Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro hit back at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Friday, after the activist group sent a letter to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club promising to send them a vegan "weather reveal cake" if they agreed to stop pulling Punxsutawney Phil out of his burrow for his Feb. 2 prognostication.
"Come and take it," Shapiro tweeted in response to a New York Post story on PETA's demand.
Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Shapiro, told Fox News Digital the governor stands by his comments and said he will again make the trip to Gobbler's Knob in Jefferson County on Sunday to witness Phil's 138th meteorological prediction.
Shapiro has been on-hand for every Groundhog Day ceremony in Punxsutawney since taking office in 2023.
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk told the Post that Phil is denied the traditional lifestyle of a groundhog "for a tired old gimmick."
Visitors to Punxsutawney year-round can visit Phil and his "wife," Phyllis, at the borough library. On this reporter's last visit to the area, the rodents had recently become proud parents to a new baby groundhog, as well.
While Groundhog Day is considered a national holiday and has even been popularized in the classic 1993 Bill Murray film of the same name, the day — and Phil himself — hold a special place in many Pennsylvanians' hearts.
In addition to the large ceremony in western PA, throughout the rest of the Commonwealth, many historically Pennsylvania German communities are home to a "Grundsau Lodsch" or Groundhog Lodge.
Each lodge holds an annual banquet or "Versommling" in honor of their totem – Phil – with "Lodsch Nummer Ains an de Lechau" (Lodge #1 on the Lehigh River) in Allentown hosting theirs annually on the February 2 holiday itself since 1934.
Nineteen other lodges based around the state have held "Versommlinge" for decades, as well.
However, three — "#2, Schibbach" in Montgomery County, "#3, Temple U." in Philadelphia County and "#5, Bind Bush" in Schuylkill County — have gone defunct in recent years as the Pennsylvania German language and culture see a decline in younger generations.
A March 2024 Versommling for "Lodge #18 an de Forelle Grick" (on Trout Creek) in Slatington featured local beer on tap, a traditional Pennsylvania German supper, stories and riddles from lodge elders told in the Pennsylvania German language, and, of course, representations of Phil himself.
Until recently, it was the custom of groundhog lodges to forbid English-speaking in favor of "Pennsilfaanisch," lest the violator toss a nickel in a donation jar on their table.
Other states' groundhogs have been less lucky than Phil, as then-New York Mayor Bill de Blasio infamously dropped Staten Island Chuck during a 2014 ceremony in West New Brighton. Chuck later died from internal injuries after appearing to land on his head.
With the importance Groundhog Day and Phil himself hold to Pennsylvania past-and-present, Bonder said Shapiro will continue to defend the groundhog and his tradition, and will be on hand for future wintertime prognostications in Punxsutawney.
A medical transport jet crashed in Philadelphia shortly after takeoff on Friday.
Six people were on board the Learjet plane when it went down, authorities said.
The aircraft had departed Northeast Philadelphia Airport and was headed to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri.
A medical transport jet crashed on Friday in northeast Philadelphia.
The Learjet 55 had six people on board when it went down shortly after departing Northeast Philadelphia Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Flight operator Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said in a statement that four crew members and two passengers — a pediatric patient and her mother — were on the flight.
It said there were no survivors.
Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on X that all six were Mexican.
Video footage of the incident circulating on social media seems to show the plane hurtling toward the ground followed by a large explosion.
Data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft, which was headed to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri, had been in service for 43 years. It shows the plane took off shortly after 6 p.m. local time and crashed in less than a minute, "less than three miles from the end of the runway."
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have since launched an investigation into the incident.
In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said: "So sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."
"More innocent souls lost. Our people are totally engaged. First Responders are already being given credit for doing a great job. More to follow. God Bless you all."
Lawmakers at the state and federal levels are responding to President Joe Biden’s record presidential pardon spree – as more than 3,000 people found their sentences commuted or pardoned. The pardons, some of which came in the final hours of Biden's presidency, were issued to many members of his own family.
The last-minute tranche on Sunday that included James Biden, Hunter Biden and Valerie Biden-Owens came only weeks after a record 1,500 commutations in a single day – notably including that of disgraced Pennsylvania Judge Michael Conahan.
Conahan, of Wilkes-Barre, was dubbed the "kids for cash judge" after he was charged in connection with a scheme to send juvenile offenders to for-profit prisons in exchange for kickbacks.
Pennsylvania state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Dallas, represents the area where Conahan once sat on the bench.
Baker told Fox News Digital the former president’s pardon in that case was "disrespectful to the victims, their families, the juvenile justice system, and to all the officials who have worked to reform the system so that this kind of scandal cannot happen again."
She and other lawmakers are also trying to bring new attention to victim notification processes that exist at the federal level and in many states, including Pennsylvania.
A source familiar with the federal process said the system is a voluntary construct, in that victims may sign up for notifications but are not automatically informed if convicts are pardoned, transferred or released.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said he was troubled by much of Biden’s pardon spree, including those given preemptively to family and President Donald Trump critics, as well as convicts like Conahan – whose "kids for cash" scandal greatly affected his constituents – and added that the former president may have damaged the pardon process.
"These preemptive actions amount to an implicit admission of wrongdoing," Meuser said of pardons given to Biden family members.
"This sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the long-standing purpose of the presidential pardon power. Historically, pardons have been used to offer clemency or correct injustices—not to shield one's family members from potential accountability before any charges are even brought."
Unfortunately for Biden critics, Meuser said the presidential pardon power is enshrined in Article II of the Constitution, and Congress has no power to intervene or change it.
"While I vehemently disagree with Biden’s decision to preemptively pardon members of his family, the presidential pardon power is established [therein]. That means, absent the ratification of a constitutional amendment, Congress does not have the power to review, alter, or pass legislation limiting a president’s pardon power."
Meuser pointed to the 1974 Supreme Court case Schick v. Reed, which confirmed Congress cannot have a role.
"Nevertheless, our Founding Fathers never could have conceived that a president would pardon a son who broke countless laws and utilized the White House to defraud and leverage millions of dollars in a pay-to-play scheme that also involved other family members."
Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., who flipped Biden’s home district in November, has also expressed concern over Biden’s use of presidential pardons.
"I think what's discouraging is that you heard time and time again along the campaign trail that he wasn't going to do something like this, but I'm certainly not surprised," Bresnahan recently told WBRE.
"I'm sure much of America is not surprised."
While countless Americans who fell victim to those pardoned, including Conahan, may have little recourse, Baker said she is participating in the drafting of legislation in Harrisburg late Friday that will attempt to remove Biden’s likeness from part of his home area.
While the former Spruce Street in Scranton – since renamed Biden Avenue – is city property, Baker said the "President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Expressway" splitting off Interstate 81 into his hometown is within PennDOT’s bounds.
"The reaction has been so strong that many have called for renaming the President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Expressway, which was designated by Scranton City Council in 2021," Baker said.
The lawmaker added Biden’s legacy is forever "stained" by Conahan’s "inexplicable and infamous commutation."
"We owe it to the juvenile victims, their families, and all the believers in equal justice to remove the name of Joe Biden and replace it with someone truly deserving of the honor."
Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., claimed in a post on X that "white supremacy and xenophobia" are the political right's "true religion" and that the values of those on the right do not stem from Christ's life and instruction.
"It's long been known that the true religion of the right is white supremacy and xenophobia. None of their real values are from the life and teachings of the Christ of the Christian Bible..." she wrote in a post on her @SummerForPA account.
Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., fired back at the congresswoman.
"None of us should take lectures from someone who has repeatedly demonstrated antisemitic behavior and is now condemning millions of her fellow citizens who simply want freedom, opportunity and secure borders," he declared in a tweet.
Lee swiftly fired right back at him.
"Senator, I'm condemning those who profess to follow the teachings of Christ but do not love their neighbor or do right unto the least of these. Is that you? When he's hungry, will you feed him or cut SNAP benefits? When he's a stranger, will you invite him in or build a wall?" she replied.
"Trump’s executive orders scapegoat Black + brown communities while his billionaire donors profit off the polluted air, overcrowded detention centers, and prison labor these EOs create. Immigrants aren’t why your wages are low and costs are high—it's the billionaires," she declared in a post on her @RepSummerLee X account.
In her State of the State address Tuesday, New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to lay out her "Cap & Invest" anti-pollution program that critics warn will cause gasoline and utility costs to soar in the already fossil-fuel-averse state.
The plan seeks to reduce emissions by levying companies for their greenhouse gas outputs and investing that money into initiatives like retrofitting buildings to run on green electric power.
A "cap" refers to the limit of greenhouse gas emissions that is imposed by a state. The "cap" is often projected to decrease each year in order to meet climate change prevention goals.
