year, with significant encouragement from the Republican party, we saw the politics of racism, bigotry and hate on full display through divisive rhetoric, race-baiting mailers coming from both the Republican party as well as directly from their candidates for county offices.”
Spotlight PA | Dec. 12, 2023 – HARRISBURG — In his first year as Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro won praise as a literal bridge builder, signed a state spending plan that included long-sought Democratic priorities, and helped expand a relief program for older homeowners.
The Democrat, a former state lawmaker who touts himself as a dealmaker, has nonetheless struggled at times to advance priorities through Harrisburg’s ideologically divided legislature. His record will depend on how well he can find middle ground, and he will be watched not just here in Pennsylvania but in national political circles as well.
His first major attempt at a deal blew up in his face. Shapiro negotiated a budget with the Republicans who control the state Senate, and according to the GOP, agreed to a package that would have funded private school vouchers with public dollars.
Amid widespread opposition from state House Democrats and organized labor, Shapiro vetoed the provision from the budget, throwing unfinished business into a tailspin and prompting Republican outcry that he had reneged.
“A lot of first-time governors, myself included, make this mistake,” said Ed Rendell, a Democrat who was Pennsylvania’s governor from 2003 to 2011 and has known Shapiro for decades. “We assume that our own party is going to support us, and not buck us on something that’s very important to us.”
“Always count heads,” Rendell said. “I don’t think he’ll make that mistake again.”
Shapiro also had to weather a series of events outside of his control beginning in the early months of his administration.
A little more than two weeks after his inauguration, the governor had to respond to the East Palestine train derailment less than a mile from Pennsylvania’s border, which released thousands of tons of toxic chemicals. And amid budget talks, the sudden collapse of an overpass on I-95, used by tens of thousands of Philadelphia commuters every day, required Shapiro to coordinate a temporary replacement in less than two weeks while under national scrutiny.
“There almost wasn’t a quote-unquote normal,” Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder told Spotlight PA of those early emergencies. “We were still figuring out, you know, where the lights were.”
Other unexpected bumps in the road came from the courts.
About a month into Shapiro’s governorship, Commonwealth Court found that the state’s education system was unconstitutionally underfunded, a ruling that presented Harrisburg with a mandate to take action on a thorny, far-reaching, and politically charged policy issue.
“I wonder if he had unpacked all his clothing before the courts made the ruling,” quipped state Rep. Peter Schweyer (D., Lehigh), who heads his chamber’s Education Committee.
But perhaps the thorniest problems of all came from within Harrisburg.
It will be only the second-ever judicial endorsement for the organization formerly known as NARAL
BY KIM LYONS
Penn-Capitol Star
OCT 6, 2023 – Reproductive Freedom for All, the organization formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America, told the Capital-Star on Friday that it is endorsing Judge Daniel McCaffery for Pennsylvania Supreme Court, only its second-ever endorsement in a judicial race.
Republican candidate Carolyn Carluccio, a judge on the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, is running against Democrat McCaffery, a judge on the Pennsylvania Superior Court. The two are vying for the seat left vacant on the state Supreme Court after the death of Justice Max Baer last year.
Reproductive Freedom for All, founded as NARAL in 1969, hasn’t historically been involved in judicial races, but after Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, state judges are now more likely to decide cases involving reproductive rights, which has drawn its attention.
Abortion is legal in Pennsylvania up until 24 weeks, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is currently weighing a case involving Medicaid coverage for abortion, which Reproductive Freedom for All noted in a news release shared Friday morning with the Capital-Star. The group accused Carluccio of scrubbing her website of her anti-abortion stances, and pointed to Carluccio’s endorsement by the PA Pro-Life Federation.
“State courts are the front line in the fight for reproductive freedom, and it’s critical that we elect fair-minded judges who value our fundamental rights,” Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said. “Our more than 159,000 members in the Commonwealth are ready to mobilize to elect Judge McCaffery.”
Democrats currently have a 4-2 majority on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, and justices serve 10-year terms. Three of the four Democratic justices — Christine Donohue, David N. Wecht, and Kevin M. Dougherty — will be up for reelection when their terms end in 2026.
The current race for the state Supreme Court has drawn significant funding for both candidates, putting it on track to be one of the most expensive judicial elections ever in Pennsylvania. SpotlightPA reported this week that McCaffery has raised $2 million since the beginning of 2023, and Carluccio has raised $3.4 million, of which $2.1 million came from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, an organization that has received funding from conservative Pennsylvania billionaire Jeffrey Yass.
Earlier this week, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) announced it would make a “six-figure investment” in the race, calling it an election that will have “long-term consequences, not just for the court, but for the state Legislature as well.” Planned Parenthood Votes, the political arm of reproductive rights organization Planned Parenthood, has poured money into a state ad campaign — the largest investment it’s ever made in a state supreme court race. The ads criticized Carluccio’s stance on reproductive rights, also claiming she wiped references to her previous position against abortion from her website.
