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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

00:10:53

DNA collection poses tough ethical questions for...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/11/22

(The Center Square) - Since the advent of DNA testing, law enforcement agencies have been able to prosecute crimes - and exonerate the wrongly convicted - with greater certainty than ever before. Though not perfect, genetic technology has brought justice to scores of violent crime victims and their families, and with them has come what the American Civil Liberties Union called a “Pandora’s box” of constitutional privacy issues. In the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case Maryland v. King, justices narrowly

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00:06:56

Commercial truck driver wanted for terrorism licensed...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/11/21

(The Center Square) – A suspected terrorist arrested in Kansas earlier this month is a licensed truck driver in Pennsylvania, according to federal authorities. Akhror Bozorov fled his native Uzbekistan after law enforcement there issued an arrest warrant in late 2022. The 31-year-old, not an American citizen, is accused of recruiting on behalf of an unnamed jihadist terrorist group and distributing its propaganda online. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Bozorov crossed the southern

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00:08:34

The carbon tax saga ends in Pennsylvania, for now

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/11/15

(The Center Square) – After six long years, the fate of Pennsylvania’s entry into a multi-state emissions curbing program is settled. And much to legislative Republicans' joy, there will be no Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the commonwealth. Nor will the uncertainty of it spike utility bills for customers already feeling the financial strain from an unpredictable economy. Support this podcast:

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00:08:15

Pennsylvania finally closes $50.1B budget deal

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/11/14

(The Center Square) – After a 135-day wait and $12 billion in taxpayer money collected, the state cemented a spending plan for all of it, and more. Pennsylvania's final budget came in at $50.1 billion, less than what Gov. Josh Shapiro initially asked for but well north of what Republican leadership had been looking to spend. The legislation includes much of what Democrats had asked for in budgets passed by the House over the course of the last several months, like a new formula for cyber charter

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00:09:21

Taxpayers have a cost in Supreme Court judicial...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/11/08

(The Center Square) – While many may think of the state’s highest court as an arbiter of the intersection between law and culture, taxpayers often take a more direct hit from the judges’ decisions. That is, right in the wallet. On Tuesday, voters across Pennsylvania overwhelmingly chose to retain David Wecht, Christine Donohue and Kevin Dougherty for another 10 years, preserving the state Supreme Court’s 5-2 liberal majority.Support this podcast:

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00:06:13

Pennsylvanians retain Supreme Court justices

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/11/07

(The Center Square) - Attempts to turn a run-of-the-mill judicial retention choice on Pennsylvania ballots into a political battleground proved unsuccessful Tuesday. Just after 9 p.m., multiple media outlets declared that voters had elected David Wecht, Christine Donohue and Kevin Dougherty to maintain their seats for another 10 years, maintaining the court’s 5-2 liberal majority. Conservative political groups had hoped to persuade voters to side against retaining the justices, casting them as

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00:09:35

Coalition calls for taxes on billionaires to solve...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/11/01

(The Center Square) - A coalition of lawmakers from both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly joined activists at the Capitol Wednesday to demand billionaires pay more taxes. With the slogan, “Tax billionaires, fund PA,” the group spoke in support of a package of bills that would generate more revenue for the state by closing loopholes and eliminating tax breaks for corporations and the rich. “The scales in Pennsylvania are broken,” said Sen. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia. “While billionaires

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00:07:14

McCormick talks veterans, shutdown in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/31

(The Center Square) - While visiting Harrisburg on Monday, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick took questions on several issues, including the federal shutdown and its impact on Pennsylvanians. McCormick was touring a facility that offers cutting-edge treatment programs to veterans suffering from neurological and psychiatric issues, just one of many groups feeling the effects of the government shutdown. They’re also a group that has been singled out during political sparring between some of Pennsylvania’s

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00:06:12

Putting the cat back in the bag: Senate talks school...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/25

(The Center Square) - School cell phone bans are sweeping the nation, and with a Senate bill waiting for a vote, Pennsylvania may be the next state to act. The Senate Education Committee convened Tuesday for a hearing with educators, policymakers, and even students to discuss the practicality and wisdom of taking tech out of kids’ hands throughout the school day. With a mental health crisis among children and widespread reports from teachers exhausted by the task of policing students distracted by

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00:05:13

Taxpayers hand over $89M daily while state fumbles...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/24

(The Center Square) – Since July 1, taxpayers have given the state roughly $89 million each day, even as months have passed without any of it going into the programs it's meant to support. It’s a crude figure calculated by dividing the state’s $10.1 billion in revenue collected since the official start of the commonwealth’s “new” fiscal year by 113 – the exact number of days Pennsylvania has operated without any spending plan for all of that money in its checking account. It’s not for lack of

