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Wait? What? Pennsylvania has clout on Capitol Hill now? | Friday Morning Coffee
Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers. There’s no nice way to say this, so we’re just going to come out and say it. It’s been a lonnnnggggg time since Pennsylvania had any clout on Capitol Hill. How long? We’re talking ‘Single Bullet Theory” long. We’re talking “Not Proven, Scottish Law” long. Not since dinosaurs … err … the late U.S. Sen. […]
Payday lenders just scored a win in Washington — will they try again in Pennsylvania? | John L. Micek
And, as ever, it’s those who are cheering the loudest for him that will end up suffering the most. Let's hope Pa. lawmakers have more sense.
As the fight over Trump’s Wall rages in Washington, Pa. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon is headed for the Border
The delegation headed by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer "will meet directly with immigrant advocates about the humanitarian situation as well as receive a border security briefing."
Pa. Dems want your $4 to pass ‘the most progressive budget in years’
We'll look forward to the inevitable television commercials and direct-mail pieces that $4 ask will more than likely underwrite.
Math is hard. Budget math is harder | Thursday Morning Coffee
When he rode into office four years ago, Gov. Tom Wolf was pretty clear about one thing: The way Harrisburg was balancing its books wasn’t working. Simply moving pots of money around, and relying on one-time fixes to make ends meet had to change. We’ve since come to refer to this as “The Pizza Law of Budgeting,” […]
Top Pa. Senate Dem. moves to halt Highmark/UPMC divorce
The Pennsylvania Senate’s top Democrat is wading into the acrimonious — and seemingly endless — break up of two of the state’s largest healthcare providers. Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, is seeking co-sponsors for a bill that would require UMPC Health System and Highmark Inc. to either contract with each other for services or […]
Convicted Penn State abuser Jerry Sandusky to be re-sentenced, report
Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky will be resentenced for his 2012 conviction on multiple counts of sexual abuse. But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected his request for a new trial. From Yahoo Sports: “The re-sentencing order does not mean that Sandusky will face less time in prison. It just sends the issue […]
Today is the first day of the rest of the 2019 budget season | Wednesday Morning Coffee
Good Wednesday Morning, Fellow Seekers. Heading into Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget speech on Tuesday, there was really only one question worth asking: Which Wolf would show up? Would it be a bold progressive, buoyed by his landslide win over Republican Scott Wagner last fall, and emboldened by the surge of the Democratic Party’s youthful and increasingly diverse left wing? Or […]
Sober? Steady? Liked by Republicans? A most unusual Wolf budget indeed | John L. Micek
There was plenty that was familiar about Gov. Tom Wolf’s fifth budget address on Tuesday. Once again, he was after a higher minimum wage and more money for public schools. And he was taking another run at trying to get municipalities without their own police departments to pony up and pay for the free coverage […]
Here’s how Pa’s congressional delegation responded to President Trump’s #SOTU speech
The final syllables of President Donald Trump’s second State of the Union address had barely stopped echoing through the hall of the U.S. House on Tuesday night before members of Congress started weighing in with their reactions. Here’s what Pennsylvania’s members of Congress had to say about the speech – before, during and afterward. It […]
In the middle of #SOTU, Congress sings ‘Happy Birthday’ to 81-year-old survivor of Tree of Life shootings
There was plenty of sharp-elbowed partisanship in President Donald Trump’s second State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. But in the middle of it, Republicans and Democrats took a moment to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to an 81-year-old survivor of last fall’s deadly shootings at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life […]
Regional news outlet, RadioPa, has a new owner in Maryland Media One
Radio PA, a Keystone State broadcast stalwart that faced the prospect of closing up shop in April, has a new owner. Baltimore-based Maryland Media One LLC, which runs the Maryland News Network, says it’ll take over operations of the regional news network starting April 16. In a news release, Maryland Media said Radio PA’s current […]