The state then can set up an auction to let energy companies bid on pollution-weight-based "allowances" – the proceeds from which can be invested by the government in "green" initiatives, according to New York Focus.
New York drivers could see more pain at the pump from such a proposal, according to critics like the nonpartisan group Upstate United, which advocates for boosting upstate New York's economy.
The AAA average gas price in New York sits at $3.14/gallon – comparable to most of the surrounding states except Pennsylvania – which usually remains higher than the rest of the Northeast due to its nationally-third-highest gas tax.
A Hochul spokesman told the New York Post that the governor is "focused on lowering the cost of living, putting money back in New Yorkers’ pockets with refunds, tax credits and more."
Since Democrats took the executive reins from term-limited GOP Gov. George Pataki in 2007 and have held them without interruption, the Empire State has progressively restricted energy exploration in the state.
The trend began with Gov. David Paterson’s 2010 "timeout" on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas that effectively remains to this day.
State Sen. Tom O’Mara, R-Elmira, represents a district that sits on part of the Marcellus oil shale formation that remains untouchable under state policy.
Natural gas wells dot the countryside in neighboring Bradford and Tioga counties just to the south in Pennsylvania, but the landscape is clear of any signs of exploration to those traversing NY-17 through New York’s Southern Tier only a few miles away.
On Monday, O’Mara criticized what he called the latest "radical climate mandate" to be handed down:
"Gov. Hochul and the Albany Democrats are going to keep talking about addressing New York's affordability crisis. But it's clear that their actions like Cap and Invest, more aptly called 'Cap and Tax'… will only keep driving this state into the ground economically," he said.
In 2014, O’Mara slammed New York’s original decision to ban fracking in his area, saying it "eviscerates the hope of so many Southern Tier farmers, landowners, businesses and potential jobs in the natural gas industry."
Hochul’s cap-and-tax plan, he said, will only increase the cost of doing business in New York and drive more families and employers out of the state while exacerbating the affordability crisis.
The plan shows the governor is out of touch with New Yorkers, Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay told Fox News Digital.
"The last thing we need is more unworkable environmental policy from Albany that drives costs up and drives residents away. Democrats constantly lecture us about the need for Cap and Invest and other misguided energy policy, but when people are paying more at the pump and can’t afford their heating bills, who benefits?" asked Barclay, R-Oneida.
"It’s our responsibility to make sure New Yorkers have reliable, affordable energy sources – not force consumers to subsidize the green dreams of the liberal environmental lobby."
In 2021, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo successfully shuttered the massive 2,000MW Indian Point nuclear power generation plant on the Hudson River opposite Haverstraw.
Cuomo cited safety concerns at the time and said "it does not belong… in close proximity to the most densely-populated area in the country." Critics responded that that area cited – New York City – relied heavily on the power it generated and complained of increased utility bills.
A 2019 law commits New York to net-zero emissions by 2050, according to The New York Times.
Nationally, "Cap & Trade" first entered the American lexicon during the 2008 presidential campaign, when then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., wooed environmentalists with the idea of taxing entities that release greenhouse gases and affect the atmosphere.
In the 1942 film "Holiday Inn," legendary crooner Bing Crosby describes the stroke of midnight on New Year’s as "one minute to say goodbye before we say hello." In 2025, Americans in several states around the country are "saying hello" to many new laws and changes in tax codes.
In West Virginia, for example, residents saw an automatic 2% personal income tax cut taking effect on New Year's Day.
"If anybody says there’s something [else] that could drive more growth to West Virginia than that, you’re out of your mind," outgoing Republican governor and Sen.-elect Jim Justice quipped of that particular policy change.
However, other states’ residents may face more proverbially "draconian" policies and regulations. Here's a look at some of them.
"Congestion pricing"
The Empire State’s heavily-debated congestion pricing law will take effect on Sunday, Jan. 5.
While Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair Janno Lieber have been supportive of the change, which charges the average driver crossing or entering Manhattan below Central Park a photo-enforced $9 toll, many New Yorkers remain outraged.
"Congestion pricing, the latest in a long string of tyrannical taxes, has been pressed forward through consistent opposition about the burden on New York families and workers," several New York Republican federal lawmakers wrote in a December letter.
Meanwhile, Democrats like State Sen. Andrew Gounardes of Bay Ridge had urged the congestion-pricing plan to begin "immediately, before [Donald] Trump can block it."
Lather up
Visitors to one of the most popular tourism states in the country will no longer be welcomed by travel-sized shampoo and lotion bottles, as they will be prohibited come the New Year.
The Empire State's ban took effect on Jan. 1, while a similar ban in Illinois goes into practice on July 1 for larger hotels and Jan. 1, 2026, for smaller ones.
While many hotels across the country have transitioned to affixing bulk shampoo dispensers into shower walls, many tourists still prefer the tiny bottles.
Tax hikes
California’s SB-951 of 2022 stipulated that workers will have slightly more money withheld from their paychecks in 2025. The state’s disability insurance program rate is to increase from 1.1% to 1.2%.
The average California worker will see $8 less per month in their net pay.
Gas prices
California Republicans estimated that new regulations taking effect in the New Year will cause "major sticker shock" for drivers in the Golden State.
"I’m concerned Californians will … be unprepared for the rapid gas spike in 2025, which could be an additional 90 cents per gallon," said state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones.
The law prohibits schools from enacting policies that require parental notification if their child changes their gender identity.
In December remarks to FOX-11, bill sponsor Assemblyman Chris Ward said "politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety, and dignity of transgender, nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ youth are on the rise nationwide, including in California."
Ward, D-San Diego, said school districts had wrongly adopted policies to "forcibly out" students and that parents should love their children unconditionally in all cases.
Immigrant health insurance coverage requirements
A 2022 bill relating to health insurance coverage for Coloradans regardless of immigration status will take effect next month, according to the Denver Post.
HB-1289 requires the state to provide "full health insurance coverage for Colorado pregnant people who would be eligible for Medicaid and the children's basic health plan (CHIP) if not for their immigration status and continues that coverage for 12 months postpartum at the CHIP federal matching rate," according to the bill text.
Abortion
As of July 2025, Delaware colleges will be required to provide emergency abortion access and contraception or direct the patient to an external facility, according to the Wilmington News-Journal.
A law is also primed to take effect in the First State that mandates insurance coverage and eliminates deductibles for abortion procedures, according to multiple reports.
State Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Blades, ripped the new law after it passed the legislature earlier in 2024.
"This is a procedure you want my tax dollars to pay for. I’m sorry, I think this is evil," he said.
Stop light
Washington, D.C., will institute a ban on right-turns-on-red within District boundaries. The law is a rare regulation in a blanket context, with New York City being one of the few other major cities with a similar law.
Signage denoting the otherwise tacit law is typically posted when entering New York City from highways like Major Deegan or one of the city's many river crossings, but it is often lacking on the hundreds of small streets on the grid that traverse into Westchester or Nassau Counties.
In the same vein, the District of Columbia reportedly lacks funding for signage on most of the streets entering the nation’s capital from Maryland or Virginia, which may or may not affect enforcement, according to reports.
The $385,000 in district funds allocated to notifying residents and drivers of the law was never identified, a DDOT official told WTTG.
Bird watch
D.C.’s Migratory Local Wildlife Protection Act of 2023 imposes a new building restriction as of Jan. 1.
Permit applications or glazing alterations will require bird-friendly materials on exterior walls and fenestration within 100 feet of grade level, according to WTTG.
The district is also one of a handful of places where the sales tax will see an increase. In the capital’s case, it will rise to 6.5%.
Firearms
Minnesota will institute a ban on "binary triggers" on personally owned weapons, according to reports. That is, the function that allows a gun to fire multiple rounds with one press of the trigger.
Vaping ban
The Ocean State is set to enact a ban on sales of and possession-with-intent-to-sell flavored vape products in 2025. The law is currently facing litigation but will be able to preliminarily go into effect, according to the Providence Journal.
Global warming
Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act, which initiates limits on greenhouse gas emissions, will take effect in the New Year.
It requires a 26% reduction in 2025 emissions reduction versus 2005 levels, according to the Vermont Public.
The law, however, also opens the state up to legal action from green groups and more if it fails to reach the required reduction level.
That aspect led Republicans to question the new law. Gov. Phil Scott vetoed the bill in 2020, saying it does not propose or create a good framework for "long-term mitigation and adaptation solutions to address climate change."
Meanwhile, Vermont Republican Party Chair Paul Dame recently said it opens up the state and taxpayers’ money to undue risk from such lawsuits.
