☀️ It’s the first Monday in October. A day of reflection on the horrors and lasting effects on October 7, 2023.
Weather in Pennsylvania
☁️ Erie | Mostly dull, 62
🌤️ State Higher School | Partly shining, 63
🌤️ Wilkes-Barre | Partly shining, 67
Sports PA
⚾ Phillies (1-1) | NY Mets 7-6 | Tuesday vs. NY Mets
🏈 Pennsylvania State (5-0) | UCLA 27-11 | Saturday vs. USC
🏈 Pitt (5-0) | North Carolina 34-24 | Saturday vs. California
🏈 Temple (1-5) | Connecticut 20-29 | Oct. 19 vs. Tulsa
🏈 Steelers (3-2) | Dallas 17-20 | Sun vs. Las Vegas
⚽ Union (9-10-14) | Columbus 2-3 | October 19 vs. Cincinnati
🗣️ What we hear. Defense The Vote (DTV) was approved today Ashley Ehasz to the House of Representatives for its commitment to protecting our freedoms and democracy from MAGA extremism.
🗣️ What we hear II. Local Voices, a Democratic PAC founded by the filmmaker Lee Hirschruns a political campaign featuring seven voters from local, rural and suburban areas of Pennsylvania in a series of unscripted testimonial ads targeting 17 Pennsylvania counties in October on Fox and Newsmax.
🎂 Happy birthday. Cake and candles for Representative Scott Conklin.
📊 PoliticsPA Poll Tracker (average of the last 5 PA polls)
President: Harris +0.8% | Senate: Casey +4.6%
🗞️ Political news from the Swing State. Where can you find the latest information on political events in the Keystone State? Sign up for the PoliticsPA Guide. We will bring you all the latest headlines in an easy-to-read format every day at 8am. And it’s free. Add your name to the list and sign up now.
The most crucial story
1. One year after the October 7 massacre, Jewish anxiety in Pennsylvania is at its peak
“On Wednesday evening, as Rosh Hashanah began in Pittsburgh’s largely Jewish Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Rabbi Daniel Fellman he approached the pulpit of Temple Sinai and lamented, “Our American Jewish community cries in despair.”
“A person seeking the highest office in the land can use the most vile, vulgar and hateful language, day after day,” he told his congregation. No names were needed.
In Pennsylvania, the intensity of the political season – now overlapping with the High Holidays – has only intensified these anxieties, as Jewish voters in this hotly contested battleground state are wooed by leaders of both political parties while being repelled by elements of both parties within them.” (New York Times)
Elsewhere
“I’ve never prayed like this”: The world changed on October 7, and so did Rona Kaufman. “When Hamas militants attacked Israel a year ago, Rona Kaufman immediately feared for her daughter, Naomi Kitchen. Kitchen traded Pittsburgh for Israel in 2021. Now, as a 21-year-old Israeli soldier, she found herself 9,000 km from home, helping to fend off an armed incursion on a West Bank base.” (Greensburg Tribune Review)
How October 7 changed Washington forever. “One year has passed since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7. In this brutal terrorist rampage, more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and hundreds more were held hostage. More than 40 Americans have been killed and four remain hostages. The aftershocks of October 7 penetrated much deeper into the fabric of American society than anyone could have predicted.” (Punchbowl News)
How the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has changed college campuses in Pittsburgh and across the country. “College seems to be different for Ben Koby than it was a year ago. There is a lack of trust between peers, said Mr. Koby, a Jewish student at Carnegie Mellon University.” (Pittsburgh Postal Newspaper)
Country
2. Pennsylvania is crucial to the presidency. The country is stressed
“Pennsylvania is a must-win state Kamala Harris AND Donald Trump. It is also ground zero for disputes over election rules and for skeptics who continue to question the legality of the 2020 presidential election results.
