Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro appeals court’s blockage of carbon-pricing standards
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said Tuesday that it is appealing a court ruling that blocked a state regulation to make Pennsylvania’s power plant owners pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, even as the Democrat warned lawmakers to get to work on a better alternative. In a statement, Shapiro didn’t pledge to enforce the regulation, should his administration win the appeal at the Democratic-majority state Supreme Court. His appeal revolves around the need to preserve executive authority, his administration said. But he also urged lawmakers to come up with an alternative plan. PA GOV. SHAPIRO PUSHES FOR SCHOOL VOUCHERS, MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE AND GUN VIOLENCE LEGISLATION “Now is the time for action,” Shapiro’s office said. “Inaction is not an acceptable alternative.” Action seemed unlikely, however, as Republicans who control the state Senate criticized Shapiro’s decision to appeal and said it would hamper any meaningful discussion of energy and environmental policy. Environmental advocacy groups applauded the appeal. The case revolves around the centerpiece of former Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to fight global warming and make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel-producing state to adopt a carbon-pricing program. In a Nov. 1 decision, a 4-1 Commonwealth Court majority agreed with Republican lawmakers and coal-related interests that argued that Wolf’s carbon-pricing plan amounted to a tax, and therefore required legislative approval. Wolf, a Democrat, had sought to get around legislative opposition by unconstitutionally imposing the requirement through a regulation, opponents said. The regulation had authorized Pennsylvania to join the multistate Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which imposes a price and declining cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Shapiro has criticized it, but also has not said definitively whether he would enforce it, should he prevail in court. Shapiro’s message to lawmakers Tuesday also did not describe the need to fight climate change. Rather, he couched the matter in different terms, calling it “commonsense energy policy” and said he would sign another carbon-pricing plan, should it win legislative approval. “Should legislative leaders choose to engage in constructive dialogue, the governor is confident we can agree on a stronger alternative to RGGI,” Shapiro’s office said in the statement. “If they take their ball and go home, they will be making a choice not to advance commonsense energy policy that protects jobs, the environment and consumers in Pennsylvania.” Such a plan continues to have no chance of passing the state Legislature, where the Republican-controlled Senate has been protective of hometown coal and natural gas industries in the nation’s No. 2 gas state. Republican lawmakers had hailed the court’s decision to block the regulation and had urged Shapiro not to appeal it. Rather, Republicans have pushed to open greater opportunities for energy production in the state and warned that the regulation will raise electricity bills, hurt in-state energy producers and drive new power generation to other states while doing little to fight climate change. In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, a Republican from Indiana County, called the appeal “misguided.” “Gov. Shapiro’s action further places family sustaining jobs at risk and stymies the ability for any meaningful conversations on energy and environmental policy in the Pennsylvania legislature,” Pittman said. “The governor should be standing with working families who are struggling with inflationary costs and pressures from higher electric bills.” PA GOV. SHAPIRO SIGNS OFF ON BILL EXPANDING DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE-FUNDED UNIVERSITIES In the House, where Democrats hold a one-seat majority, neither a carbon-pricing plan, nor Shapiro’s most well-defined clean-energy goal — a pledge to ensure that Pennsylvania uses 30% of its electricity from renewable power sources by 2030 — have come up for a vote. Backers of the regulation included environmental advocates as well as solar, wind and nuclear power producers. They have called it the biggest step ever taken in Pennsylvania to fight climate change and said it would have generated hundreds of millions of dollars a year to promote climate-friendly energy sources and cut electricity bills through energy conservation programs. Opponents included natural gas-related interests, industrial and commercial power users and labor unions whose members build and maintain pipelines, power plants and refineries.
