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🗞️ Headlines. Garrity’s Mar-A-Lago fundraiser is getting President Trump’s attention. PA taxpayers paid legislators’ statutory bills without bidding and with few details. Wine and beer at Costco?
🎶 Your morning, pick me up. No specific place to go. Chuck Berry
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☁️ Connellsville | Mostly overcast, 76
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Sports PA
⚾ Phillies (1-3) | Washington 2-13 | Tuesday-Wednesday vs. Washington
⚾ Pirates (1-3) | Cincinnati 0-2 | Tuesday-Wednesday in Cincinnati
🏀 Sixes (41-34) | Miami 109-119 | Wednesday in Washington
🏒 Penguins (37-21-16) | New York Islanders 8-3 | Tuesday vs. Detroit
🏒 Leaflets (37-24-12) | Tuesday in Washington
🔉 What we hear. In the PA-01 internal poll, when showing balanced, positive profiles, the Democratic challenger Bob Harvie has a 46-45 advantage over the Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick. The same poll showed Fitzpatrick had a minus-5 favorability rating (43-48) in the Bucks/Montco district.
🔈 What are we listening to?. In the latest episode of the PoliticsPA podcast, Voices of Reason, we talk to Representative Jesse Topper AND Amy Widestrom League of Women Voters regarding SAVE America Act.
🤔 DYK? There are only 50 days left until the Pennsylvania primary election on May 19.
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The most essential story
1. Garrity’s Mar-A-Lago fundraiser honors President Trump
“Last Friday, the Republican candidate for governor Stacy Garrity hosted a fundraiser at The Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida and was warmly welcomed by the club’s owner – President Donald Trump.
Trump greeted Garrity and began telling the assembled guests why he favored the Pennsylvania state treasurer over those in attendance. Governor Josh Shapiro in the 2026 elections
“I gave it [Garrity] support, she should win,” said the 45th and 47th presidents. “Shapiro didn’t make much of an impression on me. I watched him during the interview… he’s stiff.” | PolitykaPA
Elsewhere
The Supreme Court’s path on citizenship by birth may depend on a 1940 law. “As the Supreme Court prepares this week for blockbuster arguments on President Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions, the justices still have a way to sidestep deciding whether it is constitutional.” | Hill
New polls show Trump, Mackenzie and Perry underwater in the Keystone State. “Yes, those are polls from House Majority Forward, a nonprofit affiliated with House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). But still… The favorability data for President Donald Trump and Reps. Ryan Mackenzie and Scott Perry in PA-07 and PA-10, respectively, are shaky and could signal trouble for congressmen in particular and Republicans in general in November.” | PoliticsPA
Most Americans want stronger government oversight of data sharing. “As the federal government continues to seek more and more personal data held by state governments, three in four Americans say they want stronger oversight.” | State jump
Country
2. $9.9M in 3 Years: PA Taxpayers Paid Legislators Without Bidding, with Few Details
“While a federal grand jury was investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection, the Pennsylvania Senate retained a criminal defense attorney to represent former Senator Doug Mastriano – at taxpayer expense.
When reporters appealed the denial of their public records request, the state Senate hired a private attorney to fight them.
And as lawmakers clashed over school funding and climate policy, millions of dollars were paid to outside lawyers — all without a public bidding process and few answers as to why certain companies were chosen.” | PennLive
Elsewhere
PA Senator’s fight for pension transparency costs taxpayers $1.3 million. “A Pennsylvania state judge dismissed a lawsuit that could have forced greater transparency in the management of the $80 billion state pension fund for public school employees. The legal battle was not cheap. The case was the third-costliest in a PennLive investigation into state lawmakers’ hiring of private attorneys.” | PennLive
AP Senate GOP spent $1.1 million on legal fights related to 2020 election. “After President Donald Trump lost the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania spent $1.1 million on legal work on issues related to the outcome.” | PennLive
Advice on country roads? PA House Bills Collide Over ‘Dust Control’ Brine.. “Competing bills in the House of Representatives focus on oil and gas brine, a fluid extracted from waste in old wells that is used to suppress dust on rural streets and pre-treat roads before winter storms. But while one state representative sought to make it illegal for a chemically charged substance to spread on Pennsylvania roads, another proposed doing just the opposite.” | USA Today Network
Shapiro urges eligible taxpayers to apply for the state’s modern tax credit program. “The program was established in the 2025-2026 state budget and opened to Pennsylvanians this year. It is expected to provide $193 million in relief to 940,000 Pennsylvanians based on taxpayer status, income and number of dependents. ” | Pittsburgh Postal Newspaper
Around the Republic of Poland
3. With $4.5 billion on the line, Pennsylvania companies are demanding tariff refunds
“We Pay the Tariffs” — a coalition of more than 1,100 tiny businesses including Bunyaad Marketplace and 42 others in Pennsylvania — reported that companies in the commonwealth paid $4.5 billion in “illegal” tariffs almost a year after they were announced on “Emancipation Day.”
Refunds are a top priority for We Pay the Tariffs, whose chief executive officer is the CEO And Antoni claiming that the money “was taken illegally in the first place.” | Penn Capital Star
Elsewhere
Rural towns in Pennsylvania have dried up under Trump’s federal overhaul. “Republicans who win statewide in Pennsylvania typically need large turnouts in rural parts of the state. But according to National Public Radio’s (NPR) Rebecca Hersher, rural Pennsylvania towns are at risk because of the Trump administration’s failure to adequately fund disaster preparedness and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).” | Alternative
The Homer City plant will escalate local power supplies. “The new power plant in western Pennsylvania will not only power a giant data center campus, but will also add electricity production to the region’s very strained grid.” | Axios Pittsburgh
Editorial
4. What do you think about it?
1 item
5. Costco enters the Pennsylvania wine and beer market
“How about adding a bottle of pinot noir to the 30-roll of toilet paper in your basket at Costco? Or buying a Surfside and enjoying it in the seating area with a hot dog for $1.50?”
Costco is working on multiple fronts to escalate sales of canned wine, beer and cocktails to Pennsylvania stores.
The Warehouse Club, which sold more than $3 billion in wine nationwide in 2024, recently won approval to transfer its liquor license from the former Pizzeria Uno in Doylestown Township to its store in Jacksonville and Street Roads in Warminster, Bucks County. It also continues to sell alcohol at its stores in Cranberry Township in Butler County and King of Prussia in Montgomery County. | Questioner from Philadelphia
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Farewell to March. See you tomorrow, in April.
