March 2, 2018

Pennsylvania Democrats criticize the new tax cuts for overwhelmingly benefiting the wealthy

Political ads for the upcoming March 13 special election between former U.S. assistant Attorney Conor Lamb (D-Mount Lebanon) and state Rep. Rick Saccone (R-Elizabeth) have taken up the new tax cuts as a central issue. The National Republican Congressional Committee has put out attack ads stating that Lamb is aligned with U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who called the tax cuts “crumbs” for middle-class families. (Lamb has said the tax cuts are a “betrayal” to the middle class, but stated in January that he doesn’t support Pelosi.)

Since the bill's passage in December, headlines about the tax cuts have focused on some large corporations that have doled out $1,000 bonuses to workers and others that have slightly increased workers' wages. Also, according to nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, households making $60,000 a year will have their after-tax income inch up about 1.5 percent after 2018, but those will tax savings will tick down by 2025 and be eliminated in 2027.

And some Pennsylvania Democrats are starting to point out who they believe are the real winners of the tax-cut bill: the wealthy.

Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Scranton) tweeted on Feb. 22 about the deluge of corporations that were providing billions of dollars in stock buybacks to their shareholders. Stock buybacks are when companies purchase their own shares as a way to return cash to their shareholders. News site Axios reported on Feb. 21 that 43 companies had announced stock buybacks totaling $173 billion. Billionaire investor Warren Buffet announced that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported a $29 billion gain due to the new tax law.

Read more: https://www.pghcitypaper.com/PolitiCrap/archives/2018/02/28/pennsylvania-democrats-criticize-the-new-tax-cuts-for-overwhelmingly-benefiting-the-wealthy

March 2, 2018

Democratic lawmaker holds hammer-and-sickle image behind colleague aligned with Democratic Socialist

Democratic lawmaker in Virginia holds hammer-and-sickle image behind colleague aligned with Democratic Socialists

RICHMOND, Va. — A Democratic lawmaker apologized Monday after jokingly holding up a hammer-and-sickle image behind Del. Lee Carter, a freshman legislator who is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Del. Mark Keam, D-Fairfax, later apologized on the House floor for using a tablet to hold the Communist symbol behind Carter, D-Prince William, at a meeting of the House of Delegates Finance Committee. But the episode could further strain relations between House Democrats and the anti-corporate left.

During a debate on legislation to offer tax breaks to companies that create jobs in economically depressed areas, Carter said the bill may be a “good-faith effort to help combat poverty” but it relies on a “deeply flawed mechanism.”

“That mechanism of racing to the bottom of cutting and hacking and slashing away at our tax code to try to fight over scraps and handouts from billionaires rather than trying to build the economy from the ground up that will actually help the people that are already here,” Carter said.

Read more: http://www.phillytrib.com/news/elections/democratic-lawmaker-in-virginia-holds-hammer-and-sickle-image-behind/article_5ffca1a4-fcec-5943-a720-b4650a760c12.html

March 2, 2018

Are taxpayers taking hit in redistricting fight?

Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent in the Republican-led fight to keep Pennsylvania’s old gerrymandered maps in play for this year’s election.

Senate and House GOP leaders have combined to spend more than $3.5 million in the battle while Gov. Tom Wolf and fellow Democrats have ponied up about $576,000.

And, the battle isn’t over.

Republican lawmakers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and, on Wednesday, the returned to the highest court in America to ask the justices to block Pennsylvania’s high court’s decision to approve a new map.

The lawmakers claimed that the state Supreme Court “intentionally seized the redistricting process.”

Read more: http://www.phillytrib.com/news/are-taxpayers-taking-hit-in-redistricting-fight/article_47cf464a-d042-5815-a577-3c9d2381c116.html

March 2, 2018

Plans unveiled to extend Interstate 57 into Arkansas

SEARCY, Ark.— Arkansas highway officials have revealed plans to turn U.S. 67 into an extension of Interstate 57.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that officials unveiled six signs on Friday displaying "Future I-57."

Interstate 57 currently stretches from Chicago to southeast Missouri. Extension supporters say linking I-57 to Arkansas will prompt economic development in the state's northeast region.

Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman has carved out the 120-mile-long designation by inserting a provision into a transportation budget bill. The provision allows Arkansas to request that any piece of U.S. 67 between North Little Rock and Walnut Ridge built to interstate standards be added to the federal interstate system as I-57.

Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2018/feb/27/plans-unveiled-extend-interstate-57-arkansas/715211/

March 2, 2018

Reyna to dismiss more Twin Peaks shootout cases

WACO -- McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna on Wednesday again dismissed cases involving Twin Peaks defendants before a hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Reyna announced at a press conference Wednesday morning that he intends to dismiss 13 Twin Peaks shootout cases and will refuse 24 others that had not been indicted. Judges Matt Johnson and Ralph Strother signed orders Wednesday afternoon dismissing the cases in their respective courts.

