September 24, 2021
Thirty years ago today, Nirvana released Nevermind and ushered in the Age of Grunge. And while this makes us feel like checking into a nursing home, we can’t help but think Kurt Cobain had a vision of 2021 in his head when he wrote the lyric “I feel stupid, and contagious.” Prescient stuff, Kurt. 
The United States passed a grim milestone this week as COVID deaths topped 675,000, making the pandemic deadlier than the 1918 flu, back when our best medical care consisted of burning your clothes each Sunday and having leeches attached to your feet. See also: stupid, contagious.
Down in Florida, a state senator who chairs a powerful health committee has decided he wants to revisit the whole vaccine thing. And by “whole,” we don’t just mean the COVID vaccine. This particular Florida Man is skeptical about vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella, too. Once again, see: stupid, contagious.
Six months and $6 million later, it looks like the Maricopa County, Arizona, audit will confirm that Joe Biden is president, which we assume is going to sorely disappoint Biden himself as he probably wishes he weren’t on some days.
Meanwhile, Biden’s partners in Congress are fighting like cats in a burlap sack over pretty much his entire agenda. With each passing day, the realization is going to set in that 30 or 40 of them will be unemployed in 2023 if they keep it up.
Speaking of 30 or 40, here is the current list of people running for governor of Pennsylvania. We will keep you abreast of any additions/subtractions as they become available, or if Triad President Roy Wells finally decides to give the whole governing thing a whirl.
The president’s immigration agenda also took a step off a cliff as the Senate parliamentarian put an end to a plan to jam it into a budget bill. There will be no immigration trickeration, announced the parliamentarian, before returning to her underground lair.
The only place you can purchase liquor in Pennsylvania is really good at selling liquor, we learned this week. PLCB profits jumped 13% last year, topping out at $2.9 billion. We are getting a much clearer picture of how many Pennsylvanians dealt with the pandemic, that’s for damned sure.
PA House Republicans came to Harrisburg to do something about Gov. Tom Wolf’s school mask mandate, but in the end could not agree on what that “something” should be, knowing that most of their options would likely end with a visit from Mr. Veto. We have seen this movie more times than we’ve seen Forrest Gump.
The Supreme Court (PA version) heard oral arguments over the fate of Marsy’s Law, which 74% of Pennsylvanians voted for two years ago. Listen, we are no election experts, but given the fact that 74% of Pennsylvanians can’t even agree who the president of the United States is, it seems pretty clear where the will of the people is on this one.
In honor of Climate Week, we give you this lovely story of a private developer seeking to build a wind farm in bucolic Schuylkill County. The $250 million farm will be placed on abandoned mine land and thereby become part of the tax rolls once again. It will be built by union labor and requires no public funding. You would think this is a slam dunk, right? WELL, YOU WOULD BE INCORRECT! Seems a local judge blocked the project because, well, he wanted to. We will reveal much more on this as the days unfolds.
Pennsylvania’s attorney general and his friends in the Senate Democratic Caucus are going to court to stop the Senate GOP from gaining access to voters’ personal information, setting the stage for a drawn-out battle that will end sometime after the next presidential election.
The state Department of Health wants you to know that it is ready to get those COVID boosters into people’s arms the minute the feds give the green light. In fact, you could even do the vaccine exacta and get your flu shot at the same time, thereby rendering yourself indestructible.
Or you could be like Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (stupid and contagious, anyone?) and just keep getting COVID over and over again. This dude is a one-man super spreader event.
City officials in Pittsburgh this week unveiled a 50-year transportation plan (aspirational people that they are), and we have two words for yinz: gondolas and hyperloops! This is the type of stuff we LIVE for! Thank you, Pittsburgh!
Pennsylvania lawmakers sent a bill that will be known as Shawn’s Law to the governor’s desk. The measure establishes strict penalties for encouraging someone to commit suicide. Hey Congress, see how lawmaking works?
On the Triad socials this week, come and see our own Jen Riley talk about Marsy’s Law on Pennsylvania Newsmakers!
Also, check out our good friends at American Tower as they spilled a little ink about getting more Americans connected!
In our We Can’t Make This Up segment, we take you to Boston, where a shortage of school buses forced the city schools to use party buses, complete with stripper poles to bring kids to school. The kids reportedly showed up covered in glitter, for some reason.
That’s what passes for news around here as fall arrives, the temps drop and the legislating heats up! Until next week, from all of us at Team Triad, have a great weekend!