What a weekend. Happy Passover (Chag Sameach). Happy Easter. Happy Jackie Robinson Day. Game On in the 12th. Should PA Move Presidential Primary Date? Protecting PA Farms. Here is the Playbook.

PA Weather
Johnstown | Sunny, 68
Jersey Shore | Sunny, 70
Jenkintown | Sunny, 68

PA Sports
76ers | SAT vs. Toronto
Flyers | SAT at Buffalo
Penguins | d. NY Islanders, 6-3; SAT at Boston
Phillies | lost to Florida, 4-3; today at Florida
Pirates | d. Washington, 9-4; today vs. Washington

News

Should PA Change Its Presidential Primary Date?: The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to establish an application process for how states will be considered as candidates to kick-off the presidential primary season. Should Pennsylvania join in the fray?

PA12: It Is Game On For Irwin, Lee, Dickinson: Steve Irwin is a corporate attorney. Summer Lee is a progressive state representative. Jerry Dickinson is a constitutional law professor. It is game-on in the 12th congressional district. 

PA Governor Race: ‘GOP candidates wait for hoped-for Trump endorsement in Pa. governor’s race’: The Caucus reports that “a prospective endorsement by former President Trump in the Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial race is dominating the buzz in political circles following Trump’s endorsement last Saturday of Mehmet Oz in the U.S. Senate race.”

• Inquirer: Pa. Republican candidates for governor grapple with Trump’s anti-endorsement
• Philly Clout: Gun groups target Josh Shapiro for impeachment after ‘ghost guns’ story
• PennLive: Getting to know the candidates who want to be Pa.’s next lieutenant governor
• Bucks County Courier Times: Doug Mastriano could ride election denial into PA governor’s mansion

PA Senate Race: ‘McCormick campaign playing dirty in GOP Pennsylvania Senate fight, rivals say’: The Washington Examiner reports that “the campaign of Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate David McCormick is trying to make sure pledges of support it received hold in the primary’s final month.”

• Bucks County Courier Times: Jeff Bartos says he knows Pa. better than other U.S. Senate hopefuls
• Times-Tribune: Bochetto says undecided Republican voters will turn to him in Senate race
• City & State PA: Endorsements in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race keep stacking up.

‘New F&M Poll shows support for Biden, Wolf falling, GOP races competitive’: The Caucus reports that “an already-grim picture for Democrats heading into November’s midterm elections has gotten grimmer, according to a Franklin & Marshall College poll of registered voters released today.”

‘Pa. counties to receive first payments from $26B opioid settlement this summer’: The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports that “Pennsylvania will receive $1.07 billion as part of a $26 billion national settlement with three pharmaceutical distributors, and counties should see the first round of payments to address the opioid crisis by early summer.”

‘Gov. Wolf Calls On State Lawmakers To Approve Plan To Use Pandemic Money For $2,000 Stimulus Checks’: KDKA reports that “Governor Tom Wolf on Thursday called on state lawmakers to stop sitting on $2 billion of unspent American Rescue Plan money sent to Pennsylvania.”

‘Pa. state universities freeze tuition on ‘act of faith’ more state funding will come’: PennLive reports that “students attending Pennsylvania’s state universities will be spared a tuition increase for another year, making it four consecutive years their price has remained flat.”

‘Pa. commits $9.7M to protect 40 farms in 19 counties from development’: PennLive reports that “Pennsylvania protected 3,528 acres on 40 farms in 19 counties Thursday from future development, investing more than $9.7 million in state, and county dollars in preserving prime farmland for tomorrow.”

City & State PA’s Biggest Winners & Losers This Week: City & State PA highlights the three winners and losers in Pennsylvania politics last week.

‘Gov. Wolf wants to give Philly schools $119M because ‘some students aren’t getting the opportunities they need’’: The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “Gov. Tom Wolf stood in a Philadelphia elementary school auditorium Thursday and said the state needs to do better by Pennsylvania’s most struggling school districts.”

