Pennsylvania
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Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee for President of the United States, was in Pennsylvania hosting a rally when shots rang out. After popping noises were heard, several Secret Service agents rushed the stage, turning into a photo op that some on Xitter believe to be staged.
According to a breaking NBC News report, Donald Trump was in Western Pennsylvania hosting a rally as part of the campaign trail for the business mogul and presidential hopeful. Trump was in the early stages of the rally when loud noises were reportedly heard in the distance. The sounds somewhat resembled gunshots, prompting Secret Service agents to secure the safety of the former president.
More from NBC News:
Trump was speaking when he reached for the side of his face as popping sounds rang out over the rally. He then crouched down as Secret Service agents rushed the stage and surrounded him. He was quickly escorted into a vehicle, walking off the stage with agents on all sides.
Screams from the audience rang out as the scene unfolded.
A Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement posted to X that “the former President is safe.”
“This is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available,” agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi posted.
Trump is currently being treated at a local facility and was reportedly injured in the ear and head area. Dramatic images online show Trump being tackled by agents with the American Flag flying behind them amid the confusion.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, some are saying that the shooting was a staged event meant to sway voters. Others had other things to say and we’ll feature reactions from all sides below.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: Catherine Ivill – AMA / Getty
Jay-Z and Roc Nation have come under fire for backing a program in Pennsylvania, which critics say aims to gut public education.
A new campaign underway in Pennsylvania is aiming to get students from low-income households in Philadelphia into the city’s private schools. The Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) program is spearheaded by Jay-Z and his Roc Nation entertainment company, which also refers to the PASS grants as “Lifetime Scholarships.” Roc Nation had publicly pledged an investment of $300 million towards the cause. “PASS – which is also known as Senate Bill 757 – is legislation aimed at increasing education opportunities for underprivileged youth attending the state’s lowest performing public schools,” a press release by the group stated.
But critics, including teachers’ groups, have called out the campaign for being heavily influenced by Republicans to gut public education and pointed to Jay-Z’s friendship with a key figure of the campaign. “This ain’t it,” wrote the American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “And for good measure, here’s a still of @sc and Jeffrey Yass, PA’s richest man, potential Trump Treasury Secretary, and the force behind the voucher push in PA.” The push comes as House Democrats are advancing a bill for $5.1 billion in school funding, capping charter schools’ annual tuition fees.
Criticism also came from individuals such as parent Dena Driscoll, who said that “Jay-Z is like ‘defund Abbott Elementary‘ and for real though my actual Philadelphian children’s public school. Lifeline Scholarships mean most of our children are left to drown.” Journalist and scholar Nikole Hannah-Jones blasted initial coverage of the PASS program as well in a thread of posts on X, calling Roc Nation out for lending its name to efforts in trying to get the bill passed, stating its “involvement is to convince poor Black parents to leave the public schools. “This is no different than the right-wing efforts in Arizona, Florida, and elsewhere just because they put a Black face on it,” she wrote.
Jeff Yass is a billionaire who is the largest megadonor to Republican federal campaigns this election cycle, according to CNBC, totaling over $46 million to date. School choice has been a major focus of PASS and the groups he funds through various entities, with sources remarking that he is a top choice for a cabinet position under Donald Trump if he were to win the presidential election in November.
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A Pennsylvania man was taken into custody after uploading a YouTube showing his father’s decapitated head. Police were able to arrest the man without incident after tracking his cell phone some 100 miles away from the scene of the murder. We must warn that the details within are disturbing so proceed with caution.
Justin Mohn, 32, carried out the gruesome crime on Tuesday (Jan. 30) at the home of Michael Mohn, 68, in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pa. According to the report made by local outlet WGAL, Mohn was arrested in Fort Indiantown Gap, Lebanon County, Pa.
“We didn’t know where he was going and what his intentions were when he left here,” Capt. Pete Feeney of the Middletown Township Police Department said. “Fortunately, we were able to get a location based on his cellphone.”
