News & Brews July 14, 2025
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Good Morning … still no state budget
Well, we’re now 14 days and counting past the June 30 traditional budget deadline, and we still don’t have a state budget and don’t seem to be close to one. What’s more, on Friday, the House removed voting days for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Meanwhile, the Senate has no voting days on the calendar until September as of now. In short, it seems there’s not much progress to report.
‘Democrats’ school choice dilemma’
Among the lesser-publicized features of the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill is the first national school choice program. But there’s a caveat: Governors can opt their states out of participating in it. Thomas B. Fordham Institute President Michael J. Petrilli writes in the Wall Street Journal that this creates a “tough dilemma” for Democrat governors like Josh Shapiro: Will they “opt their states into the new federal school choice program, allowing families to accept scholarships that are funded by charitable donations from taxpayers nationwide—scholarships that don’t cost their state a penny, and therefore can’t be said to be taking any money from their public schools? Or will they bow to the demands of the teachers unions and bar the schoolhouse door instead….?”
National Dems ‘flock to Pa.’ ahead of 2026
Last year, Pennsylvania’s congressional elections helped hand Republicans control of the U.S. House. Now, Democrats want it back, and they’re coming to Pa. to try to reclaim it. The Inquirer reports that in recent weeks, progressive U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Democrat Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona visited Pennsylvania, as did socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “The focus on the commonwealth illustrates the pivotal role Pennsylvania continues to play as Democrats look to reclaim the U.S. House in 2026 — and the White House two years after that. The state’s battleground districts remain fertile ground for media attention and message-testing for the young Democrats rumored to be considering more ambitious races of their own.”
Energy & Innovation Summit happening tomorrow
A “historic technological moment” is how the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette describes the Energy and Innovation Summit scheduled for tomorrow at Carnegie Mellon University. The event, organized by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, will include “some of the biggest players in the global energy and tech sectors.” Not to mention both President Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are slated to attend. Also expected “are magnates such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei.” Driving the summit are “the rapid growth of artificial intelligence” coupled with “an enormous need: electricity, and vast amounts of it.” You can live stream the summit here.
Stelson announces rematch attempt v. Perry
Former TV news anchor Janelle Stelson announced she will once again seek the Democrat nomination to challenge GOP U.S. Rep. Scott Perry. Stelson lost to Perry last year by just over one percentage point. This time around, she’s trying to avoid the fact that she didn’t live in the district last year. Oh, she still owns her out-of-district home, but PennLive reports that “she has taken up residency in a rented property” within the district. Stelson may not be alone in the Democratic primary, however. “Several other Democratic candidates are at least kicking the tires on a bid as well.”