Former state House Speaker Mark Rozzi (D-Berks) said he wore a bulletproof vest for several months in 2022 when he was the target of a politically motivated stalker.

During an interview last week with the Capital-Star on an unrelated subject, Rozzi revealed that he had been harassed by the man, who was not a constituent but lived nearby in the Reading area. He said the episode contributed to his decision to get out of politics.

“There comes a time when you know it’s time to leave,” Rozzi said, adding that the polarized politics of the last several years made leading as a moderate lawmaker difficult. “You constantly had to look over your shoulder.”

The reality of political violence in America loomed over a day of peaceful demonstrations Saturday in which millions protested the Trump administration and its aggressive deportation tactics.

Early Saturday morning, former Minnesota state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated by a gunman posing as a police officer who knocked on their door. Democratic Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot multiple times earlier in the night at their home and are expected to survive.

Pennsylvania has also been affected by politically motivated violence this year. An attacker firebombed the Governor’s Residence on April 13, after the first night of Passover. It forced Gov. Josh Shapiro, his wife and their children to evacuate in the middle of the night.

Cody Balmer, the Harrisburg man charged with the attack, later told authorities he hated Shapiro and disagreed with the governor’s support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

Shapiro called on leaders across the country to speak with moral clarity after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Hortman’s death Saturday morning.

“This is unacceptable — we all have a responsibility to stand up and work to defeat the political violence that is tearing through our country,” he said. “America is better than this.”

Rozzi could not be reached over the weekend to comment on the Minnesota shootings.

The Exeter Township man who faced misdemeanor charges for harassing Rozzi and his then-girlfriend died before the case was set to go to trial last year, Berks County District Attorney John Adams confirmed. The accused stalker had a history of unusual behavior in which he expressed a willingness to “die in combat.”

Rozzi, who served as speaker in early 2023 when control of the House was uncertain, said the man was allegedly motivated by a belief that former President Joe “Biden and the Democrats were going to destroy America.”

Adams identified Rozzi’s stalker as Victor Greer, 56, who died in June 2024, when the case was “very close to going to trial.” The most serious charge against Greer was a third-degree misdemeanor, Adams said.

“This individual was definitely harassing and stalking him and his then-girlfriend and I’m sure it was somewhat traumatic,” Adams said.

About a decade before he died, Greer was arrested in Manhattan on weapons charges.

Officers pulled over Greer for driving the wrong way on a one-way street around 1 a.m. July 2, 2014, and spotted ammunition and three knives inside the car, according to reports.

In the center console of Greer’s vehicle, police found a note that said “I want to die in combat and want to go to heaven and meet god,” and also mentioned his cats, his parents and his favorite movies, authorities said.

The New York Police Department bomb squad searched the car’s trunk and found two unloaded semi-automatic rifles, a semiautomatic handgun, a 12-gauge shotgun, more than 400 rounds of ammunition, a bottle rocket and drug paraphernalia, Reading-area TV station WFMZ reported.

Rozzi was elected speaker in January 2023 after Democrats won a one-vote majority in the House in the previous November election. One incumbent Democrat had been reelected despite dying weeks before the election and two others resigned to take higher offices, leaving control of the House to be decided in special elections.

After Democrats were unable to muster votes to elect current Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia), Rozzi struck a deal with Republicans in which he agreed to become an independent to secure GOP support to elect him as speaker. He won the 115-85 vote with 16 Republicans joining Democrats’ unanimous support.

Rozzi told the Capital-Star last week that he had always considered himself politically moderate and felt he was getting lost in the House where the parties seemed to be moving farther apart.

“I was a nonexistent type of person,” Rozzi said.

Rozzi said he planned use his speakership to pass legislation to provide a two-year window for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their abusers and those who enabled them. Legislation to hold a referendum on amending the state constitution to provide the window had passed in the previous session with bipartisan support, but was derailed by an administrative error.

He faced opposition from Republicans, including a key ally who called for him to resign, when his promised switch from Democrat to independent never happened.

Rozzi said he’s hopeful the state Senate will act on the survivors’ window amendment this session. The legislation passed the House earlier this month.

A Commonwealth Court panel last week upheld the right of abuse victims to sue public agencies for enabling their abuse under a law Rozzi passed in 2019, which he described as gratifying knowing that it would help protect children.