"These goals were unattainable given the currently available technology, but now the state is getting dragged in to court for completely avoidable reasons," Dame told Fox News Digital.
No coal in your stocking
Oregon’s HB-4083 will direct the state onto a path toward divesting in coal firms and market instruments that include coal interests.
The laws that weren't
With many states, like those above, enacting tax hikes, new regulations and the like, Republicans in states with divided government are expressing cautious optimism that their trend of bucking liberal legislative interests can continue.
While Vermont’s Scott has seen key vetoes like the Global Warming Solutions Act overridden by the Democrat-dominated legislature, some states have the opposite dynamic where a Republican-majority chamber stymies the goals of Democrats.
With the state Senate in Republican hands, the State House one vote short of a 50-50 split and the governorship held by Democrats, Republicans expressed relief that legislation such as a 100% carbon-neutral 2050 Clean Energy Standard did not make it to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk.
In the gun control realm, both an assault weapons ban and proposed repeal of the state Stand Your Ground Law drafted by state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bristol, died in the legislature.
"It is time we take an evidence-based approach to our gun policy. ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws encourage gun violence. As such, it is time that we repeal ‘Stand Your Ground’ here in Pennsylvania," Santarsiero said in a memo.
Another bill enacting a firearms "Red Flag Law" languished through the legislative term.
A policy that would fund cost-free telephone calls from state prisoners also did not make it through, as did a bid for an "abortion protection package."
Those and several other top-line "draconian" bill failures are a product of GOP persistence, said state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg.
"With a Democrat governor and Democrat House, the state Senate is the last line of reason to prevent Pennsylvania from becoming like California," the 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee told Fox News Digital on Monday.
"There has been a litany of extreme legislation coming from Democrats."
As chair of the Emergency Preparedness committee, Mastriano added that the "most egregious" no-pass in 2024 was legislation to address Pennsylvanian effects from the biohazardous East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.
Mastriano, along with state Sens. Elder Vogel Jr., R-Beaver, and Michele Brooks, R-Pymatuning, drafted legislation in July to exempt disaster relief payments from state taxes in one case.
That bill did not make it out of the legislature.
Republicans in the state also lamented the failure of the latest effort to withdraw Pennsylvania from a national "RGGI" Greenhouse Gas pact entered into by former Gov. Tom Wolf.
"Leaving our environmental and economic destiny to the whims of RGGI’s New England states is just bad policy for Pennsylvania," State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Williamsport, said after the Senate approved the eventually-failed bill.
"It is time to repeal this regulation and focus on putting forth commonsense, environmentally responsible energy policy that recognizes and champions Pennsylvania as an energy producer."
"Pennsylvania’s greatest asset is our ability to produce energy," State Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Latrobe, added in a statement.
Minimum wage hikes are also primed to take effect in several states.
Washington, Connecticut and California are set to see $16 per hour or higher as the minimum wage for most workers. Rhode Island's will rise to $15, Maine's to $14.65, Illinois to $15 and Vermont will go to $14.
More than a dozen states, including Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Utah, Tennessee and Mississippi, retain the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
A Pennsylvania woman was arrested on felony forgery, public records tampering and voter registration-related charges based on allegations she tried to fraudulently register dead people, including her own father, to vote in the 2024 election.
Jennifer Hill, from the Chester area, was arrested Thursday and accused of attempting to add four ineligible individuals to the voter rolls, including her late father.
Delaware County's Democratic district attorney, Jack Stollsteimer, said in public remarks that Hill used an app to register 324 people as a staffer for a group called the New Pennsylvania Project.
Stollsteimer said the Pennsylvania Department of State makes the app available for legal voter registration drives. He said Hill successfully registered 181 people, but 129 other names – which he called a "big number" – were not successful.
"Literally what this woman did was to pad the numbers for her employment. She started registering people that were dead. One of them was her father."
Hill allegedly tried to register a second deceased individual, whom Stollsteimer said Hill knew was dead because they passed away in 2011 in the house she is currently living in.
"She knows that because she was the person who called the police to come when he died in her house."
"She did register a fraudulent person," Stollsteimer said, adding that particular registrant did not vote this year. The fake person’s identity was a portmanteau of her grandmother’s name and a different birthday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In addition, prosecutors charged an 84-year-old man named Philip Moss with voting both in Florida and by mail in Delaware County.
In a statement obtained by Fox News Digital, an executive at the New Pennsylvania Project called the allegations "heartbreaking" and said the group does not provide financial incentives or bonuses for additional voter registrations.
"Our employees have no quota to meet, and hourly wages paid to part-time canvassing employees remain the same no matter the number of voter registration applications collected," Kadida Kenner said.
Kenner added that the Pennsylvania Department of State notified the group about potential issues with a canvasser and the person – believed to be Hill – was immediately suspended.
"Due to the hard work of many individuals to prevent disruptive actions by bad actors, our voting rolls and elections are secure, and no fraudulent ballots were cast," she said.
"As a nonpartisan organization, our year-round voter registration efforts are not directed, in coordination, or aligned with any political party or candidate. Our registration efforts are not and will never be dictated by an election cycle," Kenner went on.
Of the nearly 10,000 applicants the group successfully canvassed for, 48% registered as Democrats, 34% as unaffiliated or third-party and 18% as Republicans.
Hill reportedly faces up to 10 counts for each of the four registrations that led to the indictment by prosecutors in Media.
The Democratic-majority Philadelphia suburb was once more a "swing" county – often voting Democratic on the presidential level while electing state legislative Republicans like then-Senate leader Dominic Pileggi in the 2000s.
But, "Delco," as it is often called, along with neighboring Chester and Montgomery Counties, has swung heavily leftward in the age of Donald Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris won the county with 61% of the vote.
Several Pennsylvania officials, particularly in the Scranton area where President Joe Biden hails from, are calling on the city to undo its 2021 renaming of a freeway spur in his honor.
State Rep. Jamie Walsh, R-Dallas, appeared to lead the charge with a scathing statement highlighting Biden’s recent pardon of a judge convicted in a "kids-for-cash" scandal wherein he received kickbacks for sentencing juveniles to for-profit prisons.
Wilkes-Barre Common Pleas Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella Jr. were convicted in 2008. The former served time in prison, followed by COVID-induced house arrest until Biden’s pardon.
Walsh said some of the children affected had been convicted of minor offenses like jaywalking. The Democratic-majority Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out 4,000 juvenile convictions as a result of the scandal.
"In light of the recent decision made by the Biden administration to commute former Judge Conahan’s sentence, I implore city officials and Mayor [Paige Gebhardt Cognetti] to remove President Joe Biden’s name from the expressway sign that leads to the heart of the ‘Electric City’s’ downtown area."
In 2021, the mayor and city council unanimously approved the rebranding of the three-quarter-mile Central Scranton Expressway spur off Interstate 81 and its continuance via then-Spruce Street through downtown as the "President Biden Expressway" and "Biden Avenue," respectively.
The President Biden Expressway initially serves as a short bypass of PA-307 into the city, and continues as "Biden Ave" toward northbound US-11, which, in-turn, meets the terminus of the colloquial "Route 9" -- the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Northeast Extension.
"The children affected by Conahan’s actions of nearly 15 years ago are now adults suffering in their own ‘mental’ prisons due to his deeds of self-fulfillment," Walsh said in a statement.
"Crimes against children are everlasting, and there is no escape from the irreparable damage these predators caused by their actions."
Walsh argued that the issue is non-partisan but "right versus wrong" and that Biden no longer deserves the commemoration because his pardon "exonerates [Conahan’s] behavior" as a signal to future corrupt public officials.
State Rep-elect. Brenda Pugh, R-Luzerne, told WBRE that Conahan’s conduct is a "blight on Pennsylvania" and that Biden’s pardon is "nothing short of a travesty."
"[H]is clemency is a miscarriage of justice," Pugh said, adding the President Biden Expressway will therefore "forever be a scar reminding people of what happened here [in NEPA]."
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, who was the GOP's 2022 gubernatorial nominee, told Fox News Digital it is embarrassing to see Biden's name while driving up I-81, especially given his choices of pardons.
"He's a failed president who couldn't help himself to pardon his corrupt criminal son from so many illegals schemes. His name is to be off the highway," Mastriano said.
Meanwhile, Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak made his case directly to Cognetti, writing the mayor a letter saying that reverting "Biden Avenue to Spruce Street" would help restore confidence in city leadership and reaffirm a commitment to governing in the best reflection of city values.
"This [pardon] has brought significant negative attention to Scranton, tarnishing the city's reputation and reflecting poorly on Lackawanna County as a whole," Chermak wrote.