Pro-Trump candidate faces off with moderate Dem as Utah voters head to polls for special election
Voters in Utah are heading to the polls Tuesday for a special election to determine which party will fill the last remaining open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The election, to be held in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, was triggered by the resignation of former Republican Rep. Chris Stewart, who left Congress in September due to his wife’s unspecified illness. Republican Celeste Maloy, who served as Stewart’s chief legal counsel in Congress, won a three-way primary election that month, and is facing off against Democrat state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, a self-described moderate. BIDEN USES TRUMP’S OWN WORDS AGAINST HIM IN BID TO RECAPTURE THIS MAJOR VOTING BLOCK FOR DEMS IN 2024 As a candidate, Maloy has touted her roots growing up in rural southern Utah, of which the district covers a vast portion, and has leaned into her support of former President Donald Trump, arguing the numerous ongoing prosecutions against him are politically motivated. “It’s exciting that we’re going to have somebody come out of this primary that represents rural and southern Utah. I think it’s time for that, and everybody’s ready for it,” Maloy said following her primary win. However, Riebe has argued the race is a pickup opportunity for Democrats, and has leaned on her experience as a school teacher while making the case that people in the district “are ready for a change.” TRUMP TO REMAIN ON COLORADO BALLOT AFTER JUDGE REJECTS 14TH AMENDMENT CHALLENGE TO ELIGIBILITY In an interview with Deseret News in August, Riebe expressed concern over the nation’s rising debt, and vowed to join the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition if elected. “Coming to a very rational decision and having very moderate ideas, I think that is what serves us best,” she told the outlet. Maloy is currently the heavy favorite to win the special election given Stewart’s double-digit margin of victory in the six elections he was the Republican nominee for the district, going back to 2012. A Democrat win would weaken Republicans’ already slim majority, while a win for the GOP would provide some extra cushion for close votes. Polls close at 8:00 p.m. local time, and 10:00 p.m. ET. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Adams says ‘DC has abandoned us’ as NYC slashes budgets over migrant crisis
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday that Washington D.C. “has abandoned us” in regards to the ongoing migrant crisis the city and other parts of the country are facing — days after he announced stinging budget cuts to education and policing due to the crisis. “D.C. has abandoned us, and they need to be paying their cost to this national problem,” Adams said during a town hall in Brooklyn, according to Politico. The “sanctuary” city has seen over 130,000 migrants come into the city since last year, a relatively small number of which have been bussed in via Texas. NEW YORK DEMOCRATS OVERWHELMINGLY SAY MIGRANTS ‘SERIOUS’ PROBLEM: POLL While it’s just a fraction of the more than 2.4 million migrants encountered at the southern border in the last fiscal year, the city has been overwhelmed, with Adams warning the crisis could “destroy” the city and demanding more federal help. Last week Adams announced cuts across all government agencies due to the city having spent $1.45 billion in fiscal 2023 on the migrant crisis and nearly $11 billion expected to be spent in 2024 and 2025. His office said that the New York Police Department will freeze hiring to bring numbers below 30,000 by the end of fiscal year 2025 from over 33,000. There will also be deep cuts to education, including the universal pre-kindergarten program, and sanitation. The budget cuts drew fury from the city’s teachers and police unions. “This is truly a disaster for every New Yorker who cares about safe streets,” police union President Patrick Hendry said. “Cops are already stretched to our breaking point, and these cuts will return us to staffing levels we haven’t seen since the crime epidemic of the ‘80s and ‘90s.” Adams has told residents to blame the feds. NEW YORK CITY TO REDUCE POLICE NUMBERS, SLASH BUDGETS DUE TO BILLIONS SPENT ON MIGRANT CRISIS “I tell people all the time when they stop me on the subway system, ‘Don’t yell at me, yell at D.C.,’” Adams said on Monday, according to Politico. “We deserve better as a city.” But the Biden administration has pointed to more than $770 million it has given out to support communities taking in migrants in the last year and recommendations its teams of experts have made. It has also deployed personnel to help with authorizing work permits and to educate migrants on the immigration system, a DHS official said recently. NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SAYS PARENTS MAY NEED TO HELP IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AMID MIGRANT CRISIS Separately, the White House has requested an additional $14 billion in emergency funding for border operations, which includes an additional $1.4 billion in grants to help local governments and nonprofits. Meanwhile, more Democrats in the Empire State see the crisis as a problem. A new survey from the Sienna College Research Institute found that 75% of New York Democrats see the migrant crisis in the state as a “very serious” or a “somewhat serious” problem, with 47% of the respondents saying it’s dire and 28% saying its somewhat consequential. Fox News’ Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.
