Joanna Macclinton: Latest News

9/26/06 photo Ryan McFadden 200602159 Pennsylvania State Capitol, a look at the building on it's 100th anniversary; floor of the house (Photo By Ryan McFadden/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images) HARRISBURG, Pa. - A special election to fill a state House vacancy in a Republican-leaning district was scheduled on Tuesday to take place during the May primary.Democratic Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia announced that the vote to succeed former Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver will take place on May 16.Schlegel Culver, a Republican, resigned from the House after winning a special election in January to fill a state Senate vacancy.The House district includes parts of Montour and Northumberland counties in central Pennsylvania.Democrats currently hold a one-seat state House majority, although the open Schlegel Culver seat means the effective margin is temporarily 102-100.Rep.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Pennsylvania state lawmaker submitted his resignation letter Wednesday, a week after a union lobbyist accused him by name of having sexually harassed her four years ago.Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel of Delaware County said in the letter to Democratic Speaker Joanna McClinton that his resignation will take effect March 16, leaving enough time for her to order that the vacancy be filled during the May primary."The toll is just too great on my family, and was too detrimental to my well-being.

UNITED STATES - AUGUST 19: The Pennsylvania State Capitol building is seen on Friday, August 19, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania's top House Republican on Wednesday warned of chaos when legislators reconvene next week, six weeks after representatives elected a Democrat as House speaker and left Harrisburg without conducting any other business.Republican Minority Leader Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County said the chamber's 102-101 Democratic majority may not be able to solve the gridlock that has so far prevented lawmakers from so much as adopting operating rules for the 2023-24 session. Cutler himself served as House speaker before deciding in November not to seek the leadership post again.Cutler spoke to reporters in the Rotunda Wednesday, down the corridor from a lengthy, closed-door meeting about the rules being held among Democratic House members.

(Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) HARRISBURG - An effort by Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania to ban owning, selling or making high-capacity, semi-automatic firearms went nowhere Wednesday as state House Republicans again displayed their firm opposition to gun restriction proposals.The state House of Representatives voted 111-87 against the effort by Democratic Rep. Danielle Friel Otten of Chester County to take up the bill after Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff argued it should have to go through a committee first.The bill has spent more than a year in the Judiciary Committee, where Chairman Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, has bottled up most proposals to regulate or restrict firearms.During floor debate, Otten said the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday created a "moral obligation to act, today, before this happens one more time."Minority Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, listed communities across Pennsylvania that have recently been the site of gun violence.The bill would not apply retroactively and result in people losing firearms they already lawfully bought, McClinton said.Benninghoff, R-Centre, responded that because of the "magnitude" of the proposal it "needs to be vetted through the committee process" so that lawmakers can "get it right."Just one Republican, Rep.

(Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)HARRISBURG - The five-member commission redrawing the boundaries of Pennsylvania's state legislative districts voted to approve new maps for the next decade, with a focus on the state's fast-growing Latino population that could change the face of the predominantly white House and Senate.The Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted 4-1 during their meeting in the state Capitol, with chairman Mark Nordenberg, the Senate's Republican leader and the House and Senate's Democratic leaders voting for it.The vote came after nearly a year of meetings, hearings and closed-door discussions to carry out the constitutionally required, once-a-decade map-drawing to account for demographic shifts identified by the U.S.

SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA - If the gun violence epidemic wasn’t bad enough in the city, residents near the corner deli at 57th and Elmwood Streets in Southwest Philadelphia say the probability of a shooting goes up even higher.

PHILADELPHIA - Veteran anti-violence advocates believe arguments, fights and too many guns are the driving force behind the dramatic increase in violence this year. This year, there have been 370 murders, up nearly 40 percent, while shootings are up over 50 percent. Bilal Qayyum believes strongly in conflict resolution training.