Reyna says that brings a total of 58 Twin Peaks cases that have been disposed out of 154 bikers who were indicted and 177 total who were arrested in the May 2015 shootout between rival biker gangs that left nine bikers dead and dozens injured.

The bikers’ cases dismissed are those for Raymond Hawes, Daniel Johnson, Edward Keller Jr., Jeremy King, Brian Logan, Robert Nichols, Anthony Shane Palmer, Victor Pizana, Clayton Reed, Sergio Reyes, Gregory Salazar, Seth A. Smith and Ricky Wycough.

Read more: http://www.wacotrib.com/news/twin-peaks-biker-shooting/reyna-to-dismiss-more-twin-peaks-shootout-cases/article_0d873c46-223c-599f-a985-21131589cd36.html

March 2, 2018

Bernie Sanders visit to San Antonio and Lubbock in the works for March

Plans are in the works for U.S. Senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to visit Lubbock next month.

Several sources have confirmed this visit, scheduled tentatively for Saturday, March 10. A specific time and location have not yet been announced.

On Feb. 14, a post on Our Revolution Texas South Plains/Panhandle’s Facebook page states, “Save the date, Saturday, March 10, 2018 in Lubbock, Texas!”

An official for this group said they’re still working on the details and should have an announcement next week. He said the plan is for Sanders to fly to Lubbock after his San Antonio visit on Friday, March 9. News outlets in San Antonio have confirmed this visit. San Antonio’s KENS News said Sanders is fundraising for Our Revolution Texas, a “statewide progressive populist organization that formed in the wake of the Bernie Sanders campaign.” Tickets for the event in San Antonio are starting at $27.

Read more: http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/20180223/bernie-sanders-visit-to-lubbock-in-works-for-march?start=2

March 2, 2018

Joe Biden headed to Pennsylvania for House campaign

Former Vice President Joe Biden is heading to Pennsylvania to campaign for a Democratic congressional candidate trying for an upset in an upcoming special election.

Conor Lamb’s campaign and Biden aides confirm that the two men will appear together twice Tuesday, one week before the March 13 election between Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone.

Lamb is trying to win in a Pittsburgh-area district that President Donald Trump won by almost 20 percentage points in 2016. Polls suggest a tight race for the seat that opened when Republican Rep. Tim Murphy resigned last year.

Biden is among the few national Democrats that down-ballot candidates will welcome to GOP-leaning districts and states. Biden campaigned last fall for Alabama Democrat Doug Jones ahead of his Senate special election victory in a Republican-dominated state.

http://www.trentonian.com/general-news/20180301/joe-biden-headed-to-pennsylvania-for-house-campaign
(short article)

March 1, 2018

Multiple school, hospital lockdowns lifted in Atlantic, Cumberland counties following threats

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - A suspect is in custody following a report of gunfire Thursday that forced lockdowns at Pilgrim Academy in Galloway Township, Absegami High School, and Stockton University.

At 9:30 a.m. Thursday, township police responded to reports of gunshot fires outside of Pilgrim Academy. The investigation determined a nearby resident had discharged several shots in a wooded area near the school.

Michael Maggi, 57, was taken into custody without incident and numerous firearms and ammunition were recovered at his residence, according to police.

Chief Donna Higbee said that there is an active investigation, but confirmed that the charges are not hunting related.

Read more: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/multiple-school-hospital-lockdowns-lifted-in-atlantic-cumberland-counties-following/article_e3007bfd-a38c-5f67-a1a9-aacd42fdc4b5.html

March 1, 2018

Sanders fined for accepting foreign donations in 2016 election

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign will pay $14,500 as part of an agreement with the Federal Election Commission over allegations that the campaign wrongfully accepted in-kind donations from an Australian political party.

The complaint centered on a group of seven Australians who volunteered for the Vermont independent’s 2016 presidential bid.

The Australian Labor Party paid a total of $24,422 for the volunteers’ flights and stipends, according to the FEC document, provided by the Sanders campaign.

The Sanders campaign did not believe at the time that the money the individuals received from the Australian party would disqualify them from volunteering, according to the campaign.

However, the FEC determined that the money the party paid for the volunteers’ flights and stipend constituted an in-kind donation prohibited by federal campaign regulations and a 1971 law.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/28/sanders-fined-accepting-foreign-donations-2016-election/

March 1, 2018

No prison for ex-Booker advisor who stole $113K from government

A political consultant who worked for two former Newark mayors was sentenced to a year of home supervision Thursday after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges.

Oscar James Sr., 60, admitted he underreported his income from his consulting business, The James Group, between 2008-09, cheating the government of about $113,000 in taxes, court records show.

Appearing before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark, James said he took full responsibility for his actions.

"My family, my profession and everything that's important to me has been impacted by my bad choice," James said, choking up. "I wish I could take them all back, but I can't."

Read more: http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2018/03/oscar_james.html