Pennsylvania in Focus

(The Center Square) - On Monday, the House passed a resolution designating September as International Underground Railroad Month. It received near-unanimous support from the chamber, 199-4. The no votes stood out. The Underground Railroad is an integral part of U.S. history, particularly important to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which served as an abolitionist state and is home to more than 6...

(The Center Square) – A Coca-Cola driver in Houston, Pa., says leaders of his local Teamsters union threatened to fire him if he didn’t join the organization and pay dues. And now, he’s taking them to federal court. Hammaker says Teamsters Local 585 violated his constitutional right to opt out of membership and avoid paying dues that can support political activities. However, the union contract st...

(The Center Square) - At long last, it looks like Pennsylvania’s prohibition of Sunday hunting will end. The passage of House Bill 1431 in concurrence with the Senate signals a new era of game in the commonwealth. Proponents of the prohibition maintain that a traditional day off should still be observed, while opponents maintain that the majority of hunters work throughout the week, limiting their...

(The Center Square) – It’s three strikes for the divided Pennsylvania legislature and its leader, Gov. Josh Shapiro. Monday came and went without a budget deal hammered out. The new fiscal year begins Tuesday. And it’s the third time in as many years that it's been late with no clear end in sight. For now, the missed deadline doesn’t mean much. Most services and offices will function throughout th...

(The Center Square) - In a victory for President Donald Trump, the University of Pennsylvania agreed Tuesday to resolve what the Department of Education deemed to be a violation of Title IX by allowing a transgender woman to participate in women’s swimming. The violation occurred prior to Trump’s executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” issued in February of this year, with swimmer Lia...

(The Center Square) - The “bioindustrial revolution” is coming. Pennsylvania lawmakers want the commonwealth to be at its forefront. Gov. Josh Shapiro has made the biotech industry a core focus of his work in the governor’s office. Other lawmakers in the state are now doubling down on that commitment. Last week, U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-West Chester, joined the National Security Commission on...

(The Center Square) - It’s a big achievement–Pennsylvania won out over other states for the largest capital investment in its history, $20 billion from Amazon for data centers and technology infrastructure. Though the project promises to create over 1,200 jobs, at least initially, not everyone is happy about where things are going. At the June press conference when Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the...

(The Center Square) - It’s budget season, and Pennsylvania legislators are feeling the squeeze of potential cuts from the federal government. So are the state’s leading universities. Yet, as the system that has made the commonwealth a destination of choice for medical and academic research is transforming, lawmakers maintain a split focus on the state’s higher education. On one hand, the state is...

When it comes to higher education, taxpayers, legislators and educators on both sides of the aisle seem to agree that something is broken and the cost is too high. That’s about where the agreement ends. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx Read more: https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/ Hosted by S...

(The Center Square) - It was an unusual day in the Pennsylvania House, but that didn’t stop leadership from shepherding a mass transit bill forward to the Senate. Neither the electronic system used to tabulate legislators’ votes nor member laptops were working, causing House Speaker Rep. Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, to act according to a precedent established in 1975, in which opponents of th...

(The Center Square) – As the ink dries on the U.S. Steel merger with Japanese competitor Nippon, one state lawmaker breathes a deep sigh of relief on behalf of thousands of workers, most of whom she’s never met. Sen. Kim Ward, the fifth-term legislator from Greensburg and the highest-ranking Republican in the upper chamber, recently told The Center Square the long fight to the finish line was a pe...

(The Center Square) – Home care workers said Tuesday that a $21 million proposal to increase wages and benefits isn’t just a good idea, it’s the bare minimum to keep the industry float. Most in the state earn between $13 and $14 per hour due to the Medicaid reimbursement rate. The proposal would increase salaries for participant-directed care workers who are not employed through an agency. Support...

(The Center Square) - The week begins with a historic first, the largest capital investment in Pennsylvania history. Amazon’s commitment of $20 billion for data centers promises to change the state’s landscape for years to come. The first of the two centers will be built in Luzerne County and Bucks County where the projects promised to deliver at least 1,250 jobs. Speaking from the Jackson Mansion...

