Months beforehand, some Pennsylvania lawmakers had proposed to outlaw the type of rifle that was used in the assassination attempt against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Pennsylvania is seeing lots of action targeting gaps in its vote-by-mail laws.

Pennsylvania saw a tenfold increase in deaths of older adults following an abuse or neglect complaint over the past few years.

Researchers in heavily drilled Pennsylvania are adding to a body of evidence suggesting links between the natural gas industry and certain health problems.

Justices on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court are indicating that they're likely to have split opinions on whether a governor can force power plant owners to pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Democrat Josh Shapiro has become the 48th governor of Pennsylvania at the inaugural ceremony at the state Capitol.

The rapper Meek Mill is among hundreds of people who have been granted pardons by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf before he leaves office.

Pennsylvania’s newly minted state House speaker is moving to make his major policy goal regarding victims of child sexual abuse to be the chamber’s urgent priority.

One of Pennsylvania’s largest drillers will be allowed to extract natural gas from underneath a rural Pennsylvania community where it has been banned for a dozen years because of accusations it polluted the water supply.

A Pennsylvania government panel has approved the addition of extensive definitions of sex, religious creed and race to nondiscrimination regulations.

When John Fetterman goes to Washington in January as one of the Senate’s new members, he’ll bring along an irreverent style from Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro is beginning the transition to his new job, pledging to work constructively with lawmakers and pledging to remain as attorney general until he takes office as governor in January.

Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro will take office with a decisive mandate from Pennsylvania voters, who overwhelmingly rejected a Republican drive to pare back abortion rights and voting laws in the premier battleground state.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, of Pennsylvania, is returning to Congress for a third term following her reelection win over a Republican who runs a manufacturing business.

Three races among Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation have taken shape as some of the closer contests in the country this year.

President Joe Biden’s travel itinerary for his last big campaign swing before the midterm elections reveals his defensive stance in the campaign’s closing days.

Abortion access in several states could hinge on the outcome of November elections of lawmakers, governors, supreme court justices and attorneys general.

An energized President Joe Biden returned Friday to the Keystone State, his 15th visit since he took office, this time to attend a fundraiser with Vice President Kamala Harris and other leaders to boost Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman.

Pennsylvania Senate candidates Dr. Mehmet Oz and John Fetterman are fighting hard for Black voters who might make the difference in their close race.

In his campaign for a crucial U.S. Senate seat, Democrat John Fetterman takes credit for transforming Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor’s office into a "bully pulpit" to advance progressive causes.

Max Baer, the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, has died at age 74 only months before he was set to retire.

Seventeen states that tie their vehicle emission standards to rules established in California must decide whether to follow that state’s strict new rules.

As attorney general, Josh Shapiro went to court repeatedly to defend Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration against legal challenges to his pandemic-era mandates and shutdowns.

When the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established a right to abortion, it sparked legal changes and court challenges in states nationwide.

Republicans are warming up to the far-right nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano.

U.S. cities and states have lined up with tax breaks and millions of dollars in both public and private investments for a chance at hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The nation's governors are diverging over how to respond to mass shootings such as the one that killed 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.

Counting of mailed ballots in Pennsylvania is drawing renewed scrutiny amid a too-close-to-call U.S. Senate primary between Republicans David McCormick and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Former President Donald Trump blasted the state’s elections procedures on social media, even though there are no indications of any wrongdoing with those ballots other than a printing error that was slowing the tally in one county.

Doug Mastriano has won the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania.

Major energy producing states from Alaska to Pennsylvania are reaping a windfall from soaring oil and natural gas prices, stoked by the war in Ukraine and the U.S.-led ban on Russian oil imports.

Former President Donald Trump’s winning streak in U.S. Senate primaries is on the line Tuesday as voters in five states cast their ballots in midterm elections.

With six days until Pennsylvania’s primary, Republicans are openly worrying that a leading candidate in the crowded GOP field running for governor is unelectable in the fall general election.

The Supreme Court’s apparent intention to abolish a nationwide right to abortion, spelled out in a draft opinion leaked this week, will not be the final chapter in the nation’s most pitched culture battle.

The Supreme Court’s apparent intention to abolish a nationwide right to abortion, spelled out in a draft opinion leaked this week, will not be the final chapter in the nation’s most pitched culture battle.

Republican candidates for Pennsylvania governor are pledging to open up natural gas production, but there are constraints to what a governor can do.

