Tag: pennsylvania

Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas Stripped of Swim Titles in UPenn Trump Deal

The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender women from its women’s sports teams, resolving a federal civil rights investigation centered on former swimmer Lia Thomas. The U.S. Department of Education announced the voluntary agreement Tuesday, stating that Penn violated Title IX by allowing Thomas to compete in women’s events during the 2021–2022 season.

As part of the resolution, Penn will reinstate Division I swimming records and titles to athletes displaced by Thomas’s victories and issue personalized apology letters to each of them, per the Department of Education. The university must adopt “biology-based” definitions of male and female in athletics and publicly commit to barring “males from competing in female athletic programs.” Penn and the NCAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The agreement marks a significant development in the Trump administration’s broader campaign to restrict transgender participation in women’s sports. Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the outcome a “victory for women and girls,” signaling a more aggressive federal stance on enforcing Title IX based on biological sex.

The case has reignited national debate over fairness in women’s athletics, transgender rights, and the scope of federal civil rights protections. It also sets a precedent for how schools may be required to handle similar cases under current federal leadership.

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Law Enforcement Ignored Dire Threats Against Pennsylvania Trump Voters’ Families, Property, And Pets

“We know where you live. … In the dead of a cold winters [sic] night, this year, or next and beyond, there is no knowing what may happen. Your property, your family may be impacted, your cat may get shot. And more. … Your vote for this guy [Trump] is seen as treading on my rights. You tread on me at your peril, motherf-cker. We look forward to visiting in the future.”

That is language from the nasty, vile letter that Pennsylvania voters received through the U.S. mail in October 2024, just prior to the presidential election. What was their crime? They had Trump signs in their yards.

And what did local law enforcement, the Pennsylvania state police, the FBI, the U.S. Justice Department, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service do about this intimidation and threats of violence against voters in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and various Pennsylvania counties?

Apparently, nothing at all.

This attempt to scare Trump voters is the subject of a new lawsuit filed in federal court in Philadelphia by the Public Interest Legal Foundation against “John Doe 1” and “John Doe 2,” the term used by plaintiffs in litigation when they have been unable to identify the defendants. The unknown bullies are being sued under both Section 3 of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act.

The civil portion of the Ku Klux Klan Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1985 (3), provides for the recovery of damages against miscreants who “conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner, toward or in favor of the election of any lawfully qualified person.”

Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. §10307(b), makes it a federal crime to “intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote.”

During the time these acts were committed in 2024, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice was headed by Kristen Clarke. The Civil Rights Division of DOJ is responsible for enforcing Section 11b.

Clarke is probably the most biased, partisan ideologue to ever head that division. She had no interest whatsoever in protecting Trump voters. But then, apparently no one else at the local, state, or federal level did either.

If you’re wondering why one would file a lawsuit against unknown defendants, here is the point. The Public Interest Legal Foundation obtained a federal judge’s approval to issue subpoenas to various law enforcement agencies notified by the Trump voters of what happened to them. These agencies had a duty to conduct investigations into what was a serious attempt to coerce voters and a dangerous threat to the election process in a state with a dismal record when it comes to the integrity of its elections — including violence directed at government officials, as Gov. Josh Shapiro can testify.

Competent investigators would have checked the anonymous letters for fingerprints and DNA. They would have checked the postmarks to see if they could determine where the letters were mailed from and whether there were surveillance cameras at those locations.

Since the threatened voters lived in multiple locations, the perpetrators apparently identified them through the Trump signs in their yards. Investigators should have checked for surveillance cameras, including front-door Ring cameras, in the victims’ neighborhoods to see if the same individuals or cars were seen in those different neighborhoods.

But was any of this done? It doesn’t appear so. The Pennsylvania State Police responded to a subpoena by saying no investigation was opened. One of the victims filed a complaint with her local police department in Lower Merion but never received any follow-up calls or information from that department. The department admitted another voter had received the same letter and still did not act.

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‘I will assassinate her’: Kamala Harris threat suspect said he’d kill the VP ‘if she runs for pres,’ feds say

A 37-year-old man in Pennsylvania has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill former Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris, repeatedly claiming on social media that he would “assassinate her.”

Steven Alexander Hartford was indicted by a federal grand jury last week and charged with two counts of making threats against a major candidate for the office of the president, court documents show. According to a news release from the Department of Justice, Hartford accessed and controlled the username “thealex13one13” on TikTok, under which he made the threats against the former attorney general of California, beginning in the summer of 2024.

