News & Brews September 5, 2025
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Judge orders SEPTA to reverse service cuts
Yesterday, a Philadelphia judge ruled that SEPTA must reverse its recently enacted service cuts immediately. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit claiming “that the cuts and fare hikes disproportionately burden Black, Latino and low-income riders…. The plaintiffs further contend[ed] that SEPTA has manufactured a fiscal crisis to pressure state lawmakers into granting more funding,” WHYY reports. As one plaintiff said, “Here’s the facts: SEPTA projects having $400 million at the end of this fiscal year, even if they don’t get a penny of additional money from Harrisburg. On top of that, SEPTA has a $100 million line of credit at PNC Bank. There is no possible way, based on this judge’s ruling, that SEPTA will deplete the stabilization fund.”
WSJ: ‘A mail-vote job for Josh Shapiro’
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board is rightly fed up with Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot chaos. Specifically, the never-ending legal battles over undated mail-in ballots. And the Ed Board questions Shapiro’s ability to “get sh** done,” like he claims. “Last week the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state is required to count undated mail votes … after the Third Circuit ruled in 2024 that it isn’t required to count them … after the Third Circuit ruled in 2022 that it is required.” The Journal writes that “Harrisburg has divided government, and Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on how to rewrite the voting law.” But this ignores the fact that the law is abundantly clear: Ballots must be dated. Still, to fix the chaos, the Journal concludes, ”Gov. Josh Shapiro brags about being a leader who knows how to get things done. Start here.”
Some lawmakers reject pay in budget impasse
A handful of lawmakers—ten to be exact, per the Inquirer—are foregoing their paychecks during the budget impasse. The group includes both Democrats and Republicans. In addition, “Seven House lawmakers — five Republicans and two Democrats — sponsored a bill that would suspend pay for legislators, the governor, and the lieutenant governor until a spending package is approved,” the Inquirer reports. GOP Rep. Jeremy Shaffer of Allegheny County thinks lawmakers should go further, however. In addition to suspending pay, Shaffer “believes the state should pass two-year budgets, implement fixed session dates, downsize the legislature — which is the largest of its kind in the country — and enact term limits.”
How one Philly charter school handled SEPTA cuts
If you ever want to understand the difference between how government bureaucrats and union-run schools handle a challenge and how private operators (like charter school operators) handle a challenge, just look at how Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia has handled the SEPTA service cuts. The Inquirer reports that leading up to the cuts, Boys’ Latin “CEO William Hayes and his team spent weeks before the term began connecting with parents, helping students think through how their commutes might change, even adding students to yellow bus routes the school pays for.” The result: Attendance is up, not down. “We can’t control SEPTA,” Hayes says. “We can’t control what the city is doing, but we can make this a space that kids absolutely just want to get to.”
Nippon & U.S. Steel end lawsuit v. Cleveland-Cliffs
Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel have ended their lawsuit alleging that “Cleveland-Cliffs had conspired against them to try to block” the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon. The Tribune-Review reports, “The plaintiffs this month had voluntarily dismissed their lawsuit with prejudice. A notice of dismissal was signed by [U.S. District Judge Marilyn] Horan on Thursday.”