“I’m happy to look back but I’m also happy to not be there,” Rozzi said.

After leaving office, Rozzi said he started working on an autobiographical book about his abuse and his rise to speaker. He said his chances of getting back into politics are slim, although he said he would consider running for state Senate if the seat was in danger of being lost.

For now, Rozzi said he’s doing “a ton of writing,” enjoying “being able to breathe,” and is looking forward to getting out of town for a while.

“Twelve years is a long time,” he said.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.

Mack Trucks will lay off between 250 and 350 workers at its Lehigh Valley Operations center outside Allentown over the next three months, due to economic uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs, a company spokesperson said Thursday.

“Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs,” spokesperson Kimberly Pupillo said.

“Today we informed our employees that this unfortunately means we’ll have to lay off 250-350 people at LVO over the next 90 days,” Pupillo said. “We regret having to take this action, but we need to align production with reduced demand for our vehicles.”

Union leaders announced the company had confirmed layoffs Thursday afternoon. The plant in Macungie employs around 1,200 workers.

“Due to the market being in decline, there will be a rate and line reduction. I have heard all the same rumors you guys have heard. This is the first time I have an official word from the company that there will be a layoff,” United Auto Workers Local 677 shop chair Tim Hertzog said in a letter posted on the union’s Facebook page Thursday.

State Rep. Josh Siegel (D-Lehigh) said the layoffs are “a clear signal of the dangerous economic instability being fueled by the Trump administration’s chaotic tariff policies.”

“The tariffs — erratic, broad and poorly targeted — are crushing core U.S. industries like trucking and manufacturing. Supply chains are snarled, costs are soaring, and confidence among employers is collapsing,” Siegel said in a news release.

President Donald Trump said on the campaign trail last year that tariffs would return manufacturing to the United States and generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury.

At the beginning of April, Trump announced tariffs on products imported from other countries beginning a universal 10% duty and increasing with additional reciprocal tariffs as high as 50% against countries with large trade deficits or other barriers to exports.

The announcement sparked a massive stock market sell-off that erased trillions of dollars in value that was followed by the largest single-day increase when Trump announced a 90-day reprieve for most countries. He doubled down on tariffs for Chinese imports, raising the duties to 125%.

Siegel called on U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-7th District), whose district includes the Lehigh County Mack plant, and Senators John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) to “take back Congress’s constitutional authority on trade and end this economic sabotage before more livelihoods are lost.”

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.

PHILADELPHIA — Following a more than five-hour hearing Monday, Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta ruled that Elon Musk’s America PAC can continue to give out $1 million prizes, rejecting a lawsuit by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who claimed that the giveaways are an illegal lottery.

America PAC’s attorneys argued that since the winners were not chosen at random, the giveaways to registered voters were not a lottery, which was at the heart of Krasner’s argument.

Musk announced on Oct. 7 that the PAC would pay Pennsylvania registered voters $47 to sign its petition in support of free speech and gun rights. The amount offered later increased to $100. At a rally in Harrisburg for former President Donald Trump on Oct. 19, Musk announced those who signed the petition and were registered to vote in Pennsylvania and six other swing states in the presidential election would be eligible to be chosen to win $1 million.

Election law experts have told the Capital-Star that the sweepstakes likely violates a federal law against paying people to register to vote.

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Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk will be required to attend a hearing Thursday in Philadelphia on the legality of his Trump-aligned super PAC’s daily

$1 million giveaway to voters in Pennsylvania and other swing states, according to court papers filed in the case Wednesday.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner also called on the court to step up security surrounding the hearing following antisemitic posts and threats, including the publication of Krasner’s home address, on Musk’s social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

Krasner filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that the giveaway is an illegal lottery.

“The same day this Complaint was filed, Elon Musk posted to his 202.7 million followers on X, the social-media website he owns, his agreement with an attack on the integrity of the Court the statement that Larry Krasner ‘knows it’s not illegal but wants a leftist judge to stop it before Election Day,’” the district attorney’s office said in a filing.

It noted Musk’s post had nearly 9 million views and triggered an “avalanche” of replies with antisemitic attacks on Krasner, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Democratic campaign fundraiser George Soros.

