News & Brews May 7, 2025
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Selective records deletion in Shapiro’s office?
In the ongoing secrecy scandal surrounding the resignation of Gov. Shapiro’s former director of legislative affairs, Mike Vereb, amid sexual harassment allegations, Broad + Liberty reports, “Internal records obtained from Governor Josh Shapiro’s office suggest the email account of a top aide who accused a cabinet secretary [Vereb] of sexual harassment was deleted under suspicious and possibly selective circumstances — and not as part of any routine records policy.” An attorney for Shapiro had claimed in court that the emails would have been deleted “in accordance with the records retention schedules.” But Right-to-Know requests reveal that records for other departed employees were NOT deleted.
Senate Ed Committee votes to rescue kids
Yesterday, the Senate Education Committee voted 8-3 to advance legislation that would establish the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) Scholarship Program. Similar to previously proposed Lifeline Scholarships, PASS would rescue kids trapped in Pennsylvania’s worst-performing schools by providing scholarships that families can use to send their children to a different school. Democrat Sen. Anthony Williams (Philadelphia & Delaware counties)—who cosponsored the bill along with state Sen. Judy Ward (Blair, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata & Mifflin Counties)—joined all Republicans in supporting it.
Shapiro’s flip-flop-fliparoo
We’ve long known about Gov. Shapiro’s flip-flop on school choice. He supported Lifeline Scholarships on the campaign trail and then line-item vetoed them just months after taking office. Now it appears Shapiro has come up with a third stance. This time? He claims he has no position. Referencing the bill noted in the previous story, Spotlight PA’s Stephen Caruso posted, “Per a Senate Democratic source, the Shapiro administration informed the Education Committee’s Democratic members that they have ‘no position’ at this time on the voucher bill.” His taxpayer-funded press office apparently realized this was not a good thing to say so quickly issued a statement—blaming lawmakers.
Pa. Senate votes to protect women’s sports
In a bipartisan 32-18 vote yesterday, the Pa. Senate passed the Save Women’s Sports Act, sponsored by state Sen. Judy Ward (Blair, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata & Mifflin). The bill would protect women and girls from being forced to compete against biological males. All Republicans and five Democrats voted in favor of the bill. The Dems voting yes were Sens. Lisa Boscola (Northampton & Lehigh), Marty Flynn (Lackawanna & Luzerne), Nick Miller (Lehigh & Northampton), Christine Tartaglione (Philadelphia), and newly elected Sen. James Malone (Lancaster).
Gov’s mansion to get ‘anti-climb’ fence
This headline surprised me, as I would have thought the residence of Pennsylvania’s chief executive would already have an anti-climb fence, but I guess not. But now, it’s getting one. Spotlight PA also reports that in letter yesterday to the General Assembly, Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) Commissioner Christopher Paris indicated the PSP would create a new uniformed unit for the residence. In the letter, Paris also said that the third-party security review of the mansion following April’s arson attack “focused entirely on security protocols and an assessment of security infrastructure — the investigation into the events of April 13, 2025, is being conducted by protecting authorities.” See the full letter here.