News & Brews July 22, 2025
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GOP U.S. Reps outraise Dems in Pa. as 2026 looms
The progressive Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports, “For the second quarter in a row, Republican U.S. House members in Pennsylvania significantly outraised their Democratic colleagues and challengers.” The top four fundraisers—Reps. Fitzpatrick, Bresnahan, Perry, and Mackenzie—are also among the Democrats’ top targets in 2026, as control of the U.S. House “may hinge upon a few key races in Pennsylvania.” On the national level, in June the Democratic National Committee raised a bit more than half of what the Republican National Committee raised.
‘Constituent’ in anti GOP ad is Dem operative
This is always fun. You see a political ad with an “everyday” person in it, pretending to give his or her “everyday” take on what’s going on. But then, you find out that person isn’t really a regular everyday person but a Democrat activist posing as an everyday person. Well, that’s the case in a Democrat ad targeting northeast Pa. Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan. Turns out the “constituent” in the ad is “a registered Democrat … [who] was elected to a local seat on the governing body for the Pennsylvania Democratic party in 2022 and publicly supported Bresnahan’s predecessor, former Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Cartwright.”
How will BNY’s move affect downtown Pittsburgh?
BNY is moving to a new office in Pittsburgh, a relocation that the Post-Gazette reports “reaffirms the company’s commitment to Downtown Pittsburgh, where it has been based for over a century.” But the move “could also spell trouble for one of Downtown’s largest office buildings — and the whole corridor.” To relocate to its new space, the company is exiting the 1.6 million-square-foot BNY Mellon Center. “That could leave Downtown’s second-tallest skyscraper near empty by the time BNY’s lease expires in 2028.” The P-G considers what’s ahead for the building—and for the Downtown’s tax base, which is “the backbone of city finances.”
Medicaid ‘myths and misinformation’
The Left likes to decry anything it disagrees with as ‘misinformation.’ Meanwhile, Democrats are spewing actual misinformation surrounding Medicaid. The Commonwealth Foundation’s Elizabeth Stelle gives several examples. For starters, Gov. Shapiro recently claimed that the One Big Beautiful Bill “slashed Medicaid.” But, “Contrary to the governor’s claim, Medicaid will still grow. Undoubtedly, the program’s baseline will shrink when OBBB goes into effect. However, the Congressional Budget Office found that federal Medicaid spending will still grow by 50 percent over the next decade.”
Nuclear Reg. Commission to hold meeting re: TMI
The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting on Thursday, July 31, at 6:00 p.m. regarding the reopening of Three Mile Island. PennLive reports that at the meeting, which will be at Penn State Harrisburg’s Capitol Union Building, the Commission will “share information about the restart process and take questions from the public.” Last year, Constellation Energy, which owns TMI, announced its intent to reopen Unit One (the partial meltdown of 1979 was at Unit Two). And “the upcoming meetings mark the first time the NRC – which ultimately holds federal government approval power over the project – has held an open meeting expressly for the public on the restart.”