Carluccio received the Republican Party endorsement in the primary, and is endorsed by the PA Pro-Life Federation and Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania, both of which oppose abortion.
Her campaign spokesperson previously told the Capital-Star that Carluccio was not an activist judge and that her website had undergone a redesign, but that Carluccio would not attempt to legislate from the bench.
The general election in Pennsylvania is Nov. 7. The deadline to register to vote in the election is Oct. 23.
Sept 10, 2023 – One year after a major climate bill was passed, Pennsylvania is flourishing thanks to an influx of clean energy investment and jobs.
Mark Reynolds is the executive director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Bruce Cooper is the group leader of the Slippery Rock chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. When the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law last August, it unleashed a stream of clean energy projects, with Gov. Shapiro quickly taking the initiative to welcome at least $116.1 million of investment for our state.
He said: “We must reject the false choice between protecting jobs and protecting our planet. I believe we can do both – we can embrace the Commonwealth’s role as an energy leader, create good-paying jobs, and fulfill our constitutional obligation to protect Pennsylvania’s clean air and pure water.”
With our abundant natural resources and skilled workforce, Pennsylvania is well-positioned to embrace the fight to reduce climate pollution. In just one year, federal policy to support a clean energy transition has helped bring 157 jobs to our state. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy estimates we’ll see at least $270 million in large-scale clean power generation and storage in Pennsylvania by 2030.
All this investment illustrates how we can reap rewards for Pennsylvania residents while tackling the most pressing issue of our time — escalating weather extremes due to the heat-trapping carbon pollution we continue to release into the atmosphere, altering our climate.
Like many parts of the U.S., western Pennsylvania has not escaped this summer’s climate extremes. We’ve seen soaring temperatures, heavy downpours, and wildfire smoke filling our air . . . and lungs.
While such climate events can be overwhelming, the good news is the U.S. is rapidly embracing tangible solutions to reduce the carbon emissions damaging our climate. Even better, the solutions are boosting the pocketbooks of everyday folks. The Inflation Reduction Act was packed full of incentives for Pennsylvania residents with effectively a free “clean energy bank account” to cut emissions while reducing household bills and improving air quality. Savvy consumers are already taking advantage of savings adding up to more than more than $1,000 per year when purchasing electric cars, induction stoves and energy-efficient appliances.
But we are just beginning our journey to use climate solutions to better the lives of people in our state.
At the very least, the climate policy progress we have already made must remain intact. With an election year around the corner, it may be tempting to play politics around this legislation or around the climate issue in general, but any efforts to roll back or redirect this critical climate investment would be ill-advised. Voters like us want — and expect — these benefits to continue to flow into our state.
This summer’s climate headlines have been concerning, but the solutions to stop the escalating extremes are exciting.
As our legislators look to the future of our state, they should continue to ramp up our clean energy efforts, meeting the moment to reduce climate pollution while bringing good jobs and real-world benefits to the people of Pennsylvania.
Bruce Cooper is the group leader of the Slippery Rock chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Mark Reynolds is the executive director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
Sept. 19, 2023 – Democrats kept control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Tuesday after winning an open seat in a special election in the Pittsburgh area.
The state’s lower chamber had been split 101-101 between Democrats and Republicans since July, when former Representative Sara Innamorato, a Democrat, stepped down from her seat representing the 21st House District to run for Allegheny County executive.
Republicans had hoped for an upset in Ms. Innamorato’s former district, which includes part of Pittsburgh and its northern suburbs. That did not happen: Lindsay Powell, a Democrat who has strong ties to party leaders in Washington — including Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader — easily defeated Erin Connolly Autenreith, a Republican who is the chairwoman of a local party committee. With 95 percent of the vote counted, 65 percent went to Ms. Powell and 34 percent went to Ms. Autenreith.
Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives has been split between Democrats and Republicans since July, with each party holding 101 seats.Credit…Matt Rourke/Associated Press
Why It Matters: The vote will determine a swing state’s power balance.
Pennsylvania is a crucial swing state, playing an important role in presidential elections, as well as determining which party holds power in the United States Congress. Whichever party gains an upper hand in the state can make a major difference in Washington, in addition to making law in Pennsylvania.
It’s also one of just two states, along with Virginia, where the legislative chambers are split by party.
In Harrisburg, Democrats have controlled the governor’s office since 2015, and Gov. Josh Shapiro won his first term convincingly in November 2022. Republicans, on the other hand, have held a strong grip on the Senate for decades.
Democrats won a majority in the House in 2022 for the first time in 12 years and by the slimmest of margins — it took only Ms. Innamorato’s resignation to make it an even split.
Background: The state has seen several special elections this year.
In May, Heather Boyd, a Democrat, won a closely watched special election in southeast Delaware County, part of the Philadelphia suburbs. Top Democrats, including President Biden and Governor Shapiro, had framed the contest as crucial to protecting reproductive rights in Pennsylvania.