The outlet adds that police were able to determine that Mohn lived in the home with his father but they are still trying to determine a motive as the investigation is still underway. The YouTube video made its rounds on social media before takedowns began to occur. In the clip, Mohn does not appear to be distressed or disturbed by the crime he carried out.
Mohn is being charged with murder of the first degree, abuse of corpse, and possession of an instrument of crime with intent. He is due in court on Feb. 8 for a preliminary hearing and will be held until then as his bail was denied.
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Photo: Getty
After a probation-reform bill became Pennsylvania law last Friday, chart-topping rapper Meek Mill teared up and a key music-business advocacy group echoed his support.
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“We are definitely happy about these results,” says Prophet, co-founder, president and CEO of the Black Music Action Coalition, a group of attorneys, artists, label executives and managers formed in 2020 to address racism in the industry. “No laws have completely given us what we need, but these are huge steps. If I were a governor in any state, I’d be looking at what Pennsylvania did and following suit — especially in an election cycle.”
In 2008, just as his music career was taking off, 18-year-old Mill was sentenced to prison for a drug and firearm conviction. A court overturned the ruling 11 years later, and earlier this year, Pennsylvania’s then-governor, Tom Wolf, pardoned him for the original charges. Mill, who lives in Philadelphia, has been on probation for much of his life, and has advocated for criminal-justice reform for years. After Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the legislation Friday, the rapper spoke of not being able to pick up his son from school in New Jersey due to parole regulations. “They labeled us felons,” he said at Friday’s ceremonial bill-signing. “I had to fight against that the whole time to gain my respect and be who I am today.”
The new Pennsylvania law passed a bipartisan state senate vote last Thursday, despite opposition from the ACLU, which said it will “risk making probation worse.” The law, known as Comprehensive Probation Reform, requires probation reviews after either two years or half of a misdemeanor sentence, or four years or half of a felony sentence. It also urges judges not to send people back to jail for minor technical parole violations.
“We all learned from Meek’s case because it shined a light on the injustices in our probation system,” Shapiro told reporters after signing the law.
In addition to praising the new Pennsylvania law, the BMAC’s Prophet predicted the result will inspire artists, people of color and young people to be more politically active. “What that does is trigger the alarm to many young people, a base that for the most part is either uninspired or not engaged, to see that they actually have political power,” he says. “The Black vote saved the 2020 election. We haven’t gotten a lot in return. Now the Democrats and the Republicans are going to be held to a level of accountability that hasn’t been seen before.”
“People are inspired. People are saying, ‘Look, Meek just changed the law,’” Prophet adds. “It’s that sort of simplicity of the process that inspires people.”
Pennsylvania is in its Taylor Swift era — legally! On the multi-Grammy winner’s birthday (Dec. 13), a resolution from the state’s House of Representatives voted 103-100 to name 2023 as the Taylor Swift era in the singer’s home state, according to Associated Press. The resolution noted Swift as a person who “transcended the role of […]
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The search for “crab-walking” escaped convict, Danelo Cavalcante is finally over, and now we’re learning exactly how the man was able to survive all these weeks on the run. It wasn’t pretty.
According to TMZ, Danelo did everything he could to survive out in the wilderness of Pennsylvania including eating fruits and drinking water from nearby creeks (that explains the athleticism he used to crab walk up a prison wall). But in order to keep his whereabouts secret, he even concealed his excrement, according to authorities who are picking his brain to learn how he was able to avoid detection for so long.
TMZ reports:
Cavalcante gave investigators a window into his method of survival for 14 days in the forest after he was nabbed Wednesday by a large contingent of police officers and federal marshals in rural Chester County.
The convicted murderer said he stayed out of sight by primarily moving around at night, burying himself under thick brush and covering his poop with leaves, according to Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshall Robert Clark, who was involved in the manhunt.
Clark appeared on Chris Cuomo’s NewsNation show Wednesday night, saying Cavalcante had a few close calls with officers, who almost stepped on him while he was under the thickets. In fact, the tactical team was only 7-to-8 yards away from Cavalcante on three occasions.
