In the News
Wolf plans to sign bill calling for report on primary election problems
HARRISBURG — Members of the state Senate voted unanimously to send Gov. Tom Wolf legislation that would require the Department of State to produce a report on the primary for lawmakers to use to determine if changes need to be made ahead of the presidential...
Grant program established to assist minority-owned businesses impacted by COVID-19
Relief is coming for Black-owned businesses that have been severely impacted by the coronavirus crisis. The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development established a $100 million Historically Disadvantaged Business Revitalization Program for small...
Wolf plans to sign bill calling for report on primary election problems
HARRISBURG — The state Senate voted unanimously to send Gov. Tom Wolf legislation that would require the Department of State to produce a report on the primary for lawmakers to use to determine if changes need to be made ahead of the presidential election. Wolf plans...
State Senate Policy Hearing on the Impact of COVID-19 on the African American Community
At the request of state Senators Art Haywood (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery), Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia/Delaware, Vince Hughes (D-Philadelphia), and Shariff Street (D-Philadelphia), the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a virtual public hearing to discuss the...
State officials join Haywood for town hall discussion on voting by mail
State Sens. Vincent Hughes, Sharif Street, Larry Farnese and Anthony Williams joined Sen. Art Haywood for a telephone town hall meeting last week to address the option of voting by mail for the June 2 primary during the COVID-19 crisis. The five Pennsylvania senators...
Plan to reopen PA gets a closer look in the Senate
The plan to reopen Pennsylvania is getting a closer look as members of the Senate met in a remote hearing Monday that included testimony from multiple leaders including PA Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.
The meeting follows Governor Tom Wolf’s announcement last week that 24 counties in the northwest and north-central regions of the state will transition out of the ‘red’ phase into the ‘yellow’ phase beginning at 12:01 a.m., Friday, May 8.
Coronavirus Latest: State Senators Grill Pennsylvania Health Secretary, Appear To Try To Poke Holes In Reopening Plan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Pennsylvania’s health secretary was put in the hot seat on Monday about the commonwealth’s reopening plan. In a virtual hearing, state senators grilled Dr. Rachel Levine over Pennsylvania’s plan to reopen.
Some Republican senators appeared to try to poke holes in the plan.
A small idea to help neighbors becomes $46,000 local relief fund
Bob and Nancy Elfant said they were doing what many of us have done for the past month – stay at home, observing social distancing guidelines and reading the daily news accounts of COVID-19 and its toll on both the health and economic wellbeing of people in the...
After early show of bipartisanship, Pa. lawmakers splinter over next COVID-19 steps
Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books, a small shop in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood, officially closed down on March 16. Store manager Justin Moore has technically been unemployed since then. But he said in the last few weeks, he’s actually been putting more work...
PA House and Senate leaders advocate for worker’s rights
Pennsylvania House and Senate leaders joined together for workers rights. In a virtual news conference Monday morning, members discussed advocacy for paid sick leave, better workplace protections, and other efforts to help PA workers during the coronavirus pandemic....
Democrats present legislation for working families during COVID-19
Legislation presented Monday addressed various protections for essential workers such as workers compensation, paid leave, protection against retaliation, and child care assistance. Leaders from the Democratic caucuses of the state House and Senate on Monday presented...
Pennsylvania Democratic state legislators to push for help for state’s working families, frontline workers in coronavirus pandemic
Some Pennsylvania lawmakers are signing on to what they're calling the American Working Families Relief Action Plan for dealing with the personal financial impacts on Pennsylvania working families and on those working on the front line in dealing with the coronavirus...
State lawmakers wonder is enough being done to address post-COVID-19 Pennsylvania?
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Desperate times call for desperate measures, and there's an uncommon sense of bipartisanship currently on display at the Pennsylvania Capitol building throughout the last few weeks. Well, only partly at the Capitol.
