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Ex-Diven aide gets probation - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Ex-Diven aide gets probationI don't see the word "guilty" in this news coveage.
Penguins, officials haggle over arena cost - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Penguins, officials haggle over arena cost
State Senate Republicans end bonus payouts
Harrisburg, PA – Responding to growing criticism, Pennsylvania State Senate Republicans recently ended their practice of handing out special bonus payouts to their staff.
Over the past two years, the legislature has handed out more than $3 million in payouts, including $2.3 million by state Democrats. Individual amounts ranged from less than a hundred dollars to more than $40,000.
Mik Robertson, LPPA Chair, said, "the Libertarian Party endorses the fiscal constraint shown by State Senate Republicans. I urge the Democrats and House Republicans to demonstrate the same fiscal responsibility."
James Babb, Libertarian candidate for State Representative in 2006, took a different perspective. "This should be another wake up call for Pennsylvania voters. As if the pay-raise scandal never happened, the arrogant incumbents continue to find ways to reach into the taxpayer cookie jar. Electing Libertarians to the Pennsylvania legislature is essential if we are to restore fiscal restraints in Harrisburg."
Tom Andrews, spokesman for House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese indicated that the bonuses were an internal personnel matter.
Freshman Senator John Eichelberger of Blair County disagrees and is asking the attorney general "to investigate any possibility of political payback with taxpayer funds for a select group of individuals typically involved in campaign work."
Gene Stilp, leader of a citizen’ group called Taxpayers and Ratepayers United, has gone further, filing a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court calling for full disclosure of the names of the people who received bonuses, whether the bonuses were given for campaign work rather than legislative work, and what the source of the money was.
Robertson summarized "By ending the bonus payouts, Senate Republicans have sent a positive message about the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest and cutting government spending. This is an important issue for Pennsylvanians. All members of the General Assembly should show they endorse this action by providing full disclosure on past bonuses while ceasing undisclosed payout of public funds."
From: http://www.realcampaignreform.org/willis_test.html
In 1992, Libertarian Party candidate for president, Andre Marrou, defeated all of his Democratic and Republican rivals in the Dixville Notch voting that kicks off the New Hampshire primary Election Day.
This victory was the lead news item all across the nation the following morning, but when voters called into TV networks wanting to learn more about Andre Marrou and the Libertarian Party they were repeatedly told that it would be a waste of time to do any additional reporting about Marrou and the LP. The networks argued that the Dixville Notch vote was clearly a fluke. NBC even said this on the air in response to one voter who called in, asking for more coverage of Marrou. Our campaign staff pointed out to the networks that Dixville Notch, because of its small population, had represented a rare opportunity for Libertarians to have their views heard by voters to the same extent as the Democrats and Republicans. Therefore, the Dixville Notch result was indicative of how other voters might respond to LP candidates if the media were to inform the public of who the Libertarians are and what they believe. The established corporate news media rejected this reasonable argument out-of-hand and provided no additional coverage at all.
Libertarian Party of Pittsburgh - We’re Government… And You’re Not.The Local Libertarian Party has had a site upgrade and a new video from YouTube graces its front page. It is well worth the time. This is a citizens guide for America today.
Pittsburgh - City seeking displaced high-rise residents -- finally - News - News - Pittsburgh City Paper More than three years ago, to make room for new development, the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority displaced nearly 300 families from the low-income high-rises in East Liberty. Today, new housing is going up in the neighborhood, but city housing officials are wondering where the people are.The URA wants to do outreach, but people don't know about LERTA. When the URA does outreach to the people, duck. History says, URA outreach is more often a smack down.
Former residents have first claim on the rent-subsidized units in the new housing complexes. They filled up the more than 30 units in Penn Manor, which opened in January at North St. Clair Street and Penn Avenue. But officials have lost contact with many of the displaced families -- about 150 by URA estimate. As more than 100 new housing units become available at the former high-rise sites by this fall, officials are anxious to hear from those who wish to return.
Expert swims against trend of special ed students in mainstream classes Although more schools are enrolling children who have disabilities in regular classrooms, an expert in special education made the radical suggestion yesterday that they be 'separated from the general school population and given intensive, relentless instruction.'It is a sad, sad day when it becomes radical to provide students with intensive, relentless instruction.
