WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday announced plans to speed up the use of infrastructure law funds to replace lead pipes in underserved communities, with a focus on Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin beginning this year.

The four states, each led by Democratic governors, will be part of what’s called the Lead Service Replacement Accelerators program in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Labor.

The administration characterized it as a way to “drive progress” in using the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding dedicated to removing and replacing lead lines that carry drinking water to homes and schools. Exposure to lead in drinking water, particularly in children or pregnant women, can cause lasting neurological damage.

“​​Our Lead Service Line Replacement Accelerators demonstrate our commitment to ensuring every community has access to safe, clean drinking water,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement Friday.

“By leveraging the historic investment made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are moving one step closer to achieving President Biden’s vision of 100% lead-free water systems for all.”



https://michiganadvance.com/2023/01/27/white-house-launches-new-push-to-help-states-remove-lead-pipes-that-carry-drinking-water/

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is set to step into a larger role on the House Oversight Committee this Congress, perhaps even its No. 2 Democratic spot.

An elevation to the vice ranking member position, while it’s not yet final, would give the well-known third-term progressive Democrat a high-profile perch to tangle with Republicans on a laundry list of controversial investigations they’re planning — on topics ranging from Hunter Biden’s business dealings to the southern border to GOP efforts to probe the “origins” of the coronavirus.

“There’s been conversations, but nothing’s been finalized,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a brief interview Friday when asked about her interest in the party’s No. 2 position on the panel, which is sparking open discussion among her fellow Democratic lawmakers.

Should Ocasio-Cortez become vice ranking member, she’s also likely to take on more responsibility in helming Democrats’ messaging and strategy on a panel that’s stocked with some of the House GOP’s most rhetorically rowdy conservatives, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). That’s in part due to the cancer treatment that Oversight’s current ranking member, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is currently undergoing.


https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/27/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-could-become-number-two-democrat-on-oversight-panel-00079938

Matt Gergely is a dedicated public servant born and raised in Allegheny County. While working for the city of McKeesport and its local school district, Matt secured critical infrastructure improvements and provided loans to help struggling small businesses reopen their doors. Matt’s election to the House would secure the Democratic majority and allow him to advocate for Pennsylvania’s students and small business owners.





https://dlcc.org/candidates/matt-gergely/

Abigail Salisbury wants to be the first Jewish representative in Pennsylvania’s 34th District.

Salisbury is the Democratic candidate running against Republican Robert Pagane, a retired police officer from Wilkins Township, for the commonwealth’s House of Representatives seat vacated by Summer Lee. Lee was elected on Nov. 8 to represent Pennsylvania newly created 12th Congressional District in Washington, D.C.

The 34th District, which abuts Squirrel Hill, encompasses several eastern suburbs, including Wilkinsburg, Swissvale, Forest Hills, Churchill, Braddock, North Braddock and Wilkins Township.

Salisbury is a Swissvale resident who currently serves on the borough’s council as chair of community initiatives. An attorney, in 2015 she started a reduced-cost law practice catering to nonprofits and small businesses struggling to find affordable legal advice.



https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/jewish-candidate-runs-for-summer-lees-vacant-pa-house-seat/

Residents of Oakmont, Verona and most of Plum will vote for a new state representative on Feb. 7.

The special election for the 32nd state House district is one of three scheduled for that day in Allegheny County. The others are for the 34th and 35th districts.

Only residents registered to vote in those districts will participate in the elections. Information on the elections is available online.

A special election is being held in the 32nd District because of the death of state Rep. Tony DeLuca, D-Penn Hills, who was 85 when he died in October from lymphoma.

Despite his death, DeLuca’s name remained on November ballots because it was too late to change them. He won by a more than 6-to-1 margin over Green Party candidate Queonia “Zarah” Livingston; there was no Republican candidate.

