HARRISBURG — The slow, multiyear process of amending the Pennsylvania Constitution has become the tool of choice for Republican lawmakers seeking to enact policy and avoid the governor’s veto.

Last year, the proposals the legislature sent voters all received approval. Two limited the governor’s power to declare and sustain a state of emergency, and the other enshrined protection against discrimination based on race in Pennsylvania. Lawmakers are now considering a number of proposed changes that could radically reshape how parts of the state government work.

But despite the potential significance of these changes, it’s difficult to track them as they move through the process.

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Spotlight PA scoured this session’s bills to identify all the changes legislators want to make to the state constitution. We’ll update the below database when new proposals are introduced and as existing ones move through the process.

- Amazon insiders say the company's pay structure doesn't reward loyalty for employees who stay.
- Raises can be hard to come by, and outside hires often outearn longtime employees in the same role.
- As a result, employees turn to "boomeranging," quitting their jobs and returning in higher-paid ones.

Some Amazon employees have resorted to quitting their jobs and coming back in higher-paid ones in order to boost their pay in a company culture they say doesn't often give promotions or raises. Insider reported Friday that the e-commerce company is facing ballooning attrition because its compensation structure doesn't reward loyalty, employees say.

Employees say pay bumps can be hard to come by and external hires often outearn longtime Amazon employees in the same position. As a result, a lot of employees believe they can only snag a good raise if they "boomerang," quitting their jobs and coming back to the company in higher-paid roles.

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Last year, US-based Amazon Web Services engineers saw a turnover rate of at least 35%, according to two insiders. An Amazon spokesperson said this figure was overstated but didn't offer specifics. Company-wide attrition is between 6% and 8% per year, a former executive said.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s leaders sought Tuesday to reassure the nation that an invasion from neighboring Russia was not imminent, even as they acknowledged the threat is real and received a shipment of U.S. military equipment to shore up their defenses.

Moscow has denied it is planning an assault, but it has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine in recent weeks and is holding military drills at multiple locations in Russia. That has led the United States and its NATO allies to rush to prepare for a possible war.

Several rounds of high stakes diplomacy have failed to yield any breakthroughs, and tensions escalated further this week. NATO said it was bolstering its deterrence in the Baltic Sea region, and the U.S. ordered 8,500 troops on higher alert for potential deployment to Europe as part of an alliance “response force” if necessary. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said he is prepared to send troops to protect NATO allies in Europe.

In a show of European unity in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an easing of the crisis. “We ... expect clear steps from Russia that will contribute to a de-escalation of the situation,” Scholz said.

Macron, who said he would talk with President Vladimir Putin by phone Friday, added: “If there is aggression, there will be retaliation and the cost will be very high.”

In the latest standoff, Russia wants guarantees from the West that NATO will never admit Ukraine as a member and that the alliance would curtail other actions, such as stationing troops in former Soviet bloc countries. Some of these, like the membership pledge, are nonstarters for NATO, creating a seemingly intractable stalemate that many fear can only end in a war.

Moscow has accused Ukraine of massing troops near rebel-controlled regions in the east, aiming to retake them by force — accusations Kyiv has rejected. Analysts say Ukraine’s leaders are caught between trying to calm the nation and ensuring it gets sufficient assistance from the West in case of an invasion.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s positive tests for the coronavirus have forced the postponement of a civil trial set to start Monday over her defamation claims against The New York Times.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the trial can begin Feb. 3 if Palen has adequately recovered by then.

Palin, a one-time Republican vice presidential nominee, has had COVID-19 before. She’s urged people not to get vaccinated, telling an audience in Arizona last month that “it will be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot.”

When he first announced early Monday that Palin had gotten a positive result from an at-home test, Rakoff said: “She is, of course, unvaccinated.”

He said he would wait to postpone the trial until she completed a test Monday morning. Later, her lawyer reported that a rapid test Monday morning came out positive.

