Beating out eight other candidates, Michael Cloud secured his seat — at least for the next few months — as the new congressman for Texas' 27th Congressional District.

Crowds gathered at a Corpus Christi watch party for the former chair of the Victoria County Republican Party. There, his kids by his side, Cloud told his supporters he'd do his best to take his constituents' "voice to Washington."

"I'm very sober and mindful to the task ahead," Cloud told the crowed room. "There's a lot of work to be done."

But even with Saturday's victory, there's still another election just down the road: the Nov. 6 General Election. There, he and Democrat Eric Holguin will once again face off, this time with a full two-year term as congressman at stake.

Read more: https://www.caller.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/30/live-voting-begins-special-election-texas-27th-congressional-district/746604002/

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s attorney general announced Thursday he is suing the nation’s largest student loan processor, alleging it is harming consumers by failing to properly service the debts.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the state will sue Navient Corp. this week, contending the Delaware-based company financially harmed thousands of Californians.

He said the firm systematically and illegally failed to properly service federal student loans by steering borrowers to more expensive repayment plans, failing to tell them how to switch to income-driven repayment plans or how those with disabilities could end their debts and misrepresenting how it handled payments.

“No one should have their American dream shattered because some loan servicing company is cheating these future leaders of a chance to move ahead,” Becerra said, a Democrat running in the November election.

Read more: https://apnews.com/d76661681ed54de8b0ebeedd292536aa

DOVER — Financial relief is in the cards after all.

On the second-to-last regularly scheduled day of the legislative session, the House approved a modified version of a bill that would give Delaware’s three casinos tax breaks. By a 35-4 vote, with one member absent and one not voting, the chamber sent the measure back to the Senate, which is expected to pass it when the General Assembly convenes Saturday.

“I cannot stress the importance of this bill enough to the city of Dover and the residents of central Delaware,” Rep. Sean Lynn, D-Dover, said.

After negotiations, supporters and opponents reached an agreement on a change to Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 144, which had been awaiting a vote in the House for two months. The amended version reduces the slot tax rates by less but retains the decrease in the table game tax rate, the elimination of the table game license fee and the creation of capital and marketing credits.

Read more: https://delawarestatenews.net/government/casino-bill-passes-house-goes-back-to-senate-saturday/

Gov. John Carney, on June 27, signed House Substitute 1 for House Bill 222 into law surrounded by members of the general assembly of both parties, law enforcement and advocates for gun safety.

This legislation, sponsored by Rep. David Bentz, allows a court to issue a lethal violence protection order in cases where a family member or law enforcement officer can show that the respondent poses a danger to self or others by owning, possessing, controlling, purchasing or receiving a firearm.

“This new legislation is another tool to help law enforcement and our community confront gun violence,” said Carney. “One piece of legislation alone will not solve the problem of gun violence, but with a comprehensive approach, along with efforts to strengthen security in our schools, we can make a difference. We’ve made great progress this legislative session and I would like to thank members of the general assembly and advocates for their tireless work on this issue.”

This bill is the latest in a package of gun safety measures Carney signed into law this legislative session, including the Beau Biden Gun Violence Prevention Act, toughening penalties around straw purchases and banning “bump stocks” in the state.

Read more: http://www.doverpost.com/news/20180627/carney-signs-red-flag-legislation

Hopes for the bill went up in smoke as it fell four votes short of passage.

House Bill 110, which sponsor Rep. Helene Keeley said would have established the framework and commission to tax, regulate and distribute cannabis legally in Delaware, was defeated in a June 27 vote in the House.

The bill was modeled off existing laws governing the regulation of alcohol.

The bill garnered only 21 positive votes in the House, while 15 members voted against it. Five representatives abstained from casting a ballot.

The bill required a 3/5 majority, or 25 votes for passage.

Read more: http://www.doverpost.com/news/20180627/marijuana-legalization-effort-defeated-in-delaware-house

State employees and retirees can expect to receive some extra spending money now that finishing touches are complete on the state budget.

