Feb. 11, 2025Commonwealth Media ServicesChild care workers could get a raise under Shapiro plan to address shortageby Sarah Boden for Spotlight PABusinesses and advocates for families say the Democrat’s $55 million proposal would make child care in Pennsylvania more available and keep parents in the workforce.
Feb. 7, 2025Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PAEviction filings shouldn't doom Pa. residents to never get another rental, Shapiro saysby Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PAEviction filings can follow renters for decades and make it harder to find housing, even if a judge never upheld them. Shapiro wants to see lawmakers seal those records.
Feb. 5, 2025Commonwealth Media ServicesLack of Senate support could again sink Shapiro’s call for Pa. to legalize weedby Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PAA legalization bill needs to win majority support from an 11-person state Senate committee. Just 3 members are publicly on board.
Feb. 4, 2025Commonwealth Media ServicesShapiro renews calls for legal weed, regulated skill games in budget that would send $526M to poorest schoolsby Stephen Caruso, Kate Huangpu, and Katie Meyer of Spotlight PAThe governor’s latest budget pitch would send an additional $290 million to the state’s public transit agencies, invest more in a new student-teacher stipend, and more.
Feb. 4, 2025Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PA13 states mandate paid family leave. A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants Pa. to be next.by Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PAGetting paid time off to care for a kid or recover from illness depends on where one lives and works in Pennsylvania. Lawmakers want to change that.
Feb. 3, 2025Commonwealth Media ServicesLegal weed, more money for Pa.’s poorest schools will likely be in Shapiro’s budget pitchby Stephen Caruso, Kate Huangpu, and Katie Meyer of Spotlight PAGov. Josh Shapiro is expected to reuse ideas from his first two years in office that have yet to win enough support in the legislature.
Jan. 31, 2025Commonwealth Media ServicesFiery resignation by Pa.’s consumer advocate breeds fear office will lose independenceby Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PAPatrick Cicero’s resignation echoes the early years of the consumer advocate’s office, in which its first leader clashed with utilities and warned the office must remain independent.
Jan. 28, 2025Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PAWill a tied state House halt Harrisburg again? Pa. Democrats won’t say.by Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PAState House Democrats have a vacancy after a member’s death, and leaders won’t say whether they’ll stop floor votes while they wait to restore their numerical majority.
Jan. 17, 2025Sarah Anne Hughes / Spotlight PANegotiations to tax skill games fell apart last year. GOP leaders are restarting the debate.by Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PALawmakers will again wade into a tricky debate over taxing skill games this session. The slot-like machines are currently unregulated.
Jan. 15, 2025Jared Wickerham / For Spotlight PAExpanded voter ID, mail ballot changes on the table as Pa. lawmakers begin new sessionby Carter Walker of VotebeatOne top lawmaker hopes Donald Trump’s election will open up space for more fruitful legislative talks during the two-year session.
Jan. 14, 2025Nate Smallwood / For Spotlight PAThe poorest schools in Pa. got an extra $500M last year. Is more money on the way?by Katie Meyer of Spotlight PAThe Pennsylvania legislature gave the state’s poorest schools an extra $500 million last year to close the “adequacy gap.” Now they have to decide what’s next.
Jan. 8, 2025Commonwealth Media ServicesGovernor’s office forced to reveal why it spent $368K on private law firmsby Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PAEx-Gov. Tom Wolf’s office and top lawyers for Gov. Josh Shapiro have furiously fought to keep this information secret.
Jan. 7, 2025Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PALawmakers tease their plans to address high child care costs, low pre-K attendance in Pa.by Sarah Boden for Spotlight PALegislative memos addressing paid leave, pre-K access, and child care costs preview how Pennsylvania lawmakers plan to approach caregiving issues in 2025.
Jan. 7, 2025Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PADemocrats get their choice of House speaker as a new Pa. legislative session startsby Stephen Caruso and Katie Meyer of Spotlight PAEvery legislative session starts with Pennsylvania lawmakers passing rules to govern the movement of bills and more. Here’s what happened.
Jan. 3, 2025Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PASpecial elections cost Pa. at least $1M last legislative sessionby Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PAJust two of the 10 previous sessions — a span of 20 years — saw more special elections than this one.
