News & Brews January 13, 2025
Get News & Brews in your inbox each day: Subscribe here!
Supporters of U.S. Steel deal launch campaign to persuade Trump
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that while President-elect “Trump is unlikely to reverse President Joe Biden’s decision earlier this month to block the sale of Pittsburgh’s U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel, several trade experts said … a fresh campaign to woo the Republican is starting to take shape.” Last week, “Nippon Steel’s vice chairman, Takahiro Mori, met with workers at U.S. Steel Irvin Works and strategized at the home of West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly, hoping to keep a yearlong campaign alive.” And, “While workers and others move on Trump, lawmakers may take aim at the regulatory review that preceded Mr. Biden’s block.” Meanwhile, the Tribune-Review reports that the Biden administration has given Nippon and U.S. Steel “an extra six months to ditch their merger, keeping the deal alive as litigation unfolds over whether a national security panel’s review of it was tainted by political considerations.”
Sixers reverse course on new Center City stadium
After all the negotiating and protests and heated public meetings over the Philadelphia 76ers’ plans to build a new stadium in Center City, the team now says it won’t be moving after all. The Inquirer reports, “The team has struck a deal with Comcast Spectacor to remain in the South Philadelphia sports complex, after more than two years of heated debate over moving to a potential new arena on East Market Street.” This “according to City Council members and a key labor leader.”
Change coming to Allegheny County Council
Pennsylvania’s second-most-populous county is facing some changes on its county council. WESA reports that “the 15-member body is poised to see significant turnover this year, as one of council’s first true progressives plans to step aside, along with its longest-serving Democrat and most prominent Republican. In the six seats up for election this fall, three current office holders have decided not to run. Add to that another member who plans to resign next week, and a year from now, more than one-quarter of council members will be new faces.”
Hamptons, move over; we’ve got Bucks County
The New York Times reports that Bucks County, Pa. has begun to rival the Hamptons as “a celebrity enclave.” The Times lists several of the rich and famous who have bought properties in Bucks and reports on how the county is keeping up with the growing demand. “While a census might reveal fewer famous people per acre than in the Hamptons, Malibu, or Aspen, the area’s glamour quotient was [and is] on the rise.”
Trump nominates Toretti as ambassador to Sweden
President-elect Trump has nominated Republican National Committeewoman Christine Toretti as U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, making her the first Pennsylvanian to be nominated for an ambassadorship in President-elect Trump’s second term. The Inquirer reports, “Toretti has been one of two national committee people representing Pennsylvania on the RNC since 1997 and is one of the most prominent GOP fund-raisers in the state.” Trump previously twice nominated her as ambassador to Malta, in 2019 and 2020, but “her nomination was returned to the president without the narrowly GOP-controlled Senate acting on it.”