The push by Republicans to conduct partisan ballot reviews like the one that unfolded last year in Arizona has spread beyond battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump.

Governors and state lawmakers throughout the U.S. are floating proposals to send checks to help residents cope with soaring inflation at a time when state budgets are bursting with cash.

State police have opened a driving under the influence investigation following the deaths of two Pennsylvania troopers and a civilian struck by a vehicle on an interstate in Philadelphia early Monday.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party committee members backed U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb by 2 to 1 in an endorsement vote over Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the primary race for the state's open U.S. Senate seat.

The Arizona Republican Party is asking the state Supreme Court to rule that vote by mail is unconstitutional.

Governors and lawmakers in numerous U.S. states are seeking to add to the financial squeeze on Russia over its war against Ukraine.

Wisconsin is one of four states emerging as top priorities for Democrats in an election year when the party is facing fierce political headwinds.

Anti-abortion centers across the country are receiving tens of millions of tax dollars to talk women out of ending their pregnancies.

A Republican inquiry into Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election spurred on by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud has spawned several court cases as it expands, grows in cost and shows signs it will drag well into 2022.

Federal investigators are vowing to put a collapsed bridge in a Pittsburgh park “under a microscope” as they examine evidence.

A court says Pennsylvania’s expansive 2-year-old mail-in voting law violates the state constitution.

President Joe Biden has visited the bridge in Pittsburgh that collapsed just hours before his previously scheduled trip to promote his infrastructure package — a new law that aims to prevent just such disasters.

Republicans are increasingly optimistic about flipping governor’s offices in key battleground states next year.

Progressive prosecutors around the country are increasingly declaring they just won’t enforce some GOP-backed state laws.

Many people are asking why no one foretold of the deadly ramifications of Hurricane Ida's remnants in the Northeast, but some did.

New census data shows declining populations in rural areas and some Rust Belt cities, which could make them targets during redistricting for the U.S. House.

Pennsylvania’s high court has dealt a blow to victims of child sexual abuse who are trying to revive their otherwise outdated claims.

In the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where former President Donald Trump lost by 80,000 votes eight months ago, his false claims of a stolen election are finding new signs of life.

About one-third of the states have used federal coronavirus relief aid to provide extra pay to workers who were considered essential during the coronavirus pandemic.

With COVID-19 cases declining and vaccinations increasing, governors across the U.S. are wrestling with decisions about when to declare an end to the emergency declarations they have issued and reissued throughout the pandemic.

Businesses could be spared billions of dollars of higher taxes in coming years as a result of federal coronavirus funds flowing to the states.

Pennsylvania voters became the first in the nation to curb their governor’s emergency powers.

As interest dwindles in mass coronavirus vaccination sites in the U.S., local health offices and other providers are ramping up efforts to find and reach homebound people who can't travel for a shot.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office won’t reveal what it told the U.S. Justice Department about COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes.

A recent spike in coronavirus cases in some states has led one of the nation's top health experts to suggest that governors could “close things down” like they did during previous surges.

State lawmakers across the U.S. are taking actions to limit the emergency powers of governors — not just in the current coronavirus pandemic, but for any future emergencies.

Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on March 24, confirmed Levine to be assistant secretary of health. She becomes the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. (Caroline Brehman/Pool via AP, File)Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate has confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. She won confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate.

Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on March 24, confirmed Levine to be assistant secretary of health. She becomes the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. (Caroline Brehman/Pool via AP, File)Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. She won confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate.

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting about cancer in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, March 3, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)President Joe Biden called out Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi for “Neanderthal thinking” in deciding to relax their mask mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions. The governors of both states announced Tuesday they would lift their states’ mask mandates and other restrictions on businesses and gatherings aimed at stopping the spread of the virus. Biden called it a “big mistake” while speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday during a meeting with lawmakers, who each wore a mask. He said, “I hope everyone has realized by now, these masks make a difference.”Biden added: “We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease” and said “the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it.”AdRelated Stories:

Giving the vaccine to teachers and other school staff “will help protect our communities," Pennsylvania Gov. The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered all states to make teachers, school staff, bus drivers and child care workers eligible for shots. In Wisconsin, teachers will get priority when the state receives its first shipment of about 48,000 doses of the J&J vaccine, health authorities said. In Texas, where teachers have been battling to gain access to shots, state officials on Wednesday ordered vaccine providers to begin administering shots to school workers. “The more people we can get the safe and effective vaccine, the faster we can return to a sense of normalcy,” Michigan Gov.

