Where more than $1 billion in Pa. lottery profit goes

• Ed Mahon
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  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press

A Powerball ticket purchased in a convenience store in Lancaster, Pa., is held in front of a Pennsylvania Lottery computer screen advertising the record $1.4 billion Powerball jackpot, Jan. 11, 2015, in this file photo.

From The Context, PA Post’s weekday email newsletter:

A debate over Medicaid funding

Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press

A Powerball ticket purchased in a convenience store in Lancaster, Pa., is held in front of a Pennsylvania Lottery computer screen advertising the record $1.4 billion Powerball jackpot, Jan. 11, 2015, in this file photo.

• Sandi Bush, who moved to Pennsylvania about five years ago, wanted to know where state lottery money goes. She submitted a question to the Listening Post.

• I knew that Pennsylvania dedicates its lottery money to older residents. But I wasn’t familiar with the debate over whether some of that money should help fund Medicaid programs. The practice started back when Democrat Ed Rendell was governor, and for this year’s budget, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf wants to transfer about $400 million from the PA Lottery to the Department of Human Services.

• If you’re interested in more about the PA Lottery, check out this story from WESA. It describes how, almost 40 years ago, a group of people in the Pittsburgh area rigged the televised lottery. “What happened in 1980 could never happen again,” the lottery’s executive director said.

Best of the rest

Lindsay Lazarski / WHYY

Parishioners pray the Rosary at Holy Infancy Roman Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania after mass on Tuesday, August 14, 2018. The same day, Pennsylvania Attorney General released his two-year grand jury investigation into widespread sexual abuse and cover-up within six Catholic dioceses across the state.

• WHYY’s Laura Benshoff breaks down how the Catholic Church increased its lobbying spending in 2017 and 2018, as lawmakers debated changes to the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits related to child sex abuse.

• State Sen. Daylin Leach says “absolutely not” in response to calls for his resignation over allegations of improper conduct. WITF’s Katie Meyer has more about the Democratic lawmaker from the Philly suburbs and the growing list of party leaders who say he should step down.

• The Inquirer’s Jason Nark spent time searching for Bigfoot in the woods outside Wilkes-Barre. He created an audio diary of the experience. (Spoiler alert: He didn’t find the legendary creature. …But if Bigfoot does indeed come to Pennsylvania some day, and if it happens to stop in the state capital, I’m confident that Brett and Katie — who are now experienced wayward beast reporters — will be ready.)