“Even worse, one account responded to posts about the lawsuit at least 19 times by inviting political violence, posting Krasner family’s home address, including numerous posts also stating, ‘Krasner loves visitors. Mask up and leave all cellphones at home,’” Krasner’s filing says, noting the posts included instructions on avoiding identification on video or through cell phone geolocation.

The posts remain visible on X, Krasner’s filing said. An attorney for Musk did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Philadelphia Judge Angelo Foglieta issued an order Wednesday afternoon moving the hearing from Friday to Thursday and that Musk, a representative for his super PAC and Krasner attend the hearing. It also directed Musk and America PAC to file a response to the lawsuit.

Musk, the uber-wealthy SpaceX investor and Tesla CEO, announced earlier this month that he would pay registered voters to sign his America PAC’s gun rights and free speech petition, prompting questions about the offer’s legality.

The payments were initially $47 per voter and increased to $100. Then, at a rally for Trump in Harrisburg on Oct. 19, Musk announced he would give away $1 million to a randomly selected petition signer every day until the election.

Election law experts say federal law explicitly forbids payments to induce people to register to vote or cast their ballots. Violators, both payers and payees, can face fines or jail time if they are prosecuted. Pennsylvania law is less clear, prohibiting pay for votes but not for registration.

Musk has contributed around $75 million to his pro-Trump America PAC in recent months, bringing his total spending this election cycle to over $119 million.

Such virtually unlimited spending in the political arena has been legal since 2010, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its Citizens United decision that the free speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political contributions by corporations, nonprofits, unions and other associations.

Krasner’s lawsuit, filed Monday, alleges that the giveaway runs afoul of Pennsylvania’s lottery law and violates consumer protection laws. Under state law, only the commonwealth is authorized to operate a lottery, which raises revenue to fund senior programs.

“To be clear, this is not a case about whether Defendants have violated state or federal laws prohibiting vote-buying. Instead, this case is very simple because America PAC and Musk are indisputably violating Pennsylvania’s statutory prohibitions against illegal lotteries and deceiving consumers,” the lawsuit says.

Krasner’s suit seeks an injunction to stop America PAC and Musk from continuing the violations. It says allowing them to continue would irreparably harm Philadelphia and Pennsylvania residents and “tarnish the public’s right to a fee and fair election.”

Shapiro said in an interview Oct. 20 on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Musk’s spending is “deeply concerning.”

“I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians,” Shapiro said, adding that Musk has a right to his views and to support GOP presidential nominee former President Donald Trump.

Shapiro stopped short of calling for an investigation when asked if he thought it might break the law.

“Yes, I think it’s something that law enforcement could take a look at. I’m not the attorney general anymore in Pennsylvania. I’m the governor, but it does raise some serious questions,” Shapiro said.

A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said the office’s priority is to ensure the integrity of elections in the commonwealth. While the attorney general’s office is aware of the situation, the spokesperson said it could neither confirm nor deny an investigation of America PAC’s activities.

(This story was updated at 9 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, to reflect the rescheduling of the hearing for Thursday.)

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day sweepstakes offer to swing state voters who back his pro-Trump super PAC is an illegal lottery under Pennsylvania law, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner alleges in a lawsuit filed Monday.

Krasner, a Democrat, filed the civil suit on behalf of the commonwealth in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas alleging that the sweepstakes runs afoul of the state law that gives the state sole authority to operate a lottery and violates Pennsylvania’s consumer protection laws.

“To be clear, this is not a case about whether Defendants have violated state or federal laws prohibiting vote-buying. Instead, this case is very simple because America PAC and Musk are indisputably violating Pennsylvania’s statutory prohibitions against illegal lotteries and deceiving consumers,” the lawsuit says.

Krasner’s suit seeks an injunction to stop America PAC and Musk from continuing the violations. It says allowing them to continue would irreparably harm Philadelphia and Pennsylvania residents and “tarnish the public’s right to a fee and fair election.”

America PAC has spent more than $133 million to support and oppose federal candidates this year, according to public records. Musk announced on Oct. 7 that the PAC would pay Pennsylvania registered voters $47 to sign its petition in support of free speech and gun rights. The amount offered later increased to $100.

