News & Brews June 13, 2025
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Shapiro’s changing story
You may recall that in 2024, Gov. Shapiro forcefully said he would not send Pennsylvania National Guard troops to the southern border. Specifically, he stated, “The last thing in the world I’m going to do is put the brave women and men of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s lives at risk to be part of some political squabble at the border that Governor Abbott has created.” Well, yesterday news broke that in 2023, 2024, and 2025, Pa. Guard troops were mobilized and sent to the border—with Gov. Shapiro’s consent. Why, then, did he deny this last year?
New rulings in Shapiro/Vereb email RTK case
Broad + Liberty reports on two new court rulings related to its ongoing investigation into Gov. Shapiro’s handling of the Mike Vereb sexual harassment scandal. Vereb was Shapiro’s former secretary of legislative affairs. One of the rulings, in particular, found that “Shapiro’s office had improperly invoked the ‘deliberative process privilege’ when trying to shield some emails from disclosure.” The story explains, “The pair of rulings weren’t entirely in the outlet’s favor, but the portions that would be considered wins could end up delivering more transparency to reporters as well as members of the public who avail themselves of the commonwealth’s Right to Know Law.”
Fetterman, McCormick want energy office in Pa.
U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick have introduced legislation that would move the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management from Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh. PennLive reports, “In a joint statement, McCormick said it makes sense for the office to be near the Marcellus Shale natural gas range that stretches from southern Virginia across West Virginia and Ohio and into Pennsylvania and southern New York state.” And Fetterman said the city is “uniquely qualified” due to “its rich history of energy production, top-tier universities, and state-of-the-art manufacturing infrastructure.”
Pa. preps for billionaire-backed Left-wing protests
The nationwide anti-Trump protests are coming to Pennsylvania on Saturday, with demonstrations planned across the state. And for all their talk of hating billionaires, the Left actually doesn’t. As the Washington Times explains, “One of the main organizers, the anti-Trump group Indivisible, has received more than $7.5 million from George Soros since 2017. Another billionaire Democratic donor, Walmart heiress Christy Walton, paid for full-page, color ads in the New York Times that promote the … protests.” Additional allies of the protests are “Greenpeace, the Human Rights Campaign, MoveOn, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, the Service Employees International Union and Sierra Club.”
‘Regulations threaten Pa.’s tech boom’
The Commonwealth Foundation’s Elizabeth Stelle writes that “Pennsylvania is on the short list of destinations for cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI). However, the commonwealth … remains ill-equipped to handle this emerging market.” The reason? “State policies make it extremely expensive to set up shop in Pennsylvania and tap into the state’s abundant energy resources.” And Gov. Shapiro’s “proposals to address this issue will actually make things worse.”