News & Brews December 9, 2025
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‘Josh Shapiro and the politics of faith’
The Jewish Insider analyzed Gov. Shapiro’s recent interviews with The Atlantic and The New Yorker from the perspective of how Shapiro views and approaches his faith. “When he ran for governor in 2022,” the Insider notes, “his first major campaign ad featured footage of him and his family observing Shabbat. He told The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta that Friday night dinners are ‘still a sacrosanct moment for our family.’ But he also shared that he and his family have lately attended synagogue services ‘far less than at any other point in our lives.’” Shapiro added that his “connection to an institution of prayer, or a sort of formal structure of that prayer, has dramatically decreased. The sort of ritualistic practices became less of a focus of the way we practice our faith — with the exception, of course, of Friday nights.”
A 30% property tax hike in Pittsburgh?
It’s fascinating how some politicians pitch tax hikes as inevitable but spending cuts as ludicrous. WESA reports, “As budget deliberations for the city of Pittsburgh reach a critical stage in the final weeks of the year, City Councilor Barbara Warwick says the city has little choice but to enact a tax increase. On Monday, she announced plans to propose a 30 percent property tax hike next year.” Not everyone is a fan (mainly, I would imagine, property owners). But competing budget proposals—Mayor Ed Gainey’s has been described as “tight”—suggest “the weeks ahead figure to be dramatic.”
All in the family
Pittsburgh’s Democrat Mayor-Elect Corey O’Connor announced he’s hiring Sophia Shapiro, Gov. Shapiro’s daughter, as senior special assistant to the chief of staff. The younger Shapiro most recently worked on Virginia Gov.-Elect Abigail Spanberger’s campaign. See the post here.
Report: Union dues fund partisan politics
A new report from the Commonwealth Foundation finds that “during the 2023–24 election cycle, the four biggest public sector unions—the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)—combined spent over $915 million in partisan elections and advancing progressive ideology.” Of this money, 86% came from members’ dues, while 14% came from voluntary PAC contributions. Meanwhile, of these unions’ donations to political candidates, 95.8% went to Democrats and just 4.2% went to Republicans.
Pa. ‘quietly’ restricts Medicaid coverage for weight-loss drugs
Spotlight PA says, “Thousands of low-income Pennsylvanians will face new barriers to weight-loss drugs like Ozempic under a move quietly announced by the Shapiro administration last month that’s projected to save the state hundreds of millions of dollars…. Since 2023, the state has paid for Medicaid patients’ weight-loss treatment with these drugs, known as GLP-1s. The planned change, which takes effect Jan. 1, will mean they won’t be covered solely for weight loss and obesity.” Whatever you think of the move itself, it’s interesting that a governor known for seeking a media platform for every announcement thought it best to make this change quietly.