During budget negotiations, Shapiro and state lawmakers agreed to earmark $10 million for farmers affected by the freeze.

With advancements in artificial intelligence, data centers have grown into a new breed: Hyperscale data centers house thousands of computers requiring as much electricity as a small city, cooling systems that can consume hundreds of thousands of gallons of water daily and back up generators sometimes numbering in the hundreds to ensure that they can remain constantly online.

Last month, the president of the state’s largest farm organization resigned. Members believe fresh leadership could help infuse energy into the organization.

Emily Scolnick is a 2026 Dow Jones News Fund intern at the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Food bank executives and a union leader urged Democratic lawmakers to “protect SNAP at all costs” and help support Pennsylvania’s farming and agriculture industries amid rising costs at a committee hearing Friday. The state Senate Democratic Policy Committee meeting, led by […]