George, who was also an appointed member of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Board (PennVEST), had long argued that the low interest loans and grants that the board approved for drinking water, wastewater and storm water management projects had been tilted heavily toward larger systems, sometimes leaving smaller water authorities standing at the altar, unable to make upgrades or even keep up with clean water mandates.

George crafted a bill that would mandate a certain percentage of PennVEST dollars be set aside for smaller systems, serving fewer than 15,000 residents.  With the House being controlled by the GOP at the time, the bill went off to die quietly in the corner.

Fast forward a decade.

This morning, we perused a sobering story in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/energy-environment/08water.html?_r=1&hp proclaiming that the federal Safe Drinking Water Act is producing water that is anything but safe.  49 million Americans, the report found, have ingested contaminated water.  Contaminated with what, you ask?  Well, thank goodness it was only little, harmless things like raw sewage, arsenic, and uranium.

Over the past five years, a full 20% of the nation’s water treatment plants have violated the SDWA.  Thankfully, the Environmental Protection Agency came down hard on those folks, prosecuting almost 6% of violators.  Wow, thanks for the effort.

Hidden in the Times report was a small but important factoid.  The majority of malfunctioning water treatment systems serve fewer than 20,000 people.

This George character looks to be fairly prescient with a decade in the rearview mirror, huh?

Right now in our General Assembly, the water battles are being fought over discharges into Pennsylvania waterways, not the water we remove, treat and drink.  Frac water treatment from Marcellus Shale drilling has caught the attention of state regulators.  The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is railing over proposed tough new standards on Total Dissolved Solids allowed to be discharged into our waterways.  And farmers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are bracing for drastic and potentially expensive changes aimed at keeping sediment out of the tributaries leading into the bay.  Check out our previous post on water issues.

Ten years ago, the General Assembly passed on the chance to consider the George bill.  As the state continues to take testimony on proposed changes to the Statewide Water Plan, will the shocking new revelations from the Times spur a second look at an idea first proposed by the Gentleman from Clearfield?  Or perhaps an update to our own Safe Drinking Water Act, first passed in 1985?

Hell or high water?

But that’s essentially what occurs on Jan. 1, when the era of electric competition dawns in the PPL service territory.  The rate caps come off, the competitive suppliers come in, and PPL becomes primarily a distributor of electricity and fixer of downed power lines, with the almost reluctant responsibility to be the provider of last resort for customers who don’t sign on with one of the new (and lower-priced) suppliers.

Although more than 10 years in the making, this dramatic paradigm shift clearly has many folks confused.  Yes, electric prices are going up, significantly, after being frozen at artificially low levels for a dozen or so years.  It was inevitable, with either a competitive or regulated market.

Electricity prices going up?  Just as sure and as quickly as a duck will feast on a June bug, everyone wants to bang the utility for that.  Gouging us again, cry consumers.  Corporate greed-heads, grouse policymakers.  Pull the plug on PPL’s rate hike, assert activists.  All the while, many in the news media simply chronicle the banging without bothering to ferret out what’s really happening.  One media outlet recently characterized the entrance of a new supplier into the market as “yet another blow to PPL.”  No, no, no.

Which brings us to today’s confab on energy and rate caps sponsored by Penn Future, at which PPL President David DeCampli urged customers to “please shop.”  He noted that competitive suppliers would enable customers to avoid the full impact of PPL’s 30 percent increase in the default rate (on which the utility receives little or no profit), and he assured consumers that PPL will not think them disloyal.

Okay, one more time:  As of Jan. 1, PPL will be out of the business of selling electricity, except to consumers who have failed to look after their own best interest and sign up with a supplier that is cheaper and greener, just as reliable, and much more willing to please them than PPL would be.

Now, one last thought for our friends who love the good old days and hate change.  Your electricity will still be delivered to your door by good, ole PPL.  And they will charge you a delivery fee for bringing it to your doorstep.  Think of it like the milkman who used to come to your door.  He brought you the milk.  But a cow made it.  Now, same with electricity.

1.       Table games -- The final piece of the budget agreement and its $200 million impact on this year’s bottom line sits in the House, where leaders are cautiously predicting a vote as early as Tuesday of next week.  The sticking points are still local revenue sharing; potential expansion of Resort Licenses; potential expansion of services under existing Resort Licenses; reform of the original slots law; and tax rates.  Remember that the issue of local revenue sharing from slots casinos was such a contentious subject that it delayed the passage of slot machine gaming for months.  As of this afternoon, we are cautiously optimistic that a deal will get done before Santa comes a-boppin’ down the chimney.

2.       Non-Preferred Appropriations – Over $700 million in funding for colleges and universities is cooling its heels in the big vault, waiting for table games to pass and the state budget to therefore be in balance.  Or is it?  Sources are now saying that if table games negotiations go “Ace-Deuce,” which is to say crash and burn, that somehow, some way the Rendell Administration will find enough to fill the $200 million hole and release the non-preferreds anyway.  Lawmakers have not yet felt the full wrath of colleges and universities, but as fall turns to winter, Blue and White may just unleash the hounds.  Therefore we predict that by hook or crook, the non-preferred appropriations will find their way to Rendell’s desk imminently.

3.       Capital Debt Act – House Bill 1418, which would authorize the state to raise $775 million in general obligation bonds for ongoing projects, is stalled in the state senate, which caused Rendell’s budget office to announce this morning that they have suspended payments to almost 1,000 projects across PA, totaling $375 million.   The governor is apparently taking a hard line on the passage of this bill, and banking that the hue and cry that results when contractors, builders, laborers and developers stop getting checks will be enough to move the bill along.  We say the chances of this bill passing are at best 50-50, as the Senate GOP leadership team usually does not respond well to these types of subtle (or in this case not so subtle) threats.

4.       Rate Cap Mitigation/Alternative Energy -- Yes, the rate caps on electricity expire in parts of the state on January 1, 2010.  And yes, there are some folks who are loudly advocating for an extension of those caps.  But no, do not bet the farm that you will see any movement in that area.  In the waning days of Session, the House will not want to waste several days sifting through amendments, especially since the Senate is not inclined to act either way.  Ditto for House Bill 80, which makes wholesale changes to the Alternative Energy Portfolio Act.  Look for these two issues, especially the alternative energy bill, to re-surface next year.

Those are our bets as of today.  Check back for new developments as we move toward the final weeks of the 2009 session calendar. 

Clearly, this is an attempt to use the courts for a radical re-branding of a service industry, and for Bayada, and this is an incredibly risky strategy.  Bayada is one of the few true “brands” in home health care with all of its nurses and aides required to wear red hats and identifying jackets or coats.  If their action brings notoriety as “the company that underpays its personal care staff,” it could badly damage its brand.

Pennsylvania’s current system of home health care delivery is already fractured and under constant stress from an ever-growing population, as well as stagnant Medicaid reimbursement levels.  Turnover rates for home care workers are some of the highest of any industry in the state.  Most home care workers do not have health insurance.

This court decision will have wide-ranging consequences for the future of home care in Pennsylvania at a time when elected officials struggle to re-balance the long-term care system away from costly institutional care and towards quality in-home care.  

If there is a worse way to recruit and retain a quality home care work force than to file this particular lawsuit, we are still looking for it.  And for Bayada, the long term pain looks to far outweigh any short term gain.

Pennsylvania’s two largest pension funds, the State Employees Retirement System and the Public School Employees Retirement System see massive problems in 2012.  Municipal pensions across Pennsylvania, most notably in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, are also teetering on the brink or already underfunded.  The media will point fingers, cast blame and ponder how we got here.  None of that matters.  As the old saying reminds us: wherever you go, there you are.  And here we are.

The battle over House Bill 1828, which ultimately gave Philadelphia the authority to raise its sales tax and make changes to its pension amortization schedule, temporarily staved off the pain.  What was clear during the debate and wrangling over HB 1828 is that there will be a concerted effort at every level of government, from the General Assembly to the municipal and school board collective bargaining tables, to switch public pensions from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans.

While the effect of such a switch on pension plan solvency can be argued either way, what is less clear is the impact that it will have on retirees and current workers who are nearing retirement age.  We learned this week in Michigan that defined contribution plans do not come close to offering the same level of retirement security that defined benefit plans provide.  More critical, however, is that they were never designed to do so.  They were originally envisioned as supplements to retirement income, not the whole shootin’ match.  Check out the story here. http://detnews.com/article/20091109/OPINION01/911090307

As lawmakers begin preliminary discussions on pension reforms, perhaps as early as January, it will be interesting to see if anyone discusses wholesale pension changes in the context of how many Pennsylvanians may end up falling well below the poverty line while in the twilight of their lives.  Everyone -- from workers to employers to elected officials -- has a huge stake in the outcome of this particular poker game.

Generally speaking, Gerlach didn’t cover a whole lot of new ground.  We heard of business tax cuts, two-year budgeting,  reforming the regulatory climate, job creation, tort reform, penalizing lawmakers for late budgets and other garden-variety stuff about government reform.  Of note is that Gerlach apparently wants Pennsylvanians to have the chance to put questions on the ballot (California, here we come!)

The big enchilada, however, was near the end when Gerlach took some time to expound upon his call for a 21^st Century Infrastructure Task Force, which is a part of Team Gerlach’s 17 point “Pledge to Pennsylvania.”   Among other things, he said he would like to explore more public/private partnerships (PPP to the cool kids), move state police funding out of the Motor License Fund (Speaker Keith McCall introduced a bill last year to do just that) and find a replacement for the gas tax, as high efficiency cars are playing havoc with revenues from that levy.

The controversy surrounding the state’s re-application for the tolling of Interstate 80 is a hot topic in Harrisburg, and the outcome will have an enormous impact on the agenda of the next governor.  If the state comes up snake-eyes on its second roll of the dice, the infrastructure funding shortfall the commonwealth will face will make this year’s budget stalemate look like a walk in the park.

