Casey outlines stimulus wish list

With President-elect Barack Obama mulling a proposed economic stimulus package in the hundreds of billions of dollars, the area’s representatives in Congress are weighing in with ideas of what the package should include.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski each wrote letters to the leaders of their houses outlining their ideas.

The new House and Senate convene Tuesday, and Mr. Obama is scheduled to take the oath of office Jan. 20.

“What I hope will happen is we’ll be able to reach some consensus and maybe have legislation ready for him when he gets there,” Mr. Casey said. “That’s probably ambitious, but we can certainly get a good bit of work done prior to his swearing in.”  read more »


Rendell proposes no parole for repeat violent offenders

Gov. Ed Rendell on Sunday asked the Legislature to end parole for repeat violent offenders and said the state would expand its supervision of such offenders on parole.

The request occurred a day after Rendell said he received the criminal history on a man who had been paroled three times before allegedly killing two people in the Philadelphia suburbs last year.

He cited the deaths of two Philadelphia police officers allegedly killed by parolees in 2008.

“These murders cry out for changes in how we sentence our violent repeat offenders who use deadly weapons,” Rendell said. “This is a situation that simply has to change.”  read more »


Officials mull tighter control of constables

Pennsylvania Chief Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille said he wants to impose standards after a number of constables have been charged with crimes ranging from homicide to sexual assault to theft during the past decade.

Mamaux’s civil suit over his shooting is pending, and several constables in the region face lawsuits or criminal charges for incidents related to their duties:

• In November, Fayette County constable Albert Troyan was arrested by state police in Uniontown after he fired five shots at an occupied car while trying to serve warrants for unpaid traffic violations. He faces trial on charges of reckless endangerment and firing a weapon into a structure.  read more »


New state laws aid dogs, moms and more

Pennsylvania lawmakers left a lot of bills in the hopper when the two-year legislative session ended in November, including ones that would have given the state an official rock, poem and dance.

They also failed to pass bills that would have required workers to get a 30-minute break after five hours of work, banned schools from starting before Labor Day and allowed hunters to hunt woodchucks on Sundays.

In fact, 95 percent of the bills that were introduced during the 2007-08 session failed to reach the governor’s desk.  read more »


Turnpike toll increase takes effect

Starting Sunday, it costs more to drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The 25 percent higher fares aren’t just being used to maintain the road. For the first time, they will support other state roads and mass transit systems.

The question Pennsylvania commuters and businesses are asking: Will I go along for the ride? Many people who use the turnpike are already doing the math, factoring in whether the convenience is worth the fare.

Turnpike officials do not expect any significant, prolonged drop-off in business. That’s in part based on their experience in 2004. While there was a short-lived downturn in passenger car volume after that 42 percent fare hike it was more than offset by continued increases in commercial vehicle traffic, said turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo.  read more »


Number of female lawmakers grows

After a year when America saw its first woman on the Republican presidential ticket and another become the first woman to be a presidential candidate, more women than ever will serve in state and federal law-making chambers this year.

A record 1,784 women will help craft public policy in state legislatures nationwide this year, an increase of 35 from last year, according to Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics Center for American Women and Politics. Women now hold 24 percent of all state legislative seats.

When Pennsylvania’s 193rd legislative session convenes on Tuesday, 37 women will be filling the 253 seats in the state House and Senate. That matches the record number set last session.  read more »


Crisis a stopper to Nutter's year of successes

Mayor Nutter stood at the center of a hot and cramped room at the Kingsessing Recreation Center three weeks ago, repeatedly interrupted by hissing, booing and foot-stomping as he pleaded his case.

“This is the last thing I want to be doing,” Nutter told the crowd of his decision to close 11 city libraries, seven fire companies, and 68 swimming pools.

Few seemed to hear him.

“Shame on you, Nutter!” one woman shouted. Another called out: “We voted you in – OK, we can vote you out!”

So much for the carefree, feel-good days of last January, when thousands of Philadelphians waited hours in a line that wrapped around City Hall to shake their new mayor’s hand.  read more »


Luzerne County Court and Commissioner Battle Over Funding

The Pennsylvania’s Legislature’s ongoing failure to fund the courts in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties has come to a head in Luzerne County.

