Free Republic

Fire commissioner Daniel Nigro is urging first responders to skip 9/11 anniversary events this year due to COVID-19 — outraging firefighters hoping to honor their 343 brethren killed in the WTC attacks. “FDNY has gone from ‘never forget’ to ‘forget about it,'” a department member complained. Nigro issued the stunning directive in an internal order last week. “From a health and safety perspective, the FDNY strongly recommends that our members forego participating in 9/11 gatherings and events this year,” Nigro states. “During these difficult times, the department acknowledges our members’ commitment to never forget those we lost on that fateful day. At...

In the beginning, experts gave it a week. Two, tops. Now, a state Supreme Court justice finds himself out of a job, and other incumbents in Harrisburg are left sweating over their political futures because of what pundits are calling a "populist insurrection." The anti-pay-raise movement that many had dismissed early on as a passing thunderstorm is developing into a Category 5 hurricane that threatens to uproot incumbents across the state next year. "Rome is burning, and the empire is crumbling," said State Rep. Thomas C. Petrone (D., Allegheny), who took the raise but later donated it to charities, including...

For the two Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for re-election this year, the foe is public perception, not a candidate of the opposition party. Justices Russell M. Nigro and Sandra Schultz Newman are fighting for new 10-year terms because of rising anger toward the court, stirred largely by a pay raise that state lawmakers gave themselves in the middle of the night last summer. (snip) "There is a serious disconnect in Pennsylvania between our elected officials" and the people, said Russ Diamond, chairman of PACleanSweep, a political action committee committed to ousting every incumbent in the Legislature. Citizen activists and...

Recently, the legislature in Pennsylvania passed a pay raise for the term in which they were serving in violation of Pennsylvania constitution, which prohibits the legislature from raising their own pay during the term they are serving. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court nevertheless approved the pay raise, perhaps due in no small part to the fact that the judges also got a pay raise as part of the deal. Pennsylvania voters got their first opportuntiy to punish the political establishment today, with the Supreme Court Justices Newman and Nigro coming up for a vote on whether they should be allowed to...