(The Center Square) – Gov. Josh Shapiro is in a unique position regarding the deployment of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He can consent to doing so, as he has for several federal requests since taking office two years ago, or he can decline, as he has also done during those same two years. “As part of their responsibilities, the PANG has state and federal missions and remains constantly prepar...

(The Center Square) – Pennsylvanians with intellectual and developmental disabilities gathered with advocates in the Capitol on Monday to urge lawmakers to preserve Medicaid from proposed spending cuts at the federal level. In particular, the group spoke out about the importance of home and community-based supports that allow many disabled people to remain independent rather than receiving care in...

(The Center Square) – In what was billed as a “Senate showdown,” Fox News hosted a congenial discussion between U.S. senators from Pennsylvania and self-described friends Dave McCormick and John Fetterman. The two men discussed points of agreement, like confronting Iran and Iranian-backed militant groups. They also discussed points of divergence like the cuts to Medicaid proposed in the One Big Be...

(The Center Square) – What’s next for U.S. Steel after its $14 billion merger? It’s either the golden age or a clever mirage, depending on who gets asked. That’s because the final details, while still scant, don’t satisfy critics about the iconic Pittsburgh company’s new partnership with Japanese-owned Nippon Steel. What is known is that on Friday, President Donald Trump took a victory lap in West...

(The Center Square) – Whether it’s gas or “green,” most Pennsylvanians just want affordable electricity. This according to a new statewide poll from Public Opinion Strategies released Thursday, which found that three-quarters of respondents worry about access to affordable electricity in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Another 78% said their household energy bills have risen over the last two years a...

(The Center Square) - As the federal government weighs cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Pennsylvania House is set to vote on a bill that would charge non-profit organizations with overseeing incentives to SNAP recipients for purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables. The Food Bucks bill, which received bipartisan support in committee, would provide SNAP users with 40 cents i...

(The Center Square) – Money spent addressing opioid use disorder last year accounts for 5% of Pennsylvania’s GDP, according to a report from Avalere Health. The study used state and national data to analyze costs across federal, state, and local governments, businesses, households, society, and individuals and found that the crisis has cost more than $3.9 trillion nationally. Pennsylvania alone ac...

(The Center Square) - Tuesday’s Democratic primaries proved to be a referendum on Ed Gainey’s leadership in his first term as mayor of Pittsburgh. The incumbent failed to convince voters that more time would help him usher a vision of a revitalized Pittsburgh into reality, and he was unseated by Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor. The victory means O’Connor is on track to win the general e...

(The Center Square) – Lawmakers made another attempt to reform elections in Pennsylvania, though it’s unclear how much appetite exists to deliver the plan to the governor’s desk. In many ways, it’s familiar. Like House Democratic-backed proposals that came before it, the bill establishes early in-person voting, ballot boxes and faster voter registration timelines. House Speaker Joanna McClinton, o...

(The Center Square) - Central to the debate around bailouts for the Philadelphia area’s mass transit system, SEPTA, has been the long-term sustainability of the agency’s finances. It’s currently set to face a $213 million deficit in July. Republicans in the legislature have resisted bailouts and solutions that would allocate more state dollars toward mass transit, favoring funding road and bridge...

(The Center Square) – A skeptical high court grilled state officials this week about whether the money it wants to collect from a regional anti-pollution pact constitutes a fee or a tax. Only the latter needs legislative approval, which will not happen with a split General Assembly, where the risk of rising utility bills 30% during economic uncertainty weighs heavily. That means it’s up to the Pen...

(The Center Square) - When used judiciously, some Democrats speculate that tariffs can be a good thing. In Pennsylvania, where steel has been a central component of the state’s economy, they’re arguing for different tactics. “I think it should be easy for us to criticize Donald Trump's tariffs and his trade approach right now, which is hurting a lot of people. A lot of businesses and workers in Pe...