Cavalcante made news when he scaled a wall at a Chester County Prison on Aug. 31 after being sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his girlfriend to death. Since then the town was gripped in fear as schools were closed and people were told to be wary of the convicted murderer who would no doubt look for food, clothing and shelter.
Earlier this week, Cavalcante broke into a home and stole a .22 caliber rifle before the home owner opened fire on him, sending Cavalcante running for cover. Luckily, authorities were finally able to track down the fugitive and have taken him off the streets of Pennsylvania, giving its residents reason to breath easier whenever traveling through their community.
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Danelo Cavalcante, the escaped murderer who made a daring escape from a Pennsylvania prison, has been caught after a manhunt was launched to bring him back behind bars. Cavalcante was captured without incident by a massive tactical force of various law enforcement agencies, bringing to a close the chase after the convicted murderer who eluded authorities for weeks.
As reported by local outlet Fox 29, Danelo Cavalcante, 34, was found in Pottstown, Pa., a small town northwest of Philadelphia around 8 a.m. Wednesday (September 13). The manhunt for Cavalcante, a native of Brazil, began after he escaped Chester County Prison on August 31 by climbing a prison wall, then bypassing razor wire before jumping from a roof to the other side.
From the onset, Cavalcante found ways to evade the clutches of the authorities and managed to steal a van aiding in his escape. While the trail remained warm for officials seeking Cavalcante, he found ways to alter his appearance and survived by sleeping in nearby woods, breaking into homes to steal food, and even getting hold of a light firearm.
According to sources speaking to Fox 29, Cavalcante was found at a John Deere dealership in Pottstown with a .22-caliber rifle. According to the Associated Press, Cavalcante was found using thermal imaging which directed the authorities to his location. Reports say that Cavalcante was possibly bitten by a police dog in the hunt.
Earlier this year, Cavalcante was handed down a life sentence for the 2021 murder of his girlfriend, stabbing her to death in front of her children. Cavalcante was also sought by Brazilian authorities in connection to a shooting death.
On X, reactions from observers range from relief to some making light jokes about the fact that Danelo Cavalcante was caught wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jersey. We’ve got a handful of reactions from all sides below.
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Photo: Handout/Crime Stoppers
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Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is currently hospitalized and receiving treatment for clinical depression, a week after being briefly hospitalized for another issue.
According to reports, Fetterman’s office confirmed on Thursday (Feb. 16) that the Democrat had gone to the hospital. “Last night, Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for clinical depression. While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks,” his office related in a statement.
While the statement didn’t elaborate on what prompted his decision to seek help, the senator had been hospitalized briefly at the George Washington University Hospital last week after experiencing a period of feeling lightheaded. Test results showed that there were no signs of a seizure or stroke suffered. The statement mentioned that he would undergo voluntary inpatient treatment.
The 53-year-old freshman senator has been through a particularly rough time up until now. Then lieutenant-governor, Fetterman suffered a severe stroke days before the primary election in Pennsylvania in May 2022. He would recover, staying off the campaign trail but winning the Democratic nomination. He still grappled with auditory processing and was transparent about his struggles. Fetterman would be voted into the Senate in resounding fashion over doctor-turned-TV host Mehmet Oz, who was the Republican candidate.
Depression is commonplace after a stroke, many doctors observed. Dr. Eric Lenze, head of the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, remarked to the Associated Press that Fetterman is “interesting and heroic” for being transparent “instead of saying they’re hospitalized for exhaustion or trying to hide it.”
Fetterman’s health issues and honesty about them have sparked a new conversation within the congressional body about mental health and the need to do more for those suffering. “We’re living in a time of extraordinary stress and crisis,” Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said in an interview. The congressman is undergoing cancer treatment and lost his son days before the January 6th insurrection. “We’ve come through a plague, we’ve had tremendous mental and emotional health problems.”
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