Will Donald Trump endorse a PA Senate candidate? Mail-in voting receives a stay of execution. Meet the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania. PA State agencies divesting their investments in Russia. Here is the Playbook.

PA Weather
Latrobe | Mostly Sunny 36
Lock Haven | Sunny 38
Levittown | Mostly Sunny 46

PA Sports
76ers | defeated New York, 123-108
Penguins | tonight at Tampa Bay
Flyers | tonight vs. Minnesota

News

Supreme Court Keeps Mail-In Voting in Place, For Now: Mail-in voting received a stay of execution Tuesday. Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law will remain in place after a one-paragraph order from the state’s Supreme Court.

Will Trump Endorse a Candidate for the PA Senate Nomination?: A waiting game. Will he or won’t he? That’s one of the biggest questions surrounding this Senate primary season – will former President Donald Trump endorse one of Pennsylvania’s GOP candidates?

Ad Watch: U.S. Senate Edition: When all is said and done, the money spent on media buys in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate primary race may break records.

PA Senate Race: ‘John Fetterman’s first Senate ad is all about ‘abandoned’ Pa. towns. Sound familiar?’: The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “Fetterman, the Democratic front-runner for Senate in Pennsylvania, is trying to tap into a very real sentiment that Donald Trump mined to powerful effect.”

• Patriot News: Mehmet Oz’s Senate campaign makes a stop in Hershey, and it’s like daytime TV at night
• City & State PA: Endorsements in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race keep stacking up.

‘County party committee members can start collecting signatures, Pa. high court rules’: The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports that “elected county committee members in the Democratic and Republican parties can start circulating petitions, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday afternoon.”

‘Gov. Tom Wolf brings budget push to Phoenixville’: The Daily Local News reports that “with revenues exceeding forecasts, a healthy rainy day fund, a growing economy and no proposed tax hikes, this is the right time to make the investments contained in his $43.7 billion budget, Gov. Tom Wolf told a crowd of supporters inside Phoenixville Borough Hall on Wednesday.”

‘Gov. Wolf tours Pittsburgh company working to send cargo to the moon’: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that “Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday toured Astrobotic, a company on Pittsburgh’s North Side that is working toward sending unmanned vessels to the moon.”

‘Pa. state agencies moving to rid their portfolios of investments in Russia’: PennLive reports that “the two statewide pension funds have or soon will divest their investments in Russian companies while the state Treasury’s efforts to rid itself of Russian investments held up due to sanctions.”

‘As COVID-19 subsides, thousands of Pennsylvanians could lose Medicaid coverage’: WESA reports that “hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who enrolled in Medicaid during the pandemic could see that health care coverage end later this year due the likely eventual end of a federal emergency declaration. State officials say they are working to make sure as few people as possible lose coverage, though some individuals will likely no longer be Medicaid-eligible and will have to shift to different programs.”

‘Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania is the new name for three state universities’: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that “start getting used to these words: Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania. You’ll be hearing them a lot as the new legal identity for the combined state-owned campuses of Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities.”

‘Legislator urges support of hydrogen hub in Pennsylvania’: The Pittsburgh Business Times reports that “a state legislator from Allegheny County is asking the Pennsylvania General Assembly to support the creation of a hydrogen hub in Pennsylvania as one of the four next-generation energy creation centers funded by the Biden administration’s infrastructure law.”

‘New U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh restructures office to fight violent crime, fentanyl dealing, extremism’: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that “Pittsburgh’s new U.S. attorney has reorganized the office’s structure in ways she says will help fight crime.”

‘Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association CEO announces retirement’: The Pittsburgh Business Times reports that “John Longstreet, the president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, announced on Wednesday that he plans to retire in July 2022.”

‘Former state senator Bob Regola gets probation for DUI’: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that “former state senator Bob Regola was ordered Wednesday to serve one year on probation for a drunken driving arrest last October in Penn Township.”

Legislative Election Updates

‘Former Lebanon County Bar Association exec announces bid for House seat’: PennLive reports that “the former Lebanon County Bar Association’s executive director announced her intention to run for the Democratic nomination for the open 101st state House District seat in the May 17 primary.”

‘Lancaster GOP declines to endorse candidate to replace Rep. Dave Hickernell’: LNP | LancasterOnline reports that “the Republican Committee of Lancaster County endorsed in nearly a dozen races at its endorsement convention Tuesday night, leaving one race as an open primary for voters to decide who should replace longtime Rep. Dave Hickernell in the state House.”

Regional Spotlight: Northeast
The Times Leader: Citizen asks Luzerne County Court to fill election board vacancy 
The Times Leader: Yudichak questions DCED officials on impact of proposed budget cuts 
The Times Leader: Luzerne County will continue providing both Spanish and English ballots
The Times Leader: Wilkes-Barre pays out more than $1.6 million in stimulus program
Times-Tribune: Lackawanna County Prison warden blasts Domenick over her Facebook post 
Times-Tribune: Scranton among best metros for economic development 
Times-Tribune: Lackawanna County to pursue first countywide reassessment since 1968

Opinion  
Mehmet Oz: Life is precious, we must protect it
Stacy Garrity: When it comes to natural gas, Russia is Putin us on
Jim Hertzler: We could have avoided this hot mess with redistricting if Republicans had listened to the people 
Maureen Ferguson: Sen. Casey, Democrats abandon pro-life roots
Tami Seretti: Escalating co-pays are making health care unaffordable in Pennsylvania
Bruce Ledewitz: What does the Jan. 6 committee hope to learn from Sen. Doug Mastriano? 
Dr. Barbara W. Forney: Selling Claremont doesn’t have to mean the end of the civic values it represented
Post-Gazette Editorial Board: Shine a light on Turnpike Commission
Post-Gazette Editorial Board: Support long overdue for federal anti-lynching bill
Post-Gazette Editorial Board: Getting tough on polluters
LNP | LancasterOnline Editorial Board: How Lancaster County residents can help the brave, besieged people of Ukraine 
John L. Micek: This is the changing face of American gun ownership | Wednesday Morning Coffee
Jobert E. Abueva: 2022 is ‘poised to become the year of the most anti-LGBTQ legislation’ in the United States 
Howard Gensler: What trans athlete Lia Thomas teaches us about fairness 
Solomon Jones: The mistreatment of Black students trying to flee Ukraine is a reminder of racism’s reach 
Bill White: Ukrainian president inspires with patriotic spirit: ‘I need ammunition, not a ride’
Mark J. Frisby: The Inquirer’s look at itself described an organization that I didn’t recognize 
Helen Ubiñas: A grieving son gets a chance at justice in the hit-and-run death of his mother. Too many others are still waiting. 
Erica A.H. Smithwick: Wildfires and water scarcity: How U.S. kids will have to adapt to a changing climate