Charlie Wolfson

Allegheny County Council advances bill restricting ICE cooperation New Allegheny County legislation to restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities passed a divided committee. A final council vote is still pending.

News: Allegheny County Council advanced a bill today to restrict county employees' cooperation with ICE. Final vote could happen March 10. www.publicsource.org/allegheny-co...

Also: Jen Mazzocco, who just won the 42nd state House district in a special election, has already filed a petition to run for a full term.

The first person to file a petition to run for PA's 12th Congressional District: Will Parker (D-Pittsburgh)

Expecting multiple candidates in each primary for this seat, including incumbent Summer Lee, with filing deadline next week.

Allegheny County DHS leader to leave for NYC job New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed Erin Dalton as social services director. Dalton has served as Allegheny County Department of Human Services since 2021.

NEWS: Allegheny County's Human Services director, Erin Dalton, will leave to take a similar job in Zohran Mamdani's administration in New York. www.publicsource.org/mamdani-pick...

Margin: Mazzocco wins the district by 64 points (!)

Former incumbent Dan Miller won it by 33 in 2024.

Turnout around 26%.

Mazzocco: 10,419
Leckenby: 2,330

Not the whole municipality.

It's too soon to compare Mazzocco's margin with 2024 results, but we have some precincts in.

Upper St. Clair 2-2 was R+4 in 2024 and was D+42 tonight.

Mt. Lebanon 2-1 was D+38 in 2024 and was D+70 tonight

Castle Shannon 3 was D+16 in 2024 and was D+58 tonight.

Democrat cruises to easy victory in South Hills special election for state House Jennifer Mazzocco prevailed in the region’s first election of 2026 and will represent Mount Lebanon, Dormont, Castle Shannon, Baldwin Township and part of Upper St. Clair for the rest of the year.

NEWS: Democrat Jennifer Mazzocco wins special election for Pennsylvania state House in Pittsburgh suburbs, the AP declared at 8:45.

The Democrats will retain the House majority. We need more vote in to see the swing from 2024 www.publicsource.org/live-results...

Live results: South Hills special election for state House In the South Hills of Pittsburgh, voters head to the polls in the first election of 2026. Follow results live in the contest between Democrat Jennifer Mazzocco and Republican Joseph Leckenby.

🗳️PA special election results 🗳️

Democrat Mazzocco gets 86% of the mail-in votes in HD-42. That compares to 76% received by the Democrat in 2024.

Live results here: www.publicsource.org/live-results...

The district has gone for Democrats by more than 30 points in recent elections.

The House is 100D-98R now with 5 vacancies. 2 are filled today (other election is in Lehigh Co) and 3 in March.

If Dems hold either seat up today they keep the majority at least awhile longer

🗳️ Today's the first Election Day of 2026 in Pennsylvania.

Here in Allegheny County there's a special election for state House. Voters in Mt. Lebanon, Baldwin Tp., Castle Shannon, Dormont and part of Upper St. Clair vote today.

Live results publicsource.org at 8 p.m.

Inbox: Pittsburgh Congresswoman Summer Lee will deliver the Working Families Party response to Trump's state of the union this Tuesday

New: This isn't a surprise, but Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy has filed FEC paperwork to launch a run for Congress in PA-17 (currently represented by Deluzio)

Will UPMC’s ambulance gift inspire other nonprofits to contribute? UPMC just gave $10 million to the City of Pittsburgh for new ambulances. Highmark, Pitt and CMU are among other large nonprofits with no public plans to follow suit.

New: For years, UPMC said of voluntary payments to Pittsburgh: We'll contribute when the other major nonprofits do too.

Then Mayor O'Connor entered, UPMC cut a one-time $10M gift. It's not clear what's next, as PGH seeks more revenue from tax-exempt orgs www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-n...

“we have not been getting very straight answers” from various parts of county government, member Alex Rose said. The bill could move rapidly this month if it goes according to current schedule.

Allegheny County Council says it doesn’t know how much county employees interact with ICE Allegheny County Council considers legislation to ban many forms of cooperation between county employees and ICE agents. But current interactions are unclear.

New: Allegheny County Council is considering a bill banning county cooperation with ICE. But today members were frustrated that they simply don't know how much interaction is currently going on. www.publicsource.org/allegheny-co...

@cpotterpgh.bsky.social ai can never replace us!!!!!

Turn-signal stop prompts ICE detention for father of two in Springdale The Peruvian national’s family said he was legally in the country and complying with asylum processes when local police pulled him over and turned him over to ICE. The borough has an agreement with th...

New from @jamiewiggan.bsky.social and @stephstrasburg.bsky.social : Turn-signal stop prompts ICE detention for father of two in Springdale www.publicsource.org/ice-detains-...

It's FEC filing season...

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee reports having $1.8 million on hand heading into 2026 reelection effort.

The neighborhood that has seen the most city-funded demolitions since 2020 is Homewood North (53 out of 411 total). Click on the article for the fill list of neighborhoods.

“The scale of the problem is probably too much for the city as a system to handle with the amount of resources at its disposal,” @northsidecowboy.bsky.social said.

Demolitions have cost the city an average of $50,000 apiece since 2020, making it difficult to eat into the city's backlog of hundreds of condemned, dangerous buildings.

Federal COVID money helped: The number of demos spiked in 2022-2024.

New story today, including a map of where the City of Pittsburgh has demolished structures since 2020. It seems the city's demolition money is going to the neighborhoods that need it most — but that need is far greater than the resources.

Story: www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-m...

It's a significant breakthrough for the city that has struggled for years to get cash from major nonprofits.

But it's also short of what many have called for, and far short even of the tax hike residents got hit with in December.

UPMC to give Pittsburgh $10 million for new ambulances Mayor O’Connor announced a $10 million gift from UPMC that will pay for new ambulances in Pittsburgh, freeing up funds to buy 35 new trucks that can plow snow.

News: UPMC to give Pittsburgh $10 million for new ambulances www.publicsource.org/upmc-gifts-p...

Why Pittsburgh's snow plow fleet broke down during the storm of the decade Many of Pittsburgh’s snow plows broke down during the city’s second snowiest day since the 1990s. One councilor points to years of underinvestment.

New: Why Pittsburgh's snow plow fleet broke down during the storm of the decade www.publicsource.org/why-pittsbur...

O’Connor declares emergency in Pittsburgh after snow storm Mayor O’Connor declared an emergency in Pittsburgh to pool resources for clearing snow with dozens of snow plows disabled and secondary roads largely covered.

News: Mayor O'Connor has declared an emergency in Pittsburgh as dozens of snow plows broke down yesterday, leaving most secondary roads untouched after almost a foot of snowfall. www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-e...

Photo by @stephstrasburg.bsky.social this morning

That seat was flipped by a vote of 248-227.

Coraopolis overturns ICE agreement following community pushback and council shakeup Coraopolis entered into a 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Dec. 23. The Borough Council just terminated the agreement.

The impact of local elections:

Coraopolis borough council approved a cooperative agreement with ICE in Dec. But Dems swept the council elections there last year, including flipping one seat from R to D, and the council voted this week to end the agreement www.publicsource.org/coraopolis-o...