At a rally in Harrisburg for former President Donald Trump on Oct. 19, Musk announced those who signed the petition and were registered to vote in Pennsylvania and six other swing states in the presidential election would be eligible to be randomly selected to win $1 million.

“In other words, America PAC and Musk are lulling Philadelphia citizens – and others in the Commonwealth (and other swing states in the upcoming election) – to give up their personal identifying information and make a political pledge in exchange for the chance to win $1 million,” Krasner’s suit says. “That is a lottery. And it is indisputably an unlawful lottery.”

The Capital-Star emailed America PAC and Musk’s spokespeople for comment.

Election law experts told the Capital-Star last week the sweepstakes likely violates a federal law against paying people to register to vote.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said in an interview on “Meet the Press” on Oct. 20 that the payments are “deeply concerning,” although he stopped short of calling for an investigation.

“Yes, I think it’s something that law enforcement could take a look at. I’m not the attorney general anymore in Pennsylvania. I’m the governor, but it does raise some serious questions,” Shapiro said.

A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said last week the office’s priority is to ensure the integrity of elections in the commonwealth. While the attorney general’s office is aware of the situation, the spokesperson said it could neither confirm nor deny an investigation of America PAC’s activities. The Capital-Star emailed the spokesperson seeking any new information about the situation in light of Monday’s suit.

This is a developing story

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

Speaking at the National Rifle Association’s annual outdoor recreation show Friday in Harrisburg, former President Donald Trump delivered a simple but powerful message to a crowd of thousands of shooting and hunting enthusiasts.

“Your Second Amendment will always be safe with me as your president,” Trump said in his first 2024 appearance in Pennsylvania. “When I’m back in the Oval Office, no one will lay a finger on your firearms. Not gonna happen.”

In his familiar rambling and digressive style, Trump jumped from topic to topic – immigration, energy, electric cars, the poor quality of highway medians in the nation’s capital – but returned to Second Amendment rights and gun ownership a number of times during the 80-minute speech.

Trump told the audience that he appointed hundreds of federal judges, whom he characterized as “conservative originalists” to “interpret the Constitution as written.” And he warned that another Biden administration would mean hundreds of “radical left judges waging a crusade against law abiding gun owners.”

He reminded the crowd that he had reopened millions of acres of federal lands for hunting and fishing and during the pandemic declared gun and ammunition sellers to be critical infrastructure not subject to closure orders.

And Trump claimed credit for the pivotal 2022 Supreme Court decision that established a new test for the constitutionality of state gun regulations saying his administration petitioned to overturn New York’s requirements to carry a concealed weapon.

“I can tell you that the only thing standing between you and the obliteration of your under-siege Second Amendment is me,” Trump said.

Fresh off a symbolic victory in the Nevada caucus on Thursday, Trump emphasized the importance of Pennsylvania in this year’s presidential election. And with primary victories in Iowa, New Hampshire in his pocket, Trump appeared to skip over Pennsylvania’s primary, still more than 10 weeks away without mentioning his sole remaining opponent, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

“If you live in this Commonwealth, register everyone you know and get them out to vote,” Trump said. “We have to win in November, or we’re not going to have Pennsylvania. They’ll change the name.”

It wasn’t totally clear what Trump was referring to, but in January, a proposal by the National Park Service to remove a statue of William Penn from Welcome Park in Philadelphia was scuttled after Republican lawmakers protested.

On Friday night, Trump acknowledged U.S. Reps. Dan Meuser (R-9th District), Scott Perry (R-10th District), Guy Reschenthaler (R-14th District), and Lloyd Smucker (R-11th District), who were in the audience.

He also falsely claimed two electoral victories in Pennsylvania. Although he won the state by a narrow margin in 2016, Biden narrowly edged out Trump to flip the state back to blue.

“We ran twice, we won Pennsylvania twice,” Trump said. “We did much better the second time than we did the first time. It’s interesting, isn’t it?”

During Trump’s 2020 campaign, he often talked about his support for fracking and attempted to paint Biden as an enemy to Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry. He returned to the theme on Friday.

On Jan. 26, the Biden administration announced a temporary pause on approvals of new liquified natural gas exports to countries without a free trade agreement with the United States. Pennsylvania lawmakers expressed concern about the move’s ramifications for a plan to export gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale fields from a port near Philadelphia.