On the second to last day of legislative session, Gov. John Carney signed the state's $4.27 billion operating budget bill and a supplement to the budget valued at $49 million that contained the bonuses.

The operating budget passed unanimously through the House Tuesday, with three days to go in the session, after passing in the Senate on June 20. The relatively easy passage came in stark comparison to last year's budget signing, which ran past its June 30 deadline for the first time in decades.

"What a difference a year makes," Carney said. "Last year, we were signing these budgets at 3:30 (a.m.) on July 3. I could barely see the documents I was signing."

Read more: https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2018/06/29/gov-carney-signs-budget-awards-bonuses-state-employees/742499002/

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities this week brought fresh legal action against an acclaimed researcher into Stalin's purges, accusing him of sexual misconduct toward his underage daughter, in what human rights groups see as a trumped-up attempt to shut down his work at a time when the government is seeking to gloss over Soviet-era crimes.

Yuri Dmitriyev denies wrongdoing. His arrest Wednesday comes as Russia is hosting the World Cup and trying to showcase cleaned-up cities and stadiums and play down its repressive reputation.

Dmitriyev's older daughter, Ekaterina Klodt, told The Associated Press Friday she believes her father is being persecuted for his research and activism.

"Somebody doesn't like the work that he does," Klodt said.

Read more: https://hosted.ap.org/thetimes-tribune/article/83fe334e5282491c8990c592186f40fc/new-fears-russia-researcher-stalin-purges-arrested

Gov. Tom Wolf's re-election campaign sounded alarm bells among its supporters in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Wednesday that government employees who opt against joining a union cannot be charged for the cost of collective bargaining.

Wolf dinged GOP rival Scott Wagner, who took to Twitter to praise the high court's decision, calling the decision "a huge step forward empowering workers and putting more money in the paychecks of public employees."

In a fundraising email blast to supporters, Wolf's campaign manager, Jeffrey Sheridan, warned that Wagner would be "a disaster for working people"

"Scott Wagner is thrilled because he thinks he can now take more money away from workers and give it to his wealthy friends and special interests. We can't have a leader like that in Harrisburg," Sheridan wrote.

Read more: https://www.pennlive.com/capitol-notebook/2018/06/wolf_campaign_wagner_would_be.html

Pennsylvania is now blazing a new trail in criminal justice that will automatically seal an ex-offender's record of lower-level non-violent crimes from public disclosure for someone who has been conviction-free for 10 years.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday signed the bipartisan-backed legislation, referred to as the "Clean Slate," in front of lawmakers who championed the bill as well as advocates who worked for several years to make this change in state law happen.

The impetus behind the bill is to remove the stigma that can stand in the way of someone getting a job, housing, college admission or loans if they had convictions for a summary offense and some misdemeanor, served their sentence, and have lived on the right side of the law for a decade.

"This legislation is an incredibly important piece of my administrations commitment to helping formerly incarcerated or arrested individuals get their lives back on track and stay away from past actions," Wolf said.

Read more: https://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/06/gov_tom_wolf_signs_law_that_op.html

Gov. Tom Wolf doesn't have the power to increase the minimum wage for all Pennsylvania workers but he can do it for the state government employees under his jurisdiction and state contractors' employees - and is.

Wolf signed an executive order on Thursday to increase the current $10.20 minimum hourly wage for those employees to $12 an hour, starting on Sunday.

The executive order includes a provision that increases that hourly minimum wage by 50 cents a year until it reaches $15 an hour in 2024 and then increases it annually by the cost-of- living adjustment using the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All- Urban Consumers for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

He is hoping it helps spur the General Assembly to give a raise to all minimum wage workers in Pennsylvania, who now earn the federally established $7.25 an hour. Pennsylvania's minimum wage has remained at that level since 2009.

Read more: https://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/06/gov_tom_wolf_gives_180_hourly.html