A priest who oversaw the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, a historic congregation in downtown Pittsburgh, has resigned following allegations that he stole over $1,000 worth of baseball cards at a Walmart. He had been on administrative leave since January amid claims he sold cathedral artifacts online, according to a letter published Saturday (March 14) from Pittsburgh Bishop Ketlen Solak.
The Rev. Aidan Smith, 42, who had served as dean of the cathedral since 2020, was arrested on Feb. 27 by police in Economy, Pennsylvania — a borough 30 minutes north of Pittsburgh — after allegedly leaving a Walmart store with 27 packs of baseball cards concealed under his clothing. Surveillance footage reportedly captured Smith stealing cards from the same Walmart store on each of the previous four days. In total, police said Walmart valued the stolen cards at $1,099.99, according to The Associated Press.
President Trump, who has made the voter ID bill his top legislative priority, had demanded that it include two provisions related to transgender Americans, neither of which have anything to do with elections. One would bar transgender women and girls from playing in women’s and girls’ sports, and another would criminalize gender transition treatments for minors.
Neither of those measures, nor the voter ID bill itself, have the 60 votes necessary to move ahead in the Senate and become law. [emphasis added]
But that all-but-certain defeat did not stop Senate Republicans from seeking to shove the measures into the debate over voter identification and proof of citizenship, as G.O.P. lawmakers seek to capitalize politically on an issue that many Democrats remain deeply uncomfortable discussing.
