News & Brews February 6, 2025
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Analysis of Shapiro’s budget proposal
The Commonwealth Foundation has published its annual analysis of the governor’s budget proposal. And while we knew right away that his pitch was ridiculous—calling for $3.9 billion in new spending as Pa. faces a $3.6 billion deficit—the analysis dives into just how bad it is. “Oblivious to economics, the governor argues that higher taxes and more regulations would lower energy costs.” And on education, “the governor proposes taking options away from parents. Shapiro’s proposal slashes funding to cyber charter students to just $8,000 per student—or 36 percent of what school districts spend per student.” Further, ‘Shapiro’s budget includes $1.6 billion in corporate welfare spending and proposes five new corporate welfare programs.”
Pa. Senator proposes voter ID constitutional amendment
Republican state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (Berks and Montgomery counties) is calling for a constitutional amendment that would require voters to show photo ID at the polls. Thirty-six other states currently have a commonsense ID requirement, but Democrats in Pennsylvania have inexplicably blocked this basic election integrity measure. Indeed, former Gov. Wolf vetoed multi-faceted election reform because it included voter ID. If Gov. Shapiro is so sick of ‘falling behind other states,’ he should get on board with this effort to catch up.
Ellen Greenberg’s family says Shapiro ‘should be kicked from office’
Fourteen years after Ellen Greenberg was found dead with 20 stab wounds—only to have her death ruled a homicide, then inexplicably changed to suicide—”her father and the private detective he hired are blasting the long line of law enforcement officials they say sloughed off the case,” PennLive reports. “First among their targets is former attorney general and now governor, Josh Shapiro.” Greenberg’s father said, “Josh Shapiro could kiss my (expletive) … for what he didn’t do,” adding, “He should be kicked out of office.” Shapiro “spent more than four years investigating Ellen’s 2011 stabbing death as attorney general,” only to ultimately stand by the suicide ruling. Greenberg accuses Shapiro of “sitting on” the case for years. Last week, in a bombshell development, the former Philly medical examiner who changed the manner of death to suicide did an about face and said it was something other than suicide.
Philly holds town hall meeting on plane crash
Five days after a medevac jet crashed into Northeast Philly, killing all six passengers and at least one person on the ground while injuring more than two dozen others, Mayor Cherelle Parker and city officials held a town hall meeting last night to discuss “available resources for housing, mental health, and financial support, including a new recovery fund that is accepting donations for victims of the plane crash at philacityfund.org/onephilly.” Today, “The city will host a Multi-Agency Resource Center Thursday at Friends Hospital from 1 to 5:30 p.m. Billed as a ‘one-stop shop’ for residents, the services offered will include help with replacing important documents, accessing housing, and navigating insurance claims.”
‘Who is Big Labor, anyway?’
The Capital Research Center has a great piece debunking “three persistent, widespread myths about union members.” Myth #1: “organized labor speaks for wage-and salary-earners as a class based on overwhelming membership.” Myth #2: “union members work in private industries, usually in traditional ‘industrial’ occupations like manufacturing.” And Myth #3: “unionized workers are largely male, making organized labor a vehicle for improving or maintaining the status of non-college-educated men.” What are the facts? Click here to find out.