Tag Archives: Pennsylvania

‘BIG Victory for PA Voters’: US Supreme Court Denies GOP Bid to Block Thousands of Ballots

“This is a win for democracy and the rule of law,” said one ACLU attorney. “The bottom line is that voters deserve to have their voices heard.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-1-2024 by Common Dreams

Photo: i_am_curiouskiwi/flickr/CC

After allowing Virginia Republicans’ voter registration purge earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a GOP effort to block thousands of ballots for the November 5 election from being counted in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

Democratic elections lawyer and Democracy Docket founder Mark Elias called the decision “a BIG victory for PA voters.”

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Watchdog Files FEC Complaint Over Elon Musk Effort to Buy Voters

Musk’s latest attempt to aid Donald Trump “appears to veer smack dab into violating federal law against paying people to register and vote,” said Public Citizen.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-23-2024 by Common Dreams

Screenshot: Exotic Vietnam/YouTube

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk may be able to “throw his money around in an attempt to directly influence the outcome of this election,” as one legal expert said of his latest ploy to help Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but consumer advocacy watchdog Public Citizen on Wednesday said Musk has crossed a legal line in recent days by offering voters direct cash payments in exchange for signing a petition.

The group filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over Musk’s pledge to award a randomly selected registered voter in a swing state with $1 million each day until Election Day, if they sign a petition in favor of the First and Second Amendments.

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‘Hellscape’: Microsoft Deal Would Reopen Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant to Power AI

“This is another chapter in a nightmare that won’t end,” a campaigner said.

By Edward Carver. Published 9-20-2024 by Common Dreams

Three Mile Island nuclear plant site in 1979. Photo: Nuclear Regulatory Commission/flickr/CC

The corporation that owns the shuttered nuclear plant on Three Mile Island on Friday announced a deal with Microsoft to reopen the facility to provide power to the tech company for data centers using artificial intelligence.

Three Mile Island is well-known as the site of the largest nuclear disaster in U.S. history—a reactor there, Unit 2, partially melted down in 1979. However, the site’s other reactor, Unit 1, continued to operate safely until 2019, when it was closed for economic reasons.

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How the 14th Amendment prevents state legislatures from subverting popular presidential elections

By Eric Eisner and David B. Froomkin. Published 8-29-2024 by The Conversation

Photo: Thomas Cizauskas/flickr/cc

Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election not only failed, but some of them also rested on a misreading of the U.S. Constitution, as our new analysis argues. The relevant constitutional provision dates back to just after the Civil War, and contemporaries recognized it as a key protection of American democracy.

In November 2020, as it became clear that Trump had lost the popular vote and would lose the Electoral College, Trump and his supporters mounted a pressure campaign to convince legislatures in several states whose citizens voted for Joe Biden to appoint electors who would support Trump’s reelection in the Electoral College votes.

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Trump-Appointed Judge Strikes Down FTC Ban on Noncompete Agreements

“Thirty million workers who were trapped by these agreements will now stay trapped thanks to this ruling,” an expert said.

By Edward Carver. Published 8-21-2024 by Common Dreams

FTC Chair Lina Khan. Photo: New America/flickr/CC

A U.S. District Court judge in Texas on Tuesday struck down a Federal Trade Commission ban on noncompete agreements that was set to go into effect nationwide in September, drawing condemnation from workers’ rights advocates who supported the ban.

Judge Ada Brown, who was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Donald Trump in 2019, ruled that the FTC didn’t have the authority to issue substantive rules such as the noncompete ban, which was issued following a 3-2 vote of the agency’s commissioners in April.

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On Eve of DNC, ‘Not Another Bomb’ Rallies Demand US Arms Embargo on Israel

“Palestinians in Gaza cannot wait until after the U.S. election while bombs are dropping and burning their loved ones alive,” said one campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-18-2024 by Common Dreams

Activists take part in a #NotAnotherBomb day of action calling for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 18, 2024.
 (Photo: Uncommitted National Movement/X)

On the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, proponents of a U.S. arms embargo on Israel—which is on trial for genocide at the World Court for its assault on Gaza that has killed over 40,000 Palestinians—took to the streets of cities in states from New York to Hawaii on Sunday to amplify their demand of “Not Another Bomb” for Israeli military forces.

“It is crystal clear: In order to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, the U.S. must immediately stop arming Israel,” the Not Another Bomb campaign—an initiative led by the Uncommitted National Movement—said in a statement ahead of this weekend’s demonstrations.

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McDonald’s Fined 0.0002% of 2022 Profits for Child Labor Violations

“Less than $1,000 per child,” said one critic. “For one of the biggest franchises on Earth.”

By Julia Conley. Published 11-28-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: _skynet/flickr/CC

McDonald’s, one of the largest employers in the world, was fined just $26,000—a tiny fraction of its profits—on Monday for violating child labor laws in Pennsylvania, with two franchisees found to be violating numerous rules in five stores.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division found that Paul and Meghan Sweeney, owners of a company called Endor, which runs five McDonald’s locations, employed 34 children who were 14 and 15 years old.

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‘A Welcome Relief’: Transportation Department Suspends Trump-Era LNG ‘Bomb Trains’ Rule

While celebrating the forthcoming review, campaigners also argued that “Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg should put a new rule in place that restores the ban on LNG by rail once and for all.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 9-1-2023 by Common Dreams

Just another bomb train. Photo: Don/flickr/CC

Green groups on Friday applauded as the Biden administration suspended a Trump-era rule allowing liquefied natural gas to be transported by train, delivering another blow to New Fortress Energy’s proposal to ship climate-wrecking LNG by rail from Wyalusing, Pennsylvania to Gibbstown, New Jersey.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)—in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration, another U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) agency—announced in the Federal Register on Friday that it is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to suspend authorization of LNG rail transportation.

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Cardiovascular ER Visits Plunged After Pittsburgh Coal Plant Shut, Study Finds

“Our analysis adds to the growing body of scientific evidence that policies implemented to regulate and reduce fossil fuel-related air pollution have real public health benefit,” said a study co-author.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-4-2023 by Common Dreams

Smoke belches from the Shenango Coke Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. on February 15, 2015.
 (Photo: Jon Dawson/flickr/cc)

Emergency room visits by people suffering heart attacks and strokes significantly decreased almost immediately after one of the largest coal-processing plants in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania shut down in 2016, a study published this week revealed.

The study—published in the journal Environmental Research: Health—found “immediate and/or longer-term cumulative local cardiovascular health benefits” after the January 2016 closure of the Shenango Coke Works on Pittsburgh’s Neville Island following millions of dollars in government fines for polluting the air and water over its 54 years of operation.

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US Strike Activity Surged in 2022 as SCOTUS Workers’ Rights Ruling Looms

“The right to strike is a critical source of worker power, but that right could be under further threat from the Supreme Court,” warned one expert.

By Julia Conley.  Published 2-23-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Joe Piette/flickr/CC

The number of U.S. workers who staged work stoppages in a wide array of industries in 2022 surged by nearly 50% from the previous year, new federal data shows—but the resolve among employees demanding fair pay after years without a raise, better working conditions, and paid sick leave may be under threat as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a key labor case.

An analysis by three Economic Policy Institute (EPI) experts—Margaret Poydock, Jennifer Sherer, and Celine McNicholas—of data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that at least 120,600 U.S. workers were involved in major strikes in 2022, up from 80,700 in 2021. Continue reading

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