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PODCAST

Pennsylvania in Focus

The Center Square

The podcast bringing you the most important stories out of Pennsylvania from TheCenterSquare.com. Join us as we dive into the top headlines and provide insightful commentary and analysis.

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All Episodes

00:07:22

Shapiro’s Office Deleted Emails Relevant to Sexual...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/03/13

(The Center Square) – The Shapiro administration’s handling of a sexual misconduct complaint against a cabinet member, and one reporter’s request to know more about the investigation behind it, may cost taxpayers a lot of money. In a court transcript obtained by The Center Square, an attorney representing the Office of the Governor says the state deleted internal emails sent and received over an eight-day period by a deputy aide in its Legislative Affairs Office who reported the inappropriate

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00:07:29

Vital Snap Benefits for Pennsylvanians Face Several...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/03/08

(The Center Square) - Over 2 million Pennsylvanians receive funds from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Monthly, this brings about 367 million in federal dollars to the state. In budget hearings before the House Appropriations Committee, legislators sought to better understand who that money benefits, how it’s being used, and how it can be abused. According to Department of Human Services Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh, the program largely benefits children in low-income

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00:04:58

Humane Corrections to Pennsylvania State...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/03/07

(The Center Square) - The quality of life afforded the state’s prisoners is a perennial concern for families, human rights advocates and workers within the judicial system, including the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections itself. For the nearly 40,000 incarcerated Pennsylvanians, new approaches to corrections could make a big difference in their experience. For some, they already are. A program at SCI Chester called Little Scandinavia adopts principles from the prison model used in Sweden and

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00:05:00

RFK Jr. Pressed to Reevaluate Pennsylvania’s Medicaid...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/03/06

(The Center Square) — Pennsylvania will need to spend $2 billion over the next five years to cover its expanded Medicaid program. And while lawmakers are worried about finding the money to foot the bill, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services insists that doing so will lower costs in the long run. Senate Republicans are not yet convinced and hope the new Trump administration will agree to reevaluate the state’s waiver, approved just weeks before President Joe Biden stepped aside, amid the

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00:05:05

The Pennsylvania House Digs Into Big Education Budget

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/03/01

(The Center Square) – Education is the second largest spending area in the state’s budget after human services. For legislators on both sides of the aisle, the question that loomed the largest seemed to be, “Are we getting what we pay for?” It was a question that Education Secretary Dr. Carrie Rowe and other officials who sat before the House Appropriations Committee for an all-day discussion on Monday heard again and again.Support this podcast:

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00:06:18

Report: Pennsylvania School Tax Credit Programs Turn...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/28

(The Center Square) – A new report found that despite record-high demand, Pennsylvania turned away nearly half of students applying for educational grants in 2023. That’s because red tape means not every dollar of the $600 million budgeted for the programs can be spent until a business or individual donor contributes in-kind, leaving at least $75 million on the table in December. It’s also more evidence why, the Commonwealth Foundation says, the state must do more to expand school choice options,

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00:05:39

Pennsylvania Earned Income Tax Credit Gets Another Look

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/27

(The Center Square) - There are 32 states, red and blue, who offer some version of an Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. Pennsylvania isn’t one of them. The House Finance committee met with experts for an informational hearing on why that should change. The hearing largely centered around what are known as ALICE families and individuals, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. These families live above the poverty line and often earn too much to receive assistance yet financial

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00:09:34

Maternal and Rural Health, Marijuana Major Priorities...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/22

(The Center Square) – "We all just need a little break. It’s been a tough hearing,” said Deptartment of Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen toward the end of her testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. Legislators grappled with tough issues - and each other - as they pushed for clarity on the proposed 9.7% budget increase for the state’s primary health agency. There were differences of opinion on the most important objectives in a field with need in every direction,

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00:06:09

Higher Education in Pennsylvania Faces Declining...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/21

(The Center Square) - Appropriations hearings began with Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency taking the spotlight. The committee is undertaking consideration of a 6.5% requested increase in funding for the upcoming budget, a figure they say would enable them to keep student costs down. Tuition has been frozen at its current rate since 2018. PASSHE Chancellor Dr. Chris Fiorentino says that the current tuition represents an actual

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00:05:16

Hiring Difficulties, Trooper Cap Hamstringing...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/20

(The Center Square) – Ongoing political tension means law enforcement agencies across the nation still face hiring challenges. During their budget hearings in the General Assembly on Wednesday, representatives of the Pennsylvania State Police said they are having the same recruitment problems. “It’s speculation on my part, but my best guess is [law enforcement] it’s just not a sought after or valued profession,” said State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris when answering a question about