It marked the first annual contraction for the country’s economy since 1998, when it was in the midst of a crippling financial crisis. In comparison, the federal government previously said 38% of people would receive two doses by the end of June. Still, that’s 700,000 doses on hand, when the state is getting 200,000 doses this week, rising to 223,000 next week. AdBharat Biotech has already signed an agreement with Brazil to supply 20 million doses of the vaccine by September. ___COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s mask mandate will continue until a “critical mass” has been reached of people who have received the coronavirus vaccine, a spokesperson for Ohio Gov.

Kapanen scored two goals and the Penguins defeated the Flyers 5-2 on Tuesday night. Penguins’ players raised their sticks and saluted the fans in attendance following the win. Following a scoreless first period, Farabee and Kapanen scored 1:07 apart to open the second period. The Flyers will welcome fans back to the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday against Washington. The Penguins scored three goals and outshot the Flyers 13-3 to start the second period.

(Sarah Stier/Pool Photo via AP)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The list of players in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol dropped to a season-low three, despite the additions of Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby and Nashville’s Ryan Johansen. San Jose’s Tomas Hertl is the only other player on the list after entering his seventh day in the protocol. ___Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby will miss Tuesday night’s game against Philadelphia after being placed on the COVID-19 protocol list. The news comes a day after the NHL had a season-low four players in the COVID-19 protocol. AdTuesday night’s game will be the first game with fans in attendance at PPG Paints Arena since last March.

– Not waiting for more federal help, states have been approving their own coronavirus aid packages, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to help residents and business owners devastated by the the pandemic's economic fallout. Directing federal money to state governments has been so contentious that the idea was stripped from the previous congressional aid package passed in December. “The cascading effect, it’s actually a problem that most states are grappling with ... waiting for the relief money out of the feds,” she said. They also are still figuring out how to spend another $1.8 billion in federal money that Congress approved in December. And for some of those who do receive it, the extra state money represents just a fraction of the financial hit they have taken during the pandemic.

Two months after the first COVID-19 shots were administered, the race to vaccinate older Americans is gaining traction, with more than half of states reporting that a third of people 65 and up have received their first dose. (AP Photo/LM Otero)Two months after the first COVID-19 shots were administered, the race to vaccinate older Americans is gaining traction, with more than a third of people 65 and up having received their first dose in states that have provided data. Vaccine hesitancy is dropping quickly as older Americans talk to their friends who have been vaccinated, he said. Still, the vaccines have already had a real impact on the lives of older Americans. Lynn Bender and her husband, Mark Bender, both 70, got their second vaccine dose two weeks ago.

Tom Wolf's cabinet under a cloud that has nothing to do with last year's election. But after navigating the sea of challenges in 2020, Boockvar is leaving her job in Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's Cabinet on Friday under a cloud that has nothing to do with last year's election. I head the agency.”Neither Boockvar nor Wolf's press secretary would say whether the governor asked for or demanded her resignation. AdShe was a senior advisor to Wolf on election modernization before the governor elevated her to be secretary of state in January 2019.

A sprawling, lumbering winter storm has walloped the Eastern U.S., shutting down coronavirus vaccination sites, closing schools and halting transit. In its second day in the Northeast, a snow storm left nearly 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow piled up in parts of New Hampshire. The Yale New Haven Health system, which runs several hospitals in southern Connecticut, said its vaccination sites were closed Tuesday and staff were contacting people to reschedule appointments. In New England, nearly 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow piled up in southeast New Hampshire, and the mountains were getting heavy snow as well. The National Weather Service reported 30 inches of snow fell in parts of Sussex and Morris counties on Monday.

The winter weather prompted school districts to cancel in-person learning on Monday, and many COVID-19 vaccination sites were closed and rescheduling appointments. As much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow was predicted to fall in areas throughout the day Monday and overnight. 11:30 a.m.BOSTON — The second phase of Massachusetts’ coronavirus vaccine rollout is being disrupted by a winter storm that’s causing schedule changes and at least one vaccination location to shutdown. A winter storm warning remained in effect until Tuesday for much of the state. Most of the state remained under winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories that were expected to remain in effect through Tuesday morning.

