News & Brews February 6, 2024
Get News & Brews in your inbox each day: Subscribe here!
How to watch today’s budget address
Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his second annual budget address today beginning a 12:30 p.m. The event will be live streamed here. And for a quick refresher on what Shapiro should propose in his budget address if he wants Pennsylvania to be as “competitive as he**,” like he claims, click here. Also, House and Senate Republicans will provide responses to the budget at 2:30 (approximate time). The House GOP response will be live streamed here and the Senate GOP response will be live streamed here.
Cyber-hackers take down Pa. courts website
As cybersecurity has become a focus of state lawmakers, news broke yesterday that the Pennsylvania courts’ website “was hit by a cyberattack that did not appear to compromise any data, but left some online systems disabled.” The AP reports that per Chief Justice Debra Todd, the attack was a “denial of service” cyberattack, meaning the attackers “flood the targeted host or network with traffic until the target cannot respond or simply crashes, preventing access for legitimate users.” The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are reportedly investigating the attack.
Anti-Israel protestors arrested at Pa. Capitol
PennLive reports that more than 100 protestors were detained by police (and later released) for “trespassing” inside the state Capitol and demonstrating without a permit. They were protesting the state’s investments in Israel—a decades-long practice under state treasurers from both parties and currently overseen by Treasurer Stacy Garrity.
Philly sheriff under scrutiny for fake news … literally
File this one under “strange.” The Inquirer reported that Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal’s campaign website listed “dozens of favorable headlines attributed to local news organizations such as NBC10, CBS3, WHYY, and The Inquirer, all listing the dates of publication.” But on further review, “No one can seem to find any of the supposed news stories.” It turns out the 31 headlines were generated using AI.
Casey, Fetterman back border deal; McCormick opposes
PennLive reports that “Democratic U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey endorsed a bipartisan deal Monday that would revamp immigration over the southern border and allocate billions in foreign aid, while Casey’s GOP challenger Dave McCormick called it a ‘capitulation.’” The proposed deal, which was announced Sunday, was crafted by GOP Sen. James Lankford (OK), Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy (CT), and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (AZ).