Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026

Monroe Unfiltered uses AI. We use it to transcribe meetings and video, to help score which stories matter most, and to create some of our images. It is a tool, not a reporter. Every fact is checked against a named source, we sometimes make mistakes, and when we do we say so openly and honestly. And we tell you at the top, not 41 seconds in.

Now, the ad. Republican Stacy Garrity, the state treasurer and candidate for governor, is running a 60-second spot featuring an AI-generated Gov. Josh Shapiro, and the ad says so itself. Data centers, the same fight Monroe County is living through (the Smithfield Gateway hearing is Oct. 28), are the punchline. We are covering the technique, not telling you how to vote.

An AI Shapiro talks to the camera through a rapid string of attacks. It opens with the $295,000 settlement of a sexual harassment complaint against former legislative affairs secretary Mike Vereb, signed Sept. 5, 2023, per Spotlight PA. That complaint was against an aide, not the governor. It then moves through taxes, school sports, state rankings, and data centers, with on-screen text citing outlets like ABC27 and the Morning Call. We have not independently verified each of those citations, and the ad's claims, including that Shapiro fast-tracked data centers after $5 million in political contributions, are Garrity's allegations. The Shapiro campaign says the ad is dishonest.

The faces and voice are photorealistic, but the ad does say it is AI, and to any informed voter it is obviously AI: the lightning, the cash fan and the over-the-top script give it away. Not every viewer is paying that much attention, though, and a clip with a realistic face can travel without its caption.

The ad does say it is AI. The caption "This ad was created with AI" appears about 41 seconds into the 60-second spot, per our frame-by-frame check of the video posted by AdImpact. Robert Morris University professor Anthony Moretti puts it at about 45 seconds. Either way, most of the ad has already played, and the AI Shapiro adds that it was made "thanks to big, beautiful data centers."

As we have reported, both candidates were data center fans before they were data center skeptics. Shapiro touted Amazon's $20 billion investment and fast-tracked its permits, and Garrity praised the same investment when it was announced, per Spotlight PA. Now data centers are a central fight of both campaigns, and Garrity's ad credits data centers for making it. She says everything in it is true. Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder said she "trafficked in dishonest AI content," and the campaign told Axios the ad is "cheap, dishonest, AI BS." In the final scene, the AI Shapiro throws lightning from his fingertips in a server room, as close to a Terminator origin story as Pennsylvania politics has produced. Skynet at least announced itself before the machines took over; this ad waited 41 seconds to say it was one.

Check the source, not the face. If an ad moves you, find the original claim before you share it. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Generally, no. Federal rules bar a broadcast station from rejecting or editing a candidate's ad because it is false, and shield the station from lawsuits over what it says. That covers any candidate's ad, AI or not, on broadcast and local cable. Online platforms are not covered, and stations can turn down ads from outside groups. Full disclosure: I worked in broadcast TV for years, including at TEGNA, which owned WNEP, so I know this rule from the inside.

Pennsylvania has no law written for deepfakes in political ads. Act 35, signed in July 2025, makes it a crime to use AI to create a forged likeness meant to defraud or injure someone, a felony when tied to a scheme to defraud, coerce or steal, and whether it reaches a political ad is untested. House Bill 811, which would require disclosure of AI deepfakes in campaign ads and add civil liability for undisclosed ones, passed the House unanimously in June 2025 and has not passed the Senate. About two dozen states require a disclaimer, per CBS Pittsburgh. This is not legal advice.

The Board of Supervisors meets tonight, Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building Meeting Room, 147 Municipal Drive, East Stroudsburg, and on Zoom. The agenda includes opening bids to demolish 204 Great Bear Way and a Revitalize 209 reimbursement for 5027 Milford Road. Register for Zoom at tinyurl.com/MSTBOSZoom. We will report the outcome once there are minutes or video. Correction: this item first said the meeting was Zoom only. The meeting is open to the public in person at the Municipal Building and on Zoom.

The Smithfield Township Board of Supervisors starts its formal hearing on the proposed Smithfield Gateway data center on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. at J.T. Lambert Intermediate School, 2000 Milford Road. Think of it as a mini-trial, where the supervisors hear from the developer and decide whether the project can go forward. If you want an official role, not just a seat in the audience, you can apply for "party status." That gives you a formal role in the hearing, which typically includes questioning witnesses and presenting your own evidence, and can matter if anyone appeals later. To apply, fill out the form on the township's Gateway page (smithfieldtownship.com) and email it to Township Manager Julia Heilakka by Tuesday, Oct. 27, or bring it to the hearing, where blank forms will be available. One caution: the township says the hearing could be postponed if the developer grants an extension, so check before you head out.

Senate Bill 1014, the school cellphone ban we have followed since June, passed the Senate 47 to 3 on Wednesday, Oct. 21, after the House approved it 141 to 62 on Monday, Oct. 19. It requires schools to keep phones away all day, bell to bell, by the 2027-28 school year, with exceptions for medical needs, disability plans, translation, and teacher-led lessons approved by the principal. It covers public, charter, cyber, career and technical, and private schools. Shapiro supports it and has 10 days after it reaches him to sign. Every Monroe County district will need a compliant policy by September 2027.

The timing is hard to miss. Yesterday we reported that roughly 20 percent of East Stroudsburg Area sixth graders are proficient in math, with English scores down in grades 4 through 8, per Monday's school board meeting. The idea behind a phone ban is fewer distractions in class. Whether it moves test scores is the open question, and nothing in those local numbers says phones caused the drop. Our March Deep Dive on reading, "Why Johnny Can't Read," is worth another look: localunfiltered.com/monroe/buzz/2026-03-10.