News & Brews October 9, 2026
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Shapiro’s Vereb story doesn’t add up—again
At this week’s gubernatorial debate, Gov. Shapiro received a question about his administration’s handling of the Mike Vereb sexual harassment scandal. Specifically, he was asked to address Republicans’ statements that Shapiro tried to cover up the scandal. He answered, “A complaint was made. An independent investigation immediately began, and at the conclusion of that independent investigation, the individual in question immediately resigned.” Only, that’s not true.
As Broad + Liberty explains, the settlement agreement was reached September 1, 2023, and Vereb didn’t resign until September 27. Broad + Liberty notes, that “mainstream media needs to press him on the question. We have covered the issue from the beginning. Garrity has pressed Shapiro on it for months. But other than that brief spark of interest from the New York Times in the summer of 2024, other media outlets have been all but silent on the stonewalling and destruction of records by this administration.”
Indeed, the refusal to cover the story is glaring, including by Spotlight PA, which is republished statewide and claims “to hold powerful public and private forces — especially governments, elected officials, businesses, and special interests — to account.” A search of Spotlight’s website for any story on Vereb and the deleted emails surrounding the scandal produces exactly zero results.
WSJ: Shapiro has ‘no excuse’ now
”Gov. Josh Shapiro, can we hear you now?” That’s what the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board asks now that Treasury has released its final rules on the new federal tax credit scholarship program. “Democrats have no school choice excuse.” The ed board writes. But oh wait. “[O]n Wednesday the Governor said he’s ‘very open’ to the credit but will decide within a ‘few weeks’ as his office reviews the rules. But what could be the excuse for holding up money for students?”
Let’s face it: The excuse is that Gov. Shapiro does not believe in school choice, full stop. Sure, he’s said he does, but at every single turn he has either vetoed school choice, done nothing to advance it, or outright stonewalled on accepting it. Unless and until Shapiro actually puts any action behind his words, it’s time to stop believing that he has any interest in expanding educational opportunity, period.
With U.S. House at stake, leaders campaign in Pa.
Democrat U.S. House Leader Hakeem Jeffries is headed to Bucks County this weekend, where he’ll campaign for Bob Harvie, who is seeking to unseat incumbent GOP U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick. The visit comes not too long after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson came to Pa. and spent time in each of the four competitive congressional districts here. The Inquirer reports, “Johnson’s and Jeffries’ respective affiliated campaign organizations, meanwhile, are spending millions of dollars to flood the Pennsylvania airwaves in the coming weeks.” Pennsylvania has the highest number of competitive congressional races of any state this year,
New poll shows close race in Pa. senate seat
It’s not unusual to have a close race between a Democrat and a Republican. Less typical is a close race between a candidate of any major party and an independent. But that’s what a new poll by State Navigate—a newer operation based in Virginia—shows in the western Pennsylvania race between incumbent GOP state Sen. Camera Bartolotta and independent Jodi Borello. Politics PA reports, “Bartolotta, the three-term incumbent, received 40% support to 37% for her challenger without leaners, but the survey showed a 43-43% deadlock when voters who were undecided said they were leaning one way or another.” The survey’s margin of error is 2.8% at a 95% confidence level.”
Competition breeds reform
After Ken Griffin’s recent $3B gift to Carnegie Mellon University, which will be used to “invert the traditional higher education model, organizing learning around societal challenges rather than majors,” educational philanthropist and Susquehanna International Group Cofounder Jeff Yass writes in the Wall Street Journal that this is “exactly what higher education needs: investment in new, competitive experiments.”