Callers discuss virus outbreak with Haywood, Evans
U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans and Dr. Scott Goldstein recently joined state Sen. Art Haywood for a digital town hall meeting to discuss the novel coronavirus. “Right now we are at a lull before the storm and hopefully we can keep everyone’s anxiety at a very low level,” said...
Sen Haywood, U.S. Rep Dwight Evans hold telephone town hall over COVID-19
State Senator Art Haywood, who serves the 4th district, which includes Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy, conducted a live telephone town hall meeting to address community members’ concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans and Doctor Scott Goldstein, an...
Pennsylvania Senator Art Haywood Talks About COVID-19 Resources
Pennsylvania Senator Art Haywood is nervous about the COVID-19 pandemic. "Right now we do not know who is affected by we are getting testing centers up and running in the region. There are the highest at risk. 2 Citizens that may be experiencing symptoms an the the...
Mt. Airy nonprofit gets $50,000 from state for kid reading project
State Sen. Art Haywood late last month presented a ceremonious check from the state for $50,000 to the Mt. Airy Community Development for Corporation to increase reading within his 4th Senatorial District. “We know that reading by fourth grade is a key to a lifetime...
Protections for vulnerable Pa. seniors lag, reforms to guardianship system ‘stuck’
More than five years ago, Pennsylvania identified widespread problems with its system of appointing and overseeing guardians — the legal decision-makers, chosen by judges, who manage the affairs of adults who are unable to care for themselves. In response, the state...
Gov. Wolf proposes increased gun violence prevention grants
Earlier this week, Governor Tom Wolf joined advocates and legislators at Parkway Northwest High School For Peace and Social Justice in Philadelphia to discuss Community Gun Violence Prevention and Reduction grants, which will be distributed by the Pennsylvania...
Haywood gives legislative updates at breakfast
State Sen. Art Haywood recently hosted a leadership breakfast at Arcadia College in Glenside to provide a legislative update on employment opportunities across the region. The meeting between various community organizations, elected officials, and civic and religious...
For MLK Day of Service, Hundreds Gather For March to Raise Wages
Hundreds of people were late for appointments today, January 20, 20020. The reason they were late can be placed squarely on Speaker of the House Mike Turzai and Rep. Jim Cox who have done nothing to raise the state minimum wage past $7.25/hr. They have had...
Germantown community stands together for wage increase
The Germantown community came together on Martin Luther King Day to continue pressuring the owner of a McDonald’s franchise at 29 E. Chelten Ave. to address what participants called wage injustice. State Sen. Art Haywood along with the Rev. Kent Matthies, who is...
31 State Legislators from 15 States on What Roe v. Wade Means to Them
“The state legislature has no place interfering in a woman’s reproductive health. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is already an extremely difficult choice–but it is a right. I will continue to vote no on any legislation that interferes with a woman’s right to...
Sen. Haywood wants to tackle injustices in 2020
State Sen. Art Haywood aims to focus on economic, environmental and social justice in the new political year. “My office will respond to the decades of injustice,” he told The Tribune. “Specifically on economic justice, we shall work to implement recommendations in...
Senator Haywood and Power caroled to McRaise the Wages
State Senator Art Haywood (D-Montgomery/Philadelphia) joined POWER to Carol for A McRaise event outside of the Chelten Avenue McDonald’s. This was an effort to get owner Derek Giacomantonio to raise the wage of his employees to $15 an hour.
“We came back to this McDonald’s to share the message of the season,” said Senator Haywood. “Hopefully our songs will heal Derek G’s heart and allow him to pay his employees a living wage.”
Pa. Minimum Wage Increase Won’t Happen Until 2020
Pennsylvanians waiting for an increase to the state’s minimum wage will have to wait until 2020. A Senate Bill to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour passed the Senate in November, but the House Committee where the Bill sits did not bring it up for a vote. That...
State Senate approves Polk measure
The Pennsylvania Senate approved a bill Monday that seeks to put a moratorium on the planned closure of Polk and White Haven state centers until a series of steps are taken. Senate Bill 906 passed by a 40-9 margin and will now head to the state House for...
