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Your Morning Pick-Me-Up. Be My Baby. The Ronettes. Love Ronnie Spector.

PA Weather
Oil City | Rain Showers, 46
Littlestown | Rain, 50
Buckingham | Mostly Cloudy, 53

PA Sports
Phillies (8-3) | Atlanta 4-3 | Thu vs. Atlanta
Pirates (5-8) | St. Louis 2-1 | Fri-Sun vs. Cincinnati
Flyers (32-37-9) | NY Rangers 8-5 | Sat vs. NY Islanders
Penguins (32-35-12) | Fri vs. New Jersey
Sixers (24-55) | Washington 122-103 | Fri vs. Atlanta

PA Money | Futures (as of 7:43 a.m.)
Dow 🔻-532 | NASDAQ 🔻 -372.25 | S&P 🔻-90.50

What’s Happening Today. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie is taking part in a televised CNN Town Hall at 9 p.m.

Top Story

1. Why Trump Blinked on Tariffs Just Hours After They Went Into Effect

“President Trump finally blinked.

It took a week for the plunge in the stock and bond markets—along with a sustained campaign by executives, lawmakers, lobbyists and foreign leaders—to prompt Trump to roll back for 90 days a major element of his sweeping tariff plan.

The episode was classic Trump: He took a drastic action, closely tracked the reaction, kept advisers and allies guessing and then changed course.” (Wall Street Journal)

• Inside the Oval: 3 Reasons Trump Buckled on Tariffs. (Axios)

Elsewhere

Dave McCormick at Tele-Town Hall: ‘Give President Trump Some Time’ On Tariffs, Economic Policy. “McCormick pledged to more than 8,000 callers that he’d closely monitor the impacts of White House policy and that he’d push to protect critical benefits and services, from Social Security and Medicaid to veterans’ care.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Trump Wants Mail Votes to Arrive By Election Day. Red States Are Rushing to Toe the Line. “Two more states just banned grace periods for mail ballots that are sent before polls close but arrive after Election Day. Trump and conservative judges stepped up attacks, too.” (Bolts)

Reports: Trump Voices Opposition to Nippon Purchase of U.S. Steel. “Shares of United Steel Corp. fell Wednesday when President Donald Trump renewed his opposition to the sale of the American steel producer to Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp., according to published reports.” (Greensburg Tribune-Review)

State

2. Fun With Maps: PA Voter Registration by County

“Is Pennsylvania still a swing state? Or is the Keystone State headed the route of Florida and Ohio as former states that were once up for grabs on Election Night?

The latest voter registration numbers from the Department of State show that while both Democrats and Republicans have lost numbers since last October, statistics show that the bleeding from the Democratic Party has closed the GOP deficit to just 176,000 voters.” (PoliticsPA)

Elsewhere

PA House Passes Pension Increase For Oldest Retired Teachers, State Government Workers. “The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has again passed a bill that would give a cost-of-living raise to roughly 59,000 retired teachers and state employees whose pension benefits have been held flat since 2002.” (PennLive)

NFIB Throws Shade on Governor’s Main Street Matters Program. “While Gov. Josh Shapiro was touting his “Main Street Matters” program in Lancaster on Wednesday, a small business advocacy group was calling out the governor and his administration for lack of action.” (PoliticsPA)

Bill Planned to Ban Gender Transitions For Minors. “The debate over whether children should undergo gender transition treatments has grown in fervor since Election Day, though a pending bill to ban the procedures in Pennsylvania has not.” (The Center Square)

Pennsylvania Says Schools Already Comply With Civil Rights Laws and Are Not Ordered to Scrap DEI. “Pennsylvania’s deputy education chief said Wednesday the state is already in compliance with civil rights laws and is signaling the state will not order schools to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as President Trump’s administration has demanded.” (Chalkbeat Pennsylvania)

Around The Commonwealth

3. Gainey and O’Connor Both Look to UPMC as Long-Running Quest For Cash Meets Strained City Budget

“Ed Gainey promised to make local health care giant UPMC “pay their fair share” to the city when he ran for office in 2021, making the pledge a pillar of his underdog campaign that ultimately took down then-Mayor Bill Peduto.

The city’s biggest nonprofit owner of tax-exempt property should “pay taxes like anyone else,” Gainey argued at the time, and do so “on our terms.”

Almost four years later, Pittsburgh’s budget situation has tightened, with Mayor Gainey and his team predicting “lean” years ahead, federal pandemic relief funds expired and property tax revenue in turmoil. But there’s been no uptick in city revenue from UPMC or any other major nonprofit.” (Public Source)

Elsewhere

O’Connor Outraises Gainey For Third Month in a Row. “Mr. O’Connor brought in about $257,000 during the month of March, where Mr. Gainey brought in just under $143,000.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Gainey Garners NextGen PAC Endorsement. “NextGen PAC’s endorsement of Mayor Gainey is due to his commitment to protecting immigrants, solving economic inequality and supporting labor unions, and advocating for abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights.” (PoliticsPA)

Unions Are Fueling Patrick Dugan’s Campaign For Philly DA as He Far Out-Raises Incumbent Larry Krasner. “Unions gave his campaign about $217,000 this year, accounting for nearly half the overall amount he raised. Krasner’s report shows that, despite winning several union endorsements, he has not yet raised any money from organized labor.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Women Underrepresented in Pennsylvania’s Municipal Office Posts. “Women hold fewer than a third of municipal offices throughout Pennsylvania, per a new analysis from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.” (Axios Philadelphia)

Editorial

4. Speak Your Mind

• A Respite From Chaos As Trump Blinks On Tariffs. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Stock Market Volatility Affects Everyone. (Greensburg Tribune-Review)
• Are ‘Hands Off’ and Other Public Protests Against Trump, Musk Effective? (John Baer) 
• Markets to GOP — We Won’t Save You From Trump’s Folly. (Jonah Goldberg)
• Patriotism in the Trump Era: Grit Your Teeth and Fight. (Tom Moran)
• Pennsylvania Doesn’t Have Enough Homecare Workers, Because They Aren’t Paid Enough. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• PRT Needs to Change More Than It Needs More Money. (Chris Mooney)
• New Poll Finds Majority of Pennsylvanians Oppose Dismantling of U.S. Department of Education. (Aaron Chapin)

1 Thing

5. At a Little Known Rolls-Royce Museum in Pennsylvania Farm Country, Volunteers Dote Over Iconic Cars

“Mike Fowler had been faintly aware that a museum of Rolls-Royce and Bentley vehicles existed near his boyhood home in the suburbs of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but the car enthusiast didn’t expect the experience he got when he started volunteering there.

The 29 antique and collectible Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles that date as far back as the late 1920s are the central attraction of the largely overlooked and seldom visited museum, which is easy to miss among the surrounding miles of farm fields and stretch of nondescript industrial buildings just outside Mechanicsburg.” (AP)

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