By Tim Lambert | Editor-in-chief
“In many communities like mine, it’s becoming harder and harder for rural Pennsylvanians to access and afford the healthcare they need. Family practice physicians are retiring with no replacements lined up.” — Tammy Huey, a former Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners in Venango County, on the push to allow CRNPs to practice to the full extent of their licensing and training in Pennsylvania.
Happy Friday and a good morning to you. It’s that time of year for haunted houses and hayrides, as well as ghost tours and pumpkin festivals. What are your favorite Halloween traditions? Let me know through email, BlueSky or Facebook.
On this day in 1849, George Washington Williams was born in Bedford Springs. He wrote the History of the Negro Race in America, 1618-1880. The first Black man to be appointed to the state legislature in Ohio, Williams lived to be 41-years-old.
Don’t forget to start your day (along with reading the Morning Guide, of course) with the latest episode of our Folo PA podcast. You can subscribe to it in all the places where you find your favorites. Have a great day. — Tim
As drug prices increase, a number of state attorneys general have sued drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers over insulin prices. (Photo by Whitney Downard/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
By Whitney Downard
tate Attorney General Dave Sunday’s office claims that more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy middlemen worked together to “artificially” inflate insulin prices by more than 1,000%.
“Millions of Pennsylvanians have diabetes or prediabetes and they were all potentially harmed by this scheme to artificially inflate pricing to maximize company profits,” Sunday said in a release. “Our Antitrust Section will continue to hold accountable companies, large and small, that prioritize profits over public access to affordable life-saving medication and care.”
Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, accuses manufacturers such as Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis US LLC of working with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) such as Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and Optum RX to increase prices.
Janice Miller, the president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, pushes for independence from physician oversight at an Erie press conference on Oct. 15, 2026. (Screenshot from livestream)
By Whitney Downard
n a continued push to practice to the full extent of their licensing and training, the lobbying group for nurse practitioners is pressuring state legislative candidates to commit to change ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
Healthcare costs and accessibility both loom large in the minds of voters this election cycle, and nurse practitioners pitch themselves as a solution — if only lawmakers would grant them full practice authority.
“The people who are elected to Pennsylvania’s General Assembly in November will have significant ability to enact policies that can make healthcare cheaper and easier to get,” said Janice Miller, the president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners. “Who can argue with that?”
A voter placers her ballot in her mailbox. (Photo by Simone Hogan/Getty Images)
By Whitney Downard, Peter Hall, Ian Karbal and Emily Previti
The purple battleground state of Pennsylvania is once again expected to play a critical role in determining which political party will secure a congressional majority.
In addition to the commonwealth’s 17 congressional seats, Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, is running for reelection. His challenger is Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.
This guide doesn’t include the 203 state House and 25 state Senate seats up for grabs. Neither of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators is up for election in 2026.
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Brooke Landry, left, a Submerged Aquatic Vegetation expert with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources who chairs the Chesapeake Bay program work group on underwater grasses, speaks with an attendee during a kayaking trip to the Susquehanna Flats on July 24, 2026. (Photo by Christine Condon/ Maryland Matters)
By Shannon Heckt of The Virginia Mercury
The Chesapeake Bay earned a C+ on the annual report card that calculates improvements or losses in key indicators of health and conditions in the estuary and surrounding areas. This is the highest the Bay has ever scored since the record-keeping began in 2006.
At the announcement in Woodbridge, Virginia, on Tuesday, leaders said the score reflects the impact continuous clean up efforts have in the Bay, however slow the progress may be.
“We are taking this as an opportunity to acknowledge that what we are doing is working, and that we have momentum moving forward,” said David Bulova, Virginia’s Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources.
TODAY IN THE CAPITAL-STAR
Trump: Execution of Fort Hood shooter will not be livestreamed: President Donald Trump Thursday announced that the execution of a man convicted of the Fort Hood shooting will not be livestreamed, a reversal after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that Nidal Hasan’s death by firing squad would be public.
2 states, 2 abortion ballot measures, and the effort to win over Gen Z: In Idaho and Missouri, where voters will decide the future of abortion access on Nov. 3, campaigns are trying to reach a generation dealing with rising living costs and skepticism toward politics. For some young voters, abortion remains a defining issue. But for many others, it ranks behind more immediate economic concerns.
ICYMI
Study aims to identify retired power plant sites that can be reactivated: Nearly two dozen former power plant sites across Pennsylvania are part of a study to identify potential locations for new generating facilities that could help ease the region’s power crunch.
What is on-demand mail ballot voting? It allows eligible Pennsylvania voters to request a mail ballot application and fill it out at their local elections office. County election staff can process the application and give the voter a ballot on the spot, which they can fill out and return in the same visit.
With fewer public defenders, indigent defendants pay the price in Pa.: A 2024 study by the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania found that in a typical year, the state’s 850 public defenders are assigned cases that would require 1,200 lawyers to provide adequate representation. It found 60 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties don’t have enough attorneys.
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