Election audit plan a ‘disgrace to democracy,’ governor says

HARRISBURG, PA. >> Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday said it is a “disgrace to democracy” that a Republican state lawmaker is trying to launch what he calls a “forensic investigation” of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election, similar to what is happening in Arizona.

Wolf, a Democrat, said on Twitter that the “sham election audit” being attempted by Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano is also a “profound waste of time and taxpayer money,” in addition to being a disgrace.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Wolf’s administration issued a directive to counties, warning that they should not provide access for third parties to copy or examine state-certified electronic voting systems and election management systems or components.

Wolf’s administration told counties that it would decertify any election equipment that is subject to any such third-party access, rendering it useless in an election, and that the state would not reimburse a county for the cost to replace the equipment.

Mastriano issued letters to Philadelphia and York and Tioga counties Wednesday, giving officials there a sweeping request for access to documents and equipment, with the threat of subpoenas for holdouts who do not respond affirmatively by July’s end.

Trump has persistently claimed the 2020 election was rigged against him, and pressured Republican lawmakers in states he lost narrowly to conduct an audit, as is happening in Arizona. Any such audit in Pennsylvania could cost millions of dollars.

Pennsylvania would get $225M in revamped opioid agreement

HARRISBURG, PA. >> Pennsylvania would receive $225 million to fight the opioidaddiction epidemic from a new agreement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania was among the state attorneys general who had opposed Purdue’s original settlement proposal, before joining an agreement with 14 other states that was disclosed late Wednesday night.

In a statement, Shapiro, a Democrat, said the updated deal isn’t perfect, and that Sackler family members who own the company have used bankruptcy “as a shield for true accountability for their role in jet-fueling this epidemic that takes 13 lives a day” in Pennsylvania.

Weeks of mediations resulted in changes to Purdue’s original plan, including an increase in the original $3 billion offered to $4.5 billion. Pennsylvania’s share would be $225 million, Shapiro’s office said.

“I know there is no amount of money that can make up for the loss of the parents, siblings, children and neighbors, but we intend to put these billions to work immediately to help address this crisis moving forward and to save lives,” Shapiro said.

Purdue sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as a way to settle about 3,000 lawsuits it faced from state and local governments and other entities over its marketing of the prescription painkiller.

Sackler family members are not admitting any wrongdoing and no court has found any by a family member.

NTSB issues report on rail yard accident that killed worker

LINDENWOLD, N.J. >> The death of a longtime employee at a PATCO HiSpeedline rail yard in southern New Jersey last year was probably caused by the man walking in an area not designated for foot traffic between two railcars, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.

The 78-year-old Clementon man was killed July 26 when he was struck by two railcars during an uncoupling maneuver. Another employee found him about two car lengths away from a designated employee walkway, which at the time was blocked a train stored on one of the tracks, according to the report.

The cause of death was determined to be multiple blunt trauma, officials have said.

The report found that PATCO’s storage of railcars on the designated employee walkway contributed to the accident, as did and the aganecy failure to require employees to use these walkways in the yard in Lindenwold.