We awoke this morning to find a new report had come out from the Washington D.C-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that seems to indicate that as a state, we are pretty darned regressive when it comes to tax policy.  In fact, we are in the top ten of the most regressive states in the union.

The study found families in the lowest 20 percent of income - those earning $19,000 a year or less - paid 11.3 percent of their income for state income, sales and excise taxes and local property taxes compared to only 5 percent paid toward the same taxes by the top 1 percent, families who earn $428,000 or more a year.

The culprit, you ask?  Well, among other theories is that the Pennsylvania Constitution’s uniformity clause, which prohibits graduated levels of taxation, is not helping matters at all.  And what would it take to remedy this situation (if, in fact, you are of the mindset that it needs remedied at all)?

You can do one of two things: First, the legislature could pass an amendment to the constitution by passing a bill in two consecutive sessions, with voter approval.  Or second, you can just chuck that whole messy idea and have a constitutional convention. 

We see a pattern emerging.

When the current rate caps on PPL expire next year, residential customers are expected to see a 30% jump in their rates.  Direct Energy announced today that it is offering a 12-month discounted program with a 9-month step down, saving customers 15% off of PPL’s default rate.  In addition to the 12 month plan, Direct is also offering a 36-month fixed rate plan, as well as a 12 month “green” offering, where the supplier will purchase renewable energy products.

The debate in Harrisburg as to whether or not to extend rate caps on providers has essentially swirled around the question of whether or not there would be any competition to help offset expected rate increases.  Today’s announcement seems to answer that question in the affirmative, with Direct Energy becoming the third – and largest – supplier that has announced intentions to compete in the deregulated market.  Direct currently serves 5 million customers across 21 states.

With the price of nearly everything on the rise, today’s announcement is some welcomed good news for electric utility customers in the mid-state and beyond.  You can check it out here: http://directenergy.com/EN/Pennsylvania/Pages/Landing-Page/home.aspx

In the new law are changes that force authorities to reveal more detailed financial plans and allow the state comptroller to audit any contract of more than $1 million that is awarded noncompetitively.  Some authorities will no longer be able to appoint leaders without Senate consent. The new rules would also restrict the sale of land at below-market values, a practice intended to spur development that has been abused by authorities over the years.

This is pretty bold stuff for a state not generally known as a leader in open government.  So what does this have to do with Pennsylvania?  We are glad you asked.

Over the past few years in Pennsylvania, a new Open Records Law was passed, giving the public unprecedented access to government information.  Recently, Auditor General Jack Wagner called for sweeping reforms to how contracts are awarded for government services.  Candidates and lawmakers alike are calling for more competitive bidding on everything from who provides computer services to who supplies the toilet paper in state offices.

Just yesterday, Wagner called for a ban on controversial rate swaps that were extensively utilized in school districts and authorities across the state.  Swaps that the Delaware River Port Authority made in 2000 and 2001 provided the DRPA with $45 million, but the deals spawned $242 million in liabilities that are beginning to come due.  In Pittsburgh, the Water Authority also took on huge losses as a result of swaps, and then there is the matter of the Harrisburg Authority wrangling with the question of cost overruns on its incinerator, which is almost entirely under water.

See a trend here?  We do.  More access, more transparency, more eye-popping audits, questionable authority decisions and controversies,  and more regulation at the state and federal levels (Hey, Wall Street, how you folks doing?) will, in our judgment, inevitably lead to a New York style law being proposed right here in the Keystone State.  Now would be the time for all authorities large and small in Pennsylvania to begin thinking about how to deal with what we see on the horizon.

After all, nobody wants to lag behind New York.  Ask Phillies fans.

“Members of the Retail Energy Supply Association applaud the PUC’s action. Implementation of this program is an important step in promoting a vibrant competitive market electricity market for residential and small business customers on PPL’s system.

“This program will help ensure a level playing field for new suppliers and will provide customers with the convenience of receiving a single bill from PPL. Similar programs in other states with electric competition have proven very successful in promoting a more robust competitive market.

“This is one of many steps that the Commission has taken to help facilitate the development of a competitive market and to help prepare customers for the expiration of rate caps and the transition to competition.”

For more information regarding the PUC’s decision, click here (PUC’s news release).

RESA’s members are ConEd Solutions; Direct Energy Services, LLC; Exelon Energy Company; GDF SUEZ Energy Resources NA, Inc.; Gexa Energy; Green Mountain Energy Company; Hess Corporation; Integrys Energy Services, Inc.; Just Energy; Liberty Power; RRI Energy; Sempra Energy Solutions LLC. The comments expressed in this filing represent the position of RESA as an organization but may not represent the views of any particular member of RESA.

At the heart of the debate is the issue of whether or not the city, which provides about $700 million annually in funding to the school district, has any explicit authority to put a cap on charter school enrollment.  Conflicting views of current state law seem to be held on each side. 

Twenty charter school representatives were at the meeting to testify, as well as charter school advocate Senator Anthony “Hardy” Williams, who made it known that while the issue is on the table in Philly, it will likely get solved 90 miles to the west, in Harrisburg.

Williams’ colleagues and respective Majority and Minority Chairs of the Senate Education Committee, Jeff Piccola and Andrew Dinniman, have pledged to introduce a bill that would overhaul the state’s charter school law.  If past is precedent, there will be a move by some in Harrisburg to include language that caps enrollment, which would effectively take the issue out of local hands. Virtually every local school superintendent sees charter schools as an unwanted financial drain on his or her district budget and will, thus, fight hard for tough, enforceable caps on charter enrollment.

In any case, this border skirmish over charter schools in Philadelphia is poised to become a much broader fight when the Senate begins its hearings on the Piccola/Dinniman bill.  Oh, and just in case anyone had forgotten, the House of Representatives, that diverse and cantankerous body, has not even begun to weigh in yet.

In an interesting turn, Ravenstahl berated the board for taking the action, asking somewhat less than rhetorically how impartial the fiscal oversight team is, considering four of the six members currently have or have had ties to city universities.

The coming fight will be the first real test for Ravenstahl coming off his recent re-election to his first four-year term.  The alternatives to the tuition tax are not exactly tasty ones, with service cutbacks and property tax increases at the top of the menu.

Organized labor has sided with the mayor.  The city’s non-profits are behind the ICA.  And city council is poised to make the next move.

What we do know at this point is that despite the increasingly nasty tone out there at The Confluence, Pittsburgh’s $15 million war will likely be a lot shorter – and much less painful – than the billion dollar battle that Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter waged earlier this year.  The other good news for Mayor Luke?  He doesn’t need to come to the Pennsylvania General Assembly to solve the problem.  Yet.

1968 was the last time a constitutional convention was convened in Pennsylvania, and it was limited in scope to the articles pertaining to legislative apportionment; judicial administration, organization, selection, and tenure; local government; taxation and state finance (with the exception of the uniformity clause already contained in the Constitution); and any amendment on the ballot in the 1967 primary election.

So the question becomes:  what would be the scope of the next one, and who will decide what that scope is?  The answer to those questions are perhaps more important than the question of whether or not to convene a convention.

While most of these advocates agree that things like shrinking the legislature or reforming reapportionment are noble goals, it is hard to close that box once it is opened.  One man’s reform can be another man’s “stay the heck out of my business.”

If you are a business owner or taxpayer, how about eliminating the uniformity clause to move to a graduated income tax?

We are sure the trial lawyers and doctors across the state would be interested in seeing a protracted floor fight over a constitutional cap on damages.  And there might be a few people lining up to take a crack at a gay marriage constitutional ban, not to mention a ban on all manner of abortions.

Are you a gun control advocate?  One handgun a month amendment, anyone?

The possibility of seeing a constitutional convention gets greater as more and more elected officials throw up their hands, and more and more candidates latch onto the idea.  But if it happens, keeping it under control might prove to be the biggest challenge of all.

The hold up, as it has been since Day 1, is the tax rate that will be paid by casino owners for the right to deal the cards, spin the wheel and roll the bones.  If you picked the roulette wheel to stop on “16”, you may be a big winner.

If the tax rate ends up being 16%, it will set up an interesting Floor Debate.  The Senate GOP has been clear about wanting a comparatively low tax rate, while the House Dems wanted a substantially higher levy.  House GOP gaming opponents are now in the uncomfortable position of railing against the 16% rate – which they most assuredly will do – that was favored by their Senate brethren. 

Colleges, universities and other recipients of non-preferred appropriations are getting a wee bit hot under the collar waiting for this particular game to end.

The committee will answer questions and accept testimony on proposed critical water planning areas in Pennsylvania’s six major river basins.  Critical water planning areas encompass watersheds where existing or future water demands exceed or threaten to exceed the safe yield of available water resources. The process for designating these areas was established under Act 220 of 2002, the Water Resources Planning Act, which created the first update to the state water plan in 26 years.

While we reject the notion that the next great civil war will be fought over dwindling water resources (as long as Ohio and New Jersey don’t make any false moves), there is no doubt that water usage will be a defining issue in the years to come.  Manufacturers, utilities, shale drillers, local governments, conservationists, farmers…ok, maybe there is a little civil war brewing.  We intend to find out what the DEP intends to do about it all.

The conference is being held at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College, Pennsylvania and is drawing big crowds.  The issue of frac water treatment has bubbled to the surface again, and how the DEP and other regulatory agencies deal with this contentious issue will have a direct and lasting impact on all the would-be drillers and prospectors.  In addition, the summit will provide a forum to discuss and identify infrastructure, local government, legal and business issues, and impacts related to Marcellus Shale development in communities and regions.

We’ll have a full report later this week!

Will new entrants into the market be guaranteed a level playing with the established players?  Requiring a competitively neutral phase-in plan will be the key to insuring that is the case.  And of course, anytime a Title 66 (Public Utility) bill hits the voting schedule, expect a slew of amendments that may or may not have much at all to do with the original intent of the bill (did we just hear someone mention LIHEAP?)

