PENNSYLVANIA: BATTLEGROUND STATE
Our state is the battleground for the presidential election with President Donald Trump and Former Vice president Joe Biden locked in a race here that is right now (at 6am) separated by just under a million votes with over 2 million left to count from mostly mail-in ballots legally cast before the election. In Pennsylvania, mail-in ballots and ballots received on election day are able to be counted until November 6th
The Pennsylvania GOP is looking at positive numbers for a sweep of the local legislature, even as the state remains in a tight race between incumbent President Trump and Former Vice President Joe Biden. Early morning numbers show Fred Keller with over 71 percent of the ballots cast over Democrat Lee Griffin even with mail-in ballots still to be counted before November 6th. With Garth Everett not seeking reelection in the 83rd House race, Joe Hamm is in positive territory against Amanda Waldman. In the 84th State House, Jeff Wheeland has the majority over Airneezer Page at this time and Gene Yaw is also looking at higher numbers over Jackie Baker for a reelection to his seat in the 23rd State Senate.
Republicans at this time show a majority for Attorney General, Auditor General and State Treasurer. Republican Heather Heidelbaugh has a slight lead over Attorney General incumbent Josh Shapiro, Timothy DeFoor holds a lead over democrat Nina Ahmad for Auditor General and candidate Stacy Garrity holds a lead over Joe Torsella
Unofficially, Lycoming County is all red with local legislators Sen. Gene Yaw and Rep. Jeff Wheeland possibly retaining their seats . Nearly 80% (58,354) of the registered voters in the county turned out to vote, either in person, or through mail-in ballots. In the 2016 presidential election, just over 52,000 turned out to vote. Incumbent Rep. Fred Keller, held a solid lead over Lee Griffin, with over 71% of the votes.
MAN CHARGED FOR SPITTING BLOOD AT POLICE
A Williamsport man was charged with felony assault after throwing glass and spitting fluids at a Williamsport Bureau of Police officer. According to North Central PA dot com, Raymond Young was involved in a domestic dispute at a home on the 400 block of Germania Street on October 10th, and when officers arrived, he was taken into custody spitting blood at the officers feet. Following an altercation, police attempted to mask Young who then threatened the officers. Young was charged with a charge of felony assault and two misdemeanor counts of simple assault he’s in Lycoming County prison in lieu of 95 thousand dollars bail.
ROLLING ROADBLOCK THURSDAY
There will be a rolling roadblock on east and westbound I-80 tomorrow in White Deer Township right around 9am. According to PennDOT, it will be just west of the Route 15 interchange. A contractor will be pulling utility cables across the interstate so for westbound traffic, the roadblock will begin at mile marker 210 (Route 15 interchange) and continue to mile marker 207, eastbound it will begin at mile marker 204 and continue to mile marker 208. The rolling roadblock is expected to last approximately 15 minutes
VOTER SERVICES NOTE SLOWDOWNS FROM ELECTION DAY
In their effort to serve the public, Lycoming County Voter services workers’ efforts culminated in a busy election night in Williamsport. According to the Sun Gazette, Voter Services Director Forrest Lehman said there were slower moving lines at the polls yesterday due to some constituents bringing their unfilled out ballots to precincts with the intention to hand them in and then vote in-person, causing extra work for poll workers. Lehman cited issues with the Postal Service not delivering some ballots that voter services had to then re-issue that also slowed the process. Mail in ballots will continue to be counted until November 6th in Pennsylvania.
LOCAL COVID-19 UPDATE
The largest increase in new coronavirus cases in our area today is Northumberland County, reporting 11 new cases as of yesterday at midnight Lycoming County has 8 new cases reported and there are 11 hospitalized COVID patients at this time with one on a ventilator. Montour County has an increase of one case but there are still 17 patients hospitalized and 6 on ventilators. There are 5 new cases in Snyder County, Clinton is reporting 5. The state Department of Health reported 2,875 new positive cases of COVID-19 yesterday in the commonwealth and there were 32 fatalities.
SECOND COVID-19 CASE IN DANVILLE
There was a second positive COVID-19 test at Danville Middle School in a week. In an alert to parents. According to Superintendent Dr. Ricki Boyle the student was last in school Monday morning and contact tracing has informed parents of students who need to quarantine The school will still remain open.
MISLEADING STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUT ONE VOTING MACHINE HICCUP
There was just one voting machine that jammed yesterday morning in Scranton, but misleading social media posts claimed that multiple machines were disabled for hours. According to the Sun Gazettem Lacakawanna County poll workers said the machine was restored within minutes. In addition, a person claiming on Facebook to have thrown out hundreds of ballots in Erie County that were for President Trump was found to have not ever been employed there and not even a registered voter. Facebook and Twitter were said to have scrambled to take down the misleading posts that were posted and shared thousands of times. Pennsylvania’s race is closely watched because of the surge of mail-in ballots this year
SPORTS
HS Girls Soccer
District 2-4 class AAAA playoffs
Williamsport beat Scranton 6-nothing advancing to the semis tomorrow.
District 4 Class A semi finals
Southern Columbia beat South Williamsport 2-nothing
HS Girls Field Hockey
District 4 Class A Semifinals
Bloomsburg defeated Muncy 6-nothing
Today Sports
HS Boys Soccer
District 2-4 Class AAAA playoffs
Wilkes-Barre comes to Williamsport at 5 PM,
District 4 Class AA semi finals
Warrior Run plays at Lewisburg @230
HS Tennis
P I-AA Class AA singles and doubles Quarterfinals Tournament begins at one today at the Central PA Tennis Center
