By Peter Hall | Senior Reporter
“But that doesn’t change the fact that Jason Walsh has overreached in the most serious decision-making any district attorney has, which is to seek another person’s execution. What's happening in Washington County is a disgrace to our justice system, and we will continue to call out this sort of misconduct when we see it.” — Frances Harvey, executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, on the state Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene in a pair of death penalty prosecutions.
It’s Monday, already, and the final countdown to the mid-term election in just over a week.
If you plan to vote by mail-in ballot, tomorrow is the last day to get your application to your county’s election office. Your ballot has to be returned by 8 p.m. Nov. 3 to be counted.
This close to Election Day, voting advocates are advising people to use their county’s ballot return locations rather than the U.S. Postal Service because mailed ballots might not get there in time. And remember to sign your name and write that day’s date on the outer envelope.
Thanks, as always, for sharing and supporting our work. — Pete
Lehigh Valley resident Laurie Gilley helped form the South Whitehall Township Civic Alliance to fight a proposed data center in her community. (Photo by Emilie Lounsberry/Inside Climate News)
By Emilie Lounsberry, Inside Climate News
In all her 38 years living in South Whitehall Township in the Lehigh Valley, Laurie Gilley had never attended a municipal meeting, much less gotten involved in the politics of her community. But then she learned that a data center was being planned for 400 acres of land across from her home and the local high school.
Now, Gilley, who helped form the South Whitehall Township Civic Alliance to fight the center, is at the vanguard of an informal political movement experts say could impact the midterm congressional elections, especially in tight races like the one in her district, where incumbent U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican narrowly elected in 2024, is now facing Democrat Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter.
Gilley said she has been energized by the unified resistance to data centers. “Both sides of the aisle seem to come together on this,” said Gilley, 61, who runs Madeline’s Fairgrounds Marketplace at the popular farmers market here, where the chatter these days in her baked goods and sandwich shop often turns to data centers and politics. “Everywhere I go, we’re talking about it.”
A judge's gavel in a courtroom. (Stock photo by Greenleaf123/Getty Images)
By Peter Hall
Pennsylvania’s highest court on Friday declined to intervene in the cases of two men charged with capital murder after defenders raised alarms about the district attorney’s prolific pursuit of the death penalty in Washington County.
The Atlantic Center for Capital Representation filed a petition in July 2025 asking the state Supreme Court to restrict Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh’s use of the death penalty. The court's two-page order didn't explain the decision.
It alleges Walsh had pursued the death penalty without evidence supporting capital punishment and outlined a pattern in which Walsh’s office has allegedly held other defendants for trial with the intent to seek the death penalty without establishing facts to support it.
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
By Jennifer Shutt
Earlier this month, a 50-year-old man riding his personal electric scooter in Washington, D.C., was killed when he collided with a woman on a rideshare scooter.
Fewer than 5% of U.S. House races are seen by a top political analysis as truly competitive heading into November’s midterm elections, giving relatively few voters the ability to determine which party controls the chamber for the next two years.
The other 414 of 435 House districts are viewed by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter as at least leaning toward a Democrat or a Republican, as of Oct. 22.
That lack of competition, once a primary election is won, heavily influences which priorities lawmakers pursue in office, according to experts interviewed by States Newsroom. It also means voters in those regions have less ability to hold lawmakers accountable during the general election, especially if those politicians haven’t kept their campaign promises or were embroiled in an ethics scandal.
“For a lot of candidates it’s that primary which is particularly important,” said Zachary Peskowitz, professor of political science at Emory University in Georgia. “And so that obviously creates very different incentives for how they behave in Congress than if they were concerned with the general election.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Rep. Scott Perry (R-10th District) address reporters at a Mechanicsburg fundraiser for Perry on Oct. 11, 2024. (Photo by Ian Karbal/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
By Reia Li
Nearly 200 Republicans who supported President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election are on the ballot for major statewide and U.S. congressional offices this November, according to States United Action, a nonprofit that tracks election deniers.
The group defines an election denier as someone who “participated in spreading Donald Trump’s lie about the 2020 election, refused to certify the results of that election, or attempted to overturn the results.” Its tally includes 163 races for Congress and 30 races for statewide offices that play a role in elections — including governors, attorneys general and secretaries of state.
Some on the list, including U.S. representatives in Pennsylvania and Ohio, were directly involved in conversations with Trump about how to cast doubt on the election results. Others voted to deny the certification of election results from Arizona and Pennsylvania, battleground states that Joe Biden won. One even attended the Jan. 6 rally.
TODAY IN THE CAPITAL-STAR
Federal regulators crack down on organ donation groups: Federal regulators are cracking down on the nonprofits responsible for coordinating organ donations, aiming to begin shutting down substandard groups by early next year.
Trump’s DOJ sues over Alaska Senate race, expanding preelection legal fights: The U.S. Department of Justice is stepping up its legal campaign over the midterm elections, suing Alaska over its U.S. Senate election and appealing a lawsuit against suspected noncitizen voters in California.
The percentage of people without health insurance is growing: The uninsured rate for adults ages 19-64 rose to 11.2% this year, up from 8.9% in 2024, according to a new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy and philanthropic nonprofit.
ICYMI
City, state employees are proud of their work but face burnout, harassment: State and local government employees report high levels of job satisfaction across the country, but face significant rates of burnout and on-the-job harassment.
The Philadelphia school district’s enrollment fell by 2,500 students. Where did the kids go?: Philadelphia’s school district enrollment has dropped by nearly 2,500 students from last school year — the largest year-over-year enrollment decline in five years.
What lawmakers sent to Gov. Shapiro this week: The Pennsylvania General Assembly sent dozens of bills to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk in a final legislative push this week before the midterm elections. As of Thursday afternoon, Shapiro had signed 58 measures into law. Because the legislature is still in session, the governor has 10 days to sign or veto legislation after passage. Otherwise it becomes law automatically.
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