“We will reverse the Biden ban on natural gas exports,” Trump said. “We will end his war on American energy and we will unleash Pennsylvania oil and natural gas at a level never seen before.”

Trump also criticized the recent proposed sale of Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel to Japan.

“Pennsylvania steel was poured into the backbone of our country. And now, U.S. Steel was just sold to Japan,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t approve that deal.”

In late December, Biden’s administration said that the proposed sale to Japan “deserves serious scrutiny.”

Trump claimed that he talked with a few Pennsylvania voters who said he is more popular in the state today than he was during the previous elections and that they said he was “gonna blow Pennsylvania away.”

“That’s what I think is going to happen,” Trump said, about his chances to carry the commonwealth in 2024.

Pennsylvania polling shows Biden and Trump neck and neck in a hypothetical rematch for the Keystone State.

Friday’s event was the third time Trump has spoken in Pennsylvania since he announced his reelection campaign. He spoke at a Moms for Liberty rally inPhiladelphia in June, and appeared in Erie in July.

With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is regarded as a must-win state for a successful presidential candidate.

And although Dauphin County, where the state capital lies, went for the Democratic nominee in the last two presidential elections, it is an island of blue in a sea of red rural counties on electoral maps.

“To win Pennsylvania he has to really gin up his base. He has to make sure that people in rural areas are engaged,” Berwood Yost, director of the Franklin & Marshall College Center for Opinion Research, told the Capital-Star.

The decision to speak at the NRA’s Great Outdoor Show, billed as the largest in the nation, is logical, Yost said, because it draws shooting and hunting enthusiasts from across rural Pennsylvania and beyond.

“If he can talk about freedom and liberty through the lens of the Second Amendment it makes perfect sense for being here,” Yost said.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.

New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com. Follow New Jersey Monitor on Facebook and Twitter.

U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-10th District) is among nearly 200 people including former Vice President Mike Pence whose names appear on a list of potential witnesses produced by prosecutors in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, according to a report.

Citing sources who had reviewed the list and people who confirmed they had been told they may be called to testify, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the document also lists Trump administration officials, including former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and former advisor Steve Bannon.

A 98-page indictment obtained by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis in August charges Trump and 18 others with racketeering in connection with an alleged effort to change election results in Georgia, where Trump narrowly lost to President Joe Biden in 2020.

Perry, whose district covers part of central Pennsylvania, has not been charged in either of the election interference cases against Trump. A call to Perry’s Washington, D.C., office on Friday was not returned.

The witness list also includes Cassidy Hutchinson, a one-time top aide to Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and several Georgia officials including Gov. Brian Kemp, Attorney General Chris Carr, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, the Journal-Constitution reported.

While not every person on the list is likely to be called to testify, the newspaper said the scope of the list shows the breadth and depth of the evidence prosecutors plan to present in their effort to prove Trump — and his now 15 co-defendants — guilty.

Prosecutors reached plea agreements with four people charged in the indictment including Trump campaign lawyers Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis.

The select House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol invited Perry to testify and later subpoenaed Perry, citing his effort to help Trump install Jeff Clark, a former Justice Department official who was receptive to Trump’s election fraud claims, as acting attorney general.

Perry refused to testify, but the committee found in its final report that Perry had tried to help Trump overturn the results of the election.

A hearing in June 2022 centered on Perry’s role in efforts to pressure the Justice Department to support unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. The committee noted that Perry had called Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in January 2021 to urge him to speak with Clark and that he brought Clark to the White House to meet Trump in December, after a meeting in which Perry and other Republicans discussed how to overturn the election.

Perry is also fighting to keep Special Counsel Jack Smith, whose investigation led to Trump’s indictment in a Washington, D.C. federal court, from obtaining access to messages on his personal cell phone, which the FBI seized in August 2022.

A document unsealed in the case earlier this month details Perry’s discussions of efforts to challenge the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania and Georgia. It notes that the data extracted from Perry’s phone includes information about a draft letter Clark drafted to be sent to officials in Georgia and other states that the Justice Department was investigating serious allegations of election fraud that might impact the outcome of the election.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.