News & Brews June 16, 2026
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Pa. Supreme Court: Skill games are slot machines
Ending a long wait, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday ruled that “skill games are slot machines under Pennsylvania law and must adhere to the commonwealth’s crime and gambling statutes,” Spotlight PA reports. The ruling says law enforcement can’t take any action for 120 days (which seems a bit beyond the purview of the court to dictate). “Republicans … said the ruling makes addressing skill games a ‘critical piece’ of resolving this year’s budget, while Democrats who lead the state House said the caucus is still reviewing the decision.”
Democrats again avoid vote on women’s sports
Yesterday, the Democrat-controlled state “House Health Committee sunshined votes on three bills” protecting women’s and girls’ sports, Spotlight PA notes, “So far, every vote on these bill has been a referral to another committee to short-circuit discharge petitions.” The Commonwealth Foundation’s Nathan Benefield gave added context, posting, “I’ve been at this a long time and I can’t recall seen a bill referred to another committee to avoid a discharge petition. Much less a bill referred from Education to Health to Judiciary to Children & Youth and back to Health. That’s how bad House Democrats want to avoid a vote.” Of course, the public overwhelmingly supports protecting women’s sports, but Democrats are terrified of taking a stand defending women and girls.
The annual question: Will budget be on time?
Every year, Pennsylvania faces a June 30 budget deadline. And many years, Pennsylvania blows past the June 30 budget deadline with no budget. What will this year look like? Well, as is typical, lawmakers are expressing ‘optimism’ and a ‘shared desire’ to get the budget done on time. But that’s nothing new. And the Tribune-Review reminds us, “The state has missed its deadline in 14 of the past 22 years, including each of the last four.” So let’s see if optimism does the trick this year.
Is Parker’s re-election at risk?
In Philly, mayors get re-elected. It’s just how it is. And “no mayor in the last eight decades in the deep-blue city has lost a bid for a second term,” the Inky reports. But will current Mayor Cherelle Parker be the first? With progressive Chris Rabb’s recent congressional primary win, some of the activists who lead the city’s largest left-leaning organizations think that race showed that Philadelphians are ready to pick a progressive over the Democratic establishment. And they are looking at next year’s mayor’s race….”
TMI ‘on track to reopen next year’
The Inquirer reports that Constellation Energy, which owns Three Mile Island, said the once-shuttered nuclear plant is on track to reopen in 2027. The company’s chief executive “has moved up the original 2028 target date to next year, in part because of supporters like President Donald Trump and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and because Microsoft has promised to buy as much power as the plant produces to run a growing array of data centers.”