News & Brews July 24, 2026
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Shapiro ranks 7th in Dem presidential primary poll
This far out, presidential primary polls are more a curiosity than a barometer. That said, a new Emerson College poll released yesterday shows Gov. Shapiro ranks 7th among possible Democrat contenders, pulling support from 5% of respondents. Top on the list was Pete Buttigieg with 19%, followed by Gavin Newsom with 17%, Jon Ossoff and AOC tied at 13%, Kamala Harris at 8%, and Andy Beshear at 7%.
Suplizio pleads guilty
In 2023, DuBois City Manager and former Republican state Senate candidate John “Herm” Suplizio was arrested on charges related to stealing more than $620,000 from public accounts. Suplizio had been endorsed for Senate by former Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati to succeed Scarnati in representing the 25th Senate District. But Suplizio lost the GOP primary to now-Senator Cris Dush, whom we at Commonwealth Partners supported in the primary. Well yesterday, after years of denial, Suplizio pleaded guilty to “money laundering and federal program theft,” Spotlight PA reports. Good thing he never made it to the state Senate.
House Dems miss sentencing reform deadline
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that “under pressure” of today’s state Supreme Court-imposed deadline to change sentencing guidelines for second-degree murder, the state House yesterday passed a bill to do just that. It differs, however, from the Senate version that passed in late June, meaning lawmakers will miss the deadline. Unlike the Senate version, which requires a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years for felony murder, the House Democrats’ version imposes no mandatory minimum. Meanwhile, the Allegheny County DA has asked the court to extend the deadline. It’s like missing a homework deadline you’ve had for months and then asking the teacher for an extension. Yeah … no.
Study: Poor school districts outspend wealthy
The74 reported on a fascinating study from Brookings that found “that over the past nearly 50 years high-poverty and predominantly non-white districts across all 50 states actually spent more per student on average.” Per the report’s lead author, the findings “raise questions about … a predominant narrative that local property tax finance means that poor schools don’t have as much money and that that is a core, structural cause of inequality, and I just think it’s not.”
Shapiro consulted with data centers on proposed rules
As Gov. Josh Shapiro was preparing new rules that he claimed would “hold data center developers accountable … behind the scenes, top Shapiro administration aides were drafting the framework with the input of Amazon and the powerful data center lobby and sharing early drafts with company officials before making them public, records show.” The Inquirer reports that emails “show a cozy relationship between Shapiro’s administration and data center developers.” And before Shapiro announced his proposals, “administration officials went further in their efforts to reassure companies like Amazon, which they’ve courted for years, records show.” Working with stakeholders is nothing new or nefarious, but Shapiro’s ever changing messaging on data centers raises questions.