In addition to all of Oakmont and Verona and part of Plum, the 32nd District includes all of Penn Hills. About 46,400 voters are registered in the district, according to Allegheny County.



https://triblive.com/local/penn-hills/voters-to-select-successor-to-state-rep-deluca-in-upcoming-special-election/

In September 2020, George Santos’ congressional campaign reported that Victoria and Jonathan Regor had each contributed $2,800—the maximum amount—to his first bid for a House seat. Their listed address was 45 New Mexico Street in Jackson Township, New Jersey.

A search of various databases reveals no one in the United States named Victoria or Jonathan Regor. Moreover, there is nobody by any name living at 45 New Mexico Street in Jackson. That address doesn’t exist. There is a New Mexico Street in Jackson, but the numbers end in the 20s, according to Google Maps and a resident of the street.

Santos’ 2020 campaign finance reports also list a donor named Stephen Berger as a $2,500 donor and said he was a retiree who lived on Brandt Road in Brawley, California. But a spokesperson for William Brandt, a prominent rancher and Republican donor, tells Mother Jones that Brandt has lived at that address for at least 20 years and “neither he or his wife (the only other occupant [at the Brandt Road home]) have made any donations to George Santos. He does not know Stephen Berger nor has Stephen Berger ever lived at…Brandt Road.”

The Regor and Berger contributions are among more than a dozen major donations to the 2020 Santos campaign for which the name or the address of the donor cannot be confirmed, a Mother Jones investigation found. A separate $2,800 donation was attributed in Santos’ reports filed with the Federal Election Commission to a friend of Santos who says he did not give the money.

Under federal campaign finance law, it is illegal to donate money using a false name or the name of someone else. “It’s called a contribution in the name of another,” says Saurav Ghosh, the director for federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group. “It’s something that is explicitly prohibited under federal law.”



https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/01/we-tried-to-call-the-top-donors-to-george-santos-2020-campaign-many-dont-seem-to-exist/

I saw the taser at the beginning and heard Mr. Nichols' screams, but the body cam footage was blurry.

The Justice Department has asked the Federal Election Commission to hold off on any enforcement action against George Santos, the Republican congressman from New York who lied about key aspects of his biography, as prosecutors conduct a parallel criminal probe, according to two people familiar with the request.

The request, which came from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, is the clearest sign to date that federal prosecutors are examining Santos’s campaign finances.

The Justice Department request also asked that the FEC provide any relevant documents to the Justice Department, according to the knowledgeable people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. An FEC spokeswoman said the regulator “cannot comment on enforcement.” Neither Santos nor his attorney responded to requests for comment.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/01/27/santos-doj-investigation-fec/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert

MADISON, Wis. — In her own words, Jennifer Dorow disclosed her extremism in opposition to abortion care this week, praising the judicial activism by the U.S Supreme Court striking down a constitutional right to abortion care during an appearance on right wing talk radio.

“Jennifer Dorow, in her own words, showed us her extremism on the issue of abortion this week. She straight up said she supports the right wing judicial activism that’s taken away the right to abortion care under the U.S Constitution and is allowing the enforcement of an 1849 criminal abortion ban in Wisconsin,” said A Better Wisconsin Together Executive Director Chris Walloch.

In an interview with a right wing radio host on Tuesday, Dorow was asked if she agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that reverses fifty years of precedent by striking down the ruling in Roe v. Wade that established a constitutional right to abortion care.

Dorow said in response:

“I think it’s really important for Justices to have courage and to be able to look back at prior decisions, especially for U.S. Supreme Court and say our prior decisions got it wrong. And they got it wrong … And so I do agree with the decision of the US Supreme Court …”




https://abetterwisconsin.org/jennifer-dorow-endorses-court-decision-ending-constitutional-right-to-abortion-care-pledges-support-of-anti-abortion-legislative-agenda/

https://twitter.com/Jodi4Senate/status/1619113299064549377?s=20&t=NUeDXDCiGBvoqJzS_W8svw