Inquirer: We sat down with Gov. Josh Shapiro to talk about his first month. Here are our takeaways.

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(link) https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/josh-shapiro-governor-train-derailment-budget-school-funding-20230227.html

No bills have come across Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk during his first month in office. But he’s kept busy.

The new Democratic governor has worked to cast himself as a leader willing to reach across the aisle in a deeply polarized state. And he’s put time into boosting his national profile, too — giving interviews to Fox News and the Washington Post shortly after taking office, and going to the Super Bowl in Arizona.

Shapiro has also called on the state legislature to abolish the death penalty, signed pro-business executive orders, visited the train derailment site near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border, and attended the funeral of the Temple University police officer killed Feb. 18. He now must work with lawmakers in the state House, where Democrats hold a thin majority after a chaotic start to their session, and the Republican-controlled state Senate to accomplish his agenda.

The Inquirer sat down with Shapiro to talk about his first month, his upcoming budget address, and what he thinks he’ll be able to get done in the coming years. Here are five takeaways from the exclusive interview.

- more at link -

Points covered in the interview:
1) His first crisis as governor is the East Palestine train derailment.
2) He’s trying to build consensus from both parties on his budget proposal before he unveils it.
3) He won’t say how he’ll get involved in the fight over extending the statute of limitations for child sex-abuse victims.
4) Fixing the state’s school funding system will take time.
5) His family is settling into life in Harrisburg.