• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • WHAT’S ON FOX
  • ABOUT
    • Meet Our Team
      • Our Journalists
      • Job Openings
      • Sales & Programming
    • Contact WSFX
      • Sales & Programming
  • Welcome Home

Fox Wilmington WSFX-TV

Wilmington, NC | Local news Weather and Sports

  • Local News
    • Unsung Heroes
      • Nominate an Unsung Hero
  • Local Weather
  • National
  • Sports
    • Panthers 2023 Game Schedule
    • Carolina Panthers
    • High School Football
  • Politics
    • NC Voter Information
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • What’s on TV?
  • MORE…
    • Technology
    • Science
    • Lifestyle
    • What’s Happening Wilmington

Federal judge orders stop to Postal Service cuts, echoing others

September 28, 2020 By WECT

By Associated Press | September 28, 2020 at 12:48 PM EDT – Updated September 28 at 4:59 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal judge in Philadelphia joined others Monday in ordering a halt to recent Postal Service cuts that critics say are causing mail delays and threatening the integrity of the presidential election.

Six states and the District of Columbia presented “compelling evidence” from the U.S. Postal Service itself that shows “a pronounced increase in mail delays across the country” since July, the judge found.

“In a pandemic, states are even more reliant on the mail, especially when it comes to administering elections,” U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh Jr. wrote in granting a preliminary injunction.

Biden urges senators to ‘take a step back from the brink’

The Postal Service, in response, called election mail the agency’s “number one priority.” In an agreement reached Friday in a similar New York case, the agency agreed to handle it as First Class Mail whenever possible and to put more resources toward the effort.

“We are 100 percent committed throughout the Postal Service to fulfilling our vital role in the nation’s electoral process by securely and timely delivering all ballots pursuant to our long-established processes and procedures,” spokesperson David A. Partenheimer said in an email.

Lawyers for the agency insist that new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy never ordered a slowdown or overtime ban. However, they conceded in court last week that local managers may have interpreted the guidance from Washington that way.

Because of that lack of clarity, McHugh said, a national injunction that echoes three others issued this month was necessary.

“This is a major victory and confirms — for every senior who has not received their timely shipment of prescription drugs and every voter who needs the reliable delivery of their mail-in ballots — that Postmaster General DeJoy was making false promises,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a lead plaintiff, said in a statement Monday.

Trump faces bombshell tax report that claims he avoided paying taxes for years

While service began rebounding toward the end of summer, no Postal Service region was meeting the agency’s target of delivering more than 95% of first-class mail within five days, according to data obtained this month by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Shapiro was joined in the Philadelphia case by attorneys general in California, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. Federal judges in Washington state and New York had issued similar orders this month.

In the Washington case, which involved several presidential election battleground states, U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian said state officials had made a “strong showing” that the Trump administration was using the Postal Service “as a tool in partisan politics.”

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Special Coverage: Coronavirus

Primary Sidebar


 

Follow Us On Facebook



TRENDING NOW

Mark Wahlberg says family is ‘happy’ after leaving Los Angeles for Las Vegas

Doctors alert consumers to laxative abuse dangers and ‘warning signs’ amid ongoing drug shortage

Jack Carr’s take on ‘Black Hawk Down’ on October 3, 1993: ‘Bond shared by brothers in blood’

Celebrity chef Robert Irvine shares his easy pot pie recipe for fall using leftovers in the fridge

MLB Postseason: What to know about 2023 wild-card series

Footer

PUBLIC FILE INFO

Individuals with disabilities who have questions about the content of our public file or website may contact Isabella Gano by phone at
(910) 343-8826 or by email at Isabella.gano@foxwilmington.com

 
 » WSFX FCC Public File
»EEO Report
»Closed Captioning

SITE MAP

  • Local Headlines
  • Coronavirus
  • Local Weather
  • National Headlines
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Health

WSFX TV

  • Livestream Newscast
  • Meet Our Team
  • Sales & Programming
  • WELCOME HOME
  • Go With The Pros
  • Medically Speaking
  • WHAT’S ON FOX

Copyright © 2023 · American Spirit Media LLC · WSFX TV · Wilmington NC · Terms of Service · Privacy Policy