News & Brews August 13, 2025
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Pa. Senate advances short-term budget; Dems say no
As the state budget impasse drags on, yesterday, the Republican-controlled state Senate advanced a short-term budget that would fund the commonwealth at current levels as lawmakers continue to negotiate a longer-term agreement. The Senate also passed legislation to fund mass transit “by redirecting yet-to-be-used capital improvement money from the state’s public transit fund,” PennLive reports. House Democrats are not on board with either move.
Shapiro-backed voter site ‘mimics official site and skims data’
Broad + Liberty’s Todd Shepherd reports that Gov. Shapiro is still partnering “with a voter registration website with a web address deceptively similar to the official Pennsylvania Department of State’s, but which also harvests the registrant’s personal information for partisan political advertising.” The partisan site—vote.pa—is quite similar to the commonwealth’s official site—vote.pa.gov. Shapiro recently appeared in a Facebook ad promoting the misleading site. GOP state Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill called Shapiro’s actions “despicable,” noting, “I am concerned that he’s continuing to use those data mining operations on Pennsylvanians because I think it’s difficult for the average person to discern what is a campaign website and what is an official state government website…. And this sort of tactic is what you expect from a fringe group, not from someone who sits as the governor of the commonwealth.”
‘Pa. doesn’t need to spend $200M on horse racing’
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had a glorious editorial criticizing “one of the most unusual” uses of taxpayer dollars in Pennsylvania: $200 million annually to fund horse racing. Yep, it’s true. As lawmakers debate funding for mass transit, we’re sending hundreds of millions of dollars “to boost purses for races taking place in Pennsylvania.” And some of this money “goes out of the state and even the country, with oligarchs from Middle Eastern nations among those reaping the benefits.” A brilliant thought: Stop funding horse racing. The Ed Board notes that this “won’t be easy,” as the industry “has a privileged place in state law.” But still, “It’s time to bring the Race Horse Development Fund to a close.”
Investigation underway in U.S. Steel explosion
U.S. Steel officials and elected officials held a press conference yesterday in the aftermath of Monday’s explosion at the Clairton Coke Works, which killed two workers and injured multiple others. WESA reports, “U.S. Steel officials said workers were preparing two coke batteries for routine maintenance before the explosion. They declined to say whether the maintenance process contributed to the explosion, however, noting the investigation is in an early stage.”
Penn State outspends peers on lobbying
Spotlight PA reports that Penn State University is spending more on lobbying “than any year since 2008.” In the past two calendar years, the university has spent $1.7 million, which is more than Temple ($1.3 million), the University of Pittsburgh ($968,000), and UPenn ($700,000). “When asked, a Penn State spokesperson did not provide specific information about what legislation or policies the university was advocating for or against in Harrisburg…. However, Penn State has the opportunity for the first time in years to boost its taxpayer-funded support. The legislature sends hundreds of millions of dollars each year to Penn State and other state-related universities to subsidize the costs of tuition for state residents.”