Mayor-elect O'Connor bucking transition tradition 'It's better to do it below the radar screen,' said David Matter, ...Bob's played defense in the campaign, mostly. Bob's playing defense in the transition time, for sure. Bob is going to play defense in the appointments with the authority members, who are going to be safe throughout the winter, so he says.
Sing a song of Pittsburgh: Searching for a 'Burgh-defining tune: "Yeah, we love Pittsburgh. But how would we sell it in song?"The song for the city for the times is "Lay the Shovel Down" by the same singer. It talks of the hole they dug, and how we have to move to get out of it.
RAND: Assessing the Performance of Public Schools in Pittsburgh Assessing the Performance of Public Schools in PittsburghNext we have to read it and figure out if it is worthy of defending -- or otherwise.
City flunks terror test - PittsburghLIVE.comThere's no value in hashing over it,' DeMichiei said.Think again! There is value in hashing over it. There is value in thinking again.
OMH = Oh My Gosh.Today, by the way, the Platform.For-Pgh.org is at 179 pages.
Shiver my timbers! I can't wait. Judicial candidate to run Internet-based campaign
By SETH EFFRON, StateGovernmentRadio.com
RALEIGH -- Rachel Lea Hunter wants to be chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
In 2004 Hunter, a lawyer with no experience on the bench, or in politics, spent about $24,000 and ran in an eight-person field for an opening on the high court. It was an astonishing third place finish.
She got nearly 452,300 votes -- 100,000 more than one of the state's best-known judges, Howard Manning. Manning spent about $132,000. Paul Newby, a Republican who won the seat, spent $171,200 and got 582,684 votes. Manning spent 42-cents per vote; Newby spent 30 cents and Hunter, a mere 5 cents per vote.
While the campaign is overtly non-partisan -- the 2004 campaign was very partisan with Newby anointed the Republican candidate. Hunter's candidacy was a source of friction in a party structure well-known for its unbending demand for uniformity. Some of the GOP leadership attacked Hunter for undermining Newby’s ultimately successful candidacy. Hunter has since switched her voter registration to Democrat.
One thing Hunter has going for her is name "I-D." She shares the same name as the famous super model from New Zealand who has, among other credits, graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s famous swimsuit edition. While Rachel Lea Hunter has NOT done anything to promote such confusion, some analysts say that celebrity name recognition was one of the major factors in her 2004 vote-getting success.
Her 2006 campaign for the top judicial spot in the state is already up and running. She's not relying on any phantom name "I-D."
Hunter says she'll be a different kind of candidate and run a campaign that isn't out of the typical playbook of dashing around the state to campaign appearances, spending hours dialing for campaign dollars and putting the bulk of the campaign treasury into television advertising.
That doesn't mean she’s not going to be a media candidate -- just looking to some different media.
Visit one of North Carolina's newspaper Web site and you'll likely see a Hunter campaign banner ad: There’s a picture of Hunter and the declaration "RACHEL LEA HUNTER: A candidate for N.C. Chief Justice; She cannot be bought; A real leader and top candidate for Chief Justice."
The Internet ads, which link to her own campaign Web site, are running on 25 to 30 North Carolina newspaper site -- including the Asheville Citizen-Times; the Elizabeth City Daily Advance; New Bern Sun Journal; and ENCTODAY.Com. She’s also got her ads on selective blogs as well as some national publication, such as Mother Jones.
Hunter says she intends to spend less than $100,000 -- and much of it on the kinds of grassroots campaigning that only the Internet can provide. From the outset, she said she wants to be on the cutting edge.
"This was going to be a different kind of campaign. And it was going to be run, especially since it was statewide, mostly on the Internet," Hunter said. "I don't know if I can quantify it -- 60 or 75 percent -- something like that, because this is a big state. It's a huge state. I've driven from end, to end, north and south, too.
"It's a big state. It's hard to reach this many people. This (Internet-based campaigning) is a way of getting the message out to much more people. I could go around to all the Republican or Democratic clubs now, and I would see the same the same tired old faces I always see. But you really don't reach people all over the state. This is a way of reaching so many more people."
As Hunter seeks a new route for her campaign trail she'll also be discovering to what extent her 2004 success was beginner's luck, fortunate name identification or, in fact, a strong foundation upon which to build a new-style campaign.
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today launched a month-long public-comment period on draft regulations governing internal controls.
“Act 71 gives the Board the ‘power and duty’ to adopt the regulations necessary to bring expanded gaming to Pennsylvania and ensure its integrity,” said Chairman Tad Decker. “With each set of regulations we develop, we move a step closer to the day when expanded gaming can begin in the Commonwealth."
Councilmembers look to state to help with rising costs: "Councilmembers look to state to help with rising costsThe presentation from the budget office was solid. I've got it on tape. I would like to get it on the web or this blog.
A year into its fiscal recovery effort, the city of Pittsburgh has made some substantial cuts, but it is still in a tightening fiscal vice of high debt and rising pension and health insurance costs, City Council members said yesterday.
Council spent its first meeting on a proposed 2006 budget throwing itself on the mercy of the commonwealth and criticizing the state-appointed recovery team created under Act 47 for not dealing with major issues.
'The Act 47 plan stinks,' said Councilman Luke Ravenstahl. 'We're no better off than we were before.'
