News & Politics

This week’s headlines: Wolf sues over abortion measure and GOP leaders call for a tuition freeze

A roundup of the week’s political news.

Gov. Tom Wolf at a press conference about abortion access

Gov. Tom Wolf at a press conference about abortion access Commonwealth Media Services

It was a week of lawsuits, letters and Little Steven – with Pennsylvania’s political power players focused on everything from protecting abortion access to trolling political opponents. 

Education was also in the spotlight this week, with Republican officials pressuring university leaders to relent on plans to raise tuition costs as students and families alike struggle with inflation. For more of the week’s top stories in Pennsylvania government and politics, keep reading. 

Tom Wolf sues over abortion measure

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration filed a lawsuit on Thursday asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to invalidate a set of proposed amendments to the state constitution that would establish universal voter ID, mandate post-election audits and declare that there is no right to an abortion in Pennsylvania. Wolf’s administration makes a number of legal arguments in the filing, but stresses that the proposed amendment pertaining to abortion violates the state constitution’s right to privacy. “The robust and sacrosanct rights enshrined in Article I, § 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution include the indefeasible liberty right to control one’s body and reproductive life and the right to decide whether to parent,” the filing reads. Wolf is asking the court to use its King’s Bench powers to take quick action on his suit. 

GOP leaders call for tuition freeze at state-related universities

Republican leaders in the General Assembly made their stance clear this week on recent tuition increases at state-related universities. After officials at Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh and Temple University voted to raise tuition, citing inflation-related cost increases, leaders in the state House and state Senate urged university leaders to rethink the tuition increases at their respective schools. State Sen. Doug Mastriano was first, telling university leaders that “Pennsylvania’s families simply cannot afford a tuition hike in addition to the rising costs in other parts of the economy.” He noted that each state-related university received an increase in funding thanks to federal relief money. House GOP leaders followed suit: “We encourage each of you to freeze already-announced plans to increase tuition at your institutions or stop consideration of tuition increases,” they wrote in a joint letter

Steven Van Zandt joins in on Senate race trolling

Steven Van Zandt, a musician and actor known for his work with Bruce Springsteen and The Sopranos, made a surprising video calling out Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz this week. In the video, which was promoted by Democrat John Fetterman’s campaign, Van Zandt questioned why Oz was running in Pennsylvania, citing the celebrity doctor’s New Jersey roots. “What are you doing in Pennsylvania?” Van Zandt asked. “Everybody knows you live in New Jersey and are just using your in-laws’ address over there. You do not want to mess with John Fetterman, trust me. He’s a little out of your league.” Fetterman has received national attention for his frequent trolling of Oz on social media, and that strategy doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon. 

Report claims Doug Mastriano was “point person” in alternate electors plan

Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano is facing new questions over his role in an effort to appoint a slate of alternate, or fake, Electoral College electors after former President Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential election defeat, with Mastriano reportedly serving as the Trump campaign’s “point person” in Pennsylvania, according to a report this week from The New York Times. The report said that Mastriano allegedly needed convincing to go along with the plan, with a former employee of One America News Network saying that electors, including Mastriano, “want to be reassured” that the process was legal.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.