Also on the docket, although much less likely to see the light of day, is House Bill 80, which will dramatically increase the percentage of electric energy required to be sold to retail electric customers from Tier I alternative energy sources.  The new target would be 18% by June 1, 2024.  As is the case anytime a lawmaker proposes “opening up” the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, there will be attempts to redefine alternative energy sources.  The smart money says that the state Senate will not enthusiastically embrace House Bill 80 in any form, but there could be pressure from progressive groups to get the House Democrats to lay down their marker on big-ticket environmental issues. 

We are also checking in on the House Local Government Committee this week, as that panel is slated to take up, among other things, a bill that would expand boroughs’ authority to contract for electric power and energy.  Last one out, turn out the lights!

In the 2012-2013 fiscal year, every school district in Pennsylvania must increase its contribution into the Public School Employees' Retirement System to an estimated 29.55 percent of its payroll. This year, schools are required to pay in only 4.78 percent. The spike will peak in 2014-2015 at 33.95 percent and slowly decrease.

Many schools are budgeting pension costs of 7 percent or more to try to bank money to lessen the hit. But school business and state officials say there is no way to make up that kind of increase in such a limited time without raising taxes.

Read more.

Willie Brown, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 234, said the 4,700 workers voted overwhelmingly to allow him to call a strike if negotiations with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority fail. Talks are slated to resume Monday.

Brown said he hoped a walkout would not affect the series, but he said workers have been without a contract since March and have not had a raise since December.

Read more.

Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant Army secretary for civil works, decided Friday to continue to rely on her predecessor's determination that a permit from Delaware was not needed to proceed, according to officials familiar with the issue.

"It's a giant matter of jobs," said Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.), who took the lead in pushing for the decision with Gov. Rendell and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.). "I think the merits are pretty plain, and there are no environmental downsides."

Read more.

The minimum state tax rate on games such as blackjack, poker and dice needs to be 16 percent to produce enough revenue to help balance the state budget, Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday. But setting the rate too high could "kill the golden goose" and discourage casinos, he said.

"If the tax rate and fees are too expensive, we simply won't be able to install them," said David LaTorre, a spokesman for the Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington County. "Table games are more labor-intensive. We employ about 1,000 people for 3,700 slot machines, but we'll need to hire about 700 people and add millions more in payroll for just 65 tables."

Read more.

Read more.

When Senate Republicans approved their version of a state budget in early May, they made severe reductions in funding for state parks. The bottom line for parks in fiscal 2009-10 dropped to $50.7 million, down from $61.6 million last year.

Because the cut was so sharp, Rendell administration officials said 35 to 50 of the 117 state parks might have to be closed in July, putting a crimp in many people's summer camping and hiking plans.

Read more.

As a result, up to 400 DEP employees could be laid off soon.

"I don't have all the answers yet. There will be layoffs, unfortunately, some reductions, but I'm not prepared to provide specifics at this time," John Hanger, state DEP secretary, said Friday in Pittsburgh. "We will make decisions expeditiously and sooner rather than later. The fiscal year is already more than a quarter gone, so we don't have a lot of time left to make reductions."

Read more.

Instead, the unemployed reading aide from Newburg and her husband, who also lost his job with the school's Junior ROTC program, are spending their days at the Capitol, trying to up legislators' understanding of the 114-year-old school's vital mission. "There's no guarantee, even if we do get back in the budget, I'll have my job back," Vargas, who is head of the school's teachers union, said. "I'm not fighting for my job, but because the school is so worthwhile."

Read more.

As hundreds of police, firefighters and other municipal workers rallied yesterday at the Capitol urging defeat of House Bill 1828, legislative leaders scrambled to draft a compromise measure that House members can consider when they vote Thursday.

"People who vote for H.B. 1828 need to be on notice. They're on our hit list," Bill George, president of Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, told workers at the rally.

Read more.

"This country is turning into Russia," one man said in a common refrain, standing toe to toe with Specter in a hall at the Harrisburg Area Community College campus here. Chants broke out - "You work for us!" and "Read the bill!" - as the senator tried to answer questions.

Later in the day, Specter faced similar frustrations from skeptical voters in Lewisburg in an auditorium at Bucknell University. In both places, most of the questioners stayed civil but accused President Obama, Specter, and other congressional Democrats of trying to force a government takeover of health care that would violate their constitutional rights as well as the character of the nation.

Read more.

The state subsidizes many of her children but hasn't paid Van Varenberg since June.

The skeleton budget that Gov. Ed Rendell signed last month hasn't changed her circumstances.

"I'm one of the people who still aren't getting paid," Van Varenberg said, adding that she wonders how long child-care operators like herself will be able to hang on.

There's no relief in sight yet for day-care centers across Pennsylvania.

Read more.

The public's right to know — which was enshrined in a robust new Pennsylvania law that took effect eight months ago — has become the target of roll-back efforts by local and state agencies.

In Harrisburg, the General Assembly has introduced several bills to change the new law. Some provisions would deny access to the home addresses or date of birth of school employees, in what has been characterized as a bid to protect privacy and safety.

A Commonwealth Court judge also issued a temporary injunction against releasing home addresses of school personnel until the court issues a further order.

Locally, East Stroudsburg and Pocono Mountain school districts are looking to overturn decisions made by the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records OOR). East Stroudsburg University is appealing to the Commonwealth Court a ruling granting the Pocono Record partial access to records held by its foundation.

Read more.

If there was any doubt about the city's appetite for slots, it was all but dispelled by early afternoon, as customers huddled around many of the casino's 3,000 machines, nearly filled the 3,800-space parking garage and endured long lines that snaked around the gambling floor to sign up for players cards.

For the most part, the North Shore riverfront venue seemed to be an instant hit. If visitors weren't playing, they appeared to be eating, crowding several of the casino's restaurants, including its all-you-can-eat buffet.

Read more.

"We have taken the [personal-income-tax increase] off the table," House Speaker Keith McCall (D., Carbon) said during a late-afternoon news conference in the Capitol.

It was a surprising and unexpected retreat for McCall and other House Democratic leaders, who have backed Rendell's push to raise the income tax rate 16 percent for three years despite flagging legislative and public support during a recession.

The tax plan has been the central sticking point in the administration's negotiations with Republican lawmakers over a new state budget, which have dragged on for more than a month. Rendell has said it would help pay for increased funding for schools and avert steep cuts to key health and social-services programs.

Read more.

Just one month after the law went into effect, many say it is too soon to know exactly how it will play out. But already, one thing is clear: Parties looking at the same law sometimes see different meanings.

The Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act, which took effect July 1, states that a health care facility may not require staff members to work overtime except under certain, specific circumstances such as a natural disaster, a widespread disease outbreak or an act of terrorism.

Read more.

Onorato's campaign account came $11,850 shy of $5 million, according to an e-mail he sent to supporters Monday. In the message, Onorato praised the term-limited Gov. Ed Rendell as "honorable" but said "folks want a governor with new ideas to create new jobs and to clean up Harrisburg."

Read more.

The same cannot be said for a handful of other states in financial dire straits because of the sour economy.

In California, for example, the check apparently is not in the mail.

If you are one of the 39,255 people still awaiting refunds, here is some slightly good news. The state may well owe you some interest on that money.

Read more.

It is certainly outrageous that state employees who are coming to work and doing their jobs on behalf of all Pennsylvanians are not getting paid in a timely manner because of the budget stalemate in Harrisburg. After all, they have the same mortgages to pay and mouths to feed as everyone else.

read more.

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the state constitution forbids the state from spending money that is not appropriated. "The Commonwealth Court decision last year found that the state constitution overrides the federal law" that requires timely payment for time worked, Ardo said. "We would like nothing better than to pay state workers, and that is exactly why we have been saying all along the budget should be done and done quickly."

Scarnati disagrees with the administration's interpretation that the state constitution trumps federal law. He claims it is an interpretation that Rendell is using to try to force Senate Republicans to give in to his demand for a tax increase to support a higher level of state spending.

Read more.

Read more.

The House voted yesterday, 193-3, to suspend an internal rule that requires a two-week waiting period, clearing the way for debate on the proposal today and possible passage as early as tomorrow.

The bill under consideration is a $29.1 billion tax-increase-free spending plan offered by Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.), chairman of the Appropriations Committee. But the proposal leaves out the funding for some universities, community colleges, and student loans without a way to pay for it. The legislature would provide that money in a separate fund.

When he raised the idea of doing this on Monday, Evans said he would entertain any ideas for restoring the funding. At this point he has no timetable for doing so.

Read more.

Mitchell was among hundreds of mostly unionized state workers who rallied on the Capitol steps Tuesday to demand they get paid on time.

"We understand her frustration and share it as well," said Rendell's spokesman Chuck Ardo. "The governor offered a responsible, balanced budget proposal in February that was rejected by the Republicans, and (he) is now trying to protect as many state jobs as possible."

Read more.

Related Documents

The four institutions are Temple, Lincoln and Penn State universities and the University of Pittsburgh. In a preliminary application, the four had been slated to receive almost $42 million combined in stimulus aid, but Rendell removed them from the formal application filed June 26.

Rendell spokesman Barry Ciccocioppo said there was no payback by the governor because he felt those four schools haven’t allowed the state more oversight.

Read more.

Read more.

Read more.

For more than three hours, the audience, made up of many people who drink water pulled from sources downstream from the proposed plant, questioned how they will know for sure that the salts, chemicals, and dozens of other "pollutants of concern" lacing the Marcellus Shale water will be gone by the time they use it.

One Williamsport resident, wearing a shirt patterned with swimming fish, took the microphone.

Read more.

There will likely be fist-pounding speeches and dramatic proclamations about the future of Pennsylvania. At some point in time, there might even be a vote.

Yet many who have closely followed the budget impasse this year say it will amount to little more than busywork.

That is because the spending plan the House could begin deliberating as early as this week contains steep cuts, and is being used by Democrats as little more than a bargaining chip to force a break in the budget deadlock between Gov. Rendell and Republican lawmakers.