He is supporting a bill that would limit local emergency health orders to 14 days unless authorized for longer by the Legislature. Though legislative resistance to executive coronavirus orders has fallen largely along partisan lines in some states, lawmakers elsewhere are pushing back against governors of their own parties. Rob McColley introduced a bill this week that could rescind emergency health orders issued by Gov. Democrats who control the Maryland General Assembly are pressing for more transparency from Republican Gov. He is supporting a bill that would limit local emergency health orders to 14 days unless authorized for longer by the Legislature.

In this Jan. 15, 2021 file photo, President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Tom Wolf in 2017, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide. A transition spokesperson also said Tuesday that Dawn O’Connell will serve as senior counselor for coronavirus response to the health and human services secretary. O'Connell most recently served as director of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and was the senior counselor and deputy chief of staff to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell during the Obama administration.

Military leaders spent chunks of Thursday evening and Friday calling states in an unprecedented appeal for more National Guard troops to help lock down much of the city in the days before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. Kate Brown said she turned down the federal request to send at least 100 more National Guard troops to D.C. “I didn’t think that we could safely fill that commitment,” Brown said. Oregon has already agreed to send 30 to Washington, but state leaders are worried about violence at the state capitol in Salem. At that point, the new round of calls to the state governors and military leaders began. Roy Cooper initially agreed to send 200 Guard, and on Friday spokesman Ford Porter said the state will send 100 more.

Though details remain murky, demonstrations are expected at state capitols beginning Sunday and leading up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday. Though details remain murky, demonstrations are expected at state capitols beginning Sunday and leading up to Biden's succession of President Donald Trump on Wednesday. More than a dozen governors also have called out the Guard to protect their own state capitols and aid local law enforcement officers. Some windows also were boarded at capitols in Wisconsin and Illinois, both of which activated the National Guard to help with security. “But we draw the line at threats to physical safety or to the Utah Capitol building.

Fix It.’ I’ve liked the day-in, day-out challenges of governance.”President Ronald Reagan appointed Thornburgh attorney general in the waning months of his administration. He was asked to stay on as attorney general when George H.W. When Thornburgh left the U.S. attorney general post in 1991, he made a run for U.S. Senate, losing to Harris Wofford in the general election. In 2002, the Justice Department tapped Thornburgh to help investigate WorldCom for mismanagement, irregularities and fraud. Three years later, Thornburgh married Ginny Judson, who raised his three sons and bore another, William.

FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2020, file photo, a health care worker wears personal protective equipment as she speaks to a patient at a mobile testing location for COVID-19 in Auburn, Maine. Doctors and nurses around the U.S. are becoming exhausted and demoralized as they struggle to cope with a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 patients that is swamping hospitals and prompting governors to clamp back down to contain the virus. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)Doctors and nurses around the U.S. are becoming exhausted and demoralized as they struggle to cope with a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 patients that is overwhelming hospitals and prompting governors to clamp back down to contain the virus. “We’re constantly looking for beds,” said Cassie Ban, an intensive care nurse at Indiana University Health. Each one of those numbers is the death of a person who wasn’t ready to go yet.”Although concerns remain about getting enough beds, masks and other equipment, many frontline health workers are most worried about staff shortages.

This October 2020 photo provided by Pfizer shows freezers set up in a warehouse in Kalamzoo, Mich., in preparation for distribution of the company's coronavirus vaccine. ___THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:The White House is pressuring the FDA chief Stephen Hahn to grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day. Andrew Cuomo has reinstated indoor dining restrictions indefinitely in New York City in an effort to limit the increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Michigan’s health department argues the teaching restriction is necessary to control the spread of the coronavirus, especially after Thanksgiving gatherings. State Health Department officials on Friday confirmed 513 new cases of the coronavirus.

If approved, shots could begin within days for health care workers and people in nursing homes. Shots would then begin for health care workers and nursing home residents. ___CANBERRA, Australia — Australian researchers say they have abandoned development of a potential coronavirus vaccine because it produced false positive results on HIV tests. A health ministry statement says the government will first vaccinate health care workers, particularly those who deal with COVID-19 cases. ___HONOLULU — Hawaii expects to receive 80,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine in December for health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.

FILE - In this Sept 11, 2018, file photo, Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf said Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home. Wolf is one of several governors who have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, including the governors of Oklahoma, Missouri, Virginia, Nevada and Colorado.

