05/08/2026
Schuylkill Indivisible-May 8, 2026 - Josephine Kwiatkowski Report
Happy Mother’s Day to those who celebrate!💐
Action
: *If you live, work, visit the library, go to school or dine in Pottsville, contact the mayor and city council at [email protected] and [email protected] and tell them that you are against the City signing a 287(g) agreement with ICE. A 287(g) agreement is a formal partnership between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and state or local law enforcement agencies (such as police departments or county sheriffs) that authorizes local officers to perform designated immigration enforcement duties. The next council meeting will be May 11th at 5 PM. Attend a rally in front of the Pottsville City Hall at 4:30 on Monday, May 11th, 401 N. Centre St., Pottsville.
*Call Fetterman, McCormick and Fetterman-Oppose the spending of $1 billion on Trump’s ballroom. Script: Hi my name is from . I am calling to demand_______ oppose the partisan budget reconciliation bill that includes federal funding for Trump’s ballroom. Funding would be better spent funding programs that improve the wellbeing of the American public. Thank you (As always, please leave your name and address to ensure your call is tallied.)
*Attend a county commissioners meeting. They meet this week on Wednesday at 1000 at the courthouse.
Contact Info: Senator Fetterman (202) 224-4254, Senator McCormick (202) 224-6324, Dan Meuser (202) 225-6511 or (570) 871-6370 If you're freaked out about calling authority figures, don't be. They work for us. You literally pay their paycheck. Make sure they have the phone call they deserve. 5 Calls app has topics and scripts if you need any.
World
Trump’s War of Choice-Iran week 10
*Trump has stated that he would help guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. The US military said some 15,000 service members, guided-missile destroyers and more than 100 aircraft would be involved in an operation to "support" ships seeking to move through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's military warned US forces not to enter the Strait of Hormuz.
*On Tuesday Trump announced a pause on Project Freedom based on a request from Pakistan and other countries, but added that the US Navy blockade of ships in the Strait will continue. Project Freedom began on Monday.
*Iran launched an attack on the UAE. UAE said that its air defenses were engaging missile and drone threat. Iran also hit an oil port with a drone. The area was engulfed in flames.
*Iran opened fire on US warships, the US sank 6 small boats in retaliation.
*U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that the time Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon has not changed since last summer, when analysts estimated that a U.S.-Israeli attack had pushed back the timeline to up to a year, according to three sources familiar with the matter. (Reuters)
*Oil supplies are set to tighten further in coming weeks even if the U.S. and Iran agree on a peace deal to end their war because it will take weeks for oil shipments to resume from the Middle East Gulf and reach refiners worldwide - so oil companies will continue to deplete storage tanks to meet peak summer demand. (Reuters)
*The “memo” agreement to end the war has yet to be past. Rumors suggest that this is only a 30-day pause on the war.
*Iran has created the Persian Gulf Strait Authority to control traffic and collect tolls on traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Rest of the World
*Rubio unveiled a new batch of sanctions against Grupo De Administracion Empresarial and enterprise controlled by the Cuban military. It controls an estimated 40 % of the Cuban economy. The US has also sanctioned GAESA leader Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera.
Nation
SCOTUS:
Chief Justice Roberts stated that the Supreme Court doesn’t have “purely political actors.” Roberts, who has led the court since 2005, appeared to acknowledge dimming public approval of the court, shown in opinion polls over the past few years, as its conservative majority continues to push American law dramatically rightward.
General
*Marco Rubio, Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, is at the moment also trying out to be the press secretary, during Leavitt’s maternity leave.
*Senate GOP has proposed a $72 billion plan to fund ICE and Border Patrol through 2029.
*The GOP is putting forth a bill that would allocate $1 billion to be spent for security at the new White House ballroom. This is after Trump touted that the ballroom would be financed by “private donors.”
*Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced they charged 30 people with participating in an insider trading scheme in which attorneys passed tips on merger deals to a network of people who traded on the information. Nineteen people were arrested, including attorney Nicolo Nourafchan, who federal prosecutors in Boston said was at the center of a decade-long scheme that generated tens of millions of dollars.
*The U.S. Air Force is targeting a Fourth of July delivery for a Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar that would join the Air Force One fleet in time for the nation's 250th anniversary, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the program said.
*The US will start revoking passports this week for parents who owe more than $100,000 in child support.
*Tuesday's US April consumer price index is expected to rise 0.6% after March's 0.9% jump, the biggest increase in almost four years, according to a Reuters poll.
* FEMA panel urges that states should take the lead in disaster recovery: The board, created by President Donald Trump last year, called on Congress and the administration to make several major changes, including offloading the National Flood Insurance Program to the private insurance market.
Military
*Trump says the US will remove 5,000 troops from Germany in the next 6 to 12 months. This is in response to Trump’s perceived NATO non-support for his war with Iran. Earlier in the week Germany’s Merz said that the Iranians were humiliating the US in talks. Language inserted into the last NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act (Section 1249) aimed to impede the drawdown of U.S. forces to below 76,000 in Europe for more than 45 days without clear presidential certifications to Congress.
Immigration
*The Trump administration will urge the 1st Circuit to overturn a ruling by a lower-court judge holding that its policy of subjecting people arrested by immigration authorities to mandatory detention without the option of bond hearings is unlawful.
*The Trump administration blitz that flooded Minnesota with immigration agents also dramatically slowed other federal investigations and prosecutions into an array of serious crimes, a Reuters review of federal court records found. New gun and drug prosecutions stalled. Several top prosecutors quit. Some federal agents disappeared from drug task forces and gang cases. Others took the unusual step of bringing their investigations to state authorities. Between January and the end of April, federal prosecutors charged eight people with gun or drug offenses – compared to 77 in the same period last year, the court records show. Overall, prosecutors charged 90 people with felonies, about half as many as a year earlier. Those felony cases included 39 people, among them journalist Don Lemon, accused of disrupting a church service during a protest of the immigration crackdown. Another 17 of the total criminal cases involved immigration offenses such as returning to the United States after being deported.
(Reuters)
Health
*A three-panel on the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Louisiana against the FDA and has issued a temporary nationwide injunction that reinstates a nationwide requirement that mifepristone must be prescribed and dispensed in person, thus ending mail-order mifepristone. The result will restrict abortion access nationwide. SCOTUS on Monday restored broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone, blocking the ruling that had threatened to upend one of the main ways abortion is provided across the nation. The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor.
*Officials at the US Food and Drug Administration blocked the publication of several studies supporting the safety of widely used vaccines against COVID-19 and shingles, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said.
*The Trump administration sued Colorado over its law restricting large-capacity magazines for rifles a day after it sued Denver over its assault weapons ban, Colorado Newsline reports. The lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice Wednesday, says the state’s restrictions on magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds violate the Second Amendment rights of Coloradans.
Environment
*Trump wants to close the East Potomac Golf Links. Construction crews have for months dumped debris from the East Wing demolition on the course. The soil at the golf course has now tested positive for toxic metals, including lead and chromium.
Tariffs
*Trump to impose tariffs on cars and trucks from the European Union. The tariff will start next week.
*Trump says the EU has until July 4th to fulfill a trade deal or he will raise tariffs.
The US Court of International Trude ruled against Trump’s latest 10% global tariffs, in the tariffs were not justified under a 1970’s trad law. A group of small businesses had challenged the tariffs.
Lawsuits/Judicial
A three-judge panel on the US court of Appeals for the DC circuit questioned the DOD’s efforts to censure Sen. Mark Kelly. No court has ever extended weakened First Amendment right (which active-duty members endure), to retired service members. “One of our most fundamental rights is the right to speak out about the government,” Kelly said. “It's the right that guarantees all others and it's how we hold our government accountable.”