Read more.

The move - which the city said could save an estimated $80 million over five years - comes a week after contracts expired for the city's four municipal unions. It would affect two types of raises automatically awarded city workers for time served.

"If you got it, you got it and if you didn't you didn't," said Managing Director Camille Barnett, who insisted that the administration was not making a negotiating play, but rather trying to achieve much-needed savings.

The city has never taken such a step, but officials say that a state Supreme Court ruling supports the move.

Read more.

Ravenstahl spent the day in Harrisburg meeting with Democratic legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell to lobby for legislation to create a payroll tax on city nonprofits and highlight the potential cost of paying overtime to the 4,000 police officers required to secure the Downtown summit Sept. 24-25.

Read more.

Budget negotiators from both political parties spent a second night with Rendell at the governor's mansion, reviewing his proposed $29 billion spending plan line by line. Taxpayers paid $240 to feed them a flank steak buffet during Monday's talks, Rendell's spokesman Chuck Ardo said.

Read more.

Read more.

The laws will ensure that homeowners get more information about their mortgage terms and protect mortgage company employees who report illegal activity.

Mr. Rendell said the laws will help consumers shopping for a mortgage or refinancing their homes.

Lawmakers said they sponsored the measures in response to a Ponzi scheme operated by convicted former mortgage broker Wesley Snyder and his now defunct firm, Personal Financial Management. Some 800 investors in Schuylkill, Berks and Lancaster counties lost more than $26 million as a result of this scheme. In many cases, investors discovered they owed more on their mortgages than they had thought.

Read more.

Gov. Ed Rendell's revised spending plan for the budget year starting Wednesday, released Friday, included a 25 percent cut to his earlier proposal of $1.34 million for Open Records.

Rendell now proposes $1 million for the office, the same as this year's budget, which, is a lot better than many other state institutions have fared this year, proponents of the cut say.

Read more.

Bruce L. Castor Jr., the golden-boy prosecutor who became a feckless Montgomery County commissioner, is restive again. Eighteen months after being cut out of power by his fellow commissioners, he is eyeing a state Senate seat as an escape.

"We have embraced everything that I campaigned against, and we have failed to implement anything that I campaigned for," he said ruefully.

"I thought it would be totally opposite."

Read more.

"It is very, very probable that when the budget passes, you're going to see this as a part of that solution," Jim Allen, secretary of the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System, told about 200 municipal officials at a pension summit in PNC Park's Lexus Club arranged by Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and other county officials.

A state budget likely won't be approved by the June 30 deadline, as lawmakers and Gov. Ed Rendell debate ways to help close a $3.2 billion deficit. Rendell has proposed a 16 percent income tax increase.

Read more.

The study by Common Cause of Pennsylvania said donors included those with ownership stakes in one or more of the state's 14 approved casinos, slot-machine manufacturers, and the horse-racing industry.

The report says the absence of contribution limits - despite a state ban on them for a period - has allowed a "massive sustained campaign to expand casino gambling with relatively little scrutiny." Common Cause also faulted what it called a lack of mandated disclosure of contributions between 2002 and 2007, and poor access now to contribution records.

Read more.

With optimism stoked by the promise of $8 billion in federal stimulus money and $51 billion in upcoming legislation, business leaders, train advocates and public officials touted expanded rail service to three members of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in a hearing Downtown.

"Moving more passengers to our railways could have an immediate impact on highway congestion," said Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, a member of the committee and chairman of the hearing.

Read more.

Dr. Zahorchak sent a letter to the chairs of the state House and Senate education committees saying that the department will not spend money to develop the controversial graduation competency exams at this time.

"Over the past few months, we have had countless discussions and hearings on this matter, and I remain committed to a collaborative process that will result in substantial and positive impact for Pennsylvania's children," Dr. Zahorchak wrote in a letter dated Friday.

read more.

The bill, which came to $4,000, was paid by the Mt. Lebanon Foundation for Education.

"Kids came back saying that was what they wanted to do," said Jackie Foor, the foundation's director, remembering the students' excitement.

The event was made possible by local businesses, including S Systems, a consulting firm, and Paper Products Company, which donate up to $20,000 a year to the foundation through Pennsylvania's Educational Improvement Tax Credit program, commonly known as EITC.

"It isn't a whole lot of money," Foor said, "but it's money the district doesn't have."

Read more.

"I tend to agree with the governor. I just don't see how we can cut our way out of this," said Frankel, a Squirrel Hill Democrat who chairs the county's delegation in the House.

"It seems to me we've got to have a revenue component so we don't destroy the safety net" of state social services, Frankel said, noting the income tax provides exemptions for low-income people and for senior citizens' retirement income.

Read more.

"We're not doing strike planning because we are expecting a strike," Managing Director Camille Barnett said yesterday. "We're doing strike planning because we need to be ready."

Officials for both sides say they expect the deadline to come and go, and there's no way of telling when a strike might occur.

Read more.

Read more.

Republican Rep. Doug Reichley of Allentown said Tuesday he would use the revenue to try to cushion the blow from anticipated property tax increases that would be necessary to fund the Public School Employees' Retirement System when costs soar in 2012.

Reichley, who is researching the bill, said he wants "all table game revenue to go to PSERS to help hold down potential property tax increases."

Read more.

Read more.

Hoping to capture the pro-gay-marriage momentum in other state legislatures, Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) yesterday introduced the state's first bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, a colleague across the aisle, Sen. John Eichelberger (R., Blair), is preparing to introduce a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, to prevent court decisions, such as the recent one in Iowa, allowing gay people the right to marry.

Leach said denying gay Pennsylvanians the right to marry robs them of the fundamental equal rights that heterosexual couples enjoy, such as the right of survivorship, power to make medical decisions, even the right to hospital visitation.

"The timing is right for Pennsylvania to be part of the national discussion," Leach said. "I want to make sure the discussion is not lopsided, that gay people know someone is fighting for them."

Read more.

"I look forward to running as an outsider again," Onorato told the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, referring to his past candidacies for county controller and city council.

Asked later by reporters about being the self-described outsider, Onorato said: "I am the only person who doesn't have Harrisburg ties."

Read more.

At a hearing about Pennsylvania’s 2009 Real Property Disposition Plan, Joanne Phillips, director of the Department of General Service’s Bureau of Real Estate, said the department has tentatively set the sale price of the approximately 185-acre property and its 70 buildings at $5 million.

Phillips said the price is only based on a recent county assessment, not a real-estate appraisal.

Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-Chester, added that county assessments are normally low, so he thought the eventual sale price would be higher than $5 million.

Higher or lower, the sale is far from certain, according to Senate State Government Committee Chairman Charles McIlhinney Jr., R-Bucks.

“I think there is a lot more to be done and discussed through the budget,” said McIlhinney, about the proposed Scotland School sale. “I think a lot more of the senators will want to have input in that whole process.”

“The commonwealth has an obligation to submit this plan, we have an obligation as the Senate State Government Committee to hold a hearing within 30 days of that – we’ve now met – and I just want to say for the record that this should not be taken as a tacit approval of the Scotland School situation,” said McIlhinney.

He concluded the hearing by telling Phillips that the committee would “in the near future” respond to the department with the committee’s “official reply and positions” regarding the property disposition plan.

Read more.

But 35 years and two generations later -- with the cows at their peak of health and milk production -- their grandson sold the herd at auction.

The reason? The losses projected by the Youngs' Red Knob Farm, home of Keystone Dairy Ventures near Peach Bottom.

Read more.

Read more.

The reason is federal highway money does not have to go through the state Legislature, but federal education money does, said state Education Department spokesman Michael Race.

The state Legislature has not approved the state budget for 2009-10 -- it's not even close -- nor has it passed a bill that would permit any of the federal money to flow in the interim.

Pennsylvania is behind 22 other states that already have been approved to receive the largest source of economic stimulus money for education, the fiscal stabilization fund, and a July 1 deadline to apply for the money is looming.

Read more.

State Sen. Mike Brubaker, a conservative in his first term, charged that the 48-year-old law artificially inflates labor costs and bumps up the total cost of school construction projects, which the taxpayers ultimately pay through property taxes.

The law, which has long been a concern for fiscal conservatives and municipal and school officials, sets and enforces wage rates for taxpayer-funded construction projects of more than $25,000.

Read more.

Mr. Pence, who chaired a morning-long "energy summit" convened by the Republican American Energy Solutions Group at the Holiday Inn - North, said the party's energy policy will focus on "traditional" fossil fuels, seek more access to domestic coal, oil and natural gas resources, and promote development of nuclear energy.

He said the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would place limits on heat-trapping pollution emissions by establishing a "cap and trade" emissions market, could raise household energy costs by $3,100 a year.

Read more:

But the answer so far has been a resounding no.

Representatives from four unions attended a meeting called on Thursday by Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education officials to discuss the idea of the unions foregoing the 3 percent raise, plus step or service increases, that most of their contracts provides next year.

System officials said the salary savings would go a long way toward plugging a $49 million hole between anticipated expenses and revenue in its 2009-10 proposed operating budget of $1.4 billion. That assumes the system gets no additional state funding beyond the $499 million it received this year, as is provided for in Gov. Ed Rendell's budget proposal.

Read more.

Raising the state's 3.07 percent income tax by 1 percentage point would raise $3.1 billion, but it appears no politician is ready to formally propose that.

"Practically speaking, a small increase in the personal income tax would be the smartest way to resolve this crisis. Politically, it is the most difficult," said Johnna Pro, spokeswoman for House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans, a Philadelphia Democrat.

Any tax increase would have to augment cutting spending, instituting more efficient government operations and using a portion of the state's $750 million Rainy Day Fund and federal stimulus dollars, Pro said.

Read more.

Maybe a root canal. Or an income tax audit. That's kind of where those who lead state government are right now.

With five weeks to go until the state needs to have a new budget to be able to operate, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and his allies have their hands full trying to fill a $3 billion hole.

Read more.

