News & Brews February 26, 2025
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Nippon Steel seeks to win Trump’s approval
Reuters reports that “Nippon Steel plans to use its current merger agreement to acquire U.S. Steel … as a starting point for talks with the U.S. government, President Tadashi Imai said on Tuesday, as it aims to revive the deal.” Both former President Biden and President Trump oppose the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, and Trump said earlier this month that the $14.9 billion proposed sale “would take the form of an investment instead of a purchase.” Nippon Steel plans to “talk with the U.S. government about what it can do to get President Trump’s approval.”
Utah sets the example for Pa. to follow
Utah has become the third state in the country “to ban collective bargaining throughout the government with no exceptions.” The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board explains that the ban “will let each department set pay and benefits at the levels they believe employees merit, instead of giving unions outsize influence to extort lucrative salary and pensions.” Unlike private unions that negotiate with employers from across the table, public unions sit on the same side of the bargaining table. “Unions use their dues to support politicians who deliver them fat contracts that then help finance the same politicians, and so on. Taxpayers have no representatives in the room, and unions become a constant and powerful lobby for ever-higher tax rates.” This is the scenario in Pennsylvania right now. We echo the Journal’s sentiment that “[v]oters in other states can hope that Utah’s excellent move starts a trend.”
Mastriano considering another bid for governor
GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who spectacularly lost his race for governor against Josh Shapiro in 2022 after many Republicans warned against nominating him specifically because he would not win, is considering another run in 2026. The Inquirer reports that Mastriano “has spent time determining what went wrong in his disastrous 2022 bid, where he lacked the Republican establishment’s support, raised little money, and often refused to talk to mainstream media outlets.” Meanwhile, “Many top Pennsylvania Republicans have expressed a desire to more seriously challenge Shapiro.” Other names in the mix are U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, who has said he’s mulling a run, and Treasurer Stacy Garrity, “who in November received the most votes of any candidate for statewide office in Pennsylvania history.”
Pa. schools are failing, and more money won’t help
Girard College President and Commonwealth Foundation Senior Fellow David Hardy writes in the Inquirer that the latest Nation’s Report Card shows that “[a]bout 7 in 10 Pennsylvania eighth graders cannot read or perform math at grade level. … Yet, despite these abysmal assessments, Pennsylvania public education will see more no-strings-attached funding.” This even as Pennsylvania already spends about $22,000 per student, or more than $4,000 more than the national average. Hardy writes, “Rather than throwing more money at the same problem, Shapiro and the General Assembly must empower Pennsylvania kids and families with the freedom to find a school of their choice.”
Penn State says some campuses will close
Citing “declining enrollments, demographic shifts and financial pressures,”Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi announced yesterday that “It has become clear that we cannot sustain a viable Commonwealth Campus ecosystem without closing some campuses.” WESA reports that “the seven largest Commonwealth campuses, Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg and Lehigh Valley, will remain open,” while a handful of Penn State leaders will recommend which of the remaining 12 should be shuttered.