The LuLc Edition #4,194, December 29th, 2019

TOP 10 STORIES IN PENNSYLVANIA IN 2019

1. Governor Tom Wolf takes office for a second term. Ln. Governor John Fetterman is sworn in as the new second in command.
2. Former Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski stunned by 15-year prison sentence that lawyer calls "cruel". Pawlowski resigned in 2018 after being convicted. He is appealing the sentence.
3. Governor Tom Wolf signs a historic election reform bill. One of the features will be a no excuse absentee ballot that will enable early voting.
4. In Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney cruised to a second term, easily defeating Republican challenger Billy Ciancaglini. Kenney received more than 82% of the votes. Kenney is immediately touted as a Democratic contender for Governor in 2022. He responded by saying he just got elected but wouldn’t rule anything out.
5. Kendra Brooks, a third party candidate for City Council in Philadelphia makes history by becoming the first Third Party candidate to win an office.
6. The Philadelphia Phillies fire Manager Gabe Kapler and hire Joe Girard. 
7. Democrats and Republicans each picked up a seat on an appellate court in Pennsylvania’s only statewide election Tuesday. Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Daniel McCaffery, a Democrat, and Republican Megan McCarthy King, a Chester County assistant district attorney won. The King victory is significant to the 2020 elections because she ran an avowed pro life platform which garnered huge support for her among Trump Republicans,
8. President Trump returns to the state in an attempt to reinvigorate the slim base that put him over the top by just 22,000 votes in 2016. Trump’s rallies attract an average of 20,000 people.
9. The Wolf Administration responded to the final rule released by the United States Department of Agriculture that limits states’ ability to waive work requirements based on local unemployment rates. The announcement from the Trump Administration jeopardizes food security for at least 78,000 people in Pennsylvania who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to afford food. SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is the most important anti-hunger program because it helps some of our most vulnerable Pennsylvanians make ends meet.
10. Senator John Yudichak shocks the political world by leaving the Democratic party and switching to Independent.