Politics/government editor for WESA-FM. Post-Post-Gazette, recovering City Paper editor. Dogs talk, and I listen. Too young to die, too old to pray.
Oct 20 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Hahahaha oh my god.
Yea, verily, let us give thanks for the godly rallygoers of Latrobe, piously gathered with heads bowed in reverence to hear the Republican nominee talk about Arnold Palmer's johnson.
Mar 5, 2023 • 36 tweets • 7 min read
I am here at the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsement on the South Side and let me tell you: John Weinstein ain't playing. Giant RV (apparently on loan from Futules' Harmar House) AND a golf cart to tote committee people who could use a ride.
Not to be outdone, the Michael Lamb truck is doing orbits outside the IBEW local #5 hall.
Nov 9, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
And just like that, Allegheny County has posted its mail-in totals!
Should go without saying, but the mail-in voting population in Allegheny County is heavvvvvilllly Democratic.
Nov 7, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
🚨🚨🚨Heads up if you voted by mail: Allegheny County has posted lists of mail-in votes with either improper or no dates. If your name, or the name of someone you know, is on the lists, the ballots will have to be cured to be counted.
alleghenycounty.us/elections/inco…
If your name is on one of these lists, you can vote provisionally at your polling place on Tuesday. OR you can go to 3rd floor of County Office Building Downtown tomorrow (8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) or Tuesday (during voting hours) to "cure" it. You'll need a photo ID!!
Nov 6, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Hanging on the South Side this morning, where Summer Lee is doing a canvas launch with Bernie Sanders for a final push into Tuesday
Lee: "It's going to be worth standing up for the least of these in a country where they are constantly under attack."
May 18, 2022 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Gonna do a little explainer thread here about the "memory stick" issue that is going to delay Allegheny County's final vote tallies for a few days:
As we saw last night, the county's current election tally does not include the election day vote in 31 precincts, out of more than 1300 in the county. Which precincts? you ask? The ones colored yellow on this page: results.enr.clarityelections.com/PA/Allegheny/1…
May 17, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
This is your obligatory "IT'S DOWN TO THE WIRE FOLKS" 7:58 p.m. tweet.
POLLS ARE CLOSED. County reports that there have been 90,909 mail-in and absentee ballots have been scanned. Roughly 1,000 additional mail-in ballots were brought to the County Office Building by voters who requested but didn't mail them.
May 17, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Summer Lee at Mayor Ed Gainey's polling place. Notes she couldn't vote for herself in Congress because new district lines put her JUST outside district 12 (She is eligible to run and serve.) Says race is, among other things, a chance to reject negative ads by outside superPAC.
Those ads, paid for by a PAC tied to a hawkish pro-Israel group, have been widely criticized and become a defining feature of this race -- and of some others across the country. My story about them here: wesa.fm/politics-gover…
May 17, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Conor Lamb meets with reporters outside his Mt. Lebanon polling place. 'The Democratic Party is going to have to think very very hard about how it will succeed" in a tough election year he says.
(Lamb already voted by mail, btw, so he is just here for us.)
Mar 4, 2021 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
I was out on a walk this morning when it occurred to me that Star Trek: The Next Generation never worked through the implications of its own technology when it comes to the replicator. (A thread.)
So the replicator, for those who never saw or have forgotten the show, is like every household appliance you need in one. It is capable of producing, on demand, any sort of food you want. Served on flatware, to boot. You see it every time Captain Picard wants Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
Mar 1, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
OK, so over the weekend some of us reporters got a screen shot of this Facebook photo, showing Kevin Quigley, the chair of the Democratic Party's city committee alongside Demcoratic mayoral candidate Tony Moreno (a thread ...)
This was a thing because Pgh City Paper and WTAE had reported that Moreno had been tweeting pro-Trump sentiments. In a statement, Quigley suggested he didn't know about those posts, wasn't backing anyone, and would see what could be done if Moreno won Dem Committee endorsement.
Nov 9, 2020 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
Peduto giving budget address, says economy measures mean no tax hikes or job cuts now but without federal aid, city will have to cut $25.6 million -- equivalent to over 600 jobs -- in July.
Peduto says some police funding will be redirected to city Health, Safety and Violence Prevention effort. "We aren't defunding police, but we are reinvesting in our communities."
Nov 5, 2020 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
Here I am going to try to address some confusion about why Allegheny County is not going to begin counting 30,000+ ballots until tomorrow. People are going bonkers about this, or castigating hard-working employees on no sleep, and it is wrong. (thread)
The ballots in question require special attention. The vast majority -- up to 29,000 -- involve a situation where a vendor sent the wrong ballots to voters, and had to reissue new ballots with the correct races. The challenge there is now voters have 2 ballots, one w/wrong races.
Nov 5, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Conor Lamb declares victory in his PA17 Congressional race against Army veteran and Trump favorite Sean Parnell: Amid a pandemic "We voted in record numbers....I can say confidently tonight that the people... have placed their trust in me for another two years."
Lamb: even amid divisiveness, "I believe that it still means something to say that we have common ground."
Jun 28, 2020 • 30 tweets • 4 min read
County presser on COVID-19 about to begin. I'll live-tweet as best I can in this thread.
Rich Fitzgerald: "The fact that we're coming to you on a Sunday afternoon tells you the seriousness of where we are. We have seen some alarming spikes in our positive test numbers ... particularly in the last couple days."