Pennsylvania
Pa. Senate approves GOP's $3B tax-cutting plan
Republicans contended that such tax cuts would improve household budgets and stoke the economy in a state that desperately needs to step up its growth and appeal to keep pace with faster-growing states.
Shapiro’s administration expects to have $14 billion in reserve by the end of June, and what to do with it has been the subject of debate in Harrisburg.
In a statement, Shapiro didn’t say whether he supports it, but did welcome a conversation about what to with the state’s surplus.
“With this proposal, Senate Republican Leaders are coming to the table and acknowledging that we must invest in Pennsylvania’s future,” his office said.
Democrats sought to attach tax breaks for the lowest earners — rejected by Republicans — and criticized the bill as lacking transparency, having emerged barely 24 hours before the vote.
They also said it lacks any help for public schools, considering last year’s court decision that found Pennsylvania’s system of funding public schools violates the constitutional rights of students in poorer districts.
Sen. Sharif Street, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said that attracting companies and new residents is about more than tax rates. People want a good quality of life, like good public schools and safe communities, and cutting taxes doesn’t help Pennsylvania improve its poor track record on funding schools and public safety, Street said.
“It will not attract growth to Pennsylvania, it will not attract jobs and it is a failed strategy,” Street said during floor debate.
The Senate GOP’s tax legislation would reduce the personal income tax rate from 3.07% back to the 2.8% level where it was before lawmakers in 2003 raised it to fill a deficit amid a foundering economy.
The bill also would eliminate the 4.4% gross receipts tax on the profits of private electric utilities, a tax that dates back to the 1800s and and is passed through to commercial and residential electric customers.
Shapiro’s $48.3 billion budget proposal, released in February, envisioned a $3 billion increase in spending, or about 7%, while leaning on Pennsylvania’s flush reserves to help underwrite it.
Shapiro’s plan would send billions more for underfunded public schools, public transit, services for the intellectually disabled, higher education and major industrial and high-tech projects to invigorate a slow-growing economy.
To balance, the proposal would shrink the state’s cash reserve from $14 billion to $11 billion. It has the backing of top Democratic lawmakers, but it has yet to see a vote in either chamber.
Republicans say that Shapiro’s spending plan puts the state on a path to drain the surplus within a few years and require a tax increase, given the state’s slower-growing tax collections.
The surplus began accumulating during the COVID-19 pandemic, when billions in federal aid covered some bills the state would normally pay and rising inflation pushed up tax collections on income and sales.
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED TORNADO WATCH 495 IN
EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN DELAWARE THIS WATCH INCLUDES 3 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL DELAWARE
KENT
IN NORTHERN DELAWARE
NEW CASTLE
IN SOUTHERN DELAWARE
SUSSEX
IN MARYLAND THIS WATCH INCLUDES 4 COUNTIES
IN NORTHEAST MARYLAND
CAROLINE KENT QUEEN ANNE’S
TALBOT
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 16 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER MONMOUTH
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MIDDLESEX MORRIS
SOMERSET SUSSEX WARREN
IN SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY
ATLANTIC BURLINGTON CAMDEN
CAPE MAY CUMBERLAND GLOUCESTER
OCEAN SALEM
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, ATLANTIC CITY, BETHLEHEM,
BLAIRSTOWN, CAMDEN, CENTREVILLE, CHERRY HILL, CHESTERTOWN,
DENTON, DEPTFORD, DOVER, DOYLESTOWN, EAST BRUNSWICK, EASTON,
EASTON, EDISON, FLEMINGTON, FREEHOLD, GEORGETOWN, GLASSBORO,
HAMMONTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MILLVILLE, MOORESTOWN, MORRISTOWN,
MOUNT HOLLY, NEW BRUNSWICK, NEWTON, NORRISTOWN,
NORTH BRUNSWICK TOWNSHIP, OCEAN CITY, PENNSVILLE, PERTH AMBOY,
PHILADELPHIA, READING, SAYREVILLE, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TOMS RIVER, TRENTON, WEST CHESTER, AND WILMINGTON.
Info:
Type: Tornado Watch
start_time_local: 2026-07-18T13:55:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2026-07-18T21:00:00-04:00
county_name: Lehigh County
state: PA
headline: Tornado Watch from SAT 1:55 PM EDT until SAT 9:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Extreme
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Lehigh County
state_name: Pennsylvania
From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly’s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
A chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary’s new Ambler campus in Montgomery County has earned an international architecture award for blending centuries of Catholic tradition with contemporary design.
Immaculate Conception Chapel, designed by Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP, incorporates historic elements salvaged from the seminary’s former Lower Merion campus, including carved pews, statues and stained-glass windows. The adapted features preserve the legacy of the oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in Pennsylvania and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The chapel was one of 12 winners selected from 75 submissions worldwide in the 2026 Faith & Form International Awards for Religious Architecture & Art, presented by Philadelphia-based Partners for Sacred Places.
“It’s one of these projects that totally balances the contemporary needs of the client with this commitment to … liturgical tradition, institutional memory and preservation,” said
Kevin Block, the nonprofit’s director of special initiatives.
“So that combination … balancing the old and the new, was, in the jury’s opinion, really award worthy.”
Chapel design holds ‘universal appeal’
John Cluver, senior partner and director of historic preservation at Voith & Mactavish, said he worked closely with the seminary to understand the physical and spiritual needs of the people who would be in the building every day.
Incorporating historic elements at the old seminary was key for the institution, Cluver said.
“They were very interested in having this new chapel relate back to these other chapels and to continue this sense of tradition and this historic continuity with their previous campus,” he said. “So the basic form, configuration, individual elements all were based on elements from these two chapels that we could integrate into a single one.”
Cluver said the award from Partners for Sacred Places is recognition of achieving a “universal appeal” beyond the religious context.
“There’s something that resonated with people who had no connection whatsoever with this community, but they still felt that it really spoke to them as well, so it was very rewarding in that regard,” he said.
Almost 50 years ago, a Pennsylvania Lottery scandal rocked the commonwealth and captured the attention of the world. Now it’s going up for auction.
Television viewers on Thursday, April 24, 1980, thought they were watching another random lottery drawing when the numbers 666 were drawn. But weeks later, Nick Perry, a local Pittsburgh news reporter and host of the drawing, was charged and convicted of rigging the game. Investigators learned he made some balls heavier than others by adding extra paint to them, tipping the outcome.
That drawing, and the 666 lottery tickets, would go down in infamy. And now, a 46-year-old artifact at the center of the scandal is up for sale.
John Zenewicz likes to go to estate sales and has a side hustle selling finds on eBay. He said he was at an estate sale in Saxonburg when he saw a 666 ticket sitting on a dresser.
“I remember the style of ticket because my dad would buy them when I was a boy,” said John Zenewicz. “And I was like, ‘why would someone encase an old lottery ticket?’ and the only thing that could pop to my mind was that story that I remember. I was 10 years old.”
Zenewicz suspects the homeowners had no idea what they were selling.
“What I presume, it’s one of the tickets that was probably confiscated as evidence in Nick Perry, what the locals call the Triple Six Fix,” he said.
After a little more research, Zenewicz said he realized one of the previous owners of the home worked in law enforcement at the time of the scandal. He suspects he may have been part of the team prosecuting Nick Perry. Perry served two years in jail, was fined $3,000 and was ordered to pay $35,000.
Perry died in 2003, but at least one of the tickets at the center of it all remains. And now, Zenewicz says he is selling his 666 ticket on eBay, giving someone else a chance to own a piece of history.
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