In a Friday interview, Cognetti said that Biden’s commutation of Conahan was a "grave error" that freshly opened "deep and horrific" wounds for Scrantonians and NEPA residents.
She echoed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s remark earlier this week that Conahan’s sentence was too light in the first place.
"[The case] was just the stuff that you think a screenwriter couldn't make up -- how systemic and how deep that scandal went," Cognetti said.
She said she had contacted the White House with her concerns and that she was sad to learn Conahan’s commutation is irreversible.
Cognetti noted she is currently mayor in part because of other officials’ public corruption as well.
Predecessor Bill Courtright resigned in July 2019 amid a conviction for bribery, corruption and conspiracy. Courtright’s departure led to two brief interim mayors before Cognetti was elected that November as an independent and, in 2021, as a Democrat.
Cognetti added that the calls to strip Biden’s name from roadways are not new and continue to be mostly grounded in partisanship.
"The president is from here, and there are few communities that can boast of being the hometown of a President of the United States. We will continue to celebrate and be very proud of having a hometown son of Scranton as president."
"The two issues are conflated, I think, for political reasons. And I'd like us to treat these things as what they are. We need to continue to address corruption in government," Cognetti added.
"That’s separate from the president's legacy of 50 years in office and being the most successful son of Scranton."
When recently asked about Biden granting Conahan a pardon, Shapiro said that presidents have the "unique and absolute" power to do so, but should wield it "incredibly carefully."
"I study every single case that comes across my desk where there's a request for a pardon or clemency or worse, or a reduction in sentence. And I take it very seriously," said Shapiro, who previously served as attorney general.
"I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania. This was not only a black eye on the community because of the scandal, but it also affected families in really deep and profound and sad ways," he said.
The hard work and vision of a top policy and advocacy group in the America First movement helped make the difference in the 2024 presidential election, as several of its chairmen prepare to join the new Trump administration, a top official said.
America First Works executive director Ashley Hayek told Fox News in a Monday interview that her group has succeeded in focusing on popular policies from the first Trump administration and bringing those to state governments.
As the 2024 race heated up, Hayek said, America First Works turned to voter turnout as its plan to continue the prevalence of the political movement’s message.
"How do we educate people on these policies even more and mobilize voters?" she recalled asking.
"So we did a major study and analysis of the over 3,100 counties across the country, and we identified 21 key counties that we knew would be really important to be successful. And keep in mind that these are states that some were blue, some were red, some were purple, but some of the states were called in favor of Joe Biden in 2020 by only a 10,000 vote advantage," she said.
The initiative, nicknamed "Project 19" after the original 19 counties it targeted, sought to bring out to the polls low- and no-propensity voters. The latter is largely unique in the campaigning realm: seeking out voters technically considered "active" on state rolls but who have not voted in the past four cycles.
It not only targeted counties in swing states or reliably conservative states, but also in blue states like New York and New Jersey. In the latter, Trump came within four points of flipping it red for the first time this century, while a majority of New York’s counties voted for the Republican but were outweighed by the five boroughs, Erie County (Buffalo) and a couple others.
"I think it's kind of no secret when you look at any of the major media markets and the counties that those touch – look at Phoenix – that's Maricopa County, Las Vegas, it's Clark County, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, these are major urban areas, but they all have collar counties as well that become battlegrounds for both parties."
"And when we were on the ground, we would see, from time to time, Kamala Harris door-knockers, not as often as we thought we would," Hayek said.
The group’s election integrity work led them to target voters in places like Bucks County, Pennsylvania – where the RNC had launched a lawsuit after early voters were turned away from the Doylestown elections office.
"We were able to message directly to voters saying, ‘Hey, stay in line, don't get out of line,'" she said.
"We would call ahead to find out how long the line was for some of our elderly folks who couldn't wait in line that long."
"Those are the types of tactics just making it more accessible to vote. That's what conservatives want to do. We want to make it easier to vote, harder to cheat. That's been our mantra the entire time."
Through its voter outreach operations, Hayek said her group’s canvassers noticed a shift in pro-Harris activity from the Sun Belt to the Rust Belt – noting the latter had been President Biden’s strategy.
Hayek suggested Harris shifted to shoring up areas that had been in Biden’s pocket because her lack of "strategic messaging" was not resonating in those places as his once did.
A California native, Hayek said her group is also very involved in the Golden State despite its blue bent.
"I do think you're seeing more of a cultural shift. I do think that we're going to have to do things at a more local level in the state of California, and we're going to have to start working together in a lot better ways," she said.
With crime and taxation continuing to plague the elector-rich state, Hayek said she hopes to see America First Works’ work there continue to make inroads, similar to how former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., got relatively close to unseating Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York by focusing on issues and eschewing hyper-partisanship.
America First Works’ partner group, America First Policy Institute, has since seen at least four of its leaders tapped for roles in the new administration, including Zeldin.
Co-founders Brooke Rollins and Linda McMahon are agriculture and education secretary-designates, respectively, while Zeldin and fellow co-chairman ex-Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., are also primed for White House roles in 2025.
"I think this is a really exciting time not just for America First Works, but for all Americans," Hayek said.
"And one of the things that was really important to us was having conversations with voters… so we made sure to collect information about what policies people cared about the most: is it the economy, is it the border, is it education? So to be able to continue those conversations throughout 2025, 2026 and beyond is going to be really important for this movement."
Fox News Digital's Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.
A top Team Trump official disclosed the moment that "really set the campaign on a trajectory to victory" – the day President-elect Donald Trump arrived in Columbiana County, Ohio, to survey the East Palestine train derailment.
"The ripples from that day do not get enough attention," White House communications director-designate Steven Cheung said on X, formerly Twitter, in retweeting an op-ed making that assertion.
In February 2023, a Norfolk-Southern train hauling caustic industrial chemicals – including vinyl chloride – derailed in a small community near the Pennsylvania border, causing immediate chaos and long-lasting, widespread damage to the region.
A controlled burn held shortly after the derailment released toxic phosgene into the air.
On February 23 – Ash Wednesday – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, hosted Trump at the site, where the former and future president highlighted Americans "forgotten" by President Joe Biden – who had not yet shown up and would not visit for several more months.
The Republican mogul handed out "Trump"-branded water and met with local officials. Meanwhile, officials in both Ohio and Pennsylvania were also visibly working to hold the railroad accountable.
Zito wrote that Trump’s arrival had happened at a political nadir for the Republican, following the 2022 midterm losses and amid a then-close presidential primary race with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
She noted in a tweet that it was Vance – his future running mate – who brought him to the site.
Trump’s mantra of "you are not forgotten" to Rust Belt residents too often forgotten by Washington helped change minds in the area, Zito wrote, quoting a local resident who said she had "switched parties because of the way he spoke directly to the concerns."
"I have voted for him both times since then," the woman, who owns an East Palestine farm, said.
Trump told residents that day that "in too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal."
The disparity between Trump’s eagerness to "show up" and Biden’s apparent putting-off of a visit to East Palestine helped turn the tide in the Republican’s favor, the column continued.
"100%," Cheung wrote in his tweet.
Trump’s former running mate, Mike Pence, also called out Biden at the time, saying he was "AWOL" and remarking to Fox News that the Delaware Democrat’s policies had "derailed the economy of East Palestine long before that train came through."
On the Pennsylvania side of the line, both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his then-former gubernatorial opponent, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, also responded quickly to the derailment.
Shapiro lodged a criminal referral at the time, and Mastriano led hearings that hosted affected residents along the Ohio border wherein Norfolk-Southern CEO Alan Shaw notably no-showed.
"It is very disheartening to hear that these alleged delays and botched response approaches took place – especially since those in East Palestine, Ohio, and areas in my district here in Pennsylvania have been dealing with the aftermath of this derailment for over a year now," state Sen. Elder Vogel Jr. told Fox News Digital at the time, after a whistleblower had spoken out about alleged mistakes from Biden’s EPA response – which the agency disputed.
President Biden has sparked anger among Pennsylvanians after he commuted the sentence of a corrupt judge who was jailed for more than 17 years after he was caught taking kickbacks for sending juveniles to for-profit detention facilities.
In what came to be known as the kids-for-cash scandal, former Judge Michael Conahan shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and shared $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit lockups. Another judge, Mark Ciavarella, was also involved in the illicit scheme, the effects of which are still felt today among victims and families.
The scandal is considered Pennsylvania’s largest-ever judicial corruption scheme with the state's supreme court throwing out some 4,000 juvenile convictions involving more than 2,300 kids after the scheme was uncovered.
Conahan, 72, pleaded guilty in 2010 to one count of racketeering conspiracy but was released from prison to home confinement in 2020 because of COVID-19 health concerns with six years left in his sentence.
