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⭐ A BIG WEEK
We've been challenged to raise $125,000 for Spotlight PA by Dec. 31, and if we do it, the Lenfest Insitute for Journalism will DOUBLE it. That means your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar.
This is a critically important week in our end-of-year campaign. Can you make it a success by giving generously to Spotlight PA now?
Thank you!!
— Colin Deppen, PA Post editor |
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A daily newsletter by  |
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| Election pre-bunking, voter FAQs, misdated ballots, political universe, newly abandoned, Great ReAwakening, and Philly's double whammy. It's Monday. |
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Pennsylvania is a pivotal swing state and once again it's awash in misinformation ahead of an important election.
Spotlight PA is debunking some of the most persistent and pernicious claims being made ahead of this week's midterm election.
One is the idea that Pennsylvania’s voting machines are connected to the internet and therefore vulnerable to malicious hacking. That’s not true. Local election officials have confirmed that the machines they currently use are not, and never will be, connected to the internet.
Pennsylvania also requires voter-verifiable paper records.
Read the full report here: The top 4 false or misleading claims being pushed ahead of Pa.’s 2022 election.
MORE COVERAGE: When polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, a nearly three-week process to finalize and certify results will begin, a period in which candidates could lodge objections to certain votes and spark protracted legal fights that would draw out a normally routine process.
Votebeat explains how disputes over vote certification could play out in Pennsylvania counties after the 2022 election.
And finally, more than 1.4 million people in Pennsylvania requested to vote by mail for the Nov. 8 election, but county officials don’t expect it to take several days to complete the count like in 2020 when the slow pace was used to cast unfounded doubt on the integrity of the results.
Spotlight PA breaks down what that means for midterm results. |
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NOTABLE / QUOTABLE
"I'm not a fan of his. However, I do not hold him accountable for a lot of the outcomes of these cases, and a lack of arrests."
—Terrez McCleary of Mothers Bonded By Grief discussing how Philadelphians working to end gun violence feel about the push to impeach DA Krasner
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This is Spotlight PA's most important fundraising campaign of the year to sustain our nonpartisan, independent investigative journalism in 2023.
If we raise $125,000 by Dec. 31, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism will DOUBLE it. That means your gift will be matched dollar for dollar, making your end-of-year generosity and impact go twice as far, and for a vital cause.
Make a tax-deductible gift now »
Thanks to the 15 people who gave this past weekend, including Linda T., who said, "I love the information you provide! Journalism at its best!" Join Linda and give now » |
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| The view from The Pinnacle along the Appalachian Trail in Berks County, via Leo K. Now a request: We want to see (and share) your mail ballot selfies and other voting pics. Email your Decision 2022 photos to us here, use #PAGems on Instagram, or tag us @spotlightpennsylvania. |
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 VOTING GUIDE: Voters will head to the polls tomorrow to pick a new governor and U.S. senator, as well as representatives to the U.S. House and lawmakers to serve in Pennsylvania's General Assembly. The winners will shape the future of abortion access, energy production, and more. Spotlight PA has all the info you need for Election Day 2022 and answers to frequently asked questions.
 SCOPA CONTEXT: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has followed up its guidance on undated and incorrectly dated ballots with a new order that some lawyers think could ultimately help get the latter ballots counted, The Inquirer (paywall) reports. The justices clarified what they meant when they ordered wrongly dated mail ballots be rejected. Meanwhile, a new lawsuit was filed in federal court on the issue.
 KEY STATE: Three presidents — Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump — descended on Pennsylvania over the weekend, underscoring the stakes of one of the nation’s most closely watched U.S. Senate races. But there are other considerations, CNN adds, as Trump prepares to announce a third presidential bid, which he teased in Latrobe on Saturday, and Biden’s aides eye a reelection bid.
 ORPHAN WELLS: E&E News reports that as Pennsylvania prepares to tap millions of federal dollars to plug hundreds of abandoned oil and gas wells, a source of greenhouse gas emissions, drillers this year have already tried to walk away from hundreds more. The outlet says "this potential new wave of abandoned wells highlights the hydra-like nature of well abandonment in the state."
 TENT REVIVAL: HuffPost reporter Christopher Mathias has published a first-person piece on the Great ReAwakening tour's recent stop in Lancaster County, saying the "traveling far-right roadshow and neo-Charismatic Christian revival" would be "easy to dismiss as fringe if it weren’t regularly attracting thousands of people." GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano was slated to speak but didn't. |
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BAD NEWS: The Phillies lost the World Series to Houston over the weekend, the same day the city's pro soccer team lost the MLS Cup. The result? This unfortunate distinction, via Yahoo! Sports.
ART SHOW: New York Times critic Will Heinrich said this year's Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, the longest-running international art show in North America, is a discomfiting deluge — and maybe that's as it should be.
22 TONS: The record-setting 2019 seizure of 22 tons of cocaine at a port in Philadelphia was international news. Last week, former heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic was charged with overseeing the smuggling operation.
WAR ON BUGS: Pittsburgh author Damon Young writes in The Washington Post Magazine that he let a spotted lanternfly go and lived to regret it. "I hoped my magnanimity would lead to positive karma." It did not.
NO VOTES: Home Depot workers at a store in Philadelphia have voted 165 to 51 against forming a union, one of the company's first. Organizers allege management used union-busting tactics, via WHYY. |
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Unscramble and send your answer to scrambler@spotlightpa.org. We'll shout out winners here, and one each week will get some Spotlight PA swag. Answers submitted by 6 p.m. on issue date will be counted. Y O T E D N R C S I U
Friday's answer: Conglomerate
Congrats to our weekly winner: Jon W.
Congrats to our daily winners: Craig W., Don H., Barbara F., Susan N.-Z., Susan D., Chuck M., Judy M., Elaine C., Steve D., Al M., Tish M., Marty M., Kimberly D., George S., Jane R., Eddy Z., John P., Daniel M., James B., Dianne K., Wendy A., Connie K., Bill S., Becky C., David W., John A., and Stanley J. |
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