Wolf, GOP strike deal on straight-ticket voting, voting machine $

• 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.

 Scott LaMar / WITF

The Pennsylvania state Capitol is seen in this file photo.

The Caucus + Spotlight PA shine light on campaign spending

Scott LaMar / WITF

The Pennsylvania state Capitol is seen in this file photo. (Scott LaMar / WITF)

• A House committee amended a bill yesterday to add several election reforms — including no-excuse absentee voting and extended deadlines to turn in ballots and register to vote — to a bill that was originally intended to eliminate straight-ticket voting. The bill still includes that provision, which is dividing Democrats. Meanwhile, the measure doesn’t yet include the $90 million authorization to partially reimburse counties for their costs to buy new voting machines. My full story is here.

• That election reform committee hearing drew a lot of attention for a provision that seemed to be a response to a new Spotlight PA / The Caucus investigation into the campaign spending of state legislators. An amendment approved along with the others on Tuesday would appear to make it easier for lawmakers to hide their spending from journalists and the public. Read Angela Couloumbis’s story about the change.

• The Caucus / Spotlight PA story in question was the result of a year-long investigation that uncovered legislators using campaign accounts to pay for foreign trips, limos, fine wines and liquor, country club memberships, and even a DNA test kit.  A new story from Spotlight PA and The Caucus was published this morning. Read it here.

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Matt Smith for Keystone Crossroads

A look at the facility at Cairns Family Farm on Sept. 25, 2019, in Sadsbury Township, Pennsylvania.

• The Pa. Department of Agriculture plans to award more than $400,000 in grants for specialty crops used to make craft beverages. WITF’s Rachel McDevitt has more details on the PA Farm Bill initiative’s Specialty Crop Block Grant program in this story.

• Since 2013, ten states have passed abortion laws that are similar to or more restrictive than the latest attempt in Pennsylvania, Capitol Bureau Chief Katie Meyer notes in reporting on the so-called “heartbeat bill” discussed earlier this week in the legislature. None of the other states’ attempts has taken effect, though, due to successful court challenges. Her full story is here. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court upheld Pittsburgh’s laws requiring people protesting abortion to stay at least 15 feet from clinics — with a carveout for “sidewalking counseling.” WESA’s story is here.

• Lehigh County Jail earned $10,000 a month as immigration detention facility. And as such, “the jail blurred the lines that county commissioners established for detainers. Not only did the jail take in immigrants … who faced no criminal charges, it also resumed holding local prisoners at ICE’s behest after they were scheduled to be released,” reports Riley Yates in this story for The Morning Call.

• The Delaware County District Attorney’s office has charged three court-appointed guardians with stealing $1 million from senior citizens entrusted to their care. “Gloria Byars, 58; Keith Collins, 59; and Carolyn Collins, 70, allegedly used a shell company and a local church where the Collinses were pastors to launder [the]  money,” reports WHHY’s Dana Bates.