But Biden, the so-called favorite son of Scranton, commuted Conahan's sentence Thursday as part of the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history in which he commuted jail sentences for nearly 1,500 people and granted 39 pardons.
"My Administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances," the president said.
Sandy Fonzo, who once confronted Ciavarella outside federal court after her son was placed in juvenile detention and committed suicide, said that the president’s actions were an "injustice" and "deeply painful."
"I am shocked and I am hurt," Fonzo said in a statement, per The Citizens Voice. "Conahan‘s actions destroyed families, including mine, and my son’s death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power. This pardon feels like an injustice for all of us who still suffer. Right now I am processing and doing the best I can to cope with the pain that this has brought back."
The decision has raised questions as to why Biden would choose to commute the sentence of a judge who is detested in the area.
Fox News has reached out to the White House for comment but has not received a response.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said that he opposed the president's actions and insisted that the judge should have been given a longer prison sentence given the damage he inflicted on families.
"I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in Northeastern Pennsylvania," Shapiro said at a press conference in Scranton Friday while adding he was not privy to all the information about the decision.
"This was not only a black eye on the community, the kids for cash scandal, but it also affected families in really deep and profound and sad ways. Some children took their lives because of this. Families were torn apart. There was all kinds of mental health issues and anguish that came as a result of these corrupt judges deciding they wanted to make a buck off a kid's back."
"Frankly, I thought the sentence that the judge got was too light, and the fact that he's been allowed out over the last years because of COVID, was on house arrest and now has been granted clemency, I think, is absolutely wrong. He should have been in prison for at least the 17 years that he was sentenced to by a jury of his peers. He deserves to be behind bars, not walking as a free man."
The scheme began in 2002 when Conahan shut down the state juvenile detention center and used money from the Luzerne County budget to fund a multimillion-dollar lease for the private facilities.
Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, pushed a zero-tolerance policy that guaranteed large numbers of kids would be sent to PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care.
Ciavarella ordered children as young as 8 years old to detention, many of them first-time offenders deemed delinquent for petty theft, jaywalking, truancy, smoking on school grounds and other minor infractions. The judge often ordered youths he had found delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away without giving them a chance to put up a defense or even say goodbye to their families.
In 2022, both Conahan and Ciavarella were ordered to pay more than $200 million to nearly 300 people they victimized, although it's unlikely the now-adult victims will see even a fraction of the damages award.
During the case, one victim described how he shook uncontrollably during a routine traffic stop — a consequence of the traumatizing impact of his childhood detention — and had to show his mental health records in court to "explain why my behavior was so erratic."
Several of the childhood victims who were part of the lawsuit when it began in 2009 have since died from overdoses or suicide, prosecutors said.
The scheme, per The Citizens Voice, involved former Pennsylvania attorney Robert Powell paying Ciavarella and Conahan $770,000, who in turn funneled juvenile defendants to two private, for-profit detention centers Powell partly owned.
Powell served an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to felony counts of failing to report a felony and being an accessory to a conspiracy.
Real estate developer Robert K. Mericle paid the judges $2.1 million and was later charged with failing to disclose to investigators and a grand jury that he knew the judges were defrauding the government. Mericle served one year in federal prison, per The Citizens Voice.
Ciavarella is serving a 28-year prison sentence on honest services mail fraud charges, per the publication.
Fox News' Matt Finn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: A Pennsylvania congressman fired off a scathing letter overnight to the University of Pennsylvania’s president demanding the firing of a left-wing professor whose social media posts lauded Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
In his letter, GOP Rep. Dan Meuser called for Cinema & Media Studies professor Julia Alekseyeva’s firing and noted the university had just finished weathering another scandal relating to its soft response to antisemitic and pro-Hamas protests.
Alekseyeva made her online accounts private this week after blowback for saying – among other things – that she is proud to be a UPenn Quaker like the accused killer. Thompson's murder sparked a left-wing outcry depicting a simmering anger toward the insurance industry that led to online celebrations in other quarters.
Alekseyeva posted a TikTok video of herself smiling as "Do You Hear The People Sing?" from the French musical "Les Miserables" played. The play tells the story of a peasant imprisoned for stealing food and his ensuing quest for redemption.
"I am writing to express my profound concern regarding the recent actions of Assistant Professor Julia Alekseyeva… which appear to celebrate the alleged actions of Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the tragic murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson," Meuser wrote to UPenn interim President J. Larry Jameson.
Meuser noted Alekseyeva proudly connected Mangione to the University City, West Philadelphia school and that she had labeled him "the icon we all need and deserve."
The educator, who was reportedly born in the Ukrainian USSR and moved with her family to Chicago in the 1990s, also refers to herself as a "socialist and ardent anti-fascist" on her website.
Meuser, seen as a potential top contender in the 2026 gubernatorial contest against Democrat Josh Shapiro, called Alekseyeva’s behavior "outrageous" and said it violates the "basic ideals of a civilized society."
In exclusive comments to Fox News Digital, Meuser said it is unacceptable for any educator to glorify acts of violence, especially at a high-level institution like UPenn.
"These actions undermine the core values of higher education and threaten the trust placed in our academic institutions," Meuser said.
The lawmaker, who represents the Coal Region and part of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, said he is a fan of the Quakers but expects answers from Jameson in order to ensure further federal support for the school.
"Your response will dictate how my colleagues and I support allocating future federal funding for research at the University of Pennsylvania," he wrote in the letter, calculating $936 million in federal research grants in 2023.
"[This] forces Congress to question whether safeguards are in place to ensure that faculty conduct reflects the ethical and professional standards in line with the University’s reputation as a center of excellence and thought leadership."
He also asked Jameson whether Alekseyeva was found to have used university property in making her pronouncements, whether other faculty made similar gestures of support for Mangione and what other steps are being taken to prevent such scandals in the future.
The school has until the end of the year to respond, he said.
Fox News Digital reached out to UPenn for comment.
The school’s deputy dean of its Arts & Sciences school said in a Wednesday statement the university is aware of concerns over Alekseyeva’s posts and that they are "antithetical to the values" of UPenn.
"Upon reflection, Assistant Professor Alekseyeva has concurred that the comments were insensitive and inappropriate and has retracted them. We welcome this correction and regret any dismay or concern this may have caused," Dean Jeffrey Kallberg said, according to the New York Post.
Mangione, a member of a large and well-connected Baltimore family, was captured following a tip from a customer visiting a McDonald's off Interstate 99 in Blair County, Pa.
Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a blistering condemnation of the suspect accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in cold blood.
Shapiro railed against the suspect, 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione, in remarks at a Monday press conference after Mangione was apprehended at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
"The suspect here is a coward, not a hero," Shapiro said.
The governor spoke out against "vigilante justice" and rebuked those who have praised the slaying of Thompson "in some dark corners" of the internet.
Mangione, a 26-year-old software developer, was taken into custody by rookie Altoona Police Officer Tyler Frye after an employee and a customer at the McDonald's recognized the suspect from wanted posters.
When officers approached Mangione – who was wearing a mask and a beanie and working on a laptop in the back of the restaurant – and asked him to remove his face covering, they recognized him as the suspect wanted for questioning in Thompson's murder.
During that encounter, he allegedly handed over a fake ID, gave a phony name and "became quiet and started to shake" when asked if he had recently been to New York.
He was also allegedly in possession of writings criticizing the healthcare industry, and a ghost gun similar to the one believed to have been used to kill Thompson.
Altoona police initially took Mangione into custody on charges unrelated to Thompson's murder – possession of an unlicensed firearm, providing false identification to police and forgery.
He has since been charged with murder in New York, according to online court records.
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
Roughly 2½ years after former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a bill to restrict transgender athletes in girls and women's sports, Republican leaders in the state are making another push to do so.
Penn Live reported Friday that conservative senators in the state are pushing the new "Save Women's Sports Act" among numerous bills introduced in Harrisburg this week.
Every female member of the Senate GOP signed a memo that stated an intention to reintroduce the bill.
"It’s imperative that we protect the opportunity for female athletes to compete on the athletic field in a fair and equal manner," the senators wrote in this week’s memo.
"Allowing a biological male to compete on a women’s scholastic athletic team puts all women on the playing field at an automatic disadvantage."
In 2022, Wolf called barring biological male athletes from female sports discriminatory against "marginalized youth."
"I have been crystal clear during my time in office that hate has no place in Pennsylvania, especially discrimination against already marginalized youth representing less than half of 1% of Pennsylvania’s population," Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement after he vetoed the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act."