Voting
*A lack of competitive races means that control of the House of Representatives will likely be determined in November's midterm election by fewer than 10% of Americans, with the winners in most districts all but assured before a single ballot is cast.
*U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee ruled that the federal government doesn’t have to return the 2020 election ballots from Georgia’s Fulton County that were seized by the FBI from a warehouse near Atlanta.
*The new redistricting map for Tennessee is designed to give the GOP total control of the state.
*President Donald Trump’s redistricting arms race to rig the midterms continues to unfold. Republicans have potentially gained up to 12 seats — five in Texas, one in Missouri, one in North Carolina, four in Florida and one in Tennessee. Democrats have potentially gained up to 10 seats — five in California, four in Virginia and one in Utah. (Litigation is still ongoing in Florida, Virginia and Missouri.) (Democracy Docket)
*The FBI searched the Virginia state Senate leader’s hometown office and her neighboring cannabis shop Wednesday, bringing into public view what two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press was a corruption investigation. One of the people said the investigation into Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas was opened during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation. Lucas, who has been a senator for 34 years, was a prominent voice in Virginia’s recent redistricting effort, a Democrat-led initiative to counter Republican redrawing pushed by Trump.
State
*PMJ the state’s electrical grid manager, PJM, based in Montgomery County outside Philadelphia, is touting more than 800 proposed projects ranging from natural gas-fired thermal power plants to renewables like wind, solar and battery storage. And for the first time, a company planning to build a fusion power plant in Virginia is seeking approval to join the grid. Natural gas power plants make up the largest category of projects by generating capacity, with 157 applications totaling nearly 106 gigawatts of electricity. That’s followed by 349 storage projects, totaling about 67 gigawatts; and 27 nuclear projects totaling 18 gigawatts.
*HB2246-Webster(D)-Water Usage Reporting Requirements for Data Centers-legislation would require covered data center projects with substantial water needs to proactively inform the state prior to construction. This step will ensure that state agencies, in collaboration with local governments and river basin commissions, can assess potential impacts and ensure adequate considerations are in place to protect our water supplies. (This bill is now in the State Senate)
A federal court tossed a challenge to Pennsylvania’s ban on publishing voter data online, finding the restriction does not conflict with federal voting law.
*Stacy Garrity confirmed that she’ll pass on grass and veto adult-use recreational cannabis if elected.
*However, US Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), who previously called for banning congressional stock trading, is now being criticized for a recent stock purchase. Reports show that at the end of March, Fetterman purchased between $1,000 and $15,000 in Micron Technology, which received more than $6.4 billion in federal funding that Fetterman is tasked with overseeing due to his seat on the US Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. (The Keystone)
*The Shapiro administration filed a lawsuit against Character.AI, seeking a preliminary injunction and court order to stop AI bots from “posing as licensed professionals and providing medical advice.” The bot gave us the medical license number of an actual doctor.
*A Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission proposal to reroute the cross-state highway by blasting a 1,000-foot-wide cut through Allegheny Mountain faces opposition from Somerset County leaders, who say it would disrupt a pristine wilderness and permanently scar the landscape. (PA Capitol Star)
*County leaders gathered in York on Monday to ask for a 25-cent increase to the state’s 911 surcharge. The current fee is $1.95 per month or per transaction when buying a new phone or prepaid cellphone minutes. The surcharge fee generated $380 million last year for 911 services, covering about 80% of statewide 911 system costs. County property taxes covered the remaining portion. (ABC 27)
*On June 6th, the state’s grace period for using a cell phone while driving ends. Police are able to fine drivers $50 for using handheld devices, even if the vehicle is stopped.
*At last October’s registration deadline, the Democratic lead in the commonwealth stood at only 170,608, but today that advantage has moved to 188,381.