ICE deports illegal immigrant wanted for murder, had been detained seven times at border
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported an illegal immigrant who is wanted for murder in Mexico and had been living illegally in the U.S. despite having been stopped at the border more than half a dozen times previously. Juan Martinez Merida, a Mexican illegal immigrant, was deported in October, authorities said in a recent press release. He had previously been detained at least seven times at the border, and had been allowed to depart voluntarily — where an illegal immigrant is allowed to leave the country by themselves and therefore avoid being given a final order of removal. He then escaped into the country as a got-away at an unknown time, according to ICE. ICE ARRESTS BRAZILIAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHILD RAPIST IN MARTHA’S VINEYARD He was arrested in August by ICE’s branch in Philadelphia, and was charged with inadmissibility. Last month an immigration judge ordered his removal to Mexico, since there is an active warrant for his arrest. In a statement, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) said Merida was wanted for murder in Mexico. “ERO Philadelphia is dedicated to ensuring that individuals seeking to evade justice in their home countries are removed from our communities and returned home to face justice,” ERO Philadelphia Field Office Director Cammilla Wamsley said in a statement. It’s the latest instance of a criminal wanted in other countries for serious crimes who has escaped into the U.S. via the southern border. DENVER SPENDS MILLIONS ON TRANSPORTING MIGRANTS TO OTHER PARTS OF US Fox reported this week that ICE arrested an illegal immigrant Brazilian fugitive – who is wanted in his home country for failing to serve a prison sentence for raping a 5-year-old child — in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. ICE said the Brazilian, identified as 37-year-old Saulo Cardona Ferreira, had received “multiple criminal convictions” in Brazil in 2019 for raping the child and had been sentenced to 14 years in prison, but he had fled the country. The town of Sorriso, Mato Grosso, had issued a warrant for his arrest. There were more than 600,000 gotaways last fiscal year, while in the new fiscal year agents have recorded more than 1,000 got-aways each day.
House GOP subpoenas DOJ prosecutor who allegedly tried to shield Biden during federal probe into son Hunter
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have issued a subpoena for a top Justice Department prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden who allegedly tried to shield President Biden from certain questions, inquiries and search warrants related to the investigation, Fox News Digital has learned. According to the subpoena, which Fox News Digital reviewed Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf has been ordered to appear before the committee on Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. ET at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Wolf first began facing scrutiny earlier this year amid allegations from FBI whistleblower testimony that she limited questions and inquiries about the president and blocked search warrants because she was worried about “optics” during the years-long probe. WATCH: WHITE HOUSE ISSUES STERN DEFENSE OF BIDEN’S ‘STAMINA’ ON 81ST BIRTHDAY AMID GROWING AGE CONCERNS One whistleblower, Gary Shapley Jr., who was the supervisor of the investigation at the IRS, said that “at every stage” of the Hunter Biden probe, decisions were made that “had the effect of benefiting” the president’s son. Shapley made a number of damning allegations that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the years-long investigation, and he lobbed critical accusations at Wolf. According to Shapley, Wolf worked to “limit” questioning related to President Biden and apparent references to Biden as “dad” or “the big guy.” TRUMP MEDICAL REPORT RELEASED AS BIDEN FACES CONCERNS OVER AGE, HEALTH Wolf allegedly said there was “no specific criminality to that line of questioning” relating to President Biden, which Shapley said “upset the FBI.” In October 2020, Wolf reviewed an affidavit for a search warrant for Hunter Biden’s residence and “agreed that probable cause had been achieved,” Shapley testified. However, Shapley said Wolf ultimately would not allow a physical search warrant on the president’s son. Shapley said Wolf determined there was “enough probable cause for the physical search warrant there, but the question was whether the juice was worth the squeeze.” WATCH: WHITE HOUSE ISSUES BRUTAL RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S ‘INAPPROPRIATE’ NICKNAME GIVEN BY ANTI-ISRAEL CRITICS Wolf allegedly said that “optics were a driving factor in the decision on whether to execute a search warrant,” Shapley said, adding that Wolf agreed that “a lot of evidence in our investigation would be found in the guesthouse of former Vice President Biden but said there is no way we will get that approved.” Wolf also allegedly tipped off Hunter Biden’s legal team ahead of a planned search of his storage unit. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
DeSantis lands endorsement from influential Iowa evangelical leader in race for GOP nomination