Wolf added lawmakers who voted for the bill "should be ashamed of themselves" for supporting what he called "incredibly harmful" policy.
Wolf left office Jan. 17, 2023, and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Josh Shapiro.
The veto of the bill came months after biological male Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania won an NCAA Division I title. Riley Gaines, who swam against Thomas, has since become a leading voice of keeping female sports female.
Half of U.S. states have restrictions on transgender athletes in female sports.
President-elect Trump has said he would move to prohibit transgender girls and women from competing against biological females.
There is a battle in Minnesota's Supreme Court involving transgender powerlifter JayCee Cooper, who was banned from female competitions by USA Powerlifting.
Cooper sued USA Powerlifting in 2021 after being rejected from the women's team three years earlier. In the complaint, Cooper alleged the organization violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination against people "having or being perceived as having a self-image or identity not traditionally associated with one's biological maleness or femaleness."
After appeals, it was eventually ruled the federation did not discriminate against Cooper.
Rep.-elect Ryan Mackenzie, R-Penn., says entering office is like a "whirlwind" as Republican leadership prepare the freshman class of lawmakers to hit the ground running in January.
Mackenzie, who ousted Democratic incumbent Rep. Susan Wild to gain his seat, told Fox News Digital in an interview that his experience from multiple terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has proven invaluable in these opening weeks.
Incoming House members of both parties – this cycle it's 57 new members – visit Washington barely a week after winning their elections for a freshman orientation that Mackenzie says makes it seem "just like it's any other job."
"You go through ethics training, HR training, cybersecurity training to make sure that you're gonna protect your information and the data that is so critical and sensitive for ourselves and our constituents and everybody else," Mackenzie said.
Mackenzie said new lawmakers also have to get up to speed on legislation passing through Congress or legislation that soon will be, all while setting up and staffing their Capitol Hill offices.
"Some people have called it that you're building a small business when you're running a congressional staff and office networked across your district and in Washington, D.C., but you're building that in a very short period of time," he said.
Mackenzie also offered a look at the Republican game plan for when they take over Congress in January, saying the party is set to be far more effective than the opening months of the first Trump administration.
Republican lawmakers heard from both their congressional leadership and President-elect Trump about what the party's priorities will be come January.
"With the House, the Senate and the White House all lined up, we have a great opportunity, but it's still incredibly difficult to get things done," Mackenzie said, noting that lawmakers have to come to an agreement on the specific solutions to the campaign issues they ran on, namely lowering the cost of living and stemming the flow of illegal immigration.
"I feel very confident that we're going to hit the ground running in those first 30–100 days in Congress," he said. "It's not going to be like it was the first time when Donald Trump came into office and people were maybe shocked and didn't really have their act together. It's much different this time around."
Mackenzie went on to argue that handling the issues of cost of living and illegal immigration "go hand-in-hand in a lot of ways." He stated that mass illegal immigration drives up the cost of housing and health care. He nevertheless noted that lowering costs was consistently the top priority for voters in polls, followed closely by the border crisis.
"We need to make sure we're addressing these things in tandem," he said. "It's about how can we best get both of these things actually across the goal line and through a House, a Senate and signed into law by the president."
The 2024 election cycle was rife with repeated legal battles to protect the voting processes from left-wing attorneys leveraging the courts to strip election safeguards, the chief of an election integrity nonprofit who saw a string of legal wins told Fox News Digital.
"They've been selling American people a lie," Restoring Integrity & Trust in Elections (RITE) President Derek Lyons told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview, referring to left-wing efforts to undermine election laws. "And I think that these past two election cycles, where people have said ‘No, voting is very easy and millions, hundreds of millions of people have been doing it,’ have shown that what they're doing is misleading, at the very least."
RITE is a non-profit organization founded in 2022 following voters’ concern over the security of the 2020 election during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group was co-founded by Fox News contributor Karl Rove and includes board members such as former Attorney General Bill Barr and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy. The organization hit the ground running in 2022 to ensure its "mission of protecting the rule of law in the qualifications for, administration of, and tabulation of voting in the United States," according to the group’s website.
Lyons spoke to Fox News Digital just less than a month after Election Day, when he took a victory lap for his team’s battles against efforts to reportedly undermine election integrity, detailing the top legal tactics left-wing activists took during the election season.
Lyons, an attorney and former White House staff secretary and counselor to the president under President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, explained that Democrat activists were hyper-focused throughout the election on decrying efforts put forth by state legislatures to ensure safe elections, such as voter ID laws, frequently claiming such a policy would disenfranchise voters.
"The main thing they do is anytime anybody puts up any sort of election integrity measure, whether that's voter I.D., voter photo I.D., whether that's rationalization of cure periods – the ability of people to fix errors in their ballots sort of after the election – ballot receipt deadlines, so that we can know the result of the election quickly … they attack it and say, this is disenfranchising," he said.
"'This makes voting harder … this takes away people's right to vote.' …. They invoke federal voting rights laws that were meant to prevent the worst abuses of Jim Crow. They're sort of shameless about it. They'll throw any, any tactic at it," he explained of Democratic efforts to change voting laws.
When groups such as RITE step in to challenge claims that such voting laws are legal and protect elections from illegal activity, Lyons said left-wing activists slam them in court as holding no standing.
"They try to kick us out on procedural grounds because, ultimately, a lot of times they don't want to defend the merits of what election administrators are trying to do."
Lyons pointed to a successful case in Wisconsin back in 2022 when RITE challenged state officials from enabling what he called "re-voting" procedures, which entailed absentee voters who already submitted their ballots changing their votes mid-election. RITE challenged the practice and won to ensure that once a ballot is mailed, it cannot be changed.
"We were able to win that case on the grounds that once a ballot is put into the mail, received by the election officials, that's the end of that person's vote. There's no fishing ballots back out and putting them back in, etc. Which obviously creates a risk of errors and double voting and all sorts of other problems. And so they tried to kick us out on standing. We were able to defeat that and secure that victory in Wisconsin," he said.
Pennsylvania was again the premier battleground state this year, with both Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris and a bevy of their respective surrogates criss-crossing the state to rally support ahead of Election Day. For RITE, the group has filed and taken part in 10 different election cases since 2022, including a case revolving around potential double votes.
"In Philadelphia, we just got them to admit that they had planned to eliminate a crucial check against double voting to make sure that people weren't both voting in the mail and in person. So we had that in place for both elections [the 2022 midterms and 2024 election] to prevent that type of double voting, which does happen in Allegheny County," he said of the double vote case.
Lyons also celebrated a win in a case he described as the "crown jewel" of Pennsylvania: ensuring undated and incorrectly dated mail-in ballots were not counted in the official tally.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in September that mail-in ballots without the correct dates on ballot envelopes cannot be counted in elections.
The ruling gained widespread attention following Nov. 5, when Democratic-led election boards bucked the state high court's ruling and voted to include such ballots in a recount concerning longtime Democratic Sen. Bob Casey’s race against Sen.-elect Dave McCormick. Democrats in the state openly defied the ruling before the state Supreme Court ordered counties to not include undated ballots, and Democrats walked back their decision.
"We took it to state court and got a declaration that this had to be done under state law," Lyons said of RITE’s battle against Democratic activists over undated ballot envelopes. "They ran to federal court and said federal law prevents this. We won that case. They took it to the Court of Appeals. Democrat judges disagreed with them and said the date requirement does not violate federal law. They went back to state court and said, ‘well, this violates the state constitution.’ That case was procedurally improper. That case was thrown out. And then they tried to bring some other little case that nobody was paying attention to and use that case to revolutionize the way election administration was done in Pennsylvania. And finally, the state Supreme Court, to its great credit, said enough."
In Arizona, RITE had another win when it led a coalition of groups against a ballot initiative all the way through the Arizona Supreme Court that Lyons said would have expanded ballot harvesting.
"One of our first engagements that we're very proud of was, we quickly led a coalition of like-minded groups to litigate against a ballot initiative that was pending … in Arizona that would have eliminated things like precinct voting, would have expanded opportunities for ballot harvesting. It would have prevented efforts to keep noncitizens off the voter rolls and a host of other, I think, really bad rules for elections," he said.
"We were able to invalidate hundreds of thousands of signatures that the left, the liberal organizations that were pursuing this initiative had, quote unquote, gathered. We invalidated them. We litigated the case up to the Arizona Supreme Court. It actually went back a couple of times. And in the end, that ballot initiative was not approved. And so that meant that the 2022 election, but I think more importantly the 2024 election in Arizona, was not infected by ballot harvesting."
When asked if Democrat activists essentially cried uncle amid the avalanche of election lawsuits, Lyons pointed to Democratic Party elections attorney Marc Elias and a case originating out of Ohio as his "favorite" example of defeat over liberal attorneys.