The Supreme Court has rejected Republicans' last-gasp bid to reverse Pennsylvanias certification of President-elect Joe Bidens victory in the electoral battleground. “We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case,” Trump said hours before the high court filing. Shortly before tweeting about joining Paxton's case, Trump distanced himself from the Pennsylvania challenge, saying it wasn't his. “The case everyone has been waiting for is the State's case with Texas and numerous others joining," he said. Biden beat Trump by more than 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania, a state Trump had won in 2016.

In this Nov. 5, 2020, file photo, the Supreme Court in Washington. The Supreme Court has rejected Republicans' last-gasp bid to reverse Pennsylvanias certification of President-elect Joe Bidens victory in the electoral battleground. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Republicans' last-gasp bid to reverse Pennsylvania's certification of President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the electoral battleground. In any case, Biden won 306 electoral votes, so even if Pennsylvania’s results had been in doubt, he still would have more than the 270 electoral votes needed to become president. Republicans had pleaded with the justices to intervene immediately after the state Supreme Court turned away their case last week.

Virtually every state is reporting surges in cases and deaths. The virus is blamed for more than 285,000 deaths and 15 million confirmed infections in the United States. Southern California’s Riverside University Health System Medical Center went so far as to open an ICU in a storage room. The state is averaging more than 5,000 confirmed or suspected cases per day. That’s below the summer peak of 3,200 but more than double the most recent low point in mid-October.

Hong Kong on Wednesday reported an additional 100 cases, bringing its two-week total to 1,274. Hong Kong has reported a total of 7,075 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, with 112 deaths. The Texas Department of State Health Services also said 9,028 people were hospitalized across the state. Since late November, the new daily cases have soared past 10,000 on several days, with 15,103 new cases reported Tuesday, according to state health officials. ___BOISE, Idaho — Idaho public health officials abruptly ended a meeting Tuesday evening after the Boise mayor and chief of police said intense anti-mask protests outside the health department building — as well as outside some health officials’ homes — were threatening public safety.

She said Health Department managers urged her to manipulate information to paint a rosier picture and that she pushed back. Asa Hutchinson announced plans Monday for a series of community meetings across Arkansas to address the growing surge of coronavirus cases. The state Department of Education is expected to give public school systems the green light to follow the relaxed quarantine rules. But the health department is sticking to a 14-day recommendation for prisons and nursing homes where people live together in tight quarters. When averaged out over seven days, South Carolina is seeing about 2,300 new COVID-19 cases a day.

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A Pennsylvania state senator abruptly left a West Wing meeting with President Donald Trump after being informed he had tested positive for the coronavirus, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press. Trump told Mastriano that White House medical personnel would take care of him, his son and his son’s friend, who were also there for the Oval Office meeting and tested positive. Dozens of White House staffers and others close to the president have also tested positive, including the first lady and two of the president’s sons. Trump even participated, calling from the White House while one of his lawyers held a phone up to a microphone. The person with knowledge of the White House visit said several people rode in a large van from Gettysburg, where the policy committee met in a hotel, to the White House.

Trump told Mastriano that White House medical personnel would take care of him, his son and his son’s friend, who were also there for the Oval Office meeting and tested positive. Dozens of White House staffers and others close to the president have also tested positive, including the first lady and two of the president’s sons. The meeting with Trump was to strategize about efforts regarding the election, the person said. Trump even participated, calling from the White House while one of his lawyers held a phone up to a microphone. The person with knowledge of the White House visit said several people rode in a large van from Gettysburg, where the policy committee met in a hotel, to the White House.

Biden beat Trump by more than 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania, a state Trump had won in 2016. The week-old lawsuit, led by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of northwestern Pennsylvania, had challenged the state's mail-in voting law as unconstitutional. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, had certified Biden as the winner of the presidential election in Pennsylvania. Wolf quickly appealed McCullough's decision to the state Supreme Court, saying there was no “conceivable justification” for it. On Friday, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia roundly rejected the Trump campaign’s latest effort to challenge the state’s election results.

At left are Eric Trump, son of President Trump, and his wife Lara Trump. The 2020 presidential race is turning into the zombie election that Trump just won’t let die. The judge admonished the Trump campaign in a scathing ruling about its lack of evidence. Trump and his allies have brought at least four cases in Michigan that sought — unsuccessfully — to block certification of election results in part or all of the state. Tom Wolf certified Biden as the winner, an appeals court judge ordered state officials to halt any further steps toward certifying election results.