Dec. 30, 2024Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PATroubled transplants, elder abuse, and Secret Service flaws: Spotlight PA’s best investigations of 2024by Sarah Anne Hughes of Spotlight PAIn 2024, Spotlight PA reporters uncovered slow elder abuse investigations, warnings about troubled transplant programs, and more.
Dec. 26, 2024Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PALawmakers passed fewer laws than in other recent sessions, but leaders say quality is better than quantityby Stephen Caruso and Katie Meyer of Spotlight PADespite partisan challenges, lawmakers managed to pass some notable bills in 2023 and 2024 including a major education boost.
Dec. 20, 2024Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PAAre lobbyist emails to lawmakers public records? A Pa. court will decide.by Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PASpotlight PA sued after the Pennsylvania Senate refused to turn over emails between lawmakers and lobbyists.
Dec. 19, 2024Kent M. Wilhelm / For Spotlight PAState abandons proposal to make it easier for problem bettors to return to Pa. casinosby Abigail Hakas of Next Generation NewsroomThe proposed change would have automatically lifted self-imposed bans on entering casinos, rather than requiring people to ask to return.
Dec. 17, 2024Commonwealth Media ServicesCampaign funds, secretive nonprofit pay for Josh Shapiro's sports ticketsby Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PAThe Democratic governor routinely accepts tickets from donors and Team PA, a little-known nonprofit. It may violate his own gift ban.
Dec. 16, 2024Courtesy of Mark BraultPersistent problems with a Pa. grant for beer promotion led to headaches, layoffs for awardeesby Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PAThe grant program promised money to people promoting Pennsylvania’s beer industry. But awardees were routinely denied their full grants, and now the state is quietly making changes.
Dec. 3, 2024Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy via FlickrUtility law will lapse after Pa. legislature deadlocks on expanding consumer protectionsby Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PAThe law was designed to make it easier for utility companies to reclaim unpaid bills while increasing consumer protections. Advocates say it’s not strong enough.
Dec. 2, 2024Stephen Caruso / Spotlight PAA court loss isn’t the end of the fight for stricter gun laws in Pa., advocates sayby Katie Meyer of Spotlight PAPennsylvania is one of 42 states with a law that preempts local governments from passing or enforcing gun statutes stricter than those allowed by the legislature.
Nov. 26, 2024Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PAHow did Democrats keep their Pa. House majority during a red wave? Redistricting is part of the answer.by Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PAPennsylvania’s state House map makes districts politically representative, but less competitive. This makes it hard for either party to get a big majority.
Nov. 22, 2024Commonwealth Media ServicesShapiro will give SEPTA $153M in federal funding to avoid cuts and fare hikesby Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PAShapiro’s announcement came less than two weeks before SEPTA planned to follow through on fare hikes.
Nov. 19, 2024Commonwealth Media ServicesShapiro says he won’t let SEPTA ‘fail’ as struggling transit agency warns of looming cutsby Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PATransit supporters want him to use federal highway dollars as a stopgap, something at least one previous governor has done.
Nov. 2, 2024Kate Huangpu / Spotlight PAAt least $34M has been spent on key races that will determine Pa. House, Senate controlby Stephen Caruso and Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PAAn analysis by Spotlight PA found the average spending on a competitive state House or Senate race was over $1.1 and $3.5 million, respectively.
Oct. 15, 2024Commonwealth Media ServicesMore funding for SEPTA unlikely this year thanks to deep conflicts over gaming expansionby Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PASenate Republicans say they’ll support transit funding in exchange for taxing skill games, but a deal has been elusive.
Oct. 14, 2024Courtesy of U.S. Department of EnergyNobody is using $2.6B in Pa. tax credits. Gov. Josh Shapiro wants a rewrite to boost electricity production.by Stephen Caruso and Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PAA union-backed rewrite by the Shapiro admin would subsidize energy production as well as lower the bar for investment.
Oct. 11, 2024Matt Smith / For Spotlight PAThe (basically) secret list of campaign donations by no-bid contractorsby Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PAPennsylvania's no-bid contractors must report campaign donations, but accessing those records is hard. Here's why it matters.