The first threat was allegedly issued on July 21, 2024, in response to a 17-second video posted by the Daily Mail that was captioned, “Will Kamala Harris be the next Democratic nominee?” At about 7:32 p.m. that evening, Hartford allegedly commented, “I will assassinate her if she runs for pres.,” a copy of the indictment states.

Later that same day, the Daily Mail posted a 12-second video to TikTok that showed Harris and was captioned, “Could [Kamala Harris] replace Joe Biden?”

At about 7:56 p.m. that evening, Hartford responded to the video by commenting, “I will assassinate her.”

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The following day, authorities say that Hartford made several other threats directed at Harris under the username “thealex13one13,” including: “22 250 coming her way,” “5.56 for her,” and “5.56 waiting for her.”

It appears likely that “22 250” is a reference to a high-velocity 22-caliber rifle cartridge while “5.56” is likely a reference to another rifle cartridge typically used in assault rifles.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that the case stems from “Operation Take Back America,” which it describes as a “nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”

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Armed Man, Seemingly Impersonating Law Enforcement, Arrested During Pennsylvania ‘No Kings’ Protest

An armed man was arrested during a Pennsylvania “No Kings” protest on Saturday.

In a video of the arrest, the man appeared to be dressed up as a member of law enforcement and was armed with a concealed, unlicensed firearm.

The man’s identity has not been publicly released at this time.

Local station Fox 29 reports:

West Chester Borough officers were alerted by the public that a person was concealing a firearm and walking along the area of North High Street, West Chester, where a large rally was also gathering.

Officers were able to identify the suspect and quickly conducted a pedestrian stop.

Police questioned the man before taking him into custody after finding an unlicensed firearm during a search.

No injuries were reported during the incident.

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Pennsylvania Senator Announces New Marijuana Legalization Bill After Committee Defeats House-Passed Reform Proposal

A Pennsylvania Democratic senator has announced his intent to file a new bill to legalize marijuana in the state, calling on colleagues to join him on the measure days after a Senate committee killed a separate House-passed proposal to enact cannabis legalization with state-run stores.

In a cosponsorship memo circulated last week, Sen. Marty Flynn (D) said his bill would establish a “responsible framework for cultivation, distribution, and retail sales to adults aged 21 and over,” indicating that the legislation will follow a more conventional regulatory model for cannabis.

“This legislation represents a commonsense opportunity to modernize our cannabis laws by delivering lasting economic benefits to communities across the Commonwealth while balancing individual liberty with public safety,” he said of the bill, which will be called the Keystone Cannabis Act.

Notably, Flynn put out an earlier cosponsorship memo in 2022 that detailed a bill he said he’d be introducing that would have sought to legalize marijuana through a state-run model, similar to the legislation that narrowly advanced through the House only to be rejected in a Senate committee last week.

The new memo signals his forthcoming legislation will steer clear of the controversial proposal, placing regulatory responsibility in the hands of the state Departments of Health, Agriculture and Community and Economic Development, as well as the attorney general and state police.

It would also create a Commonwealth Community Reinvestment and Infrastructure Fund, using marijuana tax revenue—which Flynn estimates will be upwards of $500 million annually—to support the revitalization of rural areas, infrastructure initiatives and local grants for “law enforcement, public health, and educational programs focused on substance use prevention and mental health.”

There would also be equity components embedded in the measure, including provisions that would prioritize cannabis business licensing for those from communities disproportionately impacted by prohibition and creating a pathway for expunging past marijuana records.

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‘Death of women’s sports’: Male track runner shocks viewers with massive size advantage over female competitors

Yet another male athlete won a female high school athletic event, outpacing girls in a 200-meter race last weekend.

States continue to disregard President Trump’s executive order to keep men out of women’s sports, including Pennsylvania, the pivotal swing state that Trump won in 2024.

Over the weekend, the Suburban One League, an athletic conference in Southeastern Pennsylvania, hosted the SOL American Conference Championships in Horsham. During the Liberty Girls’ 200-meter race, viewers quickly noticed that one of the runners had distinct physical qualities.

“His shoulder width is twice the size of the girls,” one viewer wrote.

“He’s got big quads,” reporter Beth Bourne wrote alongside a photo of the athlete.

