PA Headlines | Aug. 13 | Pa. Democrats kick off “100% MAGA” press tour.

Pennsylvania Democrats kick off their 100% mega press tour and a deep dive analyzing what drives Pennsylvania's budget negotiations. Spoiler alert, state budgets tend to be passed quicker during election years. Welcome to the morning agenda, WITF's daily news podcast where the only agenda is you. Good morning. It's Thursday, August 13th. And I'm honored to be your host. Thanks for listening to the morning agenda's fact-based journalism. In uncertain times, our community counts on facts, not noise. Support the journalism and programming that keep you informed. Donate now at WITF.org slash give now and thank you. Now for our daily trip around the region's top stories, let's get started. Election Day is less than three months away, and both candidates for Pennsylvania governor are ramping up their campaigns with strong messaging, as my colleague Haley O'Brien reports. Pennsylvania's Democratic Party kicked off a statewide press tour titled 100% MAGA. arguing that Republican gubernatorial candidate and state treasurer Stacey Garrity would align closely with President Donald Trump's agenda if elected governor. Democratic Party chairman Eugene D. Pasquale said Garrity would not have challenged the Trump administration in court over its policies. His world choice sent the cost of gas through the route. And you guessed it, Pennsylvaniaans are paying that price. And we again see that every single day. And what does Stacey Garrity have to say about this? She is all in. She would not have sued the Trump administration once. Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has sued the Trump administration more than two dozen times. Meanwhile, Garrity's latest campaign ad is a mini-series that highlights past investigations and crimes and suggests that Josh Shapiro is corrupt. Dozens of episodes are expected to be released through the November election. That was Haley O'Brien. A Cumberland County man named Ashish Kash Patel is the top donor to the super PAC of Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. In a story reported in partnership with my colleague Jim Jordan Wilkie, Kentucky Public Radio's Joe Sanka has more. Kash Patel has contributed $850,000 over the past year to end this together. The pack Andy Beshear is using to build his national profile ahead of a possible run for president in 20. In the PAC's filing, Kash Patel is only listed as a self-employed business owner or investor from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Andy Beshear's top political consultant did not provide additional information about him, and Kash Patel declined to answer questions. Kentucky Public Radio found that Kash Patel is currently licensed as an oral surgeon in Virginia. A social media account linked to Kash Patel also posted at least 77 times in the past year touting Andy Beshear as the best potential candidate for president in 2008. The account was deleted after he was asked about it.

Kash Patel has also contributed more than half a million dollars to help elect Democratic gubernatorial candidates in nine different states. Our thanks to Joe Sanka for that report. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday is suing TikTok. Carmen Russell Sluchansky from our friends at WHYY reports the AG accuses the platform of being addictive and exposing children to mature content. Sunday announced the lawsuit at a press conference Tuesday where he told reporters TikTok misrepresents the amount of sexual, drug-related, and other mature material on its platform to maintain a 13-plus app store. He also says teenagers told him they sometimes lose hours scrolling in bed, a habit they call bed rot. I strongly believe that the information gathered during extensive investigation shows overwhelmingly that TikTok designed their app to promote infinite scrolling that can deteriorate and decay a child's mental wellness. at a time when kids are already susceptible to exterior pressures as they grow and mature into young adults. The state wants the court to require more accurate content disclosures, effective age verification, and stronger safeguards against compulsive use. TikTok has disputed similar claims elsewhere. That was Carmen Russell Sluchansky. At this time last year, Pennsylvania lawmakers were still embroiled in budget negotiations, which ended up going 135 days, but the state's 2026-27 spending plan was resolved much sooner. It was signed exactly a month ago yesterday on July 12th, 12 days after the June 30th deadline. This left half the state senate, the entire state house, and the governor to focus on their campaigns as they face the end of their terms. As the Pennsylvania Capitol stars Emily Prevety reports in this deep dive, a big factor in how long budget talks last seems to be whether an election is coming. coming up. The Capital Star analyzed budget timelines during the past two decades. Most years, lawmakers blow past the deadline. But it turns out that budgets are not only more likely to be late during non-election years, they also take about three times as long to figure out. At one time, it was the norm for state lawmakers to wrap up early, but a few things have changed. Republican strategist Christopher Nicholas says a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in 2009 was a significant turning point. Before you had this big cudgel, if we don't pass this budget, all the state workers won't get paid. And that was a pretty big deal. Then the justices ruled that state workers must continue to be paid during a budget impasse. Once they changed the law, it was like, yeah, whatever. You guys fight it out. I'm still getting my paycheck every two weeks.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Republicans controlled the governor's office and both chambers of the General Assembly most of the time. But starting in 2003, with Democratic Governor Ed Rendell's administration, it's been divided, except during four years under Republican Governor Tom Corbett. Political polarization is also a factor. Where compromise once might have been seen as an accomplishment, there's now a fear or belief that voters could see it as a betrayal. Burwood Yost is director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. The values of elected officials and elected leaders are the things they prioritize are different today. I think there are legitimate differences in spending priorities and the belief in the role of government, state government, particularly, but it comes back to the polarization and partisan priorities, right? Yost says that applies both between parties and within them. He and others also say the polarization effect tends to be exacerbated while candidates are seeking re-election. They want to avoid extended budget negotiations and any votes or debates that could be spun as controversial and provide fodder for opponents. Polls do show some voters don't know who's at fault for a budget gridlock in Harrisburg, but they're in the minority, and most tend to blame the legislature rather than the governor. according to polls by the Center for Opinion Research back to 2007. But I think the bottom line about the polling data is that there's enough blame to go around. State Senator Nikiel Saval, a Democrat from Philadelphia, is halfway through his second term. Saval says expediency during election year budgeting is an unspoken understanding. Outside the building, it gets voiced more clearly that controversial issues. subject that is subject of a deeply partisan negotiations. major budgetary items, a lot of those things tend to be avoided. He says talks come with a cost, too, if they're rushed. It ends up leading to deferred action, I think, on a number of key issues that might otherwise be addressed or at least broached. Saval cited a few this year after voting against the budget. They included digital ad tax that could have generated an estimated half a billion dollars, along with legislation on data centers. Lawmakers also punted on regulating skill games despite the state Supreme Court ordering them to do so by mid-October. And even though once that happens, it's expected to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. The 2026-27 budget defers more than $2 billion in Medicaid expenses, which some Republicans gave as the reason for their opposition. Then... We've had it structural deficit since we changed the way that we tax.

