PA Headlines 2/2/21
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — AP is reporting…Gov. Tom Wolf will move his annual budget address to Wednesday, amid a snowstorm that was prompting restrictions on highways across Pennsylvania and the cancellation of legislative hearings and sessions, his office said. The release of Wolf’s budget proposal and his address had been scheduled for Tuesday. Pennsylvania governors typically deliver their messages about state spending plans and priorities on the Tuesday in the first full week of February. In 2005, then-Gov. Ed Rendell asked House and Senate leaders to push back his speech a day to so it would not conflict with him and others returning from the Philadelphia Eagles’ appearance in the Super Bowl or a potential Eagles victory parade. Legislative leaders agreed to the request, but the Eagles lost that year.
In any case, the setting for Wolf’s seventh budget address will be unusual because of the pandemic. Wolf will deliver the address — usually 30 or 40 minutes long — by a pre-recorded video instead of speaking in-person to a joint session of the House and Senate. Lawmakers will not join each other in a joint session, but plan to watch the video on screens in their respective chambers, or from home, since many may not travel in the snow and others routinely join floor sessions remotely to protect themselves during the pandemic.
PLAINS, Pa. (AP) — AP reports…A northeastern Pennsylvania shooting stemming from an argument between neighbors over snow disposal during Monday’s storm left two people dead, and the suspect was later found dead at his home, authorities said. Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said a husband and wife were shot to death in the street outside their Plains Township home just before 9 a.m. Monday. The suspect was found dead in his home of a self-inflicted wound. The county coroner pronounced all three dead just before 11:30 a.m. Monday. Salavantis said the preliminary investigation indicates that there was an ongoing dispute but “this morning, the dispute was exacerbated by a disagreement over snow disposal.”
Chief Dale Binker of the township police department, however, said police had no record of the neighbors fighting, but there may have been a previous dispute that also concerned “placement of snow in somebody’s yard.” James Goy, 50, and Lisa Goy, 48, argued with Jeffrey Spaide, 47, who lived across the street, and Spaide went into his house, came out with a handgun and fired at the couple until the weapon was empty, Binker said. He then went inside, came out with an AR-15-type rifle, and fired twice more at each victim with that weapon, he said. Arriving officers tried to aid the couple, and they were knocking on the suspect’s door to arrest him when they heard a single shot, finding him dead after they entered, Binker said. A total of 15 to 20 shots were fired, he said.
PITTSBURGH (Pittsburg Tribune-Review) – The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is reporting… Juneteenth is a step closer to becoming an official holiday in the City of Pittsburgh. Mayor Bill Peduto is introducing a bill to the City Council following up on his pledge to make Juneteenth an official holiday. Last August, Peduto announced his intentions at a Black Voting Rights Forum at St. Benedict the Moor Church in the Lower Hill District.
“Juneteenth reminds us of the rich history of Black Pittsburgh and celebrates those who worked hard so that Black people’s voices could be heard through voting,” said Peduto. “Many of us, particularly privileged white men, have not always listened as much as we should have. The time is now to make that change permanent and formally set aside this holiday to celebrate Black voices.”
Juneteenth, celebrated each year on June 19, commemorates the day in 1865 that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas and spread the news that the Civil War ended and slaves had been freed. The announcement came two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln became law. The legislation from the Department of Human Services and Civil Service will be introduced Tuesday and discussed at Council’s Standing Committees meeting on Feb. 10. “I think the fact that the City will be making it an official holiday will obviously bring new attention to it on the part of all people,” said Tim Stevens, chairman and CEO of Pittsburgh’s Black Political Empowerment Project. “It will elevate its importance and relevance coming out of a year that was emotionally, political and educational in terms of activism.