But some Pennsylvania lawmakers hope to find another place for the greenhouse gas that scientists implicate as the main cause of global warming.

They're looking to bury it.

Carbon capture and sequestration would take a stream of compressed carbon dioxide directly from electric utilities and pump it underground into depleted oil fields, shale formations and aquifers thousands of feet below ground. There, proponents hope, the gas will be permanently stored.

Read more.

Forty percent reported running a budget deficit this year, according to the Nonprofit Center at La Salle University's School of Business, which conducted the online survey of 185 area nonprofits this month. That is double the number that ran a deficit last year, according to the survey.

At the same time, the survey found that nearly seven out of 10 nonprofits reported an increase in demand for their services.

Read more.

They asked Rendell to immediately withdraw from the seven-year contract between the Department of Education and Data Recognition Corp., which would be paid to develop the tests, a model curriculum and teacher training system, in addition to monitoring student achievement in 10 subject areas. The company already has a contract with the state to administer the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment standardized test.

Read more.

In 1990, the Legislature passed such a measure, and businesses like his stood to make huge profits from the gambling devices. Then-Gov. Robert P. Casey vetoed it, however, citing "the historic links between illegal video poker machines and organized crime."

Nineteen years later, the machine vendors finally have a governor in favor of legalizing their type of gambling, but one who sees no role in it for them. Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed a plan in which the state would contract with a single, large national supplier to install an estimated 35,000 machines in establishments holding liquor licenses.

Read more.

Biehler, a former Crafton resident and director of planning at the Port Authority of Allegheny County, replaces Mitchell Rubin — whom Gov. Ed Rendell fired in March after former Sen. Vincent Fumo was convicted of giving him $150,000 in state consulting fees for no work.

Biehler had no comment on his ascension and the circumstances surrounding Rubin's firing. Rubin received a letter from the FBI stating he was the target of an investigation at the conclusion of Fumo's trial.

read more.

The proposal, called the Consumer Workforce Council, would create a board of consumers and public officials to address home-care concerns and a voluntary registry of direct-care workers.

Rendell administration officials say the council would help workers lobby for higher wages and benefits, and increase the availability of home-based care. However, the plan has drawn criticism from those who believe agency officials intend to implement it statewide without legislative input.

Representatives from the Aging and Older Adult Services and Labor Relations committees questioned department secretaries from Aging, Public Welfare, and Labor and Industry for the first panel of the four-and-a-half-hour hearing, before hearing from supporters and proponents within the industry.

Read more.

"He so enjoyed last year when [Barack] Obama was elected and the Steelers won the Super Bowl," she said Wednesday night.

Originally from the western part of the state, Kline and his wife, Josephine, stayed in Lebanon County after his two terms in office expired in 1979. He formed his own business, Kline Associates Limited, which Monica Kline and her brother, John, will now operate.

Read more.

Republicans fought spending increases and what they saw as an expanded state role in education. For the most part, Rendell prevailed.

This year, driven by the recession and budget deficits, the Republicans are sharpening their attack on Rendell's education plan, proposing to roll back almost all his priorities.

The GOP-dominated state Senate's version of the new budget, passed last week, would cut Rendell's proposed spending on public schools by more than $1 billion - about 10 percent.

Read more.

"I very much have an appreciation for the Washington political establishment, but I don't think it's their choice," said Sestak, a two-term congressman from Delaware County. "It is Pennsylvania's choice."

Sestak, 58, is a retired Navy admiral-turned-politician. He's weighing a possible Senate run against Specter, 79, whose recent abandonment of the Republican Party drew promises of support from President Obama, Sen. Bob Casey and Gov. Ed Rendell, all popular Democrats among the state's electorate.

Sestak is plumbing deep political waters. An appearance recently at the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner for Allegheny County Democrats drew a warm response.

Read more.

Energy-saving home improvements - that's how the federal stimulus program will first be felt by tens of thousands of low-income American families.

About 30,000 homes in Pennsylvania and 13,000 in New Jersey will benefit from $5 billion that Congress has allotted nationally for weatherization work.

Pennsylvania will get $253 million and New Jersey will get $119 million under a supercharged expansion of a 33-year-old program that was first meant to help the nation cope with the Arab oil embargo and high energy prices of the 1970s.

Read more.

Citing Inquirer reports that have raised questions about the quality of the agency's work and undue political influence on property assessments, Nutter said, "There must and there will be significant change.

"The issues that have been raised in recent news accounts represent a culture that is unacceptable in our city government," Nutter said at a City Hall news conference.

Read more.

The $27.3 billion plan - which passed the Republican-controlled chamber on a 30-20 party-line vote - is nearly 6 percent less than that proposed by Rendell in February and would use $2.7 billion in federal stimulus funds to help compensate for some of the cuts. The bill now goes to the Democrat-controlled state House, where it faces near-certain defeat. The deadline for passing the budget is July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.

Leaders in the Senate said during the four-hour debate that in the face of a projected $3 billion budget deficit this year, the reductions were necessary to balance next year's budget and prevent tax increases.

"Circumstances call for a budget like this," said Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre), chairman of the Appropriations Committee. "This budget is a reflection of what we have to spend."

Read more.

Ridge is perhaps the state's most decorated Republican, having held a House seat for more than a decade, spent eight years as governor and served as the first secretary of homeland security under President George W. Bush. He was also mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for  Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in 2008.

If he ran, he would almost certainly face primary opposition from former congressman Pat Toomey, a conservative who came within two points of knocking off Specter in the 2004 Republican primary. Toomey has made it clear that he is in the race regardless of whether Ridge, who is considered to be a moderate, runs.

read more.

House Gaming Oversight Committee Chairman Curt Schroder, R-Chester County, and Rep. Michael O'Brien, D-Philadelphia, issued their plea Monday during a Capitol news conference.

O'Brien said the Supreme Court's opinion was the 18th consecutive ruling to favor the gambling industry.

Read more.

Boscola announced Monday she will file a class-action formal complaint today with the regulatory agency because it neglected to provide estimates on PPL electric price increases in a quarterly report released April 30. The PUC publication included information on price predictions for four other electric utilities.

"People have a right to know that information," Boscola, D-Lehigh/Monroe/Northampton, said Monday. "It's an insult to say to people that they can't sift through the numbers."

Read more.

That money, however, has a big IOU attached to it.

With Pennsylvania's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund broke, more and more of the money for benefits is being borrowed from the federal government. That means that Pennsylvania's businesses and taxpayers face the prospect of higher taxes to repay it, especially after the feds begin charging interest.

Normally, the state's employers and workers pay taxes into the trust fund to finance the jobless benefits. But the size of benefit checks rises with wages each year and has exposed flaws in Pennsylvania's 1988 law that was supposed to ensure the long-term solvency of the trust fund.

The economy's plunge into recession last year accelerated those flaws into an urgent and costly problem that will not correct itself – even when the economy recovers.

Read more.

The authority today is unveiling three concepts developed by a consultant for making the system more convenient, more cost-effective and less bewildering.

The plans are not yet sufficiently detailed to allow most riders to know if their stops or routes would be changed or eliminated.

"These are ideas," Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said. "We don't want to come out to the public and say this is what we're going to do."

Read more.

Read more.

Increasing numbers of uninsured or government-insured patients are showing up at emergency rooms. Hospitals normally make up for those costs through investments and private insurers. Plummeting investment values, however, helped drag down hospital profit margins 12.8 percent during the past 18 months, according to the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

The state\'s acute-care hospital industry as a whole no longer is profitable, according to the association.

Read more.

The chairwoman of the school’s board of trustees, the school’s superintendent, a state representative and the head of the school’s education association all blasted the proposed plan.

Attorney Drew Christian of Scranton filed for the preliminary injunction in Scranton federal Court, asking the court to stop the state from closing the school until legal proceedings against them are resolved.

“No one has made a valid point on why the school should be closed,” said state Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Scranton. “The proposed transition plan doesn’t make any sense. If we had a study based on fact and research, then we could discuss possible actions. But we are not there yet.”

Read more.

But that doesn\'t mean the closely related debate over who are the true victims of the medical malpractice system -- patients or doctors -- has faded away.

Last year, 1,602 medical malpractice lawsuits were filed in Pennsylvania. That\'s down from 1,641 in 2007.

Read more.

Auditor General Jack Wagner\'s letter to a U.S. Government Accountability Office administrator warned that internal controls are so weak that information about how stimulus funds are spent will be unreliable without oversight from an independent audit agency.

"We are extremely concerned about the potential for a lack of statewide government transparency and accountability in the use of these vitally important funds," Wagner wrote to Phillip R. Herr, the federal agency\'s director of physical infrastructure issues.

Read more.

The "county optional sales tax" would be levied in the same way and contain the same exceptions as the state\'s 6 percent sales tax. The proposal wouldn\'t apply to Allegheny and Philadelphia counties, because they already have a 1 percent county sales tax.

The extra tax is favored by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, which Mr. Kennedy is president of this year, plus the State Association of Township Supervisors, the League of Cities and Municipalilties and other groups of governing officials.

Read more.

The plan, sponsored by Rep. Dante Santoni, D-Berks, will be discussed at a Capitol hearing on Thursday of the House Gaming Oversight Committee, which Santoni chairs. Gov. Ed Rendell made this proposal a cornerstone in his 2009-10 budget message.

The bill seeks to provide additional aid beyond the state grant program for students from families with incomes of $100,000 or less. It would require students to pay at least $1,000 a year for their first two years of college, a minimum of $1,500 and $2,000, respectively, for the final two years. The scholarship program would be phased in starting with next year\'s college freshmen class.

Read more.

The committee voted 10-4 for Senate Bill 200, sponsored by Sen. Jane Earll, R-Erie. It would deprive Philadelphia of up to $64 million a year in casino-generated economic development funds that the city is using for an $880 million expansion of its convention center.

