The Commonwealth Beat with Laura LeBeau - Episode 87 - 07/13/25

The Commonwealth Beat with Laura LeBeau is a statewide Public Affairs program airing on all of the Seven Mountains Media Pennsylvania radio stations.  

A movement that grew out of outrage over a legislative pay raise passed in the dead of night with almost no one around, had its 20th anniversary on July 7th.  The PA Cleansweep movement was the brainchild of then-Lebanon County businessman, Russ Diamond.  Its mission was to not only repeal the pay raise, but also oust every sitting state lawmaker who voted for it, in the first place.  
          What ensued over the next year was nothing short of a political nuclear bomb going off, with many legislators and one state supreme court justice leaving office, either of their own volition, or thrown out at the ballot box.  
          Now a six term State House member, Diamond reflects on the PA Cleansweep movement, two decades later.

PA recently opened a brick and mortar veterans outreach center for vets and their family members to receive information about the services they're entitled to, face-to-face.  it was a long time coming, but for the department of military and veterans affairs, there's no turning back now.  Retired Army Colonel Keith Graham, who oversees veterans' programs at the center, talks about its mission.