‘Study shows automated speed controls around Pa. construction sites reduce speeding, crashes’: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that “the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement Program issued just over 644,000 tickets in its first 20 months to motorists driving more than 11 miles an hour above the speed limit through construction sites.”

‘Entire Western Pennsylvania congressional delegation among hundreds of lawmakers sanctioned by Russia’: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that “all members of Western Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation were among the hundreds of Congress members sanctioned by Russia on Wednesday, according a list published by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

‘Steve Irwin picks up four endorsements from local unions in Democratic run for 12th District House seat’: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that “continuing to pick off locals in the building trades to back his Congressional bid, Pittsburgh attorney Steve Irwin rolled out the endorsements of four well-connected, Democrat-friendly unions on Thursday.”

‘Judge orders removal of Republican who was set to face Rep. Glenn Thompson in the primary’: The Centre Daily Times reports that “George Rathmell, of Jefferson County, is set to be removed from the Republican primary for the 15th Congressional District because he incorrectly stated his occupation and did not meet the required threshold of 1,000 valid signatures on nomination petitions, Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt ruled April 8.”

‘Lancaster Co. agricultural conservation project ‘unique’ in its approach to meet Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction goals’: The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports that “state and local agriculture officials are celebrating a public-private partnership in Lancaster County that they say will help Pennsylvania meet its Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction goals, and promote agricultural conservation practices in the commonwealth’s farming communities.”
Legislative Election Updates

‘Real estate agent running to represent Berks, Schuylkill in Pennsylvania House’: The Reading Eagle reports that “Jill Saunders is seeking the Republican nomination in the 124th House District.”

Regional Spotlight: North by Northwest
Erie Times-News: Racial diversity commission could face budget cuts. Here’s why
Erie Times-News: Erie County Judge Stephanie Domitrovich is retiring; first elected in 1989
Erie Times-News: Upgrades for the Tom Ridge Environmental Center
WJET: Council discusses incarceration costs at Erie County Prison
Williamsport Sun-Gazette: Williamsport budgets $5.35M of ARPA funds for economic development
Williamsport Sun-Gazette: Jersey Shore mayor resigns
Williamsport Sun-Gazette: Lycoming County Commissioners allot up to $10M of ARPA funds to revenue loss
Centre Daily Times: Familiar face promoted to top Centre County government leadership post
Centre Daily Times: ‘It’s going to get worse.’ Centre County’s homeless count increases by nearly 100 in a year
Centre Daily Times: A judge has recommended that Jerry Sandusky’s latest appeal be dismissed as premature
Pennsylvania Capital-Star: Pa. Physician General discusses Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome in Crawford County

Opinion  
John Baer: Donald Trump is sticking his nose into already odd Pa. primaries for senator and governor 
Paul Muschick: Is the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary over because Trump endorsed Dr. Oz?
Bruce Ledewitz: Toomey’s vote against Ketanji Brown Jackson set a dangerous precedent. Here’s why 
Joyce M. Davis: A grieving father says guns, rap music and COVID masks are behind the shooting surge in Harrisburg | Social Views
Post-Gazette Editorial Board: PIAA, not legislators, should craft polices for transgender student-athletes 
Post-Gazette Editorial Board: Consolidating police departments a painful but beneficial step
LNP | LancasterOnline Editorial Board: As Holy Week, Passover and Ramadan converge, we’re glad we live in Lancaster County, where diversity is welcomed 
LNP | LancasterOnline Editorial Board: Everyone involved must do their part to make deadly stretch of Route 72 safer 
John L. Micek: Report: High taxes, low profits. Tavern gaming licenses a bust for Pa. | Thursday Morning Coffee
Michael Wright: Protecting life on this planet means acting now to fight climate change
Bill White: Lehigh Valley animal welfare pioneer’s new project: a sanctuary for elderly dogs and cats