News & Brews February 5, 2025
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Shapiro calls for massive spending increase, ignores $3.6 billion deficit
In his 90-minute budget address yesterday, Gov. Shapiro seemed to forget that Pennsylvania is facing a $3.6 billion deficit as, instead of addressing it, he called for a massive $3.9 billion spending increase. Senate Republicans called the $51.5 spending plan “unrealistic” and said it would create “a $27.3 billion hole in the state’s finances” over the next five years. Notably but hardly surprisingly, “For the third consecutive year, Shapiro failed to include funding for Lifeline Scholarships or the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success program to help children in failing schools explore different educational options in an environment that better suits their needs.” The Delaware Valley Journal has more on the budget.
WSJ: ‘Josh Shapiro’s climate self-protection’
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board doesn’t mince words in exposing Gov. Shapiro’s manipulation of the facts in relation to his recent “agreement with PJM Interconnection that he says will ‘avoid historic price hikes across all 13 states.’” In reality, Shapiro “pitched an energy plan to fast-track the construction of renewables and a cap-and-trade program that would effectively subsidize them by punishing fossil fuels. Such policies would likely lead to the retirement of more base-load fossil fuel generators, resulting in higher auction prices and electric rates.” The Journal concludes, “Shapiro is doubling down on the left’s climate policies that are causing energy prices to soar while trying to duck political responsibility for the costs. You almost have to admire his political calculation, if not his policy wisdom.”
Fetterman sole Dem to back Trump’s AG nominee
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted 54-46 to confirm former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as the next U.S. Attorney General. Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to join all Republicans in backing Bondi. Speaking to reporters regarding Bondi after the vote, Fetterman said, “I’m saying that she’s, she’s qualified, and it’s not my ideal pick, but it turns out that (former Attorney General) Merrick Garland wasn’t anyone’s ideal one either.” This isn’t the first time Fetterman has stepped across the aisle. He has also met with Trump, and he was a vocal supporter of the Laken Riley Act. (You can see how Fetterman and Sen. Dave McCormick voted in additional confirmation votes here.)
‘How personal injury lawyers took over Philly’
With trial lawyers among the biggest donors to Democrat candidates, I found this story in Philadelphia Magazine interesting. Written by the magazine’s former editor, the piece begins by observing the sheer number of personal injury lawyer billboards bombarding area drivers, then dives into the mechanism of attorney advertising—including some tactics that raise ethical eyebrows. It addresses how some law firms are headed by non-lawyers who care primarily about the bottom line. And it looks at the increase in personal injury cases and the rise in settlement amounts.
Pa. has fastest-growing achievement gap in 8th-grade math
The 74 has an analysis of the growth in the achievement gap between top-performing students and lower-performing students, “as lower-performing students have fallen further behind.” The story notes that “before 2013, achievement scores were rising, and those gains were broadly shared across student performance levels.” But “something happened around 2013: On average, scores fell a little bit, but lower-performing students … fell off a cliff.” And while the achievement gap, specifically looking at 8th-grade math, has grown in every state in the past two years, the biggest gap growth was in Pennsylvania.