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00:05:31

Bipartisan Push Renewed to End ‘Death by...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/15

(The Center Square) – In Pennsylvania, it’s possible to be convicted of murder and receive a life sentence without parole without ever having harmed another person. This is how the state’s felony murder charge, also known as murder two or second-degree murder, works. And some lawmakers think it should change. House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Tim Briggs, D-King of Prussia, is re-introducing a bill that would allowing the possibility for parole after 25 years of the sentence has been

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00:05:15

Pennsylvanians Celebrate Return of Native Son

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/14

(The Center Square) - Western Pennsylvanians are celebrating Wednesday after the release of American history teacher Marc Fogel from a Russian labor camp in exchange for an unnamed Russian citizen. Fogel has been the focus of years of effort petitioning the U.S. government to push for his release. Legislators and family members were frustrated to see his name omitted from high-profile prisoner exchanges in 2022 and 2024. He was arrested by Russian authorities after about a half ounce of medical

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00:03:43

Hopes for Rural Health Care in Pennsylvania Pinned on...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/13

(The Center Square) – Health care workers willing to work in Pennsylvania’s underserved rural regions could get some help repaying student loans. This after the House Healthcare Committee renewed its drive to incentivize medical workers to live and work in rural areas of the state through student debt repayment. The committee voted unanimously to pass House Bill 157 last week to the chamber floor. The legislation would allow medical facilities to apply for grants to pass on to employees willing to

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00:06:05

Skill Games Tax Riles Biggest Supporters in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/09

(The Center Square) – Few legislators want to see games of skill regulated and taxed more than Pennsylvania Sen. Gene Yaw. Yaw, a Republican from Lycoming County, says doing so benefits the small businesses, like veterans clubs and volunteer fire organizations, that supplement their income with the machines. The county is also home to Pennsylvania Skill and Pace-o-Matic, the premier manufacturer of skill games in the state. Advocates have long asked for regulatory legitimacy that recognizes their

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00:08:16

Shapiro’s $51.4b Opening Bid Spends Big on...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/08

(The Center Square) – It's a new year, and with it comes a time-honored tradition in Pennsylvania: the unveiling of the governor's spending proposal. On Tuesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro proffered the biggest one yet: $51.4 billion that critics say spends $3 billion more than what the state can afford. For the administration and its allies, however, it's a mere down payment on the state's education adequacy gap, its crumbling mass transit system and ballooning health care needs for a growing senior

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00:08:02

Closing Funding Adequacy Gap a Costly Proposal for...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/07

(The Center Square) – Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal aims to build on the inertia begun with last year’s investment in the state’s education system to the tune of $525 million, a figure Republican legislators say is unsustainable. The state's schools are facing a $4.5 billion adequacy gap. The commonwealth’s new adequacy formula determines which schools are behind and by how much, but it does not address where the money comes from. Still, the increase has been touted as the biggest bipartisan

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00:05:42

Homecare Industry Facing Crisis in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/02/01

(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania house members say that aging in place is a major priority for them as the state’s elderly population continues to grow. Homecare services, deemed unskilled, to support daily activities like bathing, dressing, and cooking are essential to creating that possibility for them. Yet providers across the state are struggling to hire enough staff to cover the needs of the state’s 300,000 homecare recipients. Unable to offer comparable hourly wages, the industry is losing

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00:05:16

DEI Order Revokes Funding for Pennsylvania Homeless...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/01/31

(The Center Square) - Some Pennsylvania programs providing support to the state’s homeless population are shocked after receiving word that their services fall under the president’s “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” executive order. The order claims that the Biden administration “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs” into all levels of government and orders the termination of “all discriminatory programs.” Many housing programs in the state receive

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00:06:23

Price Cap Possible as Rising Energy Costs Loom in...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/01/30

(The Center Square) – A new deal could dampen the shock of anticipated price spikes from rising energy costs. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said PJM will support a new price cap meant to lower the cost of the power grid in the coming year after a recent auction forecasted an 800% increase. That spike would have translated to a 30% rise in utility bills. The price cap must receive official approval from the transmission, generation and distribution companies that supply the grid, as well

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00:05:14

In Pennsylvania, Republican Row Officers Sworn-in...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/01/25

(The Center Square) – It was a full day of celebration in Harrisburg honoring the inaugurations of Treasurer Stacy Garrity, Auditor General Timothy DeFoor, and Attorney General David Sunday. This marks the first time all three row officer positions have been held by Republicans. Garrity and DeFoor both pledged to build from the momentum they’d gained during their first terms in their respective roles, while Sunday outlined his vision for the state's highest law enforcement office. Gov. Josh Shapiro

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