Sharyn Denhan of Harrisburg is an executive board member of LDA and parent of a son with a learning disability. Her son was taught in regular public school classrooms, but benefited from support services. Now 29, he has a degree in civil engineering from Drexel University.Everyone benefits from support services.
This is a moment and lifetime of PRIDE. That sounds like a good title for a movie, but that is for another thread. Kids present a meaningful opportunity to build pride.
"My son is basically a success story and I'm very proud of his accomplishment," Ms. Denhan said.
"The problem with learning disabilities is it's this huge broad spectrum. It's not one size fits all. It's a very hard issue to deal with and very unique to the child."
disinter Pennsylvania Libertarian to run for six offices…simultaneously
February 15th, 2007
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
A 47-year-old swimming coach, he said he will run as a Libertarian for Allegheny County chief executive, county councilman at-large, county councilman for District 13, mayor, city controller and city councilman for District 3.
Education Crusader: Letter to Dr. Zahorchak, PA Secretary of Education As is widely known, it is impossible for a charter school and a charter applicant, such as the Education InnovationsLAB Charter School, to be treated fairly by the Pgh Public School District.By the way, at least a two-hour delay for Thursday.
Oily men - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Gov. Rendell and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato continue to prove that they are typical 'tax and subsidize' Democrats ('Onorato backs oil-profits tax,' Feb. 8 and PghTrib.com).
Their latest plan to bail out the financially distressed Port Authority of Allegheny County calls for replacing the existing corporate net income tax on oil companies with a gross profits tax. This confiscation will raise tax receipts more than 10-fold.
Unfortunately, they have a problem -- Hillary Clinton has already staked her claim to oil company profits to fund (i.e., subsidize) alternative energy sources.
I have a hunch that Hillary's confiscation will trump Rendell/Onorato. They might try fleecing steel companies, banks, investment managers, even corn growers (corn futures have just about doubled this past year).
No wealth redistribution politician has dibs on those companies' 'windfalls' ... yet.
Pop City - State pledges $1M toward redevelopment of Nabisco site State pledges $1M toward redevelopment of Nabisco site Bakery Square, a major brownfield redevelopment in East Liberty, has received a $1M grant from the state. Gov. Rendell released the Growing Greener II funds on Feb. 9 to pay for cleanup of the 495,000 square-foot former Nabisco plant. The Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania will use the grant, along with $335,000 of its own funds, to remove asbestos, PCBs, lead-based paint and other hazardous materials from the site. Development plans for the 6.5-acre area call for 223,000 square feet of office space, 165,000 square feet of retail and a 120-room hotel.Note, this is a building, not a brownfield. The building was in production just a couple of years ago.
“This project stands head and shoulder above many others,” says Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty. “The Governor is making a particularly substantial investment in a beautiful structure that will come back into productive use as a community asset.”
Mark Crowley wrote:
I had a LTE today (2/13/2007) in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about a hot topic -- global warming. It was in response to a Bill Steigerwald Q&A interview with a climatologist who is skeptical that global warming is a man-made phenomenon. I offered some libertarian reinforcement to an astute political observation noting how well it fits the standard big government template.
Global foolery, Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Climatologist Timothy Ball made an astute observation about the strategy shift that sunspot-deniers are applying to global warming ("The politics of global warming," Q&A, Feb. 10 and PghTrib.com).
He noticed they "switched from talking about global warming to talking about climate change." That's chillingly familiar.
Remember how Osama bin Laden morphed into Saddam Hussein? Or how the mission switched from finding WMDs to freeing Iraq? Or when border security became citizen surveillance?
Next, politicians will put carbon dioxide on the altar of unending wars alongside terrorism, drugs, smoking, trans fat, etc. Expect a new Cabinet-level Department of Hot Air.
Also expect the Department of Education to require that "Greenland" be renamed "Glacierland" to rewrite an inconvenient history about that island's more moderate climate around 1000 A.D.
If the temperature cools rapidly over the next decade, government will proclaim "Mission Accomplished." Do you think, however, that dismantling misguided government programs stands a snowball's chance?
While global warming deserves debate, there's no debate why big government supporters are hot for global warming.
Mark Crowley, Plum
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