Is our long regional nightmare about to be over? There are signs of compromise in Harrisburg . Governor Josh Shapiro floated a $49.9 billion compromise budget, a spending increase of 5 percent rather than the 8 percent he’d been seeking. And he and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford indicated they’d be open to a SEPTA fix that their side originally resisted — tapping into the Public Transportation Trust Fund , which pays for transit-related capital projects. (Republicans say $1.1 billion of it is unallocated).

These are good signs. Shapiro’s shuttle diplomacy, I’m told, has been tenacious, with a carousel of midnight phone calls back and forth between Bradford and Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman. It’s too early for celebration or postmortem, but let’s assess where we are and how

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