Rabb robbed, Shapiro sold!

No. 89 | Monday, February 16, 2026

City News

• State Rep. Chris Rabb, whose campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives has recently been endorsed by Philly DSA, has reported that his treasurer stole money from his campaign.

• At a recent forum, Rabb’s opponent State Senator Sharif Street said he won’t reject corporate PAC money. “It’s easy if you spend your life making a lot of money and you can put your own money in the race to say, ‘I’m not taking corporate money,’” he said.

• City Council expressed hostility towards the proposed closure of Philly school this week with Council President Kenyatta Johnson threatening to withhold city funding for the district if necessary. Other members have proposed checking Mayor Parker’s power by suggesting they could recall school board members at will. In the meantime, parents, students, and members of school communities push back against the further divestment from struggling neighborhoods.

• An anti-violence non-profit politically connected to Mayor Cherelle Parker and Council President Johnson, NOMO, had their low-income housing initiative collapse resulting in all 23 of its tenants being evicted. The organization has received over $6 million in public funds since 2021, and used some of those funds to purchase season tickets for the 76ers.

• Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner denied rumors that he will be running against Mayor Parker, who is backed by the party establishment and raised $1.7 million in campaign funds last year. Parker has received criticism for avoiding confrontations with President Trump and leaning on cops to address Kensington’s drug trade.

• On Tuesday, protestors rallied against the removal of President’s House slavery exhibit—which details George Washington’s involvement with slaves and slavery—by a Trump executive order. The protest was organized by Avenging The Ancestors coalition, who decried the Trump administration’s efforts to erase Black history.

• Even after its much celebrated death, the art museum’s rebrand continues to haunt the museum as the CFO and Chief of Staff resigned this week.

• The Inquirer investigated the corruption at the Register of Wills office, an infamous patronage mill of the city Democratic machine. Lawsuits at the office for instances of corruption spanning two different terms (and two different corrupt bosses) have cost the city almost $1 million in settlement money.

State News

• Governor Josh Shapiro’s reelection campaign is building quite a warchest, with most of it coming from powerful PACs and out-of-state billionaires.

• Meanwhile, Shapiro has been waging a months-long war with his neighbors—ordering state police to occupy a portion of their yard that he claims is his own, surveilling it with drones, and using tax dollars to build a $1 million fence to surround it. His support for colonizing forces is nothing if not consistent.

• Bucks County Congressperson Brian Fitzpatrick is a rare Republican member of the House of Representatives to come out in favor of banning masks for ICE agents. Conversely, Senator John Fetterman is the only Democratic senator to vote in favor of DHS funding that would have averted a partial government shutdown.

• After Trump’s State Department ordered public libraries to stop processing passport applications, a bipartisan bill in the Pennsylvania State House seeks to overturn this order. Advocates note that without the help of libraries, applying for a passport can be too expensive or inconvenient for disadvantaged or rural citizens.

• At the State of the County Address, Montgomery County commissioners grapple with Trump’s threatened cuts to funding. They agree to “put politics aside” for the sake of services such as SNAP, but provide little clarity on what that means, especially over tensions of recent ICE activity in Montgomery.

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The Weekly Rose

The Simpsons are coming to Philly for their 800th episode.