He said council and Mayor-elect Bob O'Connor should lobby Harrisburg for help."
Scores speak out on Roosevelt's plan to close 20 city schoolsSpeakers also urged school officials not to move the middle school program for the creative and performing arts from the Rogers building in Garfield to the former Baxter Building in Homewood, now occupied by the district's alternative education programs. Some favored moving the program instead to Prospect Middle School on Mount Washington, which is on the closing list.
Protecting young musicians' hearing is goal of partnership between UPMC, city schools Protecting young musicians' hearing is goal of partnership between UPMC, city schools
The quieter sound of music
In high school, kids who play football wear helmets, mouthguards and pads as protection against injury.
Langley High School senior Cherish Marshall, 17, wears her special earplugs during band class last week.
To learn more about the UPMC Musicians' Hearing Center earplugs program, call 412-647-2030. The center offers education and earplugs as outreach to other schools, as well, at the lowest cost affordable.
To learn about the Etymotic non-custom earplugs, which sell for $12 a pair, visit www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20-ts.aspx. The company's home page is at www.etymotic.com.
Kids in chemistry class wear goggles.
Kids in band class . . . well, they often don't wear any protection for their ears. But they should.
Good Afternoon Mr. Roosevelt and Members of the Board -
Two weeks ago I came before you to let you know that I support the Right-Sizing Plan for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. I still do. Although as Mr. Roosevelt said in the media "it needs some tweaking." With that in mind, I'd like to bring the following issue to your attention.
The current plan has the Rogers CAPA program moving to the Baxter building, and the Letsche Education Center moving to the Washington building. Initially seems like a good idea, but on closer examination there are some problems. This would necessitate the moving of two student populations, over 500 students, and the capital improvement of two buildings.
This move seems to give the Rogers CAPA program room to expand, but I believe it does not. The numbers I found for the 2002-3 school year, the final year the CAPA High program was in Baxter, showed an enrollment of 330 students, about 45% of the building's capacity. However, an article in the June 12, 2003 Tribune Review quotes a CAPA student, Jessica Burch, as saying "...she will miss taking singing lessons in a janitor's closet" and "Our Spanish room is also the dance studio...we have to move the desks out...every day." This does not indicate a building with excess capacity; it indicates a building bursting at the seams.
Some of the parents and faculty of Rogers would like to propose the following alternative: Instead of moving both the Rogers CAPA program and the Alternative Education program, leave the Alternative Education program where it is, and move the Rogers CAPA program to the Prospect building in Mt. Washington.
We have gathered the data to show how this new proposal would be better for the CAPA program and the district as a whole. I have prepared a chart based on the 10 criteria you used for the original proposal that compares the two moves. In all cases, the move to Prospect is equal to or better than the move to Baxter.
I will provide you all with copies of the chart, but let me mention the highlights: only the 300 students at Rogers would need to be moved, only one building would need capital improvements. The central location of Prospect near downtown would reduce transportation costs and increase ties to organizations in the Cultural District. The location of Baxter in the far east end would have the opposite effect.
I think that if you look at the data, you will see that this proposal deserves careful consideration. Thank you for your time.
Henry C. Schmitt
Students that go to Rogers might one day work for Disney.November 29, 2005
Mr. Roosevelt & Members of the Board:
As you are aware, both my husband and I are very active in our children’s education and are willing to work to make it the best it can be. We are also strong supporters of public education. We also, like you, believe on making our decisions based on data. Although we first thought moving Rogers to Baxter was a good idea, after reviewing the data, it now seems clear that such a move would be detrimental to the CAPA middle school program, and have a negative impact on the district as a whole. Much of the data we looked at was readily available on the PPS web site, but information about the Baxter building was hard to come by. We received information about Baxter from the Parent-Teacher organizations at Rogers. Working within your proposed plan, the Parent-Teacher group raised an alternative location – the Prospect building.
To better understand the merits of both plans, we looked to the criteria for right-sizing as listed on the PPS website, gathered what data we could, and compared each plan to the criteria. The following table clearly shows why we now believe moving to Baxter is not in the best interest of the CAPA program or district, as well as why Prospect should be considered as a viable alternative.
We look forward to working with you to bring about positive change to the Pittsburgh Public Schools
Katherine Schmitt
Henry Schmitt
Parents of students at Minadeo and Rogers CAPA
Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/29/2005 | Packing heat - and political punchWhile in Manhattan, Bruce helped launch Open Source Media at www.osm.org, a consortium of 70 diverse blogs on topics from politics and true crime to designer shoes and holistic pet care. She's on OSM's advisory board and blogs at http://tammybruce.com.
Bruce calls the blogging collective 'the first fundamental assault on the mainstream media's control of information distribution.'
She says because blog journalism - 'the technological handmaiden of the new American revolution' - is constantly self-correcting and invites anyone to chime in, it will deal a deathblow to old media, including newspapers.
'The power no longer resides with the elites. The power belongs to whoever wants to take it,' says Tammy Bruce with utmost confidence, sounding for all the world like a Sixties lefty at the barricades and signifying that in the fractured and shifting terrain of American political culture, labels have lost all meaning.
Mark Rauterkus statement about PPS Plan: "Statement about Schools -- from Mark Rauterkus --"
BTW, his church, Grace Memorial, does not have Tinker Bell on its steeple. 
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