News & Brews September 11, 2026
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25 years later, Pennsylvania remembers
As the nation marks 25 years since the 9/11 terror attacks, Pennsylvania stops today to remember the lives taken. This afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Gov. Shapiro will deliver remarks and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville. That event will be live-streamed here. And in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 lives cut short by terrorists, PennLive takes a moment to remember those victims who were residents of Pennsylvania at the time of the attacks.
Also today, WESA recounts the story that retired Shanksville Fire Chief Terry Shaffer has told each year for the last 25 years. One statement that stands out: “When I go up [to the memorial] with people, they say how beautiful it is. And it is. But what you’re looking at and what I’m looking at are two different things.”
McCormick: Flight 93 passengers show us the way
Writing in an op-ed, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick honors the passengers of Flight 93, who fought the terrorist hijackers and prevented the plane from hitting its intended target.
“In those decisive minutes aboard Flight 93,” he writes, “no one asked who was a Republican or Democrat, where anyone came from or how anyone worshiped. They acted together as Americans…. Most of us will never face such an extraordinary test. But all of us are called, in ways large and small, to serve our country and leave it better for those who come after us.”
Trump’s war chest deploys (a wee bit) to Pennsylvania
MAGA Inc. super PAC has been sitting on about $400 million for a bit, raising questions of whether the president’s aligned PAC will spend money to help Republicans across the country. Well, the answer is yes—although in Pa., it’s still only a wee bit. “No Going Back PAC, which is funded by Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, has reserved $48 million in airtime for six toss-up Senate races and just one House race — the 10th Congressional District rematch between [GOP Rep. Scott] Perry and Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson, who narrowly lost to Perry in 2024.”
PennLive reports that Perry—for whom the PAC has spent nearly $1M—”is not the only vulnerable House Republican in Pennsylvania — Democrats have also targeted Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick in Bucks County, the Lehigh Valley’s Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. But Perry is the sole recipient of No Going Back’s largesse in the House — not just in the state, but the nation.”
Vulnerable Pa. reps take stage at GOP convention
As Republicans brace for mid-term elections that are widely predicted to be quite tough, GOP Reps. Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan—both of whom are embroiled in hotly contested races—took to the stage at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas to make their appeals nationwide. “I’m running in one of the top races again, and it will determine the future direction for our nation,” Mackenzie said. Following his speech, he “told The Inquirer his phone started blowing up with text messages…. The lawmaker said he welcomed the opportunity to have a national audience to talk about his work, and his opponent.”
Lifers want court to act after lawmakers don’t
Remember several months ago, when the big political news in Pennsylvania included the state Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life sentencing for felony murder is unconstitutional? At the time, the court gave the legislature 120 days—until July 24—to come up with a legislative fix. Well, lawmakers didn’t. Now, a handful of those lifers is asking the state Supreme Court to intervene “and open a pathway for sentences like theirs to be reconsidered.”