A video of the event, taken from near the finish line, showed high school male Sean “Luce” Allen take the victory in the girls’ 200-meter race, winning by just over one-tenth of a second.

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Postal Service Releases Final Report – Contract Driver Jesse Morgan Vindicated – Report CONFIRMS He Hauled Trailer of Ballots from NY to PA in Late October 2020

As The Gateway Pundit reported back in 2020, election fraud whistleblowers came forward in December following the controversial election, including one who witnessed the shipping of an estimated 144,000-288,000 completed ballots across three state lines on October 21 2020.

The information was made public at a press conference by the Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society, a national constitutional litigation organization.

The Amistad Project said at the time that they had sworn declarations that over 300,000 ballots were issued in Arizona, 548,000 in Michigan, 204,000 in Georgia, and over 121,000 in Pennsylvania.

They said that their evidence reveals multi-state illegal efforts by USPS workers to influence the election in at least three of six swing states.

The whistleblower statements included potentially hundreds of thousands of completed absentee ballots being transported across three state lines and a trailer filled with ballots disappearing in Pennsylvania.

Attorney Phil Kline said, “130,000 to 280,000 completed ballots for the 2020 general election were shipped from Bethpage, NY, to Lancaster, PA, where those ballots and the trailer in which they were shipped disappeared.”

Truck driver Jesse Morgan was present at the press conference and spoke for 9 minutes about his unbelievable ordeal. Morgan was tasked with delivering completed ballots to Pennsylvania from New York State.

This was explosive testimony.

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Pennsylvania County Sent Voters Wrong Mail Ballots For May Primary

Whoops! Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna County election office mailed last year’s ballots to 545 Republican primary voters in Scranton for the May 20, 2025 election. Voters caught the mistake and the county has now sent the correct ballot to those voters, the county said in a statement. Voters with a faulty ballot should toss it in the trash, including the envelope, the county says.

The county has an explanation for how this oddity happened, although the county did not explain how the error was not caught before printing or mailing. The 2024 primary ballot had presidential and Senate candidates—no one saw that before printing?

It is another example of the troubles that plague mail-in voting, and the control county election offices lose when they outsource the work taxpayers used to pay county workers to do to a third-party vendor.   

In Pennsylvania, primary voters must be a member of the Democrat or Republican party. Independents don’t vote. Party members get different ballots and choose which members of their party to promote to the General Election ballot.  

That is why only Republican ballots were affected. Also, a court challenge in the Scranton Republican mayoral race went past the print deadline, so Scranton Republican ballots were printed separately from the rest of the county’s.   

Election Systems and Software (ES&S), a Nebraska-based voting machine company that also prints ballots, apologized and took responsibility for the blunder, said Beth Hopkins, director of the Lackawanna Department of Elections and Voter Registration, in a statement.

“During the printing process, an employee mistakenly pulled and printed a file from the 2024 election instead of the current 2025 election,” Kristy Ericson, ES&S director of ballot management services, said in an email, according to the county. “This human error in processing the files was missed in the quality check process. ES&S reviewed all other provisional and Election Day ballots to ensure that files were printed accurately.”

Lackawanna County Republican Party Chairman Dan Naylor asked the county to provide the party a list of every Republican that was sent an erroneous mail-in ballot. The county says more than 12,000 other voters in both parties combined received accurate mail ballots.

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Pennsylvania House Approves Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales Through State-Owned Stores

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has given initial approval to a bill that would legalize marijuana with a novel model of state-run stores.

This has been an especially fast-moving legislative process for the measure from Reps. Rick Krajewski (D) and Dan Frankel (D). It was introduced on Sunday, advanced through the House Health Committee Frankel chairs on Monday and has now been approved on second reading in the full chamber on Tuesday in a vote of 102-101.

All Democrats in the body voted in favor of the legislation, and all Republicans were opposed. A third reading vote, expected soon, would send the measure to the Senate.

While there’s a competing bipartisan legalization measure that’s expected to be unveiled soon, this one already has 27 House Democrats signed on as cosponsors—more than one-fourth of the party’s caucus in the chamber.

The expedited consideration of the bill has already elicited criticism from the GOP side of the aisle, with Rep. Charity Grimm Krupa (R), a member of the Health Committee, saying during Monday’s Health Committee hearing that “it’s no secret that I stand in opposition to broadly legalized adult-use marijuana—but frankly, I’m appalled by the manner in which it’s being rammed through the committee and the legislature.”

