First Read – Feb 23, 2024

WEATHER: Philadelphia: scattered showers and fog, high of 52; Harrisburg: chance of showers, high of 52; Pittsburgh: mostly cloudy, high of 50. 

FROM CITY & STATE:

* In this week’s Winners & Losers, congressional candidate Janelle Stelson picked up two key endorsements, a report from the National Transportation Safety Board raised new questions about the state of Pittsburgh’s infrastructure, and more. 

* In the Democratic primary for state attorney general, Keir Bradford-Grey picked up an endorsement from the progressive Working Families Party, while Jack Stollsteimer got an endorsement from the Pittsburgh Building Trades. You can find City & State’s running list of candidates and endorsements in the AG race here.

NEW THIS MORNING:

* While the GOP claims to back voting by mail, it has turned to the courts to restrict the method in battleground states like Pennsylvania, where a case could play a vital role in the party’s strategy to make it harder for mail ballots to be cast and counted, The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports.

* A multimillion-dollar fight will determine whether the state taxes “skill games” in bars and stores. The slot-machine lookalikes, which have proliferated across the state in bars and gas stations, are unregulated and untaxed, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

* Two state Democratic campaigns face allegations of forgeries on petitions ahead of the primary, with more than 1,200 signatures on one state Senate candidate’s petition being questioned, the Inquirer reports.

* The Israel-Hamas war has become a defining issue of the Democratic primary between U.S. Rep. Summer Lee and challenger Bhavini Patel, with the Patel campaign blasting Lee for accepting donations from Palestinian activists, WESA reports.

* Allegheny County leaders are expanding options for voters who want to use a mail-in ballot in this year’s primary elections by operating five staffed ballot drop-off locations, WESA reports. 

* Pennsylvania’s labor department is looking to maintain its vastly improved service for unemployment filings following the final clearance last year of the pandemic backlog, while also stepping up labor law enforcement, PennLive reports.

* State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding told the House Appropriations Committee yesterday that he is excited about the opportunity to take on marijuana legalization and is grateful the governor has the confidence in his department to handle it, PennLive reports.

* A year after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio – and seven months after first posting about her symptoms – East Palestine resident Hilary Flint is still experiencing health issues that she says began at the time of the accident, Spotlight PA reports.

EDITORIAL PAGES

* PennLive has an op-ed by Meka Egwuekwe, who writes that an urgent challenge confronts every citizen: the commonwealth’s restrictive laws that stymie local governments from building their own internet networks. 

* The Inquirer has an op-ed by Greg Johnson, who writes that antebellum race riots hurt and silenced many Black residents in Philadelphia – and that to begin making amends, the city should dispose of false notions about being a place of racial harmony.

NATIONAL POLITICS:

* The United States plans to impose sanctions on more than 500 targets today in its response to Russia over the death of the opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, the largest single package in a flurry of economic restrictions since the country’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the New York Times reports.

* AT&T said yesterday that a nationwide cell phone outage that affected more than 1.7 million customers and disrupted 911 services in several states was caused by an error made while it was expanding its network – not by a cyberattack, The Washington Post reports. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: To Jim Lee, president at Susquehanna Polling and Research Inc. … to Susan Peiffer, publisher of City and State PA … to Ajay Raju, chair at Raju LLP … and to state Rep. Kathy Rapp … On Saturday, to state Secretary of Education Khalid Mumin … and to S&T Bank Board Chair Christine Toretti … Want to wish someone a happy birthday in our newsletter? Email their name, job title and upcoming birthday to editor@cityandstatepa.com.

TODAY’S SKED:

10 a.m. – House Appropriations Committee meets, Room 140, state Capitol, Harrisburg. Watch here.

10 a.m. – The Philadelphia City Council Committee on Licenses and Inspections meets, Room 400, City Hall, Philadelphia. Watch here.

12 p.m. – Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding will kick off maple-tapping season to highlight Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget and new economic development plan, Dewy Meadows Farm, 3249 Montrose Turnpike, Warren Center. 

1 p.m. – House Appropriations Committee meets, Room 140, state Capitol, Harrisburg. Watch here.

KICKER: “We can’t play catch up. We can’t start from behind. We can’t let Dems get a big head start and think we’re going to win it all on Election Day.” – Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, via the Capital-Star.