News & Brews November 25, 2024
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Pa.’s secretary of education is resigning
On Friday, Pa. Education Secretary Khalid Mumin announced he would be resigning on December 6, with no reason given. Gov. Shapiro announced that Angela Fitterer, the current executive deputy secretary of the education department, will assume the role of interim acting secretary.
Shapiro diverts federal highway funding to SEPTA
Gov. Shapiro announced on Friday that he will be diverting more than $150 million in federal highway funding to temporarily bail out the beleaguered Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). Despite getting hundreds of millions of dollars per year from the state (i.e. taxpayers and turnpike drivers), SEPTA remains in a financial mess and continues to beg taxpayers for more and more money. The AP reports that the money Shapiro is diverting “had been slated for seven projects — on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and I-80 in Columbia County, I-79 in Mercer County, I-80 in Jefferson County, I-70 in Washington County and I-83 in York County.” Shapiro still promised to get these projects done.
PSBA sued by school districts
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) has been sued by three Pa. school districts after PSBA sent the districts a cease and desist letter “threatening to sue them if they continued to utilize policies after the districts terminated their membership with the agency,” Broad + Liberty reports. An attorney for the districts “believes that PSBA is threatening members who leave the association and stop paying dues because, ‘they are worried more districts will leave.’” B+L explains, “The crux of the lawsuit centers around whether PSBA ‘owns’ the boilerplate policies that they create and make available to members. PSBA believes their policies are copyrighted, while the district’s attorneys argue they are not.”
Gov. & AG will be from different parties for first time in a decade
The LNP reports, “With the election of Dave Sunday as attorney general, Pennsylvania will have a governor and top prosecutor from different political parties for the first time in a decade.” The LNP considers whether this will mean partisan conflict or targeting. Yet, both Sunday and Gov. Shapiro say the opposite. Of Sunday, Shapiro said, “He’s someone who I know will enforce the law without fear or favor.” Meanwhile, Sunday emphasized that in his office, “We don’t identify people and then try to find a crime for them. We identify crimes that are occurring, and then we investigate those crimes.”
Can Fetterman’s politics win another election?
Writing in RealClear Pennsylvania, Oliver Bateman analyzes Democrat U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s “political predicament” that “is becoming clearer with each new poll.” Bateman writes that Fetterman “has managed to keep his balance by constantly reinventing himself. But as Pennsylvania trends increasingly red and his approval ratings slide, even his trademark adaptability may not be enough to save him in 2028.” For example, Fetterman has lost support among young voters due to his support for Israel against Hamas terrorists. Yet, his “97% alignment with Biden and Harris’ agenda puts him squarely in the progressive camp on actual votes, regardless of his theatrical breaks with the party on specific issues.”