“Since she has tested positive three times, I’m going to assume she’s positive,” the judge said.

Rakoff said that courthouse rules would permit her to return to court Feb. 3, even if she still tests positive, as long as she has no symptoms. If she does have symptoms, she can be looked at on Feb. 2 by a doctor who provides services to the courts, he said.

Palin, 57, sued the Times in 2017, claiming the Times damaged her reputation with an opinion piece penned by its editorial board that falsely asserted her political rhetoric helped incite the 2011 shooting of then-Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. The newspaper has conceded the initial wording of the editorial was flawed, but not in an intentional or reckless way that made it libelous.

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It’s presumed that Palin will be the star witness in the civil case, taking the stand to back up accusations that the Times should pay damages for hurting her budding career as a political commentator. There was no response to messages left last week with her lawyers asking if and when she will testify.

Before his announcement, term-limited Governor Tom Wolf endorsed Shapiro's bid. He has also received endorsements from former Governor Ed Rendell, State Senator Anthony H. Williams, former Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Marcel Groen and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

DANIELLE OHL OF SPOTLIGHT PA JAN 15, 2022 6:00 AM

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters.

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania voters could face at least five ballot questions about changing the state constitution next year after House Republicans added four controversial revisions to a single proposal.

Republican lawmakers have increasingly relied on constitutional amendments to pursue policy initiatives that Gov. Tom Wolf would otherwise reject and that most Democrats don’t support. Bundling together several amendments represents an escalation of that tactic, as the combined measures eliminate the need to advance and pass separate proposals.

The resulting omnibus bill is packed with initiatives that Republicans hope to send directly to voters all at once as separate ballot questions.

“It’s very partisan in nature and really reflects the attempt to advance an agenda that was unsuccessful through typical, ethical democratic means,” said Khalif Ali, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a good-government organization. “It’s a process in place for a reason and to go around that erodes democracy.”

The original bill, introduced by state Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, seeks to modify the way Pennsylvania elects the lieutenant governor — an idea that has wide bipartisan support.

But in December, shortly before breaking for the holidays, GOP state representatives amended the bill to include four new constitutional revisions. Those alterations passed along party lines, before the House passed the entire bill the next day with nearly every Democrat voting against it.
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Ari Berman @AriBerman

It makes absolutely no sense why Mitch McConnell can confirm 3 Supreme Court justices for Trump with 51 votes to take away voting rights but it requires 60 votes for US Senate to protect voting rights
2:58 PM · Jan 12, 2022

For Ukraine oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, the Westin hotel in Cleveland that he owns with partners became the center of the most powerful Republican gathering in the nation during the 2016 convention.

Then-candidate Donald Trump set up his headquarters in the downtown luxury hotel. His family members and top advisers stayed in the penthouse presidential suite. In the lobby that showcases modern, eclectic art, the future president met with a crush of reporters the morning after he delivered his acceptance speech at the convention, gushing over the local hospitality.

“The lobby of the Westin Hotel is a palace for insiders,” wrote the Washington Post.

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But Mr. Kolomoisky’s venture into Cleveland, under a web of companies known as Optima, remains one of the most troubling examples of what’s gone wrong with financial transparency laws in the U.S. and how an oligarch and his partners dominated the real estate of a major American city without ever disclosing his ownership.

The 58-year-old billionaire and others bought the towers through companies set up in Delaware — one of the nation’s foremost havens for corporate secrecy — through a litany of offshore shell companies in amounts that forced taxpayers in Ukraine to turn over billions to save the bank.

Far from the usual havens for shadowy money, Cleveland has become the center of an international money laundering probe that has attracted the attention of Congress and led agents several times to the Ukraine capital of Kyiv to meet with the country’s law enforcement leaders.

“It’s happening in Middle America. That’s what’s moving the needle. It’s a new front in how money laundering is used,” said Scott Greytak, advocacy director for Transparency International in Washington, D.C., a non-profit that tracks global corruption.