Guns front and center this week in Capitol

• Emily Previti/PA Post
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  Emily is a reporter for WITF who’s been covering voting and elections since July 2019 as part of her former role with statehouse accountability news organization PA Post. She was the senior reporter for statewide public media collaboration Keystone Crossroads. Previously, she covered city hall for PennLive/The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.), was a watchdog and city hall reporter at The Press of Atlantic City and reported for the Northwest Herald. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
  
  See other articles by Emily Previti for WITF.

 Matt Rourke / AP Photo

Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pa

Matt Rourke / AP Photo

Shown is the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. on the Wednesday, April 10, 2019.

Also: Who will replace Folmer on key Senate committee?

• With the state Senate returning from summer break today, the full General Assembly is officially back in business for fall session. This week’s packed agenda includes more than a dozen firearms bills up for discussion during hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Harrisburg. Katie Meyer and Ed Mahon will be covering the talks, so follow Ed (@edmahonreporter) and Katie (@katiemeyer4) on Twitter for the latest and stay tuned for a story or two from them. In the meantime, check out Ed’s preview.

• We’re also watching for the state Senate GOP leadership to name a new chairman of the State Government Committee. A new leader is needed after Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, resigned after being arrested on charges of possessing child pornography. Katie and I talked to lobbyists and lawmakers last week about how Folmer’s resignation could affect redistricting and other election reform efforts. The issue’s also the focus on LNP’s Sunday editorial: “That Folmer was arrested on the nation’s Constitution Day could be viewed as either ironic or apt. We think it’s the latter.”

• I’ll continue keeping tabs on the plan to help counties pay for voting machines amid serious doubts that the proposed bond deal can happen. And I’ll hit the road to check out deliberations over new election systems in counties that haven’t picked a vendor yet, as well as worker training and voter education in some that already have their new machines.

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Brett Sholtis / WITF

A historical marker describes the 1979 Three Mile Island accident that forever changed nuclear energy in the United States; in the background steam rises from a cooling tower at the plant, which stopped producing electricity on Friday, Sept. 20. (Brett Sholtis/WITF)

• With the state Senate returning from summer break today, the full General Assembly is officially back in business for fall session. This week’s packed agenda includes more than a dozen firearms bills up for discussion during hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Harrisburg. Katie Meyer and Ed Mahon will be covering the talks, so follow Ed (@edmahonreporter) and Katie (@katiemeyer4) on Twitter for the latest and stay tuned for a story or two from them. In the meantime, check out Ed’s preview.

• We’re also watching for the state Senate GOP leadership to name a new chairman of the State Government Committee. A new leader is needed after Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, resigned after being arrested on charges of possessing child pornography. Katie and I talked to lobbyists and lawmakers last week about how Folmer’s resignation could affect redistricting and other election reform efforts. The issue’s also the focus on LNP’s Sunday editorial: “That Folmer was arrested on the nation’s Constitution Day could be viewed as either ironic or apt. We think it’s the latter.”

• I’ll continue keeping tabs on the plan to help counties pay for voting machines amid serious doubts that the proposed bond deal can happen. And I’ll hit the road to check out deliberations over new election systems in counties that haven’t picked a vendor yet, as well as worker training and voter education in some that already have their new machines.