News & Brews February 17, 2026
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Who wants to be Josh Shapiro’s neighbor?
By now we all know that Josh Shapiro is trying to seize property that is deeded to his Montgomery County neighbors. This prompted our president and CEO, Matt Brouillette, to observe in the Pottstown Mercury, “Shapiro can’t even resolve a minor land dispute with his neighbor. It’s no wonder he hasn’t been able to resolve differences with lawmakers to achieve things that he claims are policy priorities.” Indeed, from raising the minimum wage to implementing school choice to opening a window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue, Shapiro has been unable to “GSD” on issues that have garnered bipartisan backing.
Did the Amish ‘deliver’ the election to Trump? Not so fast
WHP reports, “After much speculation about how Pennsylvania’s Amish population may have influenced the 2024 presidential election, researchers at Elizabethtown College … measur[ed] the Amish vote in Lancaster County.” What they found was that while “2024 saw the highest number of registered Amish voters and eligible Amish voters since 2004 … voter turnout ended up being lower than the 2020 election.” In fact, “in 2024, there were around 17,490 Amish residents in Lancaster County. Around 4,454 of those residents were registered to vote, and only around 2,568 of those people actually voted.” As for new voters? Just “488 new Amish voters were registered in 2024 prior to the election, which is lower than 2020 and 2004…. Ultimately, the research pushes back against media narratives that the Amish ‘delivered’ the 2024 election to Donald Trump.”
Editorial: ‘Budget proposal is a fantasy’
The Warren Times Observer editorial board doesn’t mince words in offering its view of Gov. Shapiro’s $53.2 billion budget proposal, calling it a “fantasy” that “relies on pulling deeply from reserve funding … and on revenue from activities for which the legislature is still considerable distance from agreeing on regulatory frameworks — recreational marijuana and skills games.” The ed board appreciates that in the past, lawmakers have countered Shapiro’s “assumptions and irresponsibilities” and hopes they will do so again this year.
Meuser on planned Pa. ICE detention facilities
NOTUS reports that Republican lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser of Pa., “are dealing with tensions between local elected officials and the Trump administration over moves to transform warehouses in their districts into immigrant detention centers.” Meuser noted “he’s been speaking with DHS officials every day about local concerns that the two facilities the agency purchased in Berks county and Schuylkill County could put a strain on public infrastructure, security and jobs.” He said, “We’re going to work it out to make it as nonnegative of an impact and, hopefully, a very positive impact on my district.”
Fetterman on ICE, Israel, and being a Democrat
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman joined POLITICO’s The Conversation with Dasha Burns to talk about where he “sees himself among his Democratic peers” as well as key current policy issues including Israel, ICE, immigration, voter ID, and more. Listen here or watch the video here.