News & Brews September 26, 2025
Get News & Brews in your inbox each day: Subscribe here!
More secrets surround governor’s mansion repairs
Spotlight PA reports that repairs to the governor’s mansion after the April arson attack have thus far cost more than $6 million. But while the mansion is insured under two policies, “Shapiro administration officials will not say how much in repairs the policies are expected to cover.” This secrecy comes as the “Shapiro administration has shielded information about nearly a quarter of [the] expenses, including what the money was spent on, and in some instances, even who was paid for work there.” A third source of funding—Team PA—is also “shrouded in mystery” as both the group and the Shapiro administration “have declined for months to say who contributed money for repairs, and what that money will pay for.”
DOJ sues Pa. over access to voter info
The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Pennsylvania and five other states over the refusal to provide “access to voters’ personal information,” PennLive reports. The Trump administration says states are required to comply with federal election law. “Whether or not those laws give the Trump administration blanket authority to obtain voters’ drivers’ license data, social security numbers, and other information — without citing any concrete violations — is the matter of debate.” Pa. Secretary of State Al Schmidt said the president’s requirement “is unprecedented and unlawful, and we will vigorously fight the federal government’s overreach in court.”
Supreme Court retention races draw >$7M so far
The Inquirer reports, “Approximately $7 million has already poured into Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court judicial retention election efforts as of Sept. 15, with state and national groups dumping millions into advertising the typically sleepy off-year affair, and trade unions and lawyers spending big….” And this amount is expected to grow. “So far, Democrat-aligned groups maintain a three-to-one spending advantage over their GOP-aligned opponents, with more than $3.1 million in advertisements currently airing or reserved. Republican-aligned groups have $1.1 million in ads reserved or currently on the air.”
Local Pa. officials oppose bigger trucks on roads
The Delaware Valley Journal reports that more than 200 local officials in Pennsylvania—including two Democrat state senators—have signed onto a national letter “urging Congress not to raise federal truck weight limits.” The current limit is 80,000 pounds. But “Congress is weighing a Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill, and industry groups are lobbying for a pilot program to allow trucks up to 91,000 pounds on interstate highways.”
Pa. high court strikes down Pittsburgh’s ‘jock tax’
The state Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional Pittsburgh’s so-called “jock tax,” which is a “3% fee on out-of-town athletes and entertainers who perform in city-owned venues,” WESA reports. The court ruled the tax violates the state constitution’s uniformity clause. “The city has argued that [the] tax rate on nonresidents does treat taxpayers equally, because that’s the share of income that year-round residents pay. But major sports leagues and athletes who filed suit over the tax in 2019 argued that the city itself only taxes residents at 1 percent: The remaining 2 percent is levied by the school district, which is barred by state law from taxing nonresidents.”