News & Brews November 11, 2025
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Is sports betting on the budget table?
PennLive reports, “The online sports betting industry has rapidly mobilized to quash any possibility of tax increases for internet wagering … after the industry caught wind that a tax increase on online gaming and wagering had been brought up in recent budget discussions. How serious the idea was – or is – remains unclear.” Still, betting operators have said “they would put at least $10 million into a political action committee to oppose any lawmaker who might support the idea.” The House is scheduled to convene for a voting session tomorrow—earlier than originally scheduled—suggesting possibly some movement on the budget that’s well over four months overdue.
Pa. Dem congressional members ‘furious’ at government reopening plan
As the soon-to-end federal government shutdown has dragged on for more than 40 days—halting SNAP payments, disrupting travel, and leaving thousands of federal workers without pay—Pennsylvania’s Democratic congressional members made clear that they oppose re-opening the government and would rather prolong the pain. The Inquirer reports that “Philadelphia’s Democrats in Congress are furious with Senate Democratic colleagues who backed a Republican-led plan to reopen the government.” And all Democrat members of the state’s delegation are united in their anger. Their fury doesn’t appear to have made any difference, though, as the government seems to be moving towards reopening as early as this week.
Building a nuclear submarine … in Philly?
The Wall Street Journal reports on President Trump’s eyeing the Philadelphia shipyard as the location for South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine. When the South Korean company Hanwha Ocean “bought Philly Shipyard for $100 million, the U.S. site was losing money. Today, it is central to South Korea’s $150 billion pledge to help Trump revive American shipbuilding—one of the most ambitious industrial turnaround projects in the U.S. in decades. Hanwha plans to pump $5 billion into the site, hoping to rebuild a shipbuilding workforce and supply ecosystem that has largely shriveled away.”
Reflecting on Pennsylvania’s veterans
On this Veterans Day, Pennsylvania veteran Seth Higgins reflects on the service of Pennsylvania’s sons and daughters as well as the Keystone State’s central role in American military history, “Pennsylvania is bound together with our nation’s military history,” he writes. “The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were all born in Pennsylvania.” And he notes that “the best way for everyday citizens to support our veterans is to simply endeavor to honor and recognize them for their contributions.” Indeed. To all who served, thank you.
Court rules against Post-Gazette in union strike
In the country’s longest continuous union strike—which recently passed the three-year mark—the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled “that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette violated federal law by unilaterally changing terms and conditions of employment without first bargaining to an impasse with the union,” WESA reports. The AFL-CIO praised the ruling, while the P-G “released a statement fervently disagreeing with the ruling, promising to appeal the decision, and calling it a threat to all free press in the region ‘striving to operate responsibly amid extraordinary financial pressures.’”