News & Brews October 3, 2024
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Harris, Trump ‘deadlocked in every battleground state’
Well, the latest polls show the same thing most recent polls have shown: pretty much nothing decisive. VP Kamala Harris and former President Trump are neck-and-neck in every battleground state, including our all-important Pennsylvania. POLITICO reports that in every swing state, the statistical dead-heat is pretty much unchanged since mid-August.
Casey & McCormick to debate tonight
Incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and GOP challenger Dave McCormick will meet tonight in their first of two scheduled debates, as polls consistently show Casey ahead but with a tightening margin. The debate is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. and will be moderated by ABC27’s Dennis Owens. Click here for info on how to watch.
Who’s behind the port strike?
As dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas remain on strike, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board gives a little exposé of Harold Daggett, the head of the International Longshoremen’s Association who’s responsible for the strike and boasted that he would “cripple” the U.S. economy. “While presenting himself as a man of the people,” the ed board writes, “the union chief made more than $900,000 last year. The New York Times reported in 2017 that he owned a 76-foot yacht and rode around in a Bentley luxury car.” What’s more, “Mr. Daggett is demanding $69 an hour [for union workers]. In 2010 he said longshoremen should make more than $400,000. Some now do with overtime.” Yet, “U.S. ports rank among the least efficient in the world.”
Most of SEPTA board members don’t ride SEPTA
Philly’s mass transit system doesn’t have the best reputation. Many folks are concerned over safety. And officials are constantly begging for more tax dollars to prop the system up. Now it turns out that even the people who oversee the system rarely use it. The Daily Pennsylvanian reported a few weeks ago that per records obtained via Right-to-Know request, “Most of SEPTA’s board never uses the system or averages less than one trip per month…. Nine out of 14 board members — including SEPTA Board vice chair and Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz — averaged less than one trip on SEPTA per month over the past 18 months. Four board members have taken no trips in that period.”
Trump to return to Butler County on Saturday
With former President Trump scheduled to return Saturday to the site of the first assassination attempt against him, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly is working “to help make certain the grave security failures of July 13 are not repeated.” Kelly—whose hometown is Butler—chairs the U.S. House task force investigating the assassination attempt. The Post-Gazette reports that Kelly “was on the site Tuesday and is likely to be again before Saturday.” And Trump has “suggested he’ll start his speech Saturday with, ‘As I was saying …’ alluding to how he was interrupted by a bullet grazing his ear before he ducked and Secret Service agents swarmed him and rushed him off the stage.”