But on the same day, in a separate special election, Republicans retained a state House seat in north-central Pennsylvania with the triumph of Michael Stender, a school board member and firefighter.
Heading into the third special election of the year on Tuesday, the Democratic candidate, Ms. Powell, 32, who works in work force development, was viewed as a solid favorite, with a sizable fund-raising advantage.
She was aiming to become the first African American woman to represent the district, which Ms. Innamorato captured in 2022 with 63 percent of the vote.
Republican officials acknowledged that the heavily Democratic district would be difficult for them to win. Still, Ms. Autenreith, 65, had been active on the campaign trail.
What Happens Next: The state House could soon be in play yet again.
Even with Ms. Powell’s victory, voters in Pennsylvania may soon face yet another special election with huge stakes.
If State Representative John Galloway, a Democrat who represents a district northeast of Philadelphia, prevails in a race for a district judgeship in November, as is expected, the chamber would be split again until another contest could be held to fill his seat.
Aug 9, 2023 – Ambridge Borough Manager Mario Leone says that, just four years ago, very few — himself among them — would have thought there was a market for $6 or $7 pints in his sleepy river town.
Although Leone has only held his post for about three years, he has lived in Beaver County his entire life, and has been hoping to see the day when Ambridge returns to its former vitality.
“As I sit in this seat today, I’m amazed at the amount of people that the breweries have attracted to Ambridge,” Leone tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “And I think with those people coming in, it’s just created a new vibe.”
Ambridge — a 1.7 square mile land tract about 30 minutes north of Downtown Pittsburgh — was purchased in 1905 by the American Bridge Company, from which the town took its name. The American Bridge Company factories ceased supporting the majority of Ambridge residents when the steel industry collapsed in the 1980s.
As the steel industry powered on through the 1960s, Ambridge had a population of 13,865, according to Pa. census data. But by 2020, the town’s population had essentially halved.
Altered Genius was the first brewery to open its doors along Ambridge’s main corridor, Merchant Street, in 2020. Co-owner Donny Cardone says that in Ambridge, and Pittsburgh generally, beer culture harkens back to the days of industry.
“The steel mills and places used to have local bars where everybody would hang out,” Cardone tells City Paper. “It’s kind of like that, but, hopefully, with a lot better beer.”
CP Photo: Mars Johnson
Ben Benson takes a sip of beer while performing at Altered Genius Brewing Co. in Ambridge, PA, on August 5, 2023.
Cardone and his business partner Mike Haas met at their day job as alternate education teachers — “alt ed” becoming “altered” as their business name. They began brewing with kits in their garages for themselves and some small events. There, experimenting with different malts, hops, and grains, Cardone and Haas crafted recipes for many of their flagship beers on tap today.
Altered Genius’ Lenore — a chocolate fudge coffee stout — began, for instance, as a custom brew for a friend’s wedding.
“He had a coffee club at school,” Cardone said. “He would always go to [Prestogeorge Coffee & Tea] in the Strip District, they have a bunch of different flavored coffees and stuff like that. He came in one day with this chocolate fudge coffee, and I went ‘wow, this is really good.’ He was asking us about the beers for his wedding, and he was like, ‘Can you do a beer with that coffee in it?’”
Republican state Rep. Rob Mercuri announced Tuesday he’ll run against first-term Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio in what may be the state’s most competitive U.S. House race — Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district. He’s the second Republican veteran to declare his candidacy in this race.
Mercuri currently represents the 28th district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. who deployed for two tours in Iraq, Mercuri owns a pack-and-ship business in Wexford.
“As a veteran, I know that America is worth fighting for. As a father, I care deeply about our future. As a small business owner, I know that anything is possible here with hard work. I’m running for Congress to help restore the promise of prosperity to our region and to revive the American dream so each one of us has the opportunity to thrive,” Mercuri said in a news release.
His statehouse platform: fiscal responsibility, energy expansion, educational choices and economic development. He’s authored legislation in the areas of education, finance, autonomous transportation, and data privacy.
WESA Politics Newsletter
Mercuri joins another lesser-known Republican veteran in the race: pastor and retired law enforcement officer Jim Nelson. Nelson is running on what he says is a “common sense” platform with priorities that include school safety, tax reform and economic development. A U.S. Air Force veteran and African American, Nelson says he wants to represent his very diverse district.
The 17th is a swing district that joins Beaver County to a suburban swath of Allegheny County, and its geography encompasses college-educated suburbs as well as working-class industrial and post-industrial communities.
Deluzio is a U.S. Navy veteran and lawyer who has worked as the policy director for a University of Pittsburgh center focused on cyber law and security. Prior to that, he worked in election security for the Brennan Center.
The general election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.
Beaver County Blue: Voice of the 17th CD of Progressive Democrats of America 