The influential evangelical leader of a top social conservative organization in Iowa endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday. Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader organization, announced his endorsement of DeSantis in an interview with Bret Baier at 6 p.m. on Fox News’ “Special Report.” “We need to find somebody who can win in 2024,” Vander Plaats said, pointing to the 2022 midterms, where an anticipated “red wave” never materialized for most of the country. DeSantis, however, won re-election in Florida by a wide margin. GAME ON IN IOWA AS DESANTIS AND HALEY BATTLE FOR SECOND PLACE BEHIND TRUMP Vander Plaats’ endorsement did not come as much of a surprise. “We’re hopeful that we’re able to secure that endorsement,” DeSantis told reporters Tuesday during the first of two campaign stops in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP nominating schedule, after Iowa’s lead-off caucuses. The Florida governor, along with 2024 GOP White House rivals, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, appeared with Vander Plaats on Friday at a Family Leader presidential forum in Des Moines, Iowa. “I think that if you saw that Family Leader forum, clearly his folks there gravitated to me. I don’t think there’s any question about that. We have a good relationship,” DeSantis said. Former President Donald Trump, the commanding frontrunner for the Republican nomination as he makes his third straight White House run, was invited but declined to attend the forum. Trump also skipped a similar presidential forum hosted by the Family Leader in July. DESANTIS, HALEY, RAMASWAMY, GET PERSONAL AS THEY SIT SIDE-BY-SIDE Vander Plaats, who has long had a rocky relationship with Trump and who has argued that it is time for new conservative leadership, said the former president’s “absence communicates a lot to our base.” “There’s definitely a shot that the former president can be beat here,” Vander Plaats told Fox News Digital in an interview last week. Pointing to Vander Plaats, DeSantis on Tuesday noted, “Bob has been somebody that’s been very vocal that Donald Trump is not going to be the way forward, not going to be able to get the job done, particularly as a lame duck president.” In a major boost for DeSantis – who has staked his campaign on winning in Iowa — the Florida governor landed the endorsement earlier this month of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is very popular among Hawkeye State Republicans. Reynolds’ backing helped DeSantis alter a negative narrative. COULD THIS IOWA EVANGELICAL LEADER’S ENDORSEMENT PUT DENT IN TRUMP’S COMMANDING LEAD? Vander Plaats, who has repeatedly showered praise on DeSantis this year, told Fox News last week that the Reynolds endorsement of the Florida governor “will weigh in on my discernment. But that won’t make my endorsement.” DeSantis, pointing to the backing from Iowa’s governor, numerous state lawmakers and officials, and the probability of a Vander Plaats endorsement, highlighted that “to have so many members of the Iowa legislature, to have the governor, and then to have Bob and his network. That’s going to be a pretty powerful machine and we’re going to turn all that on. Or they’ll turn that on. And we’re going to go there and do that.” DeSantis predicted “that these first two states are going to totally upend the conventional wisdom.” Taking a shot at some of his rivals, DeSantis argued that Republican primary voters “certainly don’t want to fall in line behind an establishment candidate who’s not going to be able to make any big changes. And I think that’s true for most of the people who are running against us in the primary.” Vander Plaats is a top social conservative leader in a state where evangelical voters play an outsized role in Republican politics. Vander Plaats backed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania in 2012, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in 2016 – all three of whom went on to win the Iowa caucuses, but failed to capture the GOP presidential nomination. Ahead of Friday’s forum, Trump’s political allies have dismissed the importance of a Vander Plaats endorsement. A recent memo from veteran Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who among other things conducts surveys for the Trump-aligned super PAC Make America Great Again Inc., argued that a Vander Plaats endorsement would have “no significant impact” on the caucuses. Pointing to polling he conducted in September, Fabrizio charged that “while the DeSantis camp will try and spin that a Vander Plaats endorsement will revive their sputtering and shrinking campaign, cold hard data tells a much different story.” WITH CLOCK TICKING TOWARDS FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE, THIS CANDIDATE REMAINS IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT When asked about the criticism, Vander Plaats told Fox News that “my endorsement means one vote. Beyond that, we’ll see what happens.” However, he added, “I think their obsession with my endorsement probably would indicate that they’re more fearful of it than they should be.” The Democratic National Committee described Vander Plaats as a “far-right extremist” and argued that his endorsement “is the ultimate kiss of death for Ron DeSantis’ sinking campaign and guarantees DeSantis will never be the Republican nominee.” “Vander Plaats’ endorsement should come as no surprise – both he and DeSantis share the same desire to ban abortion and rip away freedoms from millions of women,” DNC national press secretary Sarafina Chitika charged in a statement. A couple of hours before Friday’s Family Leader presidential forum in Des Moines, Haley landed a surprise endorsement from another social conservative leader in Iowa. As Haley was taking questions from the audience at a town hall in Newton, Iowa, Marlys Popma, the former Iowa GOP executive director and former president of the Iowa Right to Life, stood to speak. “I was an undecided voter when I walked in here today, and I am no longer an undecided voter,” Popma said, as many in
Sara Ali Khan, Karan Johar discuss role of cinema in representing India’s historical heritage at IFFI 2023
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