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1. Black pastors call on Shapiro to enact Lifeline Scholarships

By Beth Ann Rosica

Black pastors from across the state held a press conference at the Capitol this week, calling on Governor Shapiro to “courageously lead us beyond the toxic, bipartisan politics and preferences that undermine a quality education for every child in Pennsylvania.”

Led by the Black Pastors United for Education, a network of non-sectarian, bipartisan pastors and congregations, the group’s founder, Reverend Joshua C. Robertson, presented an open letter to the Governor, signed by sixty pastors across the Commonwealth.

The rotunda was filled with pastors, parents, and students for the press conference where Rev. Robertson passionately called on lawmakers to put politics aside and focus on children and their education.

Why It Matters. Almost a year ago, Governor Shapiro declared, “every child of God deserves a quality education.” Despite his sentiments, he yielded his power to veto the Lifeline Scholarships, newly branded as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS).

Speculations remain whether Shapiro and other Democrats were beholden to the special interest groups that Robertson mentioned.

Now, the governor has another opportunity to fulfill his campaign promises, and more importantly, ensure that every child has access to a quality education regardless of their zip code.

Quotable. “Lawmakers should not be beholden to unions, school districts, special interest groups, lobbyists, and beyond. We need lawmakers to put Pennsylvania students at the center of their decision,” Rev. Robertson said.

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2. Friction and fiction at the library

By Richard Koenig
 

May and June have been difficult months for several Philadelphia universities and cultural institutions: The closure of the University of the Arts, Cabrini University and a heap of trouble at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

The Free Library scenario is a case that might have been lifted from an Agatha Christie plot, since it highlights a host of systemic problems there that apparently have been seething under the surface for months — if not years — before an implosion occurred around the abrupt and unexplained termination of the Author Events staff.

The official story that went out to the media concerned friction between the tiny Author Events staff — Andy Kahan, Laura Kovacs, Jason Freeman and Nell Mittelstead — and the Foundation Board of the Free Library that runs the day-to-day operation of the Library. The exact nature of that “friction” was never explained. Readers of the news reports could only assume that the “friction” had to do with some general underlying tension, a secret that only those “in the know” would have an inkling of.

Why It Matters. Kahan, I think, is not without blame. My experience as an author is that through the years Kahan and his events crew became a kind of clique with authors they tended to favor and celebrate — and to blazes with the rest.  Jennifer Weiner comes to mind; she became a Central superstar, appearing over and over again to the point of, “Not her again!” 

The Author Series under Kahan’s direction also became a very woke enterprise; one almost never saw a conservative author but there was always rooms for an anti-Trump pundit, a George Stephanopoulos or a Stacey Abrams. This is not to say that the Board Foundation isn’t on the same page, yet with Kahan and company there was certainly no “equity and inclusion.”

One tell-tale sign of the friction between Kahan’s crew — who may have been perceived by Foundation leaders as white elitists — and the powers that be can, I think, be seen in recent videos of authors events there.

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3. Don’t let politicians & lobbyists mess with YOUR credit card!

4. Podcasts

• Why Pennsylvania is Neither Blue Nor Red – It’s Pink | Voices of Reason Ep. 6

• Kitchen Table Politics: Five Months to Go – Polling Pennsylvania

5. Lightning Round

• Beth Ann Rosica: A feminist victory — men gain rights to the ladies room

• Ben Mannes: Contradiction in federal job numbers further erodes trust in government

• Thomas C. Mandracchia: “I’d like to correct the record, Your Honor.” A response to Andy Bloom on Trump’s guilty verdict.

• Gabriel Li: In Philadelphia, child welfare workers desperately need support

• Delco Dem defends deficits, reveals county credit downgraded

6. What we're reading

Texas Children’s Hospital said that they would no longer perform “gender transition treatments” on minors, but one doctor there, Eithan Haim, found that the hospital was still secretly doing so. So he told the truth, revealing his employer’s duplicity, while making sure the patient’s names and other personally identifying information were redacted. The feds sprang into action — against him, not the hospital. As Emily Yoffe reports for The Free Press, Haim now faces felony charges for the crime of telling the world an inconvenient truth. There are plenty of abuses of government power, big and small, but this one is so blatant that it is hard not to be outraged.