News & Brews June 29, 2026
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Fetterman, McCormick step in after Shapiro won’t GSD
Last week, news broke that Pennsylvania would not participate in the Great American State Fair after Gov. Shapiro’s administration claimed it was unable to find businesses to represent the state. That’s an astounding (and rather absurd) claim of “can’t GSD” from the governor who claims he can. Well, U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick have stepped in, saying there’s “no way” Pennsylvania won’t be represented at the event. The two are now organizing Pennsylvania’s participation—without Shapiro, who now looks completely foolish.
Scandal hits Pa. media outlet
The nonprofit that oversees central Pa. media outlets WITF and LNP is facing a “whistleblower lawsuit alleging financial misconduct by the nonprofit’s management that diverted millions in public grants, charitable donations, and endowment funds to benefit a donor family and a top executive,” Broad + Liberty reports. “At the center of the complaint is the 2023 transfer of LNP Media Group … from Steinman Communications to Pennon. The complaint alleges that Steinman Communications presented the transfer publicly as a civic-minded effort to preserve local journalism, but structured it in a way that extracted millions from Pennon’s finances while leaving the nonprofit holding a financially toxic asset.”
‘Dems sweat union support’ in Pa. race
POLITICO reports that Democrats are facing a “union problem” in Scranton, Pa. as “several unions are breaking” to support incumbent GOP U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan against Democrat challenger Paige Cognetti. The reason? “Bresnahan has shown he has the union’s back.” (Indeed, Bresnahan was one of 20 Republicans to join Dems in passing legislation elevating union interests over workers’ rights). How will this play in one of the most watched congressional races in Pa.? That remains to be seen.
More than 1K state workers make more than $200K
PennLive reports that the $200,000 Club—made up of state workers who earn at least that much per year—topped 1,000 people in 2025, hitting 1,021. But this number “is actually an undercount. Because of state law, state compensation data comes from each employee’s annual Form W-2 tax document and includes salaries, overtime pay and other types of compensation. It does not include earnings exempt from state income tax, such as healthcare premiums.” The story notes, “Nearly half of state workers who earned at least $200K were judges or other judicial employees, while almost a quarter worked for the state’s higher education system. The human services department had the third-most employees on the list, at 74.”
Repeal the 17th amendment?
Speaking only for myself, I’m fully in the “repeal” camp when it comes to the 17th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution—which provided for the direct election of senators. Simply put, the framers of our Constitution intended the U.S. House to be a representation of the people and their interests and the U.S. Senate to be a representation of the states and their interests. Hence, senators were originally selected by state legislatures. The 17th Amendment changed that, allowing voters to directly elect senators. If you ask the average person today the functional and representational difference between the House and Senate, the answer would likely be a blank stare. That said, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry is among those supporting a resolution to repeal the 17th Amendment. Is this change likely? Not at all. And now of course the media is framing it as an attack on voters. Sigh.