With this mix, state officials, campaigns and voters are preparing for a charged and potentially long battle over who will be crowned the winner in the Keystone State.” (Wall Street Journal)
Elsewhere
Trump returns to Butler County and appeals to voters to turn out. “Former President Donald Trump returned Saturday to the Butler Farm Show grounds where a would-be assassin tried to shoot him during an earlier rally this summer.” (New news about the castle)
NBC’s Kornacki: Big shift toward Trump in ‘Pennsylvania’s Latino Belt’. “On Sunday on ‘Meet The Press,’ NBC elections analyst Steve Kornacki reviewed some voter registration data and demographic polls in Pennsylvania, which sounds like pretty good news for the Trump campaign.” (Real clear policy)
Stark contrasts mark the race between Stacy Garrity and Erin McClelland in the race for PA treasurer. “The election contest for state treasurer – a largely behind-the-scenes but influential position in Harrisburg – is characterized by a stark contrast between an incumbent Republican candidate with a track record and a Democratic candidate who defeated an incumbent state veteran in her party’s primary.” (Pittsburgh Postal Newspaper)
AP Senate Democrats think they can tie the vote in the House for the first time in 30 years. Republicans don’t buy it. “Although control of the state House will be up for grabs again this year – House Democrats have just one majority – the state Senate remains an uphill battle for Democrats. ”(Questioner from Philadelphia)
Around the Republic of Poland
3. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court refuses to rule on absentee ballots before the election
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to step in and immediately decide mail-in voting issues in the commonwealth when early voting had already begun weeks before the November 5 election.
The Commonwealth’s Supreme Court on Saturday evening rejected a request by voting rights and left-wing groups to prohibit counties from throwing out mail-in ballots that are missing a handwritten date or have the incorrect date on the return envelope, citing previous rulings that showed the risks. confusing voters so close to the election.” (AP)
Elsewhere
Bucks County, the last purple stretch of Philadelphia’s suburbs, could tip the scales in favor of Trump or Harris – and they know it. “This really is the key to Keystone,” said the chairman of the Bucks County Democratic Party. “If Vice President Harris does well here, it will help her win the state. And we are perfectly aware of that.” (Questioner from Philadelphia)
Vance biography ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ references some rural AP voters: ‘He speaks for me’. “J.D. Vance’s rural working-class upbringing, described in his best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, fits perfectly into the life experiences of large swaths of small towns in Pennsylvania. Or maybe so? (PennLive)
The Republicans’ strangely uneven Senate spending map. “The distribution of advertising spending for GOP Senate candidates is very unequal, with a huge portion of it concentrated in Pennsylvania.” (POLICY)
If you make a mistake on your absentee ballot, York County will not warn you or allow you to correct it. “The report shows that York County is one of at least 16 counties across the state that does not notify voters of the error or give them a chance to correct it. If voters themselves find out that they have made a disqualifying error, they may cast a provisional vote at the ballot box.” (York daily record)
House of Representatives Announcements
- PA-13. What voters should know about Pennsylvania state representative John Lawrence and Democratic challenger Cristian Luna. (WHY)
- PA-131. State Rep. Milou Mackenzie Challenger wants “better and more compassionate” decisions in Harrisburg. (LehighValleyNews.com)
Editorial
4. What do you mean
- One year after 10/7: a day of unspeakable sadness and 12 months of unrelenting war. (Questioner from Philadelphia)
- Same budget, different day: Administrator Gainey continues to hide city finances. (Pittsburgh Postal Newspaper)
- The only freedom that matters to today’s Republicans is the right to lie. (Will Bunch)
- Latino voters could provide Harris or Trump with a margin of victory in Pennsylvania. (A. K. Sandoval-Strauss)
- Fighting anti-Semitism and supporting Israel in the year starting October 7. (Jeff Bartos)
- A Jewish woman in the suburbs of Philadelphia – a year later. (Amanda Greenberg)
- People are integral to election integrity. (Greensburg Tribune Review)
- The Amish are the most reliable Republican group in the country. (Jack Brubaker)
1 item
5. PA Fall Foliage Report
“Pennsylvania has a longer and more diverse fall foliage season than any other state in the country – or anywhere in the world.
Only three regions of the world have deciduous forests that show autumn color:
- Eastern North America
- British Isles and parts of north-west Europe
- Northeast China and Northern Japan”
Here’s this week’s leaf report. (DCNR)
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