Campaign slogans aside, we can probably all agree that it’s been a very strange year in politics, especially in Pennsylvania, the swingiest of states. Before we look ahead to 2025, let’s take a look at how politics and politicians in Pennsylvania have gotten a little (or a lot) weird in 2024.
As unlikely as it may seem, President-elect Donald Trump actually took the stage at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia in February to unveil the official sneaker: gold high-tops with an American flag logo, available for pre-order for $399 (narrow to three pairs per client). Reporter John Cole had to convince his editor that it wasn’t a social media prank, and ended up getting a front-row seat despite little notice from the campaign about where and how to catch Trump.
Trump admitted that the sneakerhead audience is “a little bit different than what I’m used to,” but also said that launching a shoe line was something he’s wanted to do “for a long time.” He didn’t wear shoes on stage. What we found is further proof that politics makes for strange bedfellows according to reports along with the Federal Election Commission, the Sneaker Con CEO has donated to Trump’s 2024 campaign and a Trump-affiliated PAC, though in relatively compact amounts.
During a February budget hearing, the head of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) talked about the agency tracking UFO sightings, much to the surprise of committee chairman Jordan Harris. It took some time to receive them, but senior reporter Peter Hall located sighting records that showed PEMA had investigated more than a dozen incidents over the past decade.
Records show sightings included mysterious lights following a driver down a murky country road, a saucer-shaped craft hovering over a suburban neighborhood, and a flaming ball falling into the forest. Many incidents are reported to Stan Gordon, a Westmoreland County resident who runs the business 24/7 hotline to report UFOs, Bigfoot and Cryptidswho stated that the line “never stopped ringing” since the 1965 Kecksburg UFO incident.
“We have always approached these cases with a very open mind,” Gordon told the Capital-Star. “We approach them scientifically.”
Mold in a government office doesn’t seem like a situation that would require a whistleblower, but here we are. An employee at Rep. Eric Davanzo’s (R-Westmoreland) district office in West Newton complained about a foul odor and purchased mold tests. It didn’t end well when the tests came back positive and she was later released. She brought a wrongful termination claim and the Commonwealth Court ruled she could bring a whistleblower claim to court.
First, if you want to try to change the weather in Pennsylvania, you need a license, but since the law went into effect in 1967, no one has applied for one (we asked).
But state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), a former GOP candidate for governor, says recent technology and the proliferation of weather modification patents “owned by a combination of federal government agencies, non-governmental organizations and large multinational corporations” have highlighted the need for updates Pennsylvania law. He wrote a memo seeking a co-sponsor for the legislation he plans to introduce.
The legislation would prohibit the release of substances within Pennsylvania’s borders that could affect temperature, weather or sunlight intensity, and appears to be rooted in the false belief that contrails left by high-flying planes are actually traces of chemicals – or chemtrails – emitted by government for nefarious reasons, which has been linked to researched techniques for reducing the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the atmosphere.
It’s not often that you get the opportunity to write a story with so much potential to utilize the phrase “red wave.” Unfortunately, this occurred to our lead author much later (which, really, is probably for the best). In June, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (Clinton) opposed a bill to create a subsidy program that would make pads and tampons free for public school students. She did not like that the bill’s co-sponsorship memo called menstruating women “people” and stated that the bill was “another step by the governor and Democrats to have the government provide you with everything that leads to communism.”
One of the bill’s main sponsors, Rep. Darisha Parker (R-Philadelphia), said the bill would “restore dignity to those women and girls who have gone without support for too long.”
The bill passed the House by A by a vote of 117 to 85. It didn’t pass in the Senate.