All rights reserved)HARRISBURG, Pa. – Democrat Joe Biden was certified Tuesday as winner of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, culminating three weeks of vote counting and a string of failed legal challenges by President Donald Trump. Tom Wolf first disclosed in a tweet that the Department of State had certified the vote count for president and vice president. Wolf sent a “certificate of ascertainment” to the national archivist Washington with the slate of electors who support President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Patton Mills said she was gratified that Pennsylvania was “the state that made it possible” for Biden to win. The Pennsylvania results show Biden and Harris with 3.46 million votes, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence with 3.38 million, and Libertarian Jo Jorgensen with 79,000.

U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann wrote in his order that Trump had asked the court to disenfranchise almost 7 million voters. “That has not happened.”Even if he'd won the Pennsylvania case, Trump would have needed to win other lawsuits in other states where he'd also asked to delay certification. Brann ruled that Pennsylvania officials can certify election results that currently show Biden winning the state by more than 80,000 votes. He said the Trump campaign presented “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations ... unsupported by evidence." Opposing lawyer Mark Aronchick suggested Giuliani must not know the Pennsylvania election code.

A full day after Election Day, neither candidate had cleared the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Trump’s campaign requested a recount, though statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes. After the victories in Wisconsin and Michigan, he was just six Electoral College votes away from the presidency. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said the president would formally request a Wisconsin recount, citing “irregularities" in several counties. The Trump campaign on Wednesday pushed Republican donors to dig deeper into their pockets to help finance legal challenges.

FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 19, 2020, file photo, an election worker places a vote-by-mail ballot into an official ballot drop box outside of an early voting site, in Miami. Just days before the presidential election, millions of mail-in ballots have still not been returned in key battleground states. Many of those are due in county offices by Tuesday, Nov. 3, but the latest Postal Service delivery data suggests its too late for voters to drop their ballots in the mail. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

Just days before the presidential election, millions of mail-in ballots have still not been returned in key battleground states. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)ATLANTA – Just days before the presidential election, millions of mail ballots have yet to be returned in key battleground states, and election officials warn that time is running out for voters who want to avoid a polling place on Election Day. At least 35 million mail ballots had been returned or accepted as of early Wednesday, according to data collected by The Associated Press. That surpasses the 33.3 million total mail ballots returned during the 2016 election, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Yet an estimated 1.9 million ballots were still outstanding in Florida, along with 962,000 in Nevada, 850,000 in Michigan and 1 million in Pennsylvania.

Trump campaign banners wave in the wind along Route 8 in Middlesex Township, Pa., in conservative Butler County on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. So his fate lies in large part in places like Butler County, an overwhelmingly white, conservative county north of Pittsburgh. The wire rope that holds up the Brooklyn Bridge was made in Butler County. The obstacle for Trump is that Democrats — they had a competitive presidential primary — have more voters and generated a better return rate. Catherine Lalonde, 59, wasn’t even registered as a Democrat in 2016, but the trained nurse now leads the Butler County party.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan — who was appointed by Trump — in Pittsburgh also poured cold water on Trump’s claims that Pennsylvania is fertile ground for election fraud. The state's attorney general, Josh Shapiro, a Democrat whose office fought the Trump campaign's claims, called the lawsuit a political stunt designed to sow doubt in the state's election. “We told the Trump campaign and the president, ‘put up or shut up’ to his claims of voter fraud in Pennsylvania," Shapiro told The Associated Press. Trump’s campaign had asked Ranjan to declare that guidance unconstitutional and to block counties from following it. Ranjan wrote Trump’s campaign could not prove that the president has been hurt by election fraud or even that he is likely to be hurt by fraud.

The governor’s office said Newsom was tested on Wednesday after someone in the governor’s office tested positive. The staff member who tested positive had not interacted with Newsom or anyone else who often sees the governor. ___HARTFORD, Conn. -- Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force says she is concerned about the uptick in coronavirus cases in the Northeast. The virus has killed at least 5,416 people in Louisiana, according to the state health department. A cluster of fewer than 20 people tested positive for the virus at the Nashville Rescue Mission’s facility for women and children, Brian Todd said.

Toomey had long expressed an interest in running for governor, and he drew calls on a daily basis from people who he said wanted to help him run for governor or for reelection to the Senate. Toomey said he still hopes to become chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. With both offices open in 2022, Democrats have a bench of prospects who have won statewide races — Lt. Gov. Republicans, meanwhile, are left without any natural heir or obvious front-runner for either governor or U.S. Senate. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Toomey has said he still hopes to become chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, not the Senate.