News & Brews March 16, 2026
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Turley: ‘Shapiro has the hostile part down’
George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley took proverbial pen to paper to write of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s attempts to seize his neighbors’ property using something called “adverse possession.” Under this, “you must prove actual, continuous, exclusive, visible, notorious, distinct and hostile possession of the land for 21 years. Shapiro clearly has the hostile part down,” Turley writes. “The optics are also worsened by the fact that the state has been struggling to address a squatting crisis where people occupy other people’s homes and then refuse to leave during years of litigation. Shapiro is accused of being a squatter with a state trooper contingent to back him up. It is not clear what would be worse for Shapiro — to lose or to win in taking his neighbor’s property without compensation.”
White: Pa. could unlock $1B in education scholarships
GOP state Rep. Martina White (Philadelphia) writes in Broad + Liberty that the new federal tax credit scholarship program “could provide up to $1 billion in education scholarships to Pennsylvania families looking for better opportunities for their children. But whether Pennsylvania students ever see those scholarships depends on one decision: whether Gov. Josh Shapiro chooses to allow the state to participate.” White notes that “over the past decade, the state has added billions of dollars in new funding for public education…. But student results have not improved the way families were promised.” The new program would give families better educational options. Yet, if Gov. Shapiro refuses to participate, “we could walk away from as much as $1 billion in scholarship funding that could help thousands of Pennsylvania families.”
AG Sunday pursues lawsuit despite Trump settlement
WESA reports that “Attorney General Dave Sunday says he plans to continue with a lawsuit against music-industry giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster, a move made in concert with dozens of other attorneys general but one that parts ways with a settlement reached by the Trump administration.” That settlement includes “$280 million to the states, allowing other ticket sellers access to the venues, and a cap on service fees.” But Sunday says it “falls far short of protecting consumers.” He noted in a statement, “While the federal government has chosen to settle, Pennsylvania and our partner states are committed to continuing this case to hold Ticketmaster accountable and restore competition to the entertainment marketplace.”
Broadband hung up by bad Pa. policy
Spotlight Pa. reports that “Pennsylvania labor law could become a sticking point between [the] state and feds with $711M for broadband at stake.” The issue came up again last month as National Telecommunications and Information Administration Chief Arielle Roth said the commonwealth is “‘driving up costs’ by classifying fiber-optic technicians as electrical workers under the state’s prevailing wage law. As a condition of receiving the money, Pennsylvania will have to change the way it classifies those workers, she said.” Indeed, the Pa. Department of Labor and Industry classifies fiber optic cable workers as “electrical linemen.” And under the state’s prevailing wage law (which already drives up costs), this means their wages top $80 per hour, compared with about $40 per hour they earn in other states for their lower risk jobs.
Pa. ranks last in teacher morale
Forbes reports that per a new Education Week survey on state-by-state job satisfaction among teachers, Pennsylvania ranks last in the nation with an index score of 1 (on a scale of -100 to +100). The national average, meanwhile, is 13.“Respondents [across the country] were asked which changes (other than a pay raise) would have a major impact on improving morale. The top response was to have more planning time during the workday (54%). That was followed by changes in how administration deals with student discipline (53%), smaller classes (51%), permitting/encouraging mental wellness days (37%) and shift in school leadership styles and approaches (36%).”