Source: WPVI

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon was the victim of a carjacking in South Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon.

Police say it happened around 2:45 p.m. on the 1900 block of Pattison Avenue in FDR Park after a tour including members of Congress.

Scanlon was walking to her parked vehicle and was approached by two men driving a dark-colored SUV.

Both men, who were armed, demanded the keys to her vehicle, police say.


Read more: https://6abc.com/mary-gay-scanlon-carjacked-congresswoman-carjacking-philadelphia-fdr-park/11372337/

why not break it up so that each program is in an individual bill? Then bring up each bill for a vote.

Source: Politico

Kyrsten Sinema supports the elections reform bill that Democrats are considering a year-end push to pass. She doesn't support a shortcut around the filibuster to get it done.

The Arizona moderate is making clear that she intends to keep protecting the Senate’s 60-vote requirement on most legislation and she isn’t ready to entertain changing rules to pass sweeping elections or voting legislation with a simple majority. Her Democratic colleagues have been discussing those revisions as they weigh dropping their focus on President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion climate and social spending bill and pivoting to voting rights, though it’s not clear that avenue will be any more successful.

In a statement to POLITICO, a spokesperson said that Sinema “continues to support the Senate's 60-vote threshold, to protect the country from repeated radical reversals in federal policy which would cement uncertainty, deepen divisions, and further erode Americans’ confidence in our government.” Since joining the Senate in 2019, Sinema’s been a fierce defender of the filibuster and warned that reversing it could lead to terrible outcomes for Democrats down the line.

Sinema continues to support the Freedom to Vote Act, which was negotiated with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), as well as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, even as she raises questions about how to pass those bills in an evenly divided Senate. Democratic senators have mostly focused on lobbying Manchin to try and sway him to pass elections legislation with a simple majority, but Sinema isn’t there yet either.

Read more: Sinema pops Democrats' filibuster trial balloon on voting rights

Source: New York Times

ALBANY, N.Y. — Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was ordered to turn over roughly $5.1 million in proceeds from his 2020 pandemic memoir within 30 days, after a state ethics board found that he had run afoul of state ethics laws.

The board, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, directed Mr. Cuomo on Tuesday to relinquish the money to the state attorney general’s office, and authorized the office to enforce the collection.

Mr. Cuomo has vowed to fight the resolution, which owing to its unique circumstance would seem to have little precedent, in court. “JCOPE’s actions today are unconstitutional, exceed its own authority and appear to be driven by political interests rather than the facts and the law,” said Jim McGuire, a lawyer for Mr. Cuomo. “Should they seek to enforce this action, we’ll see them in court.”

The order, which is sure to set up a protracted legal fight, could be complicated by the fact that Mr. Cuomo already donated $500,000 of the book’s proceeds to charity, and placed another $1 million in a trust for his daughters.

Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/nyregion/andrew-cuomo-book.amp.html

Source: Detroit Free Press

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in her strongest public remarks to date about President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for employers, said Monday that the requirement is "a problem" for her and state government, according to a published report.

The Daily News in Greenville reported Whitmer as telling business leaders in Montcalm County that she had the same concerns as some of them that the mandate, if enforced, could lead to workers, including those in state government, walking off the job.

"We’re an employer too, the state of Michigan is," Whitmer was reported as saying. "I know if that mandate happens, we’re going to lose state employees. That’s why I haven’t proposed a mandate at the state level. Some states have. We have not, we’re waiting to see what happens in court."

Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.freep.com/amp/6423638001