Mrs. Earll failed in a companion move -- to deprive Philadelphia of the $86 million a year it gets in slots-funded wage tax relief until the two casinos are up and running. But she vowed to press that measure again when the bill comes up on the Senate floor.

Read more.

Today, the Legislature returned from a two-week break to Harrisburg, where they will hold session for nine of the 11 weeks until June 30, the deadline to approve a budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

The course to an agreement on a new spending plan will be fraught with careful political calculations, charged-up rhetoric and closed-door negotiations that -- if past years are any guide -- all parties will emerge from declaring victory.
 

Read more.

On CBS\'s Face the Nation, Rendell said there was no "rational reason" to allow the sale of assault weapons. "They are used for only one reason . . . to kill and maim people," he said.

Rendell, who has fought for years in the state legislature for tougher gun control, revived his efforts after the slayings this month of three Pittsburgh police officers who were killed by a man using an AK-47 assault rifle.

Read more.

The administration will use $8 billion from the economic stimulus package to offer grants for improving speed and service on existing rail lines. Obama wants Congress to provide another $1 billion a year for five years to pay for planning for 100- to 600-mile-long intercity rail corridors to accommodate trains traveling up to 150 mph.

"High-speed rail is long overdue, and this plan lets American travelers know they are not doomed to a future of long lines at the airports or jammed cars on the highways," said Obama, who announced his plan during a news conference with Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Read more.

Read more.

The new plan - which the School Reform Commission will review at its meeting today - incorporates the comments of thousands of Philadelphians who attended community meetings about "Imagine 2014."

Ackerman first introduced her strategic plan in February. She proposed shutting down up to 35 failing schools and reopening them as charters or schools run by outside managers, reducing class size, and adding counselors at the middle- and high-school level, among other things.

Read more.

When their new, permanent casino opens at 10 a.m. today in North Strabane, it will immediately become the biggest in Pennsylvania -- the first one with more than 3,000 slot machines. Plus, another 700 machines are to be added in the weeks ahead, completing the conversion of The Meadows from a temporary casino.

Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board regulators signed off yesterday on the new facility\'s opening, based on a test run Monday. About 10,000 individuals became the first players in the new casino on an invitation-only basis, in an event that raised $254,000 for more than 50 volunteer fire companies, according to estimates from The Meadows.

Read more.

In a campaign video on his newly launched Web site, Toomey takes aim at the five-term incumbent, saying Specter has supported all the wrong policies regarding the economy, among other issues.

"Even though Arlen Specter and I are both Republicans, we differ on these issues, and many others. I look forward to an honest and open debate,\'\' Toomey said.

"You see what I see: A nation heading in the wrong direction,\'\' Toomey said. "Unfortunately, the Washington politicians who helped get us into this mess are making things worse.\'\'

Read more.

Frontier Communications Corp. met its goal last year to provide 100 percent broadband availability, said Ken Mason, vice president of government and regulatory affairs in the company’s Rochester, N.Y., office.

Read more.

Keystone State taxpayers will spend about $1.1 million to throw the 35th National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) annual meeting - criticized by some, even in good fiscal times, as little more than a taxpayer-funded junket.

The irony is that if the event were held elsewhere this year, many Pennsylvania legislators couldn\'t attend because of a ban on out-of-state government-funded travel.

Read more.

The governor, in a deficit-closing draft budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, proposed a 50 percent cut in funding for the State Library.

At a staff meeting Wednesday, M. Clare Zales, deputy secretary for the state Department of Education\'s Office of Commonwealth Libraries, laid out a contingency plan for what that cut would mean:

Read more.

A group led by real estate titan Ira Lubert won approval for a casino of 500 slot machines in the Valley Forge Convention Center. The license was the first of two resort permits to be issued by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which intends to issue 14 of them. The resort license limits the casino to 500 slot machines.

The investors will spend $107 million on the project. A spokesman for the group estimated the casino could be built and operating within a year.

Read more.

Read more.

"You know how this place is," said House Judiciary Chairman Thomas Caltagirone, D-Reading. "The Western Pennsylvania Democrats, let alone the Western Pennsylvania Republicans — you can\'t budge them" on gun issues, he said.

Despite a Democratic-controlled Congress and an administration that favors reinstating an assault weapons ban, there is little movement to enact tougher gun laws in Washington, said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Read more.

Read more.

That was in Haverford in 1972.

He has waited since then for the industry to catch fire and believed, in July, that the Pennsylvania legislature had at least struck the match.

It had approved Gov. Rendell\'s $650 million Alternative Energy Funding Act, which allotted $100 million for a new solar initiative. The Pennsylvania Sunshine Program would provide rebates of upward of 35 percent to homeowners and small businesses to offset the cost of buying solar systems, much as New Jersey does.

Read more.

With no concrete movement toward a referendum, it now seems to some like a false start.

"I do think that [call for a referendum] was premature," said state Rep. Dan Frankel, who has convened occasional meetings on consolidation. "Unless you address the city\'s underlying financial challenges, such as its debt load and pension issues, I think it\'s unrealistic to think that people will be supportive of consolidation."

City and county leaders said yesterday that they don\'t want to wait, but can\'t hold a referendum without the Legislature\'s OK.

Read more.

The Susquehanna Polling & Research survey found 60 percent of people think table games should be legal, while 35 percent do not. This follows a Franklin & Marshall College survey last week showing similar levels of support. The Susquehanna poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Armed with these numbers and the threat of Ohio legalizing slot machines, casino owners say they will press state leaders to OK games such as poker, blackjack and craps. Ohio voters could decide in November whether to legalize slots, although that state rejected similar ballot measures last year and in 2006.

Read more.

Changing the way teachers are paid is an idea whose time has come, one key to fixing a broken education system, both have declared publicly.

Though the subject is historically thorny - teachers unions staunchly oppose most merit-pay plans - advocates say that because teacher quality is crucial to student learning, it\'s time to take another stab.

"It\'s a new day, and it\'s time for us to look at performance. Adults have to be accountable for results," Ackerman said in a recent interview, echoing a theme that has become familiar in her nine-month superintendency.

Read more.

The idea under consideration is a statewide Consumer Workforce Council, which would coordinate and promote and such hiring. Among its functions would be the establishment of a statewide registry of people willing to provide in-home help for people who need assistance with day-to-day living but who want to remain in their homes.

The idea of the council is viewed by proponents as a means of helping more people avoid nursing home placements.

Read more.

Read more.

Led by House GOP Policy Chairman Stan Saylor, R-Windsor Township, the Republicans want to give the Legislature authority to approve how transportation funds are spent and even to reject stimulus money that comes with certain federal mandates.

A Rendell spokesman dismissed the House Republican effort as a partisan publicity stunt and said the administration is working to ensure stimulus money is spent properly.

Read more.

As of March 15, Pennsylvania\'s casinos had generated $1.1 billion this fiscal year. As the economy struggles, more states are looking at gambling.

Maryland voters approved slot parlors in November, and the state is vetting casino applicants.

Read more.

Disagreements at the federal and state levels over how to fund infrastructure improvements could hit hardest in July 2010 with draconian cuts in allocations for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and transit agencies like the Port Authority.

"It\'s kind of a double whammy that we\'re facing a year and a half from now," said Rep. Joseph Markosek, D-Monroeville, chairman of the state House Transportation Committee.

Read more.

"I\'m just praying it will stay open," he said.

In early February, the school learned that Gov. Ed Rendell had erased its funding from his proposed 2009-10 budget. Unless lawmakers restore those funds, SSVC will close.

Thursday\'s tour was at the suggestion of State Rep. Rob Kauffman, a Republican who lives in Scotland, represents the district and has long supported the school.

Read more.

Leaders of major state government workers\' unions were told by the Rendell administration Thursday that they must find about $89 million in savings to help balance the state budget over the next 15 months.

Union leaders said they hope to strike a deal that avoids furloughs.

read more.

Starting July 1, the museum will begin charging admission fees as high as $3 for adults.

After the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission made the decision at a meeting Wednesday, the idea drew opposition from museum visitors and enthusiasts.

Read more.

The GOP critics, led by Sens. Jane Orie of McCandless and Kim Ward of Hempfield, plus Rep. Mike Vereb of Montgomery, chastised board members and employees for going to fancy conferences in Rome and Las Vegas last fall, staying in $400-a-night hotels and spending too much on food, beverages and limousines.

The trips occurred soon after Gov. Ed Rendell, on Sept. 16, banned all nonessential out-of-state travel because of the growing state budget deficit. While the trips were paid for by fees paid by the state\'s casinos rather than from state tax funds, Ms. Orie said the lavish trips look bad and send the wrong message to the public in a time of economic crisis.

Read more.

Penn Future, Audubon Pennsylvania, the Nature Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association and more than 30 other "green" groups said yesterday the state could reap at least $100 million in new revenue from a natural gas severance tax, also called an extraction tax.

They said other mineral and oil-rich states, such as Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana, impose a tax on such natural resources.

Read more.

Corbett, 59, a Republican, filed paperwork yesterday to form an exploratory committee after discussions with friends and family, a spokesman said.

"Pennsylvanians are looking for a leader with the experience to create economic opportunities for Pennsylvania families through tax cuts, cutting government waste and spending, reforming state government, and creating good family-sustaining jobs," Corbett said in a statement.

The paperwork filing allows Corbett to begin raising money and hiring staff for the 2010 race.

Read more.

Read more.

In the next breath, the governor urged the unemployed not to feel ashamed about accepting state aid to get back on their feet. He outlined a raft of state programs ranging from food stamps to health insurance for children available for people in dire straits.

Read more.

The public library she manages in Chippewa, population 7,000, is in line to get $238,000 in federal aid from the 2009 federal budget the Senate approved last night. It\'s one of 8,570 earmarks in the $410 billion budget, which the House passed last week.

Pennsylvania\'s lawmakers � including two Republicans who lost re-election in November � earmarked about $571 million for the state in the 2009 budget, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, an anti-earmark watchdog group.

Read more.