"Marc Elias went to Ohio. Ohio passed a very sensible voter photo ID law. He started out the year in 2024 boasting and proclaiming to all who would listen on Twitter and in the media, that if Ohio passed this law, it will be sued and the law will be struck down. So he went to Ohio, and he did file that lawsuit. He followed through on his threat."
"We showed up, and we defended that lawsuit. We defended against that lawsuit alongside the state. And the victory was complete and total. A Democrat judge appointed by President Clinton, I believe, threw out his entire case, said 'you have not proven at all that there's even a remote chance that any voters are disenfranchised or burdened by this law. Case dismissed. Final judgment.' [Elias] didn't even appeal that case. Didn't even bother to try to take it up to the courts of appeals," he recounted.
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the voter ID bill into law in January 2023, which mandated voters provide a driver’s license, state ID, passport or military ID when casting a ballot, instead of previous forms of identification such as a bank statement.
Democrats and some residents in the state dubbed it one of the most restrictive ID policies in the nation and the "worst anti-voter" bill, arguing it would disenfranchise lower-income voters who have suspended licenses or lacked the required documentation. The Ohio Secretary of State office found over the summer that more than 8,000 voters who tried to cast ballots since the law's passage were not included in final vote tallies as they lacked the proper identification, USA Today previously reported.
Republicans have defended the law as "an elementary precaution to protect the voting process," citing that Americans cannot board a plane or buy alcohol without the same requirement.
Concerns over election integrity have been brewing for years and were underscored during the 2020 election as voters hunkered down amid stay-at-home orders, and mail-in and absentee ballot voting grew. Heading into the 2024 election, a poll from January found 46% of registered Republicans said they had no confidence ballots would be accurately counted and reported, Fox Digital previously reported. On the other hand, 81% of registered Democrats reported in the poll they are "very" confident the 2024 elections would be "fair."
Polls focused on specific measures touted by Republicans and conservatives to ensure safe elections have received widespread support across the board. A Gallup Poll released days ahead of Election Day found that 84% of respondents favored requiring voters to provide a photo ID, while 83% said they support providing proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time. The poll noted that voter attitudes toward these issues were similar to those seen in its July 2022 poll.
"Voter photo ID is supported by something like 80% of the country. The notion that this is somehow unconstitutional has been rejected time and time and time again," Lyons said.
Looking toward future elections, Lyons said RITE will focus on election laws surrounding left-wing efforts to "normalize" noncitizen votes in blue states before such efforts seep into red states, as well as continuing their efforts on voter ID laws, enhancing the integrity of signature matching requirements, and unraveling what Lyons said was left-wing "lies" surrounding claims of disenfranchised voters over practices such as voter ID laws.
"I think our organization was able to do and to plug into a much broader coalition of of groups ,who really care about what I call the crown jewel of the United States of America, which is our elections. That's the key. It's the foundation of our self-government. And I think today we can believe, and we can have confidence, and we can be proud of the fact that they're a little more secure today than they were two years ago and four years ago," he said.
The House task force on the two assassination attempts of President-elect Trump will gather for its final hearing Thursday ahead of the release of its highly anticipated report.
U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Director Ronald Rowe will testify before lawmakers. Task force members will then huddle behind closed doors to consider their final report.
Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., said the hearing was about restoring confidence in federal law enforcement.
"What we’re working on more than anything else is the public has to know what happened that day because there’s still a lot of confusion about it," Kelly told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
"When we look at Secret Service, that’s always the elite of the elite. So, I think what we’re trying to do is establish the situation where … we can restore that confidence."
Trump held a rally in Kelly’s district July 13, when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire on the event from just outside its security perimeter, injuring Trump and others. One rally attendee was killed.
Later in September, USSS agents opened fire on a 58-year-old man who had a rifle aimed at Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, golf course where the president-elect was out for the day.
The incidents prompted heavy scrutiny of the USSS and its security practices and led to the ouster of USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle.
And while Kelly admitted he "would have rather had" Cheatle testify before his task force, he praised Rowe’s handling of the situation since succeeding her.
"From the very start, he said, ‘Look, it was entirely our fault. This is the worst state the Secret Service has ever had,’" he said.
Kelly said he anticipated the final report being released around Dec. 13, the task force’s "due date" for producing the results of its investigation.
The panel released an interim report in late October detailing "a lack of planning and coordination between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners before the rally."
USSS personnel at the event "did not give clear guidance" to state and local authorities about how to manage security outside their hard perimeter, nor was there a central meeting between USSS and the law enforcement agencies supporting them the morning of the rally, according to findings presented as key failures in the 51-page report.
Voters in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District gave six-term incumbent Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., the boot last month in favor of a young, energetic and successful businessman who says he's ready to defend their interests in the nation's capital.
Republican Rep.-elect Rob Bresnahan, 34, tells Fox News Digital in an interview that "kitchen table issues" helped him connect with northeastern Pennsylvanians and oust Cartwright, a progressive who had served in Congress for more than a decade.
"When we were knocking on doors and talking to people every single day over a period of 13 months, the first thing anyone had to say was, ‘I can’t afford my bills. I can't afford rent. I can't afford my mortgage. I can't afford school property taxes. I can't afford groceries,'" Bresnahan said.
Rising prices for food and gas have made living costs unaffordable for Pennsylvanians, he explained. And as voters have watched illegal immigrants overrun the southern border and be provided free food, housing and benefits, while billions in foreign aid flows out from the U.S. to other countries, they felt that foreigners were being treated better than Americans by their government, said Bresnahan.
"We're looking around at our neighbors saying, ‘hey, what about us here?’ And they couldn't help but feel that they have been put second for a long time."
Bresnahan was a success story before he won election to the House of Representatives. A fifth-generation native of Luzerne County, at just 19 years old he was entrusted to be CFO of his grandfather's construction company, which builds electrical infrastructure for municipalities and highways throughout Pennsylvania.
He spent his college years at the University of Scranton dashing back and forth between the office and class as he worked to help the business recover from the global financial crisis. His hard work paid off, the business grew and Bresnahan became CEO after graduating in 2013.
"I was still living at home with my parents and I was in and out of a dorm room and running a company with 58 employees even though I couldn’t legally drink a Coors Light yet," he told the Citizen's Voice in 2021. "The combination was a heavy workload but it was a sacrifice that I would make again in a second."
But as the years passed, Bresnahan, like many Americans, felt the country was headed on the wrong track. The decisions coming from Washington, D.C., were bad for his business, his employees and the people they serve. And so, he decided to enter politics to make a difference.
"I felt that the country was not heading in the right trajectory with what is happening on our southern border. We had life essentially unaffordable for the average person. And I've always been a person to roll up my sleeves and throw myself into fire," Bresnahan said.
His winning congressional campaign focused on securing the border, cutting taxes and trimming government spending, creating "family-sustaining jobs" in the Keystone State and supporting law enforcement. In April, Bresnahan received an endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump.
"A successful Businessman, Rob has worked hard to Create Jobs and Grow the Economy, unlike his opponent, Matt Cartwright, who is completely beholden to Nancy Pelosi and the Radical Left," Trump posted on Truth Social.
With the campaign behind him, Bresnahan says he and the other members of the incoming Republican majority in Congress are ready to hit the ground running with a pro-growth agenda in January.
"Securing the border. That needs to be done day one, Jan. 3 at 12:01 p.m., the day after we are all sworn in," he told Fox News Digital. "I think there's going to be a big playbook, but that is a tangible win right off the bat."
On inflation, Bresnahan says Congress and the Trump administration can tackle unaffordable prices by lowering energy costs. "Talking about just Pennsylvania alone, 52% of homes are heated from natural gas. $45 billion a year are generated from the natural gas industry, and $76 billion in GDP comes out of the fracking and natural gas industry," he said, insisting that policymakers must stop "vilifying natural resources."
The rising national debt, at $36 trillion, is another burden on the economy Bresnahan says Congress must address. "We're spending more on debt servicing – just our national debt and the interest – than we are on our national defense budget."
The young lawmaker said there will be "tough votes" on discretionary spending when Congress convenes in January. But two of the largest contributors to the federal debt and deficit will remain untouched.
"Obviously, we can't cut Medicare. We can't cut Social Security. We have to preserve that for our current generation, and we have to find ways to preserve it for our generation and the next generation. But I don't believe that there's a one-size-fits-all policy on any circumstance, let alone the national debt and the expenditures of the federal government," Bresnahan said.
However, he added that illegal immigrants should not benefit from programs that Americans have paid in to, including Social Security and Medicare.
