Harrisburg reporter for @905wesa Pittsburgh public radio | write to: [email protected]

Central Pa.
Joined July 2016
Another data center story from me where a Pa. township solicitor got a cut from an Amazon data center community benefits deal (of $9M!), which some experts told me was a conflict of interest (gift link) pennlive.com/politics/2026/1…
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Annnd PA Supreme Court denies the deadline extension
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The Independent candidate is getting 32% of the vote amongst voters who identify as "far right" in our survey, but only in the teens with other conservatives. Crazy race
🚨NEW PENNSYLVANIA POLL🚨 PA SD-46 (Trump +28) State Senate 🔴Camera Bartolotta (R) [inc] 43% 🟢Jodi Borello (IND) 43% ⚪️Undecided 14% Governor 🔵Josh Shapiro (D) [inc] 51% 🔴Stacy Garrity (R) 42% ⚪️Undecided 7% articles.statenavigate.com/p…
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One of the petitioners, Rep. Jon Fritz, seemed surprised when I showed him the discontinuance, and told me his “position has not changed.”
And the case has been discontinued within a little over 12 hours of its filing.
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The lawyer for the petitioners told me this will be refiled by end of day
And the case has been discontinued within a little over 12 hours of its filing.
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Tom Riese retweeted
In honor of legendary journalist John Baer, the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association has renamed its summer journalism internship program. It's now the John Baer Legislative Reporting Internship, where student journalists get to work for 12 weeks every summer in the Capitol alongside the professional reporting corps that covers it daily. It's a paid internship, supported by donations and volunteerism. You can support future interns in honor of John, who spent many years helping to fundraise for the program one former intern called "an experience you can brag about, and I certainly have." Here is where you can donate: pacapitolreporters.org/how-t…
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Tom Riese retweeted
The front page of today's @PhillyInquirer showing differing sentiments from Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro on AI data centers 14 months apart:
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In case you are curious the tone of the Butler special: Democrats made fun of a typo on a GOP yard sign painting their candidate as a socialist. The GOP acknowledged a "printer error" and then doubled down on the attack.
New: There's a state House special election next week in a wealthy, well-educated exurban Pittsburgh district next week that's been on the fringes of Democrat's wishlist for years and could be a bellwether for November.
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I've seen the state tweet things out with timing that clearly showed they are responding to claims by Scott Presler, but now they are confronting him more directly.
Inclusion on a nonjuror list does not mean someone is registered to vote. pa.gov/agencies/vote/electio…
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ICYMI: from some highly visible social media folks, there’s been recent talk about purging “active voters” and identifying noncitizens on PA voter rolls via jury records. The state says there’s nothing nefarious going on… at all.
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And at the 11th hour: Allegheny County’s DA has requested the courts extend the deadline for this decision for another 120 days. More TBD
A spokesperson for House Speaker McClinton said the legislature will miss the deadline for felony murder resentencing despite a Thursday return to vote: “disagreement remains on whether and how to address the court’s ruling …” /1
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Here’s the court doc
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