Rep. Todd Rock, R-Mont Alto, is scheduled to reintroduce his bill called the Strike-Free Education Act.

The bill languished last term, which was Rock\'s first in the House, and there are no indications the sophomore lawmaker will fare any better this time.

Opponents of a ban, who include the state\'s largest teachers union, say most contracts are resolved without a walkout and teachers deserve the right to strike if necessary.

Yet Rock said he\'ll keep pushing the ban because many people -- students, parents and taxpayers -- want teacher strikes outlawed.

Read more.

So, with the national economy in free fall, many of those companies are delaying new casino projects, slowing them down or calling them off completely.

In that climate of economic uncertainty, investor groups backing two casinos proposed for Philadelphia and approved by the state more than two years ago have yet to start building.

Gov. Rendell, for one, is losing patience.

Read more.

Carbon dioxide is one of the main contributors to global warming. The "carbon sequestration network" envisioned for Pennsylvania would remove the gas from the emissions of coal-burning power plants, pipe it to a central location, and bury it thousands of feet below the surface.

The network is outlined in an alternative-energy bill being crafted by state Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware County. It sets targets for the use of alternative-energy sources such as wind and solar power by electricity producers and maps out a carbon-trapping system that would be owned and operated by the state or a contractor.

Read more.

Burger, 58, grew up in Philadelphia\'s Mayfair section before moving to Levittown.

After she graduated from Pennsylvania State University, she worked in Philadelphia as a state social worker, represented by Service Employees International Union Local 668.

She and Andy Stern, SEIU\'s outspoken president, worked together in Philadelphia and Harrisburg as they rose through the ranks of what is one of the nation\'s fastest-growing unions.

Read more.

The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry will send about 70 members to join the U.S. Chamber of Commerce\'s effort to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act. The lobbying blitz will take place Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

The primary target is Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., whose vote on "card check" in the Senate could determine the fate of the proposed law.

Read more.

But the nearly 2-year-old law is getting support from opposite ends of the state -- Sen. Wayne Fontana of Pittsburgh and some filmmakers from Philadelphia, the two cities where many of the state-filmed movies are made.

Mr. Fontana, D-Brookline, said that since 2007, 24 movie productions have received "film tax certificates," meaning they have spent at least 60 percent of their budgets in Pennsylvania. This has meant jobs for 2,600 people, $186 million pumped into local economies and $12 million in revenue for the state, he argued.

Read more.

Read more.

Rendell, however, was unmoved, believing the project, which has been bogged down for two decades, is being handled just fine by New Jersey Transit.

“The governor believes the existing system and structure can achieve this project,” said Michael Smith, a spokesman in the governor’s press office. “I think there are still a lot of details up in the air about this project. … I think there’s still a question of the final scope of it.”

Read more.

He tapped Department of General Services Secretary James Creedon yesterday to head up the spending effort, which will have about $1 billion more than initially expected. Mr. Creedon will make sure that state agencies act as quickly as possible to use $1.4 billion to fix ailing roads, bridges and transit systems; get sewer and water line repair projects underway; get weatherization money to homeowners to make their houses more energy efficient; and use the rest of the money as federal guidelines direct.

In all, the state expects $9.8 million to come to the state for a variety of stimulus projects. The other $8 billion will go directly to residents in the form of income tax breaks, college tuition credits and other direct assistance.

Read more.

Park superintendents will have some flexibility to decide what maintenance jobs are done. Sections of parks that are less used by the public may be closed.

Read more.

State Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak, Gov. Ed Rendell\'s point man on the controversial initiative, said yesterday he\'s now working on the draft bill, and is hoping for quick action by the Legislature so that $124 million in tuition relief can be doled out to students this fall.

Ultimately, he thinks that $550 million could be generated if the 18,000 or so bars, taverns and clubs with state-issued liquor licenses each have up to five legal video poker machines.

Read more.

At a budget hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, both Democratic and Republican senators expressed concerns about Gov. Rendell\'s proposal to slash payments to those hospitals by roughly 15 percent in his proposed $29 billion budget for 2009-10.

Public Welfare Secretary Estelle Richman, whose department oversees those Medicaid payments, said she was "very sensitive to the fact that our hospitals are feeling the impact" of the state\'s budget problems.

Read more.

Toomey, a former Pennsylvania congressman, made his remarks during a radio show Monday morning. It was such hot news among Republican faithful that the Web site GrassrootsPA.com temporarily crashed after breaking the story and attracting megahits.

Many conservatives in Pennsylvania have had it with Specter. For them, the news about Toomey was a chunk of delicious red meat.

Read more.

Read more.

They are there to keep local government honest, with help from the state\'s new Right to Know Law that took effect in January.

But some municipalities are starting to complain that the law is miring them in paper work and creating logistical and financial headaches.

read more.

Under Sen. Michael W. Brubaker\'s bill, a nine-member panel, made up of representatives from the legislature, the governor\'s office, and the public, would be charged with tracking, monitoring, and reporting on all stimulus money.

"It is apparent that Pennsylvania will be receiving an unprecedented amount of money from the federal government," said Brubaker, of Lancaster County. "It is imperative that we invest that money as per our obligation."

Read more.

Mr. Solobay noted that his Washington County district "is close to West Virginia," where casinos already have games like blackjack, roulette, poker and baccarat.

Even though The Meadows racetrack/casino is doing well economically, Mr. Solobay said, "There are still plenty of Pennsylvania cars in West Virginia [casino] parking lots. We\'d like to change that."

Mr. Schroder is from Chester County and belongs to a group of House Republicans who have been critical of the way the state Gaming Control Board has issued 11 casino licenses so far.

read more.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections will break ground this year on three 2,000-bed prisons for male inmates, at a price tag of approximately $200 million apiece. Work will likely start on a fourth new prison in 2010.

All that is on top of funding in the current budget to add approximately 860 beds to four existing institutions, plus another 1,600 beds at 10 more prisons through 2009-10.

Read more.

The State Athletic Commission has sanctioned the bouts, sometimes called "extreme fighting," which mix kickboxing, boxing, wrestling and martial arts. They\'re featured on Spike TV through the Ultimate Fighting Championship series.

Rules governing the sport take effect Friday, lifting a ban on such contests in Pennsylvania.

Read more.

Pennsylvania is one of nine states to impose an inheritance tax. The federal government also imposes its own version, called the estate tax, which is set to expire next year. Congressional Democrats and the president may seek to postpone that phase-out, however.

State Rep. Will Tallman, R-York, is one of several members of his party who have introduced a bill to repeal the state\'s inheritance tax in the past few weeks. He relayed the story of a family-owned dairy farm in his district: When the parents who ran the farm died unexpectedly, the children who wanted to continue operating the farm were faced with a big tax bill.

Read more.

The fund\'s balance, just under $1 billion at the end of December, slid to $602 million in early February as unemployment claims rose and contributions through payroll taxes decreased.

The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania has climbed to 6.7 percent from 4.9 percent a year ago. The state Department of Labor and Industry has processed an average of 46,000 initial claims a week since Jan. 1, a 52 percent increase over last year.

Read more.

The case was filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, by attorney Lawrence G. McMichael, of Dilworth Paxson LLP.

The company emphasized that it would continue normal operations of its newspapers, magazines and online businesses without interruption during the debt-restructuring process.

“Philadelphia Newspapers’ goal is to bring its debt in line with the realities of the current economic and business conditions,” said Brian Tierney, chief executive officer.

Read more.

Read more.

Read more.

Pitched to federal authorities in 2003 as a $362 million project to extend the T under the Allegheny River, it now is expected to cost about $553 million. That\'s as much as Rendell is seeking for college tuition aid for 170,000 students and is $117.8 million more than the Port Authority can pay.

"I wish the project had never started," Rendell said during an appearance at Community College of Allegheny County. "There\'s so many ways that money could\'ve been applied to the transportation needs of this region in a more beneficial fashion. It\'s gone down the road now, and I guess you\'ve got to finish it, but it\'s a tragic mistake."

Read more.

The projects are considered "shovel-ready" for work to begin in three to six months, said Barry Ciccicocioppo, a spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell.

The law requires that half of the $38.1 billion allocated to states be spent on projects vetted by the federal government and deemed "ready to go" in 120 days, as a way to jolt the economy and create jobs. That means state officials are under pressure to make decisions quickly about which projects to advance.

Read more.

Read more.

Read more
 

Read more.

Read more.

Read more.

Read more.

Charities are bracing for a rapid increase in demand for services, probably starting this summer, said Diane Redington, administrator of the Catholic Charities Free Health Care Center. Downtown\'s only completely free clinic served about 5,200 last year and could see 7,000 or more patients this year. The center, a tidy, modern cluster of examination rooms and offices, expanded rapidly since opening in 2007, most recently adding a dental examination room.

Read more.

"This option would not only help create new jobs, it would also provide an immediate economic benefit that does not hinder growth and development, especially in these difficult macroeconomic times," the Marcellus Shale Committee said in a statement.

Read more.

Cuts in funding for the fiscal year that begins July 1 also are proposed for the Carnegie Science Center and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, as well as for eight public television stations in Pennsylvania, including WQED Multimedia.

If the budget stands, it will be "a disaster for public television in Pennsylvania," said Deborah Acklin, general manager of Oakland-based WQED Multimedia.

Read more.

As the state seeks to cut costs, with threatened furloughs of government workers included, Gov. Ed Rendell should know that inmates pay nothing for clothing handed out during their entry into 27 institutions statewide and get free soap and toilet paper, says the memo from the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association obtained by the Tribune-Review.

The union representing about 10,800 officers and prison workers delivered the memo during a meeting with administration officials last week, at which the union was warned that workers could be furloughed, union President Don McNany said.

Read more.

Read more.
 

But local counties say they aren\'t interested in charging higher taxes.

Under the proposal, the counties could share up to 50 percent of the additional revenue they collect from the levy with their municipalities, the governor said. At the moment, the state sales tax is 6 percent in most counties, except Allegheny and Philadelphia, which have a 7 percent sales tax.

