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PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A liberal Pennsylvania Republican who was the vice presidential candidate in Ronald Reagan’s unsuccessful 1976 campaign has died. Former U.S. Sen. Richard S. Schweiker was 89. Schweiker, of McLean, Virginia, died Friday at Atlantic Care Regional Medical Center in Pomona, New Jersey. That’s according to his son, Richard Schweiker Jr.
Schweiker said his father had just spent a week with family in Ocean City, New Jersey, where he saw all five of his children and their spouses, 21 of his 23 grandchildren and his one great- grandchild. The elder Schweiker headed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the first two years of the Reagan administration. Elected to the U.S. House in 1960 and the U.S. Senate in 1968, Schweiker was staunchly pro-labor and outspoken in his opposition to the Vietnam War.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – It’s election day in parts of south-central and southeastern Pennsylvania. Special elections are being held Tuesday in state House districts to fill a pair of mid-term vacancies left by the resignations of Republican incumbents. In the 87th House district in Cumberland County, real-estate executive Greg Rothman, a Republican, is squaring off against Democrat Bob Charles, a retired businessman.
In Delaware County’s 161st District, local labor leader Paul Mullen, a Republican, faces competition from Democrat Leanne Krueger-Braneky, a businesswoman from Swarthmore. Three more special elections are scheduled in Philadelphia districts next week to fill vacancies left by the resignations of three Democratic House members.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh City Council has approved an ordinance requiring city employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. Council members passed the legislation 7-1 on Monday. The bill requires employers with at least 15 workers to offer as much as five paid sick days per year to each worker. Those with fewer than 15 employees must offer three unpaid days off.
Employees would accrue one hour of sick time for every 35 hours worked. The benefit will be available for use for an employee’s illness or that of a family member. Council members and advocacy groups said the measure will keep 50,000 workers who lack paid sick leave from having to work while ill or lose a day’s pay. Business owners, however, say they’ll oppose the ordinance in court.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The suburban Philadelphia Catholic school teacher controversially fired over her same-sex marriage was shut out after attempting to bring a box of petitions asking for her reinstatement to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Margie Winters, former director of religious education at Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion, was told by security that the Archdiocese’s Center City Philadelphia offices were on lockdown Monday afternoon.
Winters joked it was “because I’m so threatening” after handing the box of petitions to the guard and asking him to deliver it to Archbishop Charles Chaput. The petition, signed by 23,000 people, was organized by social justice group Faithful America. Winters was fired in June for being in a same-sex marriage, something she disclosed to the school upon her hiring eight years ago.
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