School choice holdouts: The Center Square asked five governors' offices where their states stand on the new federal education tax credit, and only one wrote back.
Boulder climate case: A lawsuit from one Colorado county reached the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, and energy groups say the ruling will reach far past Colorado.
Seattle job losses: Seattle shed more than 18,600 jobs in a single year while two nearby cities added them.
NASA's Moon-to-Mars cost: A federal auditor told The Center Square the agency has no single estimate for what the program costs, and explained why.
Walmart pricing pledge: Three shoppers paid three different prices for the same gallon of milk, and Walmart's promise comes with one unanswered question.
Governors stay quiet as school choice credit deadline nears
Photo: Nils Huenerfuerst / Unsplash
What we found: Only one of five governors’ offices responded to The Center Square after the Treasury Department and IRS released guidance Oct. 1 for the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit. New York, California and Washington did not respond, and Pennsylvania’s office could not be reached. Gov. Josh Shapiro had said he was waiting for the rules before deciding whether to participate, while a bipartisan coalition is urging Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson to opt in. Virginia has opted in, but a required step remains unclear. Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office said it was reviewing the regulations and remained committed to public school students, without confirming whether Virginia had submitted its list of scholarship organizations or when it would.
The stakes: Starting Jan. 1, donors can claim an annual federal tax credit of up to $1,700, or $3,400 for married couples filing jointly, for qualifying contributions to scholarship organizations in participating states. Donors can give across state lines, meaning residents of states that sit out can support students elsewhere. New Jersey Republicans say their state could miss out on more than $900 million in scholarship funds.
The backstory: Congress created the credit in the 2025 tax law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Supporters say it expands families’ education options. Teachers unions have urged states to reject it, and National Education Association President Princess Moss said the plan diverts taxpayer dollars to private education for a select few. The proposed rules also raise questions about who qualifies. In Illinois, Colleen Hroncich, a policy analyst with Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom, warned that the definition of “school” could exclude homeschoolers and microschoolers in many states. In Louisiana, the proposal would prevent the state from narrowing eligible school types or expenses, while leaving coordination with existing state programs unresolved.
Where it stands: The proposed rules have a 60-day comment period and a Dec. 15 hearing, while companion temporary rules are already in place. States must opt in by Jan. 1 and submit their lists of qualifying scholarship organizations by Feb. 15.
3 States
Colorado: The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, testing whether local governments can use state law to make energy companies pay for climate damage. University of Georgia law professor Hillel Levin compared the claims to tobacco and opioid suits and said they deserve a trial. Daniel Turner of the advocacy group Power the Future told The Center Square the court "can rule on one case, but Congress can end the whole scheme," and urged the House Judiciary Committee to pass the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act.
Washington: Seattle lost more than 18,600 jobs between 2024 and 2025, according to a new Downtown Seattle Association analysis, while Bellevue and Tacoma added 5,375 and 662 jobs since 2024. Downtown office vacancy sat at 35.6% this summer, unchanged from late 2025. Starbucks is moving jobs to Nashville and has committed to hiring 2,000 people in Tennessee. The association's Dennis Sills told The Center Square the group found strong job growth in Texas and Nashville, places with very different fiscal policies, but stopped short of claiming those policies caused the gap.
Pennsylvania: Advocacy groups rallied in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday and called on lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro to halt data center construction. Shapiro embraced the industry before reversing course on Aug. 18 and signing an executive order creating “guard rails.” Organizer Karen Feridun of the Better Path Coalition said the order falls far short. Farmer Stuart Day called the buildout an "economic colonization of rural America." A three-year statewide moratorium bill from Sen. Katie Muth, a Chester County Democrat, sits in the Senate Local Government Committee.
2 Issues
Elections: Analyst Mark Davis, a member of the Georgia Republican Party's Election Confidence Task Force, projects nearly 31,000 Georgians could cast ballots next month from counties they no longer live in, based on change-of-address records he ran at The Center Square's request. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called the numbers inaccurate and blamed the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which limits how close to an election states can drop voters from the rolls. Sara Tindall Ghazal, the State Election Board’s lone Democrat, said mail forwarding records do not prove where someone lives.
Government spending: NASA keeps no single cost estimate for its Moon-to-Mars program, according to William Russell of the Government Accountability Office. The Center Square asked NASA for that figure on June 25, July 1, and Oct. 1 and never received one. NASA's inspector general found the same gap and in 2021 estimated the agency would spend $93 billion on Artemis through fiscal 2025. Cumulative cost overruns across NASA's 18 major projects in development reached nearly $4.7 billion this year, with the Orion crew capsule accounting for almost three-quarters.
1 Number
29,000
The U.S. economy added 29,000 jobs in September, compared with an average monthly gain of 45,000 over the previous year, and unemployment held at 4.2%. Economist Orphe Divounguy told The Center Square the labor market is stuck in a "low-hire, low-fire" pattern.
Walmart pledges not to set prices based on shopper data
Consumer Reports found three Walmart shoppers paid $4.30, $3.66, and $3.22 for the same gallon of milk. Walmart Chief Executive John Furner says the company will not use shopper data to set individual prices. Reporter Brett Rowland explains what Walmart would not say about its own patent.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska
Sullivan defends his seat in November against Democrat Mary Peltola, a former two-term congresswoman who lost reelection in 2024, in a race that could decide control of the Senate. Vice President JD Vance traveled to Alaska to campaign with him this week and announced a nearly $400 million power grid project. Vance attacked Peltola's attendance and spending records, and her campaign told The Center Square Alaskans will hold Sullivan accountable.
Which approach do you think would do the most to make housing affordable where you live?
The New Orleans City Council unanimously rolled back its affordable housing mandate this month, cutting the fee developers pay to skip set-asides from $304,810 to $10,000 after a 2025 report found the policy had not produced a single apartment complex since 2020. California went the other way, with a new law letting affordable housing owners shift income between properties to head off foreclosure.
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