Read more.

Both Mr. Stetler and state police Commissioner Frank Pawlowski said that it\'s well known that such machines are used to make illegal payouts to players and state police don\'t have the manpower to root them out.

State Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said Gov. Ed Rendell wants to help 175,000 students in community colleges and the state System of Higher Education with up to about $7,600 a year per student in tuition relief.

read more.

The problem, according to the Sierra Club, PennEnvironment, Clean Air Council and Clean Water Action, lies in the bill\'s provisions mandating that 3 percent of the state\'s power must come from coal-fired power plants equipped with carbon capture and sequestration technology.

Jeff Schmidt, Harrisburg lobbyist for the Sierra Club, said those provisions unnecessarily expose the state to tremendous liability for private property damage and fatalities if something goes wrong with the commercially unproven technology and are part of a coal industry attempt to turn the clean energy focus away from already proven wind and solar sources.

Read more.

Pennsylvania\\\'s mercury rule was developed in 2006 after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed weakening federal mercury regulations but was overturned last year.

The Pennsylvania rule was challenged by Allentown-based PPL Corp., which has several coal-fired power plants in the state. The company argued that Pennsylvania cannot enforce its mercury rule because it is based on the federal mercury rule that was overturned last year.

Read more.

Faced with red ink that could reach $2.3 billion by June 30, Mr. Rendell is searching for more revenue. He\'s likely to propose higher cigarette taxes -- perhaps an additional 10 cents per pack, putting the total at $1.45 per pack in Pennsylvania. That\'s considerably higher than the national average of $1.10 per pack.

Administration aides said the higher tax could generate an additional $50 million a year. Mr. Rendell is also likely to seek another $50 million a year by proposing elimination of Pennsylvania\'s status as the only state that doesn\'t tax cigars and smokeless tobacco, such as chewing tobacco.

He\'s also considering another $150 million a year in new revenue from some sort of tax or surcharge on drillers who extract natural gas from the state\'s large formation of Marcellus shale, in the northcentral part of Pennsylvania.

Read more.

Pennsylvania\'s policies to identify and keep good teachers need to be reviewed, the National Council of Teacher Quality concluded in its annual report on retention policies. Pennsylvania, with a D+, was among the 35 states plus the District of Columbia to receive a D or F on teacher retention policies in the report that cited a need for retention bonuses and other financial benefits.

Read more.

The report by Auditor General Jack Wagner\'s office found that the Department of Public Welfare, through its county assistance offices, failed to properly determine eligibility for more than 1,600 Medicaid applicants between January 2005 and March 2008, resulting in $3.3 million in improper payments.

And Wagner pointed out yesterday that the cases reviewed by his office represented only a small sample of the overall Medicaid caseload handled by the Public Welfare Department - and that the state has likely lost millions of dollars more.

"If you begin to look at the total body of Medicare payments . . . that dollar volume could be substantial," Wagner said at a news conference yesterday. "We\'re sure there could be savings in the area of tens of millions of dollars a year."

Read more.

The proposed rules could add $2,000 to $7,000 to the sticker price of a new car or truck if carmakers decide to produce two sets of vehicles, industry analysts said. At least one observer wonders if the proposals are regulatory overkill when carmakers and dealers can least afford it.

"It is shockingly poor timing, considering the current status of the automotive industry," said Karl Brauer, editor-in-chief of Edmunds.com, a Web-based service that offers advice to car buyers. "Do you think they\'re ready for increased costs in their world?"

Read more.

That notice, representatives for all sides confirmed Wednesday, came after union leaders refused to give up a 3 percent raise due in July. The unions also balked at a request to skip nearly $200 million in payments into the Pennsylvania Employee Benefits Trust Fund, money set aside for health insurance coverage.

"We all understand we are facing an enormous financial challenge, and we were looking for ways the unionized work force could help us to bridge that gap," said Chuck Ardo, press secretary to Gov. Ed Rendell. "The rejection of all our offers has left us with very little discretion."

Read more.

Pittsburgh Public Schools would be by far the largest beneficiary in the region under the measure being considered in the House. The city schools would receive a total of more than $55 million over the next two years, according to a Congressional Research Service analysis released by U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless.

Read more.

As Pennsylvania\'s budget deficit worsens, the $200 million surpluses sitting in legislative accounts is looking more and more like an easy way to cut into the red ink.

Gov. Ed Rendell pegged the state shortage at $2.3 billion last week, nearly 44 percent higher than his $1.6 billion forecast a month earlier.

And while he said he would not propose any increases in the state\'s sales or personal income taxes, according to The Associated Press, he is planning painful spending cuts and likely government layoffs.

"It\'s a sign of the times," Rendell said. "+ I think everyone has to tighten their belts."

That includes the four legislative caucuses, who typically hang onto their reserves to keep operating in case of a budget showdown with the governor.

Read more.

Not everyone sees the idea as a winner. Local lawmakers are among those vowing to oppose any gambling expansion.

House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, recently announced plans to introduce a new bill to legalize table games this term and says he wants to pump the money into property-tax cuts at a time when the state\'s economy needs a boost.

"If I were a betting man, and I\'m not, I\'d say the chances of passage are 50-50," DeWeese said.

read more.

The state Department of Education surveyed more than 62,000 recent Pennsylvania high school graduates who attend one of the 14 State System of Higher Education universities (such as Slippery Rock, California, Indiana or Edinboro) or are students at one of Pennsylvania\'s 14 community colleges.

In a report released last week, the department found that one-third of them -- more than 20,000 high school graduates -- needed to take one or more remedial courses in college in core academic subjects, mainly math and English, "so they could catch up to their college-level peers."

The cost of the remedial courses, paid by the colleges, local taxpayers and the students themselves, exceeded $26 million, said state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak.

Read more.

Harrisburg council members didn\'t like the idea of trading away 75 years worth of parking revenue for a one-time shot of cash. It was "a gimmick," said Councilman Daniel Miller. "It was a terrible deal."

Not so, said Jackie Goodwin, a communications company owner who co-chaired a group called Debt Free Harrisburg that supported the lease plan. It was "absolutely too good of a deal for Harrisburg to turn its back on."

Read more.

The petition for the proposed merger of Philadelphia\'s Independence Blue Cross and Pittsburgh\'s Highmark Inc., the state\'s two largest health insurers, was withdrawn yesterday by the companies.

The decision by Independence and Highmark came in advance of what they knew would be an adverse ruling by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance.

Department commissioner Joel Ario, a Gov. Rendell appointee, was to have announced his decision Tuesday.

read more.

Although many local governments and school districts have conventional gas wells on their properties, they typically generate only a few thousand dollars a year in royalties. The higher-volume Marcellus Shale wells are expected to produce hundred of thousands of dollars a year in addition to millions in up-front lease payments. That could pay for capital improvements or shore up pension funds that otherwise would soak up tax dollars.

Read more.

At the 93d annual Pennsylvania Farm Show - the showcase for the state\'s giant agricultural industry and prize livestock, which ended Saturday in Harrisburg - farm groups and the veterinary community tackled tough questions about the trend\'s impact on farming in the Keystone State.

They worry that soon precious few country docs will be left to care for dairy cows, beef cattle, swine and sheep.

"The number is dwindling," said Craig Shultz, the state veterinarian, strolling among rows of blow-dried, sparkling-coated cattle in the stanchions at the Farm Show building. "There is an economic force driving it."

Read more.

The state-industry task force, which met for the first time last Monday in Harrisburg, also will seek to streamline permitting procedures.

The partnership was prompted by an oil and gas well drilling boom that last year saw more than 4,100 wells drilled statewide, including hundreds of deeper wells tapping into the Marcellus shale formation.

Read more.

That\'s what Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wants to do, by leasing the Pittsburgh Parking Authority\'s 11 Downtown parking facilities -- and maybe even its neighborhood lots and meters -- to a private operator in return for hundreds of millions of dollars that would shore up the woefully inadequate pension fund.

"We\'re going to need some sort of influx of cash," the mayor said of the fund, which at last count contained just $261 million of the $899 million it should ideally hold. "I have been approached numerous times about the value of these assets," he said of the parking garages, and now he wants to test the market.

Read more.

Children can sign up to \'\'adopt\'\' Cammie at the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program\'s booth at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

After filling out the adoption application, they are given a small stuffed cow and information to help them keep tabs on Cammie on the Dairy Diary blog at www.dairyspot.com.

read more.

Read more.

Unemployment is 5.5 percent, far below the national average. While housing prices sank nearly everywhere in the last year, they rose here. Wages are also up. Foreclosures are comparatively uncommon.

A generation ago, the steel industry that built Pittsburgh and still dominated its economy entered its death throes. In the early 1980s, the city was being talked about the way Detroit is now. Its very survival was in question.

Read more.

The state enacted the annual fee last year under pressure from the federal government to comply with the Federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The federal law sought money to offset the government\'s cost of collecting child support and ensure that low-income children in child-support cases can get medical care.

Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery, introduced a bill Tuesday to repeal the fee, and she has the backing of 30 other House members.

Read more.

But those tax breaks are starting to erode. With the recession pummeling states' budgets, their governments increasingly want to fill the gaps by collecting taxes on Internet sales, which are growing even as the economy shudders.

And that is sparking conflict with companies that do business online only and have enjoyed being able to offer sales-tax free shopping.

Read more.

Read more.

House Majority Whip William DeWeese, D-Greene, is introducing legislation to allow Pennsylvania's casinos to offer table games, such as poker and blackjack. He has tried and failed to pass similar bills in the past.

Slots parlors, including the Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, would love to add table games.

Read more.

"It's another symptom of the economy," said Sarah McCluan, spokeswoman for Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which operates PA Learners Online Regional Cyber Charter School, based in Homestead. "Our younger grades are most affected, because what we are hearing from parents is that they have to go back to work part or full time because of the economy."

Read more.