Marc Levy/The Associated Press

Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Senate passed spending legislation hours ahead of the of the new fiscal year, but they lacked agreement with the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to keep the state government’s full spending authority intact.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is trying to wrap up his first budget by Saturday’s start of the new fiscal year, as he works to balance Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature in perhaps the biggest test yet of his political skills under the Capitol dome.

Pennsylvania will truck in 2,000 tons of lightweight glass nuggets to help quickly rebuild a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and crews will work 24 hours a day until they can reopen the critical commercial artery, officials said Wednesday.

A hard-right Pennsylvania state lawmaker said Thursday night that he will not challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, leaving the GOP field wide open as Republican Party officials try to recruit a strong candidate in the moderate battleground state to help capture a Senate majority in 2024.

Gov. Josh Shapiro is proposing a hefty an increase in aid to Pennsylvania’s schools in his first budget delivered Tuesday to the Legislature, but the Democrat’s administration also emphasized prudence, saying a massive cash surplus will dwindle over time.

Gov. Tom Wolf will wrap up eight years in office next month, having steered Pennsylvania through unpredictable times when the Democrat made life-and-death decisions in the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic and managed the battleground state’s presidential election amid unprecedented Republican efforts to overturn it.