This story pinpoints the need to make the judicial system of Pennsylvania truly unified, rather than unified in name only. In return for creating a designated source of funding, the Legislature can demand that the county courts become more streamlined, efficient and yes, unified. Let’s start with eliminating all local rules.

A pitched battle has erupted in Luzerne County between members of the judiciary and the county commissioners, who adopted a budget last month that eliminates funding for an estimated 56 court-related employees.  read more »


Ex-Fumo aide resigns Senate post

Christopher B. Craig, one of former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo’s most loyal aides and widely considered among the best legal minds in the Capitol, has resigned from the Senate staff after 16 years.

Craig, who is credited with writing the landmark 2004 law that legalized slot machines in Pennsylvania, said yesterday that he resigned from his $158,300-a-year post as a top lawyer for Senate Democrats to explore other job opportunities.

But several sources familiar with the matter said Craig resigned after learning that he would not continue as chief counsel to Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee and would be reassigned to a lower legal post.  read more »


State senator wants hate crimes law as top priority

Attack someone because of their skin color, religion or national origin and it’s considered a hate crime, which can warrant additional charges in Pennsylvania.

Attack the same person because of ancestry, disability, sexual orientation or gender and it isn’t.

State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, wants to change that by increasing the list of protected classes. Now.

He’s asking fellow lawmakers in both chambers to make that their first order of business in the legislative session, which begins Jan. 6.  read more »


Midstate job losses set 18-year record

The Harrisburg area lost more jobs last month than any other in the past 18 years, dropping 1 percent from a year ago and outpacing the 0.7 percent decline in the state.

The region’s unemployment rate jumped from 5 percent in October to 5.3 percent in November. A year ago, the region’s unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent.

The region’s jobs totaled 330,300 in November, down by 2,000 in the prior month and down by 3,300 from a year ago. The October-to-November decline was the largest on record, dating to 1990.  read more »


Judge halts library closings

A Philadelphia judge yesterday blocked Mayor Nutter’s plan to close 11 libraries starting at 5 p.m. today, frustrating the mayor’s emergency budget-cutting plan, raising cheers from library users, and potentially tipping the balance of power in city government.

Common Pleas Court Judge Idee C. Fox ruled that Nutter needed City Council’s approval to shut the libraries and that they must stay open until Council or a court says otherwise. Nutter had ordered 11 of 54 libraries closed as part of a plan to address a projected $1 billion, five-year budget deficit. The closings were to save $8 million annually.

Nutter said he would appeal the ruling to Commonwealth Court, calling it “an absolute assault on the city’s Home Rule Charter” and the powers it gives every mayor.  read more »


Philly homicides down 15 percent

From City homicides down 15 percent in a challenging and sad year :: Philadelphia Daily News :: 12/31/2008:

SIXTY MORE people kept their lives in Philadelphia this year than last – 60 fewer families left grieving, 60 fewer bodies to be buried and 60 fewer homicides to solve.

But for Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, the 15 percent homicide reduction – the steepest decline in a decade – down from 392 in 2007 to 332 this year, isn’t enough.

“We’re not satisfied,” he said. “We’ll never be satisfied.”  read more »


Top Rendell Healthcare Aide to Step Down

The director of Gov. Ed Rendell’s efforts to expand health insurance to low-income children and adults, help doctors pay their malpractice bills and modernize Pennsylvania’s health care system is stepping down.

Rendell said Tuesday that Rosemarie B. Greco will leave her post as director of the Office of Health Care Reform on Dec. 31, but will remain as an adviser to the governor as he continues to press a plan to expand state-subsidized health insurance for low-income adults.  read more »


Improved Open Records Law Begins in February

It was a dubious distinction that may have done more than any other factor to produce a new Right-to-Know Law: Pennsylvania’s long-standing reputation as one of the worst states when it comes to letting people know what their government is doing.

The quality of public access does not lend itself to a comprehensive state-by-state analysis, but there is broad consensus that Pennsylvania’s new law, which takes effect next month, represents a major step forward.

Evaluating a state’s access can involve an array of factors, including a state’s laws, court rulings, government culture and real-life experiences.  read more »


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