Free Republic

Pennsylvania has not certified the results of its May 17 primary election in three counties due to lingering legal disputes over the counting of mail-in ballots. Berks, Fayette and Lancaster counties have become embroiled in litigation challenging the counting of such ballots on which the voter did not write the date, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. The state last week sued the three counties, aiming to force them to count mail-in ballots without handwritten dates, the Associated Press reported. Fayette County asserts that the state lacks the authority to compel the counting of the disputed ballots and highlights...

Despite being an advocate of “civility,” “decency,” and “unity” in the past, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) has apparently been so radicalized by her caucus that she now says the Republican Party is “diseased” and must be “cleansed.” “This is, in my opinion, a diseased Republican Party. And it needs to be cured and cleansed,” Houlahan said on the Daily Beast‘s The New Abnormal podcast last month. “So the stakes of having a Republican, as an example, in my seat are more than just policy differences. They are democracy, in my opinion.” The GOP is “diseased” and must be “cleansed?” Where...

A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Wednesday weighed arguments by Republicans seeking to stop a suburban Philadelphia county from counting mail-in and absentee ballots that voters had been permitted to correct. U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage in Philadelphia appeared skeptical of arguments by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, which lawyers for Montgomery County election officials and the Democratic National Committee said could disenfranchise voters. The Pennsylvania lawsuit had been filed by Kathy Barnette, a conservative political commentator projected to lose her race for a House seat in the state’s 4th Congressional district, and Clay Breece, chairman of the Republican Committee in Berks...

A Memorial Day tradition will continue in Berks County, Pa., this year after the state’s governor agreed to waive one of his administration’s coronavirus rules. Because of the waiver, flag maker FlagZone of Gilbertsville was able to begin distributing an estimated 50,000 American flags to veterans organizations and volunteers throughout the county, The Reading Eagle reported. The decision was good news for Robert Haller, senior vice commander of a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Birdsboro – although he said he planned to defy the restriction if it wasn’t lifted.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the important case Doe v. Boyertown Area School District, which centered on the question of whether or not students have the privacy right to sex-segregated bathrooms and locker rooms. Boys were shocked to find a girl changing with them and teenage girl Alexis Lightcap was terrified to a find a boy in her restroom. These violations of privacy were justified in the name of transgender inclusion. While the Supreme Court did not take up Lightcap's case, it may consider similar ones coming down the pike. "Students struggling with their beliefs...

16 Police Forces Called to Bloody Wedding Brawl NEWSER) – A wedding reception in Berks County, Pa., turned into something resembling a regional police convention when officers from 16 forces turned up to deal with rowdy guests—including the groom, who spent his wedding night in jail. From what police could piece together, the reception at a venue in Ontelaunee Township started to turn ugly when partygoer Mandi Groh punched another woman in the face after she complained about Groh allowing her drunk 14-year-old son to drink beer, WFMZ reports. The brawl grew and, according to a police report, by the...

NEW YORK, NY (CBS) – Is Taylor Swift the world’s greatest female leader? Fortune magazine thinks so. The publication released its second annual Top 50 World’s Greatest Leaders, and the Berks County native is the first female on the list at number six.