By Tim Lambert | Editor-in-chief
“The name of the group didn’t really inspire confidence. I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, truthers.’” — Walter Mebane Jr., a tenured University of Michigan political scientist and one of the few academics who had spent decades trying to detect the statistical fingerprints of election fraud.
A good morning and a happy Labor Day to you.
The Pennsylvania Capital-Star staff has the day off to enjoy some time with family and friends. I hope you have the chance to do the same.
Thanks for starting your day with us. As always, we deeply appreciate you reading, sharing and supporting our work. -- Tim
Andrew Tupone in front of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. (Photo courtesy of the Tupone campaign)
By IanKarbal
A Commonwealth Court judge ruled Friday afternoon that Andrew Tupone, a hopeful Green Party candidate in the 7th Congressional District, can be removed from the ballot despite collecting sufficient signatures to appear on it.
Tupone, however, said he plans to appeal.
“The establishment parties are fighting to keep me off the ballot but I’m not backing down,” he said. “I will continue this fight and appeal this decision because the people of the 7th Congressional District deserve a real choice and a true progressive candidate who will stand up for them.”
He added that, if the appeal fails, he will mount a write-in campaign.
The U.S. Department of Justice logo is displayed on a speaker’s podium. (Photo by Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
By Carter Walker of Votebeat
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged five individuals in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New Jersey with voting-related crimes.
The department contends that four noncitizens voted illegally in the 2022 and 2024 elections and charged one U.S. citizen with allegedly participating in his wife’s illegal voting.
“The crime of illegal voting undermines the integrity of our elections and harms citizens by stealing the power of our votes,” said U.S. Attorney Brian Miller for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in a press release. “Illegal voting is not a victimless crime but a serious affront to the principles of our democratic republic.”
Members of Virginia Professional Firefighters association hold signs during their biannual convention in May to protest Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s veto of collective bargaining legislation. New research found a significant spike in labor union membership, but growth is highly dependent upon state politics. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
By Kevin Hardy of Stateline
Labor union membership continues to climb in the United States, though the increase remains sharply divided by the politics of individual states.
Last year, the nation added more than 411,000 union members — the largest annual growth since 2008, according to a study published by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
At the end of last year, more than 14.6 million American workers belonged to a union — about 10% of the workforce, the study said.
State governments are nearly evenly divided on labor policy, with 26 states having right-to-work laws. Union membership rates sit at about 14% in collective bargaining states and 5% in right-to-work states.
Independent reporting on Pennsylvania state government that impacts communities statewide — free to read and republish.
Amid fluctuating gas prices, economic uncertainty and rising costs for things like groceries and electricity, we know how important it is to make every dollar count.
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Workers fill food orders at a Chipotle restaurant on April 01, 2024, in San Rafael, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Commentary
By Paul Osterman of The Conversation
When I leave my Boston condo every day, I say good morning to the concierge, who works for a contracting company providing staff to residential buildings. When I conduct an interview in a nearby building, the people who clean that office at night are contractors. The person who serves me my lunch sandwich is a part-timer with no career prospects in that job.
When my best intentions to eat well are for naught and I gorge on Doritos, I remember that the tasters PepsiCo hires to test the chips’ addictiveness are contractors.
These are all examples of what I call “disposable jobs.” People who have them work at an employer’s site, but their employer makes no commitment to them regarding career prospects or job security. My research shows that employers treat more than 1 in 3 U.S. workers as disposable. That comes to just under 57 million full- or part-time workers out of the nation’s workforce of 162 million.
I am a labor economist. In my new book, I explain why this is happening, what forms it takes, how common it is, what the consequences are for people and for society, and what can be done about it.
TODAY IN THE CAPITAL-STAR
Developers eye Native nations, tribal communities for data centers: Data center developments are continuing to spread throughout the country as the demand for digital processing power grows — especially as artificial intelligence systems become more prevalent. Now, tribal communities are grappling with the fact that more developers are eyeing their land for future data center projects.
ICYMI
His model is testing the limits of election trust.: Inside the “perfect storm” that put Walter Mebane Jr.’s work in the hands of a movement to question the 2024 election results.
Latest ruling on slavery exhibits at Philly President’s House: Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Hardiman denied a request from the city of Philadelphia’s lawyers to rehear arguments in its case against the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service last month.
NTSB releases initial report in State Police helicopter collision: Federal investigators released preliminary findings in the mid-air collision between a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter and a private propeller plane about two weeks after the fatal crash near Carlisle. The report shows the crew of the helicopter was in radio contact with the pilot of the Cessna 150 airplane before it struck the helicopter.
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