{"id":243834,"date":"2026-07-15T10:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/243834\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:28:07","slug":"pa-will-not-hand-over-voter-rolls-to-the-federal-government-in-response-to-a-doj-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/243834\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa. will not hand over voter rolls to the federal government in response to a DOJ letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, everyone! Be prepared for another scorcher, with highs expected to be around 99 degrees.<\/a><\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said the state will not hand over voter rolls to the federal government in response to a threatening Department of Justice letter. Schmidt stressed that the state was not in violation of any voting regulations.<\/a><\/p>\n

And The U.S. Department of Education is cracking down on sexual abuse by teachers with investigations into public school districts. Among those under investigation are the Cheltenham and Gloucester Township School Districts.<\/a><\/p>\n

Plus, the Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park will be open this weekend despite recent storm damage<\/a>, and more news of the day.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sam Stewart (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt stressed that the state was not in violation of any voting regulations in a response letter to a Department of Justice inquiry<\/a> that threatened criminal charges over suspicions of noncitizen voting.<\/p>\n

The letter pushed back against the Trump administration\u2019s insistence that allowing federal assistance in inspecting of voter rolls was the best way to avoid criminal prosecution for \u201caiding and abetting the violation\u201d of federal voting laws. Schmidt\u2019s reply made it clear that Pennsylvania would not hand over voter rolls to the federal government and reiterated that voting regulations were followed meticulously.<\/p>\n

The DOJ letter comes after President Donald Trump\u2019s long history of spreading voter-fraud conspiracy theories and falsely claiming that he won the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania officials have warned since last year that turning over the voter rolls to the federal government without redactions could put sensitive information at risk.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cheltenham School District is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education as federal officials target sexual misconduct by teachers that they say schools nationally have been too lax in addressing.<\/p>\n

Cheltenham is one of 20 public school districts under investigation by the DOE\u2019s Office for Civil Rights based on responses the districts provided to a federal civil rights data collection survey in 2023-24. The responses \u201csuggest that districts might not be addressing staff on student sexual misconduct appropriately,\u201d the Education Department said in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n

The Gloucester Township School District in Camden County is also under investigation, according to a list obtained by ProPublica.<\/p>\n

The investigations were announced as part of a broader initiative by the Education Department \u201cto protect students from adult sexual predators in schools,\u201d with guidance sent to all school districts outlining federal legal requirements for responding to sexual harassment and abuse.<\/p>\n

The Inquirer\u2019s Maddie Hanna has the full story.<\/a><\/p>\n

What you should know today<\/p>\n

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has temporarily instructed officers to refrain from making traffic-stop arrests in most cases, according to several people with knowledge of the directive, a policy shift spurred by a pair of fatal shootings involving officers who fired into vehicles over the last week.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday visited Vare-Washington Elementary School in South Philadelphia to tout the $678 million in new education funding included in the state budget deal finalized over the weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

A Malvern man was sentenced to more than three years in prison for having a collection of homemade bombs at his house \u2014 a discovery police made after he was arrested for bringing guns to a \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest in West Chester last year.<\/a><\/p>\n

A United Kingdom man who was shot and killed while doing contracting work in Roxborough last week was a member of the so-called Traveling Conmen criminal organization and was not authorized to be in the country, officials with the Department of Homeland Security said.<\/a><\/p>\n

As details emerge on the personalized video that Bryce Harper says he unknowingly recorded on behalf of FanDuel for a sports-gambling addict, Major League Baseball is confident that the Phillies star didn\u2019t violate any league policies. \u201cI think the important thing is that Bryce\u2019s activity was not a violation of the basic agreement,\u201d commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n

Genetic testing company 23andMe and a group of attorneys general nationwide have reached a multimillion-dollar settlement following the major data breach that led to the company\u2019s demise three years ago. More than 40 attorneys general, including Pennsylvania\u2018s Dave Sunday, announced the national $18 million settlement with the genetic testing company.<\/a><\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/p>\n

Tom Burgoyne had long insisted that he\u2019s not the Phanatic. He\u2019s the Phanatic\u2019s best friend. But now a new documentary has convinced Burgoyne, the man behind the mascot, to admit he\u2019s so much more.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83e\udde0 Trivia time<\/p>\n

Tideline, Margate\u2019s latest bayside restaurant, just added an eyebrow-raising cocktail to the \u201cHouse Favorites\u201d drink menu. The Liquid Asset consists of top-shelf tequila, a big ice cube, and a red chili pepper, and comes with a custom-built 39-foot speedboat.<\/p>\n

How much does the new menu item cost?<\/p>\n

A) $10 million<\/p>\n

B) $1,100<\/p>\n

C) $1.1 million<\/p>\n

D) $1<\/p>\n

Think you know? Check your answer.<\/a><\/p>\n

What (and whom) we\u2019re \u2026<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfe1 Gushing about: A 19th-century, four-bedroom home in Chestnut Hill. The 1,520-square-foot house is listed for $699,900.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u26be Booing: Everyone who\u2019s not a Phillie! And according to columnist Stephanie Farr, people have to get over it.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u26c8\ufe0f Impressed by: The Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park. Though most vendors sustained significant damage due to storm microbursts, the market will carry on this weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd29 Star-struck over: The best looks from the MLB All-Star Game red carpet. Everyone came dressed to impress.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83e\udde9 Unscramble the anagram<\/p>\n

Hint: Food chain known for its doughnuts and fried chicken<\/p>\n

ADORNED FLUTES<\/p>\n

Email us if you know the answer<\/a>. We\u2019ll select a reader at random to shout out here. <\/p>\n

Cheers to Michelle Farzetta, who solved Tuesday\u2019s anagram: Louis Tomlinson. The former One Direction member was meant to perform at Philadelphia\u2019s Mann Center for Performing Arts over the weekend, but couldn\u2019t because of severe weather. Some fans were devastated.<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo of the day<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc4b Have a good day, folks! Stay cool.<\/p>\n

By submitting your written, visual, and\/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer\u2019s Terms of Use<\/a>, including the grant of rights in Section 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning, everyone! Be prepared for another scorcher, with highs expected to be around 99 degrees. Pennsylvania Secretary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,104452],"class_list":["post-243834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-pennsylvania-voter-rolls-department-of-justice-cheltenham-school-district-investigation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}