On August 18th, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an Executive Order directing the Department of Environmental Protection to only review permit applications if developers have made a legally binding commitment to meet the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements and have received local approval. The GRID Requirements represent a commonsense approach that requires developers to meet strict standards on energy affordability, environmental

During another rambling free speech, Donald Trump promised a $5,000 cash “dividend” to every American if Republicans win in November. Trump has provided no detailed funding plan. But with roughly 350 million adult U.S. citizens, the price tag could approach $1.75 trillion, money that would have to come from somewhere. It certainly won't come from corporations or the ultra-wealthy under a Republican administration. Corporate tax revenue for 2026 is projected at a paltry $400

Pittsburgh hosts one of the largest Labor Day parades in the country. It is only fitting then that today’s post focuses on a new report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign finds that America added more than 411,000 union members in 2025, the largest one-year increase since 2008. The growth was driven overwhelmingly by Democratic legislatures that protect, restore, or strengthen collective bargaining rights. That sta

President Trump’s announcement of the “BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY” is not a victory for American diplomacy. It is a masterclass in raw, institutionalized corruption. Behind the all-caps bravado is an imperial smash-and-grab that trades America’s moral authority and constitutional limits for black gold. The corruption begins with the players. To move the oil, the administration partnered with Alejandro Betancourt, who built his fortune under the very Venezuelan regime

What began as a promising public safety tool has quietly metastasized into an unchecked dragnet of mass surveillance. Across the nation, over 120,000 Flock cameras and Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) actively track the movements of everyday citizens. Far from targeting dangerous criminals, this technology builds a searchable map of where innocent people work, worship, and seek medical care. Proponents routinely rely on classic "law and order" arguments, promising th

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs), including Flock cameras, are rapidly expanding across Pennsylvania. While technology can help police investigate serious crimes, public safety cannot come at the expense of everyone’s right to privacy. Pennsylvania Senate Bill 933, backed by Senators Joe Picozzi, Frank Farry, and Tracy Pennycuick, would make it easier to install ALPRs on state roads. The problem is that the bill does not provide adequate safeguards governing who can

Pennsylvania has reported its first measles death in 35 years, two unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County. This tragedy should be a wake-up call: vaccines save lives, and measles is preventable. Instead, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is sowing doubt and conspiracy theories. Kennedy refused to call Pennsylvania’s two measles fatalities deaths, referring to them as “casualties,” and claimed without evidence that “deaths may even have been altog

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that Trump’s war on vaccines is putting our children at risk. At the time, Westmoreland County had no measles cases. That changed August 26 with its first case since 2000, when measles was eliminated in the U.S. County Commissioner Ted Kopas urged residents to follow vaccination recommendations. Commissioner Chew called the news “concerning,” while Commissioner Kertes remained silent. Statewide, cases have surged from 310 to more than 400 in jus

Right-wing pundits routinely portrays progressive Democrats as fringe, anti-American radicals, using the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) as a stand-in for the entire progressive movement. But DSA’s roughly 120,000 members represent only a small fraction of the nation’s 45 million registered Democrats. Fox News engages the most provocative DSA voices and portrays them as representing the broader Democratic coalition. The purpose is to create a false narrative that dis

Since the start of Trump 2.0, at least 28 federal datasets have been deleted outright, while another 338 have been modified across more than 60 federal agencies. The changes affect critical information about health, the environment, labor, and law enforcement. Health data accounts for roughly 40% of these changes, including CDC systems that track violent deaths, pregnancy risks, and HIV infections. At least four health datasets have stopped updating entirely. Among them i

The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000, meaning the disease was no longer continuously spreading here. Today, measles is back, and misinformation and politics are helping fuel its return. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health Secretary, recently condemned President Trump’s claims questioning the safety of the combined MMR vaccine. Cassidy called Trump’s comments “crazy” and “stupid,” warning that underm

House Budget Committee Republicans just advanced a 20-14 framework for a third party-line budget reconciliation bill. The goal? Ram it through both chambers before the August recess—and the cost is staggering. The resolution greenlights $95 billion in new, completely un-offset spending. Rather than focusing on everyday Americans, the lion’s share is going toward funding Trump's ongoing, unauthorized war with Iran. This includes $60 billion for Armed Services and $13 billion

AI AI data warehouse has thousands of servers, the brain of an AI system like ChatGPT. Three AI data warehouses are planned for Westmoreland County and more than 100 statewide. Their impact on our local communities is enormous. A medium-sized AI data warehouse consumes more than 100 million gallons of water per year and requires enough electricity to power 50,000 to 100,000 homes. That’s just for a medium-sized facility. With recurring drought conditions in our area and an

We are only 45 days into the conflict in Iran, yet the mounting toll of President Trump’s "forever war" is already staggering. What was pitched as a swift action has spiraled out of control that has already cost 13 American lives and more than 300 casualties. With the initial phase of already crossing the $50 billion mark, the administration is now demanding an immediate $200 billion infusion. Trump is also demanding a 50% increase to the Pentagon’s existing trillion-dollar

The quiet dismantling of America’s public health infrastructure should alarm everyone. Recent reporting reveals that the CDC has “temporarily” halted testing for rabies and dangerous pox viruses, including smallpox and mpox. But not due to lack of need, but lack of staff. The consequences are staggering. By July, the CDC’s rabies team will reportedly be reduced to a single qualified expert. The pox team may have none. DOGE’s “cost cutting” resulted in mass layoffs, hiring

In a letter addressed to Judge Kevin Castel and filed Tuesday, Jay Clayton, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, conceded that the administration made misrepresentations to the court about a May 2025 ICE memo that has been repeatedly referenced by the DOJ in court filings. While the government previously leaned on this guidance to defend its policy of detaining migrants at their hearings, the DOJ now admits the memo applies only to traditional courthouses, not

While the nation’s attention is gripped by the escalating conflict in Iran, a quieter, but no less deadly, crisis is unfolding at home. And the contrast between our foreign and domestic priorities has never been more jarring. In the first six days of Trump’s reckless and unfunded war with Iran, the Defense Department burned through $11.3 billion. After 17 days, that figure is now likely closer to $30 billion. That $30 billion would have paid for a year’s worth of coverage f

We're in day 11 of Operation Epstein Fury. Trump’s rationale for his ill-conceived war with Iran continues to change by the hour. Regime change, the rebuilding of their nuclear program, sinking their navy, an Iranian assassination plot, and Iran’s ballistic missile program have all been in the mix. We've heard about an imminent nuclear attack by Iran that “would have taken out many countries.” A confusing pivot given that Trump declared Iran’s nuclear capabilities "totally

As much of the nation tuned in to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, Summer Lee offered a sharply different vision. Delivering the response for the Working Families Party, she dismissed the speech as not “a list of accomplishments,” but “an obituary for the country working people built and a celebration for the billionaires who want to strip it for parts.” (Click here to hear Summer’s remarks.) Lee spoke directly to working families like those she represents in wes

Donald Trump has treated the presidency less as a constitutional office and more as a monarchy. The actions of this would-be king include: · Openly disregarding the rule of law · Obstructing justice · Undermining judicial independence · Disrupting trade relationships across the globe · Using the Department of Justice as a political instrument, rather than as a guardian of impartial justice Nearly 250 years ago, similar grievances were leveled a