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00:07:13

Pennsylvania releases 2026 insurance marketplace rates

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/18

(The Center Square) - For months, the looming threat of higher insurance premiums has hung over the commonwealth, while at the federal level, affordable health care access has been at the heart of the debate causing the government shutdown. Congress is rapidly running out of time to come to an agreement extending Affordable Care Act tax credits before the Nov. 1 open enrollment period begins. Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department formally announced the 2026 rates for those who purchase

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00:10:39

Balmer pleads guilty to attempted murder of...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/17

(The Center Square) – The man accused of firebombing the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in Harrisburg pleaded guilty to attempted murder, aggravated arson and terrorism on Tuesday. Cody Balmer also accepted blame for 22 counts of arson – one for each person asleep in the residence that night, including children ranging from 8 to 16 years old – and has been sentenced to 25-50 years in prison, according to District Attorney Fran Chardo. He will be 63 before becoming eligible for parole.Support this

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00:11:58

Exclusive: Ward says ‘we are the stopgap’ after...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/11

(The Center Square) – The commonwealth’s divided government means “getting stuff done,” as Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro likes to say, doesn’t come easily. If it did, according to Republicans in the state, the commonwealth might become the “California of the East.” “If we weren’t here, knowing that he wants to be the Democratic nominee for president, just imagine the progressive policies he’d support,” said Kim Ward, the highest-ranking Republican in the state Senate, during an interview with The

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00:08:53

Day 100 comes and goes without a state budget

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/10

(The Center Square) – There was a lot of talk at the state Capitol on Wednesday about a frustrating milestone: 100 days without a spending plan and no deal in sight. Instead, the Democrat majority House of Representatives marked up the Republican majority Senate’s stopgap budget, passed in its chamber two months ago, by $2.7 billion. Leaders say it’s the least that can be done after the Senate sent them a “copy and paste” plan of last year’s budget that would not cover the natural rise in annual

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00:07:19

The shale solution: Protecting national security with...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/04

(The Center Square) – Domestic shale production in the Appalachian Basin may offer the easiest path toward protecting the nation’s energy supply and resisting reliance on geopolitical foes, says U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. The Trump administration official was recently in Pennsylvania to deliver a keynote address emphasizing the critical role the domestic shale industry plays, both nationally and around the world. Speaking before energy executives and stakeholders, Burgum made the

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00:14:34

Gun control bill sparks intense Pennsylvania House...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/10/03

(The Center Square) - After a heated floor debate, the final bill in a series of proposed gun control measures failed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Wednesday. The legislation would have served to ban “machine gun conversion devices” also known as “switches” or “glock switches,” which allow standard pistols to fire over a thousand rounds per minute. Debate on the topic brought a wide variety of viewpoints from both sides of the House, some measured and some emotional.Support this

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00:06:41

Bipartisan alignment on 'forever chemicals' regulation

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/09/27

(The Center Square) - Advocates taking aim at the wide array of “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, found in common personal care and household products spoke before the House Consumer Protection, Utilities and Technology committee Tuesday. Experts testified about the dangers to human health and child development posed by products from makeup to baby clothes that contain the chemicals. Experts noted that the risks are especially great for young children whose bodies are still developing.Support this

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00:05:57

Doctors speak out against Shapiro energy board plan

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/09/26

(The Center Square) - Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Lightning Plan promises to combine his commitment to win investments in the artificial intelligence sector with a focus on improving permitting processes that has been successful in many wings of the state bureaucracy. House legislators have turned that vision into a bill that promises to develop a central authority for large projects called the Reliable Energy Siting and Electric Transition, or RESET, Board. One group of doctors wrote an open letter to the

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00:09:42

Can Pennsylvania's ‘Rainy Day Fund’ balance the budget?

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/09/20

(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania’s emergency savings account, contrary to its colloquial name of “Rainy Day Fund,” is for anything but. Instead, state law reserves the $7 billion pot for economic downturns or unexpected revenue shortfalls, and can’t be tapped without a two-thirds vote from the legislature. Neither condition appears to have been met for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed $51.5 billion spending plan, according to the Commonwealth Foundation. In a letter to Treasurer Stacy Garrity and

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00:13:52

Shapiro: 'Violence never the answer' amid escalating...

Pennsylvania in Focus ·

2025/09/19

(The Center Square) - A nationwide increase in political violence almost certainly isn’t what Josh Shapiro hoped would set the tone during his first term in office as Pennsylvania’s governor. Yet, as he’s navigated through an attempted presidential assassination, a manhunt for Luigi Mangione that gripped the country, and the firebombing of his own residence in Harrisburg, he’s become a national spokesperson for civility. Invited to speak at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh on Tuesday,

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