News & Brews August 18, 2026
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14 charged in ‘massive’ Penn State drug ring
CBS News reports on a “massive” cocaine trafficking ring at Penn State that’s led to charges against 14 people. State Attorney General Dave Sunday “said pledges at the … off-campus fraternity homes cut and packaged cocaine, including some who did it as an ‘indoctrination’ into the fraternities.” Further, “The actual drug dealing was largely from friend to friend, fraternity brother to fraternity brother, acquaintance to acquaintance.” In a statement, the university said, “We are horrified by these serious allegations against current and former students.”
TMI restart one step closer to reality
PennLive reports that the delivery yesterday of “the first of three new power transformers” has brought the restart of Three Mile Island and the “return of nuclear power” one significant step closer to reality. “It’s the single-biggest piece of new equipment Constellation Energy had to buy in its quest to bring the mothballed plant back to life.” It’s also the latest in multiple reopening milestones TMI has reached in recent months. “The unprecedented restart was green-lighted in late 2024, after Constellation secured a 20-year agreement with Microsoft to purchase all the power coming from the plant” to run its data centers.
Ordinary abundance
This has been making the social media rounds in recent days and is worth sharing. So many in America today—particularly (but not only) young people–have virtually zero context for how they see the world. They deem themselves oppressed or poor with no awareness of what these terms truly mean in relation to true oppression and poverty throughout world history. A new website created by Jordan Dworkin walks us through a modern day apartment, showing how the everyday items we take for granted were once considered spectacular inventions.
Ad campaign for school choice comes to Pa.
We touched on this in a recent News & Brews but now have a few more details. The Center Square reports that Empowering America’s Parents, a group founded by former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, has launched ads in Pennsylvania in support of opting into the new federal school choice program. “A source familiar with the organization’s plans tells The Center Square a multi-million [dollar] paid media blitz has been launched in several states led by governors that have not yet opted into the program, including Pennsylvania. The first wave of what will be a six-figure digital and text campaign in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh suburbs was launched on Friday as they attempt to reach who they view as persuadable voters who support school choice.”
Special House election today
Voters will head to the polls today in the 12th state House district (Butler County) for a special election to fill the seat formerly held by GOP state Rep. Stephenie Scialabba. The contest pits Democrat Brandon Dukes against Republican Scott Timko. The district is heavily Republican, but the Post-Gazette reports, “It’s a race some are viewing as a political barometer for the region ahead of the midterms later this year.”
