News & Brews August 1, 2025
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Pa. DOS responds to U.S. DOJ voting letter
A few weeks ago, I shared the story that the U.S. Department of Justice had asked Pennsylvania for information on how the state manages voter registration and voter rolls. Well, the Pa. Department of State has responded. PennLive reports that in a “detailed letter,” DOS “said although county election offices ultimately oversee and maintain voter rolls, the commonwealth ‘works diligently’ with the counties to ‘ensure that all electoral processes are compliant with federal and Pennsylvania laws.’” You can read the full letter here.
Court rules against GOP in Allegheny County
The Commonwealth Court ruled that At-large Allegheny County Councilman Mike Embrescia, who was appointed to the council earlier this year to replace former Councilman Sam DeMarco, must run for a full-term this fall in order to remain on the council. Republicans had argued that Embrescia would not need to run until 2027, which is when DeMarco’s term would have ended.
Pa. Dem proposes state-funded media
Even as the federal government is pulling back on government-funded media,one Pa. Democrat wants to expand state-funded news here in Pa. State Rep. Chris Rabb of Philly (who is also running for Congress) is proposing legislation to create the Pennsylvania Civic Information Consortium, which would dole out taxpayer dollars to media projects. What could go wrong?
Pa.’s unfunded pension liability grows relative to revenue
According to a new analysis from the Pew Charitable Trusts, “In 34 states, unfunded pension obligations grew relative to own-source revenue from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2022. Five states recorded increases of 60 percentage points or more in that time span: Alaska (increased by 93.1 points), New Jersey (+77.9 points), Georgia (+69.5 points), Florida (+62.7 points), and Pennsylvania (+60.0 points).”
Commission holds public meeting on TMI restart
PennLive reports that the primary takeaway of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s first public meeting on the reopening of Three Mile Island nuclear power station was, “Forty-six years out from the nation’s worst-ever commercial nuclear accident, the days of widespread opposition to the very idea of nukes in the midstate seem over. But what has stuck is a well-informed, highly-concerned minority that will do its level best to make sure regulators hold plant operators to the highest standards of operational safety, environmental protection and emergency preparedness.”