Republicans are expected to extend the 2017 tax cuts that became law during Trump's first term in office. Bresnahan says he supports those tax cuts and insists that economic growth spurred by deregulation and investments in infrastructure and American jobs can make up for any potential revenue losses.
"We have to get people back to work," he said. "We have to create economic climates that are conducive to the American people to incentivize them to go to work."
Part of that is to support jobs that don't require a college degree, such as carpenters, plumbers or electricians. "These are great, family-sustaining careers with annuities starting on day one, with health insurance for your family, and you're earning while you learn."
Turning to foreign policy, Bresnahan said the United States must remain a global superpower and pursue "peace through strength."
"But we have to be strong as the United States," he added. Asked about growing GOP opposition to foreign aid, including to Ukraine, Bresnahan emphasized that he supports efforts to push back against Russian aggression – but he wants to do so responsibly.
"Putin is a war criminal and needs to be stopped," he said. "I am all supportive of providing weapons, missiles, rockets – actually, there's a big manufacturing facility inside of my district. But where I do want accountability is the raw, hard dollars that have been sent. I want audits done on those to ensure they're going to the right causes."
Echoing Trump's beliefs about putting America first, Bresnahan said there is a point where "enough is enough" and that Europe has to match U.S. contributions to foreign aid.
"Again, I'm looking at, you know, 25% of my bridges are structurally deficient. We have aging infrastructure levees that protect over $1 trillion of property here in the United States. You're talking about power distribution grids that haven't been re-invested in since the 1950s with 50 years of usable life. And, you know, we were without power for multiple days now, going on which could possibly be a week (Editor's note: A blizzard in Breshanan's district had postponed this interview). Europe didn't come and send over trucks to help us rebuild our grids."
"Ukraine obviously has a lot going on, but we need to take care of our own people. We have to take care of our own Americans. And I believe Donald Trump had that narrative and that's why he just won an election in a landslide, because it's about us," he added.
Bresnahan hopes to bring "common sense" solutions to the complex problems facing Americans. He has pledged to work with whomever has a good idea, Republican or Democrat, and has earned endorsements from both No Labels and the moderate Problem Solvers Caucus. Though he calls himself a "fiscal conservative," he rejects political labels because "I don't think confirmation bias is the right way to solve any issue."
"I believe most challenges can be overcome through healthy and solid debate," he added.
And what about those issues that inflame passions on both sides? Before this interview, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., made national headlines after she put forward a resolution that would bar Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., a transgender lawmaker who is biologically male, from using the women's bathrooms in the Capitol.
Bresnahan said that while he believes biological men should not play in women's sports or use their facilities, the flare up between Mace and McBride distracts from other important issues facing Americans – like crumbling infrastructure and expensive living costs.
"I don't want the 119th Congress to be hijacked by what bathrooms we should be using when we have been elected to provide real solutions for the real American people. And that's what I'm going down to Washington, D.C. to do."
Fox News Digital's Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., acknowledged that Democrats had a major problem when it came to border security, resulting in Republicans securing control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.
Fetterman did not pull punches in reflecting on his party during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."
"Well, one area where we kind of lost ourselves was the border," the Democratic senator stated. "And I've been on this network, you know, months, months ago saying, 'Hey, you know, it can't be controversial for our party to have pro-immigration, but we need a secure border.' And when we ask or demand people to not believe what they see, and see those kind of numbers, that that's not a problem. It's like, well, then you lose about that 100%,"
"I've tried to describe – you have up to 300,000 people – encounters – per month. And I put that in perspective with Pennsylvania. I'm like, that's the size of Pittsburgh showing up in one month," Fetterman told host Gillian Turner. "It's like, what's going to happen for those folks? If we want them [to have] the American Dream for those people, how can we possibly deliver that? Where do they go? And we can't pretend that that's not a significant issue. And we got to address that."
Democrats have traditionally defined themselves as the anti-war party, but Fetterman seemed to suggest it lost its footing when progressives grew critical of Israel's war against Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7 attacks. Fetterman said Israel's effort against Hamas and Ukraine's fight against Russia are two "just" wars that remain ongoing.
In regard to Israel, Fetterman said he "never supported a cease-fire, and that was the right thing."
"I said I was going to follow Israel. And since they refused to have that cease-fire, they have eliminated and broken Hamas, and Hezbollah, Hezbollah was supposed to be like the ultimate bada-- in the Middle East, and now they were a bunch of Keystone Cops, and Iran has just been exposed, as you know, they really can't fight about anything. So that's been a significant development here," Fetterman said.
"And with respect to Ukraine, Ukraine was invaded, and for me, for me, it's about standing on the side of democracy," he continued. "And I was very supportive about that aid. And I don't understand if the other side would stop delivering that kind of aid. That's a disagreement, but I've been very, very clear supporting Israel and Ukraine."
Turner noted that President-elect Trump's transition team has touted their foreign policy and national security team as the most pro-Israel in American history. That includes Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tapped to become secretary of state, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., nominated for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Huckabee, chosen as U.S. ambassador to Israel, and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., as national security adviser.
"In terms of the incoming administration, I actually like what I see in terms of being very, very strong pro-Israel," Fetterman said, adding that Israel has made "magnificent kinds of progress… generating longer term peace by destroying Hamas, Hezbollah, and demonstrating that Iran, really, doesn’t have the kind of capability to deliver any kinds of damage."
He indicated he would support Rubio, and potentially Dr. Mehmet Oz, who Fetterman defeated during a contentious Senate race.
Fetterman said on Sunday that he knows "it got kinda ugly" in his race against Oz, but he "doesn't have any kind of bitterness" and "is open to dialogue," adding, "I'm not sure why that's controversial."
"I'm not going to pre-hate. I'm not going to pre-hate a lot of these things, and I'm not going to pre-hate this," Fetterman said. "I'm going to have an open conversation for anyone, that I'm open to having part of that conversation."
Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. Bob Casey on Thursday announced he has conceded the race to Republican candidate Dave McCormick more than two weeks after Election Day.
Casey said in a statement that he called McCormick to congratulate him. McCormick's campaign also independently confirmed the news to Fox News Digital.
"I just called Dave McCormick to congratulate him on his election to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate," Casey said in the statement. "As the first count of ballots is completed, Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard, whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last."
"This race was one of the closest in our Commonwealth’s history, decided by less than a quarter of a point. I am grateful to the thousands of people who worked to make sure every eligible vote cast could be counted, including election officials in all 67 counties."
The Pennsylvania State Department said Friday that it halted the commonwealth-wide recount that began Monday "because Sen. Casey withdrew and continuing the recount would not be in the best interest of taxpayers."
The department on Thursday confirmed that all counties "have completed their initial count of all votes cast, with the exception of ballots under challenge."
"This is a major step that marks the end of counties’ initial counting processes and signals that counties begin preparing their results for official certification. Thousands of election professionals have been working tirelessly since Nov. 5 to ensure every eligible vote cast by a registered voter is counted accurately. All of Pennsylvania’s election officials deserve our thanks, as well as our continued support while they complete their duties with integrity," the message said.
The news comes after McCormick edged out Casey by just 17,000 votes to win the Senate seat, according to the most recent unofficial data from the Department of State – putting Casey well within the 0.5% margin of error required under Pennsylvania law to trigger an automatic recount.
That was slated to end Nov. 26.
The Republican Party blasted Democrats this week for Casey's refusal to concede the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, taking aim at the three-term incumbent for moving ahead with a costly recount effort, despite their assessment that Casey lacked any achievable path to victory.
They also criticized the cost, noting that the recount would cost taxpayers an estimated $1 million.
In his statement Thursday, Casey praised the democratic process and voters who turned out in the Keystone State.
"When a Pennsylvanian takes the time to cast a legal vote, often waiting in long lines and taking time away from their work and family, they deserve to know that their vote will count," Casey said. "That’s democracy."
Later Thursday, Casey took to X to thank his supporters.
"During my time in office, I have been guided by an inscription on the Finance Building in Harrisburg: ‘All public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor.’"
He added: "Thank you for your trust in me all these years, Pennsylvania. It has been the honor of my lifetime."
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said the news "hits me."
"It’s been a supreme honor to have Bob Casey as a colleague, friend, and mentor," Fetterman said in a statement. "His legacy is a better Pennsylvania. Unassuming while delivering for PA for nearly two decades, he fought for working Pennsylvanians and unions, rural communities, seniors and people with disabilities—all of us. Bob Casey was, is, and always will be Pennsylvania’s best senator."
EDITOR'S NOTE: This report has been updated to note that the Pennsylvania department of state instructed elections officials to stop the recount Thursday night.