Frankel responded to the critique, saying “this has been a transparent process” that has “taken into consideration input from every potential stakeholder.”

“My door has been open to all those stakeholders on an ongoing basis for the past two year—the six hearings we had and an opportunity for the minority party to have to have a meeting to talk about this,” the chair said.

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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Will Vote On Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales Through A System Of State-Run Stores Today

Pennsylvania Democrats have officially released a much-anticipated bill to legalize marijuana with a novel state-run regulatory model. And it’s already slated for an imminent House committee vote.

The new legislation is being sponsored by Reps. Rick Krajewski (D) and Dan Frankel (D), who chairs the House Health Committee that will be taking up the proposal on Monday.

“The time is now for Pennsylvania,” Krajewski said in a press release. “We have listened carefully to public health experts, criminal justice reformers, small business advocates and community leaders. Our bill reflects what we’ve learned—that we can and must legalize cannabis in a way that is safe, equitable and beneficial to all Pennsylvanians.”

Under the bill, adults 21 and older would be able to legally possess and buy cannabis from stores licensed and operated by the Liquor Control Board (LCB), which currently controls alcohol sales in the state.

While there’s a competing bipartisan legalization measure that’s expected to be unveiled soon, this one already has 27 House Democrats signed on as cosponsors—more than one-fourth of the party’s caucus in the chamber.

“By legalizing and regulating cannabis thoughtfully, we can avoid pitfalls that have marred roll outs in other states,” Frankel said. “Our plan will create clear rules that protect consumers, educate the public, and ensure that Pennsylvania small businesses and taxpayers—not out-of-state corporations—benefit from the profits.”

LCB would directly control the cannabis retail side of the industry under the measure, but it would also be responsible for licensing marijuana cultivation, processing, transportation and on-site consumption businesses that could be privately owned.

The legislation would specify that cannabis shops could not sell more than 42.5 grams of marijuana, which would be the possession limit, to an adult within a 24-hour period. Cannabis flower could not contain more than 25 percent THC, and edibles would be limited to five milligrams of THC per serving, with a maximum 25 milligrams total.

Adults who obtain a home cultivation permit from LCB would be able to grow up to two mature and two immature plants in a secure location at their residence for personal use.

Marijuana products sold at licensed shops would be subject to a 12 percent excise tax. Revenue from those taxes would be deposited in a Cannabis Revenue Fund, managed by the Department of Revenue (DOR).

That fund would be used to cover administrative costs within the various departments that have a hand in regulating the cannabis program, including the facilitation of expungements for people with prior marijuana convictions for activity that would be made legal under the law.

The remaining revenue would be distributed for a community reinvestment fund (50 percent), substance misuse treatment programs (10 percent), cannabis business development (5 percent), minority business development (2.5 percent) and grants to county courts that process expungements (2 percent).The rest would go into the state general fund.

The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts would be tasked with overseeing cannabis expungements, providing courts with a list of eligible cases that must be automatically sealed within two years.

A Social and Economic Equity Advisory Committee would be established under the bill to “promote inclusion and participation in the regulated cannabis industry, including through an indirect cannabis business, by persons that may qualify to be a social and economic equity applicant.”

The committee would be responsible for a new Social and Economic Equity Loan and Grant Program that would “provide financial assistance to certified social and economic equity applicants, certified social and economic equity licensees and indirect cannabis businesses that meet the qualifications of a social and economic equity applicant.”

Eligible social and economic equity applicants are defined as those with a “household annual income below 200 percent of the Area Median Income in their county of residence,” and they’d also have to either have a minimum of 65 percent ownership by justice-impacted individuals or those who’ve spent five of the last 10 years in a designated historically impacted community.

The bill also contains rules around policies related to cannabis advertising, packaging and labeling—as well as requirements for businesses around ownership and a mandate to have a labor peace agreement in place for workers.

The largest challenge for the legislation going forward will likely come down to the proposal to have the state control cannabis sales—a regulatory model that exists in no other legal market in the U.S. While there’s evidently strong support within the Democratic caucus given the cosponsorship list, it’s expected to face steep resistance from Republicans, who control the Senate, and at least some Democrats.

For what it’s worth, a recent poll found that Pennsylvania voters say they favor a model where cannabis is sold by licensed private businesses, rather than through a system of state-run stores.

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