In McKeesport, poverty talk goes over the “benefits cliff”
Efforts to fight poverty in Pennsylvania have long focused narrowly on getting people into jobs, but that won't work if it also pushes people off of a proverbial financial cliff, officials said Friday in McKeesport at the presentation of a report on deprivation in the...
Pa. tour sheds light on poverty ‘box’ and yields proposals
Over the course of a tour to the four corners of Pennsylvania, state Sen. Art Haywood began to envision poverty as a box, with lots of people inside it. The four walls of the box are low pay, inadequate transportation, inaccessible child care and unaffordable...
Why 7 Pa. legislators ‘worked’ at a burrito shop Friday
A group of Pennsylvania Democratic legislators served chips and salsa at El Fuego, a burrito shop next to Washington Square Park Friday to call attention to two efforts — on the state and federal level — to raise the minimum wage for the first time in almost 10 years,...
Lawmakers and activists gather at State Capitol to recognize Gun Violence Awareness Day
A sea of orange took over the State Capitol today as lawmakers and activists recognized ‘Gun Violence Awareness Day’. Governor Tom Wolf was one of those in attendance at today’s rally at the capitol and while he says some progress has been made, he’s pushing for more...
Governor champions gun control measures
HARRISBURG – Gov. Tom Wolf joined a group of lawmakers and gun control advocates Wednesday to call for renewed action on gun laws ahead of Gun Violence Awareness Day Friday. “The time has come to end gun violence in Pennsylvania,” Wolf said. “We need to end mass...
‘It leaves a hole in my heart’: This mom and activist is calling for common sense gun control. Will Harrisburg listen?
Shanna Danielson has a five-year-old who’s about to start kindergarten. He’ll learn a bunch of stuff when he starts school this fall. The alphabet. His numbers. Probably some songs and music. And he’ll learn how to hide from a madman with a gun. Because that’s what...
Senate Democrats renew calls for gun control measures that face an uphill battle
Days after a gunman murdered 12 people in a municipal government building in Virginia Beach, Democrats in Pennsylvania’s Senate renewed their calls for a slew of gun control measures that face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled General Assembly.
Wolf joins rally for gun violence awareness
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -- Gov. Tom Wolf joined lawmakers and activists at the state Capitol on Wednesday to commemorate Gun Violence Awareness Day. The governor last year signed Act 79, a law that forces domestic abusers to surrender their guns. It was the state's...
Gun Violence Awareness Day rally held at State Capitol
Pennsylvania's top political leaders are calling for an end to gun violence, and at a rally Wednesday at the State Capitol for Gun Violence Awareness Day, Governor Tom Wolf said the state has more work to do. At the rally, Representative Movita Johnson-Harrell...
Gov. Tom Wolf adds his voice to those calling for laws to curb gun-related deaths in Pennsylvania
Five days after a mass shooting at a Virginia Beach government building that left a dozen people dead and several others injured, calls for laws to reduce gun violence in Pennsylvania are being sounded again. In advance of National Gun Violence Awareness Day on...
Black Voters Challenge House Members: Why Is Trump Still in Office?
PHILADELPHIA — Moments after the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, wrapped up his appearance at the Justice Department on Wednesday, Representative Dwight Evans stepped out of his district office in a black working-class neighborhood here to visit with local...
Lawmakers push for more solar energy use by 2030
Pennsylvania used to be a leader in bringing renewable energy to the state’s power grid, but lawmakers said Wednesday the commonwealth is “lagging behind” its neighbors now. A bipartisan effort to increase renewable energy use in Pennsylvania to 30 percent by 2030...
Harrisburg protest calls for new gun-control law
As a piece of domestic violence legislation that removes guns from those under a protection from abuse order becomes law today, that bill’s champion – state Sen. Tom Killion, R-9 of Middletown – is setting his sights on further restrictions against those who might use...