particularly businesses. And so the arguments have often been around how do you fill that hole. All of this is in the mix with tightening financial margins, persistently high inflation, cumulative borrowing costs at all levels of government, and other pressures in communities across the Commonwealth. So unless you can tie a budget impasse to some kind of service closures. It kind of slides by, and no one's held responsible for it individually. Except, potentially, in election years, when voters have an opportunity to hold elected leaders accountable. Our thanks to Emily Prevety for that report. And now a few more stories to put on your radar. ICE is apparently considering buying immigration detention facilities in Pennsylvania. That's according to reporting by our partners at Spotlight PA. In mid-July, ICE put out a request for information on turnkey detention services in four regions across the country, including Central PA. The Mo Shannon Valley Processing Center in Central PA is all... already ICE's largest immigration detention facility in the Northeast. Clearfield County's five-year contracts with ICE and owner-operator Geo Group are set to expire in late September. That leaves local activists worried that ICE is either trying to contract directly with Geo Group or outright purchase the facility. Governor Josh Shapiro recognized the Department of Labor and Industries PENServe team for preserving AmeriCorps funding in the state. PennServe was told in April 2025 that the funding would be eliminated. Effective immediately, they worked through the challenge while supporting a multi-state lawsuit and winning. PennServe administrators helped deliver about $16 million in AmeriCorps funding every year. The money supports programs that advance education, workforce readiness, environmental restoration, disaster recovery, and services for veterans and military families. PennDOT is finalizing plans for its Route 30 bypass slated to be rerouted through a nature preserve. The Sadsbury Woods Preserve in Chester County, bordering Lancaster County, will lose 2.2 acres of land in the approved bypass proposal. It's an alternative to PennDOT's original plan that called for 7.2 acres of the nature preserve to be seized. and a major Cumberland County Roadway will be closed to traffic this weekend. Trindle Road in Hamden Township is set to close on both Saturday and Sunday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weather permitting a Navy-owned bridge across the roadway will be repainted. A detour will be in place using Shealy Lane, Simpson Ferry Road and St. John's Church Road.

And that does it for the morning agenda, a daily news podcast from WITF where the only agenda. is you. And if you found today's episode insightful, we ask that you share it on your socials or by sending a link directly to a friend or family member. We appreciate your help in growing the morning agendas, listenership, and reaching more people like you. I'm your host, Karen Hendricks. Thanks so much for listening. Have a great day ahead. Be well, and we will talk again tomorrow.