News & Brews November 12, 2025
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Shapiro, lawmakers reach tentative budget deal
Behind closed doors. Gov. Shapiro and top legislative leaders have agreed to a $50.1 billion state budget. This would be a significant increase from last fiscal year’s $47.6 billion. The Post-Gazette reports, “While a spending figure … would be significantly less than Mr. Shapiro’s original request, it would be a good bit higher than figures some Republicans have cited when arguing against Mr. Shapiro’s proposal. Some have pointed out that the state only takes in about $45.1 billion in revenue.” While details remain murky, rumors suggest exiting RGGI and targeting cyber school students for funding cuts might be part of the package. (As always, beware of rumors.)
Failing schools cost country $90 trillion
Researchers at Stanford University have calculated the potential economic costs of learning losses over the past 10 years—and it isn’t pretty. As students fall behind in reading and math, the researchers estimate that the “learning loss over the past decade has cost our country over $90 trillion in future growth. This translates into having an average of 6% higher GDP every year for the rest of this century if students were still at 2013 [Nation’s Report Card] proficiency levels,” The74 reports. What’s more, “The study found restoring student achievement to 2013 levels would raise the lifetime earnings of today’s average student by an estimated 8% — producing dramatic and sustained gains for our nation’s economy.”
Pa. lost $92 billion in resident income from 2013-2022
The folks at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity crunched U.S. Census and IRS data to calculate that deep blue New York and New Jersey lost a cumulative $670 billion in resident income from 2013 to 2022 (more than $500B for NY and $170B for NJ). While our number is smaller, Pennsylvania didn’t fare too well either, losing $92 billion over the same time period. Not surprisingly, states gaining the most in resident income included Texas ($290 billion) and Florida (more than $1 trillion).
Podcast: ‘Democratic dissident John Fetterman’
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman joined Bari Weiss on her podcast, “Honestly,” to discuss topics including the “government shutdown, Zohran Mamdani, socialism, Trump’s ICE raids, Nick Fuentes, and more.” In the conversation, Weiss asks Fetterman “about his decision to speak out against his own party; his recent dinner with Donald Trump—and the backlash that followed; the shutdown and whether he believes the Democratic Party is heading in the right direction; and finally, his new book Unfettered, which chronicles his journey to the Senate, his stroke, his battle with depression, and his time in office.” Listen here.
Trial set to begin for former Pa. city manager
Spotlight PA reports, “After two years of delays, the sweeping political corruption case against former DuBois City Manager John ‘Herm’ Suplizio could go to trial as early as this spring.” Suplizio is accused, along with a former colleague, of stealing more than $1.5 million in city funds. You’ll recall that Suplizio was former Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati’s handpicked candidate to succeed him in the state Senate, but Suplizio lost the Republican primary to now state Sen. Cris Dush, whom we supported.