*SB357-Dush(R) Constitutional Carry of a Firearm-This legislation will provide a new system for concealed carrying of fi****ms for Pennsylvanians. The first level would no longer require law abiding citizens to obtain a permit to carry a firearm concealed in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians have a fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms (Article 1, Section 21 of the Pennsylvania Constitution). The second level provides citizens the ability to obtain an optional LTCF permit that is valid throughout Pennsylvania and would provide for carrying fi****ms in other states (currently, 32 states either recognize Pennsylvania LTCF’s or a reciprocity agreement is in effect).
*HB2483/HB2484-Shusterman(D)-State Budget Deadline-The first bill would amend The Administrative Code to require that, if the General Assembly does not pass the state budget by June 30, then it must remain in session each weekday after June 30th until the budget is passed. The second bill would amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to require the governor to call a special session if a general appropriations bill is not enacted by June 30th.
Bold Italicized denotes connection to Project 2025.
Local
*DEP has renewed the operating permit for the Blythe Recycling and Demolition Site (BRADS) Landfill in Blythe Township, extending its ability to continue operating through January 20, 2035. As part of the renewal, DEP imposed several updated conditions on the landfill’s operations, including:
Installation and expansion of landfill gas collection systems to control odors
Continued monitoring of hydrogen sulfide emissions and air quality
Daily perimeter odor checks and corrective actions when needed
Monthly reporting of landfill gas and leachate data
Development of updated cell construction and closure plans
Requirements to improve litter control and traffic management
In its decision, DEP said the landfill operator has demonstrated an ability to address violations and comply with environmental regulations. (Skook News)
*St. Clair council has voted to file an appeal to DEP regarding the 10 year expansion of the BRADS Landfill.
Other News
*Election Day is May 19th. Your Voting Rights include:
^If you are in line by 8 p.m. you have the right to vote.
^You have the right to vote without being intimidated.
^Most PA voters do NOT need to provide an ID. If you are voting for the first time or voting for the first time in a new precinct you will be asked for an ID.
^You have the right to assistance if you need it. If you are a voter who requires assistance, you have the right to bring someone of your choice to help you, as long as they are not your employer, union representative, or a judge of elections. Voters eligible for assistance include those who need translation in a language other than English, literary assistance, and more.
^You have the right to accessible voting if you have a disability.
^If you change your mind about voting by mail you have options: If you have the mail ballot and both of its envelopes on hand, you can bring them to your assigned polling place and ask a poll worker to “spoil” your ballot. You’ll be required to sign a form declaring that you haven’t voted by mail. After that, you should be allowed to vote at the precinct. If you lost or did not receive your mail ballot, you can still go to your polling place to cast a ballot, but instead of voting normally, you will fill out a provisional ballot. You may also take your ballot to your election bureau before 8 p.m. on election day.
^If your mail ballot was rejected you can still vote.
^If you are told you cannot vote, you still have rights. Make sure you are at the correct polling place. You can request a provisional ballot. (Spotlight)
*A cruise ship with 3 confirmed Hantavirus cases (these three people have been evacuated) is due to dock in the Canary Islands. The ship departed Argentina April 1 for Antarctica and remote South Atlantic islands. Hantavirus can cause severe respiratory illness and is fatal in about 35% of US cases. The Andes strain found in South America can spread between people, though rarely, and carries a mortality rate of roughly 40%. The virus has an 8 week incubation period. No known treatment exists. Onboard, three people have died, eight others are sick, and three have been evacuated on medical flights. 44 people previously departed the boat. One of which has the virus. Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise that sailed from southern Argentina say the government’s leading hypothesis is that a couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching outing before boarding the ship.
*In 1908, Jarvis was a congregant at Historic St. George’s United Methodist Church in Philadelphia when she started Mother’s Day as a way to honor her own mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, who herself spent years supporting fellow mothers.
The clock may have been set back, but that doesn’t mean it has stopped. It will spring forward once again. Marc Elias
John Lewis advised us. “Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”
