
Harrisburg reporter for @905wesa Pittsburgh public radio | write to: [email protected]
Central Pa.
Joined July 2016
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Tom Riese retweeted
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…
Skill games officially illegal in Pennsylvania wesanews.org/politics-govern…
Annnd PA Supreme Court denies the deadline extension
A flurry of legal filings this week hope to give Harrisburg more time on skill games. By Oct. 14, state police can start seizing the machines. But there was a bit of confusion (or drama?) about how to ask for that extra time: wesanews.org/politics-govern…
A flurry of legal filings this week hope to give Harrisburg more time on skill games. By Oct. 14, state police can start seizing the machines. But there was a bit of confusion (or drama?) about how to ask for that extra time: wesanews.org/politics-govern…
Tom Riese retweeted
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…
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…
Remembering a Capitol legend …
pennlive.com/politics/2026/0…
Yet another suit from Shapiro and other Democratic-led states, this time seeking to block an executive order on vote-by-mail: wesanews.org/politics-govern…
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:
You may have read a version of this one already, but here’s ours after stayin’ up late — wesanews.org/politics-govern…
Tom Riese retweeted
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.
Tom Riese retweeted
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.
Replying to @ScottPresler @erinkoper
Inclusion on a nonjuror list does not mean someone is registered to vote. pa.gov/agencies/vote/electio…
“It is admittedly challenging to compete against people who lie for a living and don't have to explain the laws in Pennsylvania and at the federal level,” Al Schmidt told reporters during a virtual meeting. wesanews.org/politics-govern…
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.
A group of conservative activists says it can root out voter fraud by comparing lists of people disqualified from jury duty with the county’s voter rolls. But the state says there’s not enough info to cross-reference wesanews.org/politics-govern…
A group of conservative activists says it can root out voter fraud by comparing lists of people disqualified from jury duty with the county’s voter rolls. But the state says there’s not enough info to cross-reference wesanews.org/politics-govern…
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
And our updated story wesanews.org/politics-govern…
Shapiro and others’ lawsuit with DHS comment here: wesanews.org/politics-govern…
It’s not the first time feds have withheld $ for PA since Trump returned to office, but new election demands now accompany homeland security grants otherwise promised to the state wesanews.org/politics-govern…






















