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Budget proposal once again starts process with fantasy

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2026-27 budget would spend about $53.2 billion. The proposed 2026-27 budget, like his initial proposal for the 2025-26 budget, relies on pulling deeply from reserve funding, set aside in past years by lawmakers to ensure the state was ready for future crises and on revenue from activities for which the legislature is still considerable distance from agreeing on regulatory frameworks — recreational marijuana and skills games. The 2025-26 budget, of course, was ultimately more than four months late to passage. State lawmakers already are echoing many of the ...

Future of school funding needs to drive budget process

As we noted in Sunday’s editorial — and a year ago and before — the state and its budget have to contend with court rulings that funding public schools by district has led to unconstitutional imbalances. For decades, the primary source of funding for public schools in Pennsylvania has been property taxes, assessed by local school districts. One affect of this has been that schools in communities with higher property values are able to provide greater resources to their students. Another aspect is that officials would be in better fiscal positions to address property taxes ...

What other newspapers are saying: Black History Month reaches 100th year

2026 has dawned as a momentous red-letter year for American history. As most know by now, the United States already has launched America250, its supersized patriotic bash to commemorate its 250th anniversary as a proud independent nation. What far fewer of us recognize, however, is that another proud cultural phenomenon literally seeped in history marked its milestone 100th anniversary Sunday . That observance, of course, is Black History Month. The roots of Black History Month date to 1926, when revered Dr. Carter G. Woodson and his Association for the Study of African American Life ...

Sunshine Law issue needs clarity

An article published earlier this month by Center Square began with two paragraphs that are deserving of elaboration. First, the paragraphs in question: — “In December, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision ruled that with a majority vote, government entities could add anything to a ...

Energy still driven by simple truth

Detailed reporting in last Thursday’s Williamsport Sun-Gazette by The Center Square illuminated the challenges confronting the energy sector in meeting Pennsylvania’s needs. The ongoing efforts by PJM to assess future trends in energy demand and consumption are important. We hope the measures the entity — responsible for generating the electric grid’s supply in Pennsylvania and neighboring states — is undertaking assist management and staff in being fully prepared for delivering service and affordability to Pennsylvania’s families and businesses. Of course, as important ...

What other newspapers are saying: Anti-vaccine campaign will make Americans sicker

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has already inflicted great damage upon America’s vaccine infrastructure, yet the health and human services secretary is only getting started. His next target is the system that makes vaccines economically viable. Vaccines are expensive to develop, but for them to be effective, they must also be cheap so that large populations can access them. That means manufacturers must operate at slim margins, making them particularly vulnerable to expensive lawsuits. In the 1980s, litigation was driving drug companies out of vaccine production. While immunizations save ...