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Archive of Pennsylvania on Tuesday June 30, 2009
PA: State budget agreement unlikely to meet deadline
Less than 24 hours remain for Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican legislative leaders to work out a new state budget on time, and neither side is optimistic about coming to an agreement anytime soon. Read More
PA: As Pennsylvania budget deadline looms, lobbyists flock to fundraisers
State Rep. Matt Gabler is barely seven months into his first term, but he's already schooled in the ways of the capital. One evening last week, the young Republican greeted lobbyists, fellow lawmakers and others entering his re-election fundraiser in a room above an Irish pub barely a block from the Capitol. Read More
Furloughs cut into state services
With states facing a $121 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year, a growing number of them have turned to squeezing their workforce for savings, and effects both great and small will be felt. Read More
PA: Pennsylvania House expands health insurance to low-income adults
Over Republican objections, state House Democrats voted yesterday to expand the state's adultBasic health insurance program to cover more than 130,000 low-income adults. Read More
PA: Getting DNA tests may turn easy for inmates
Pennsylvania lawmakers might be asked to allow prisoners better access to genetic tests that could prove their innocence. Read More
PA: Open-records chief pleads for more money
The director of the state's Office of Open Records is trying to keep the office that was last year's legislative prize from suffering a painful budget cut. Read More
PA: Commission to investigate judge kickback scheme
The state House voted yesterday voted to create a commission to investigate problems in the Luzerne County Courthouse, where prosecutors say children were wrongly sentenced by judges who took kickbacks from operators of juvenile detention centers in Luzerne and Butler counties. Read More
PA: Rendell requests FEMA aid for flood victims
In a letter addressed to President Barack Obama yesterday, Gov. Ed Rendell pleaded for federal assistance for flood-ravaged communities in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties that were drenched by record-setting rains June 17. Read More
US: States brace for shutdowns
INDIANAPOLIS and DENVER -- The last time Indiana missed its deadline for passing a budget and had to shut down the government was during the Civil War. But on Monday, as lawmakers raced to hammer out an agreement over school funding, state agencies began preparing 31,000 workers to be temporarily out of a job. Read More
US: Ten states race to finish budgets
Ten states were scrambling Monday to pass budgets before a Tuesday deadline, with a handful -- including Arizona, Indiana and Mississippi -- facing the possibility of partial shutdowns if their legislatures don't act in time. Read More
US: Obama steers health debate out of capital
WASHINGTON — With Democrats deeply divided over health legislation, President Obama is trying to enlist the nation's governors and his own army of grass-roots supporters in a bid to increase pressure on lawmakers without getting himself mired in the messy battle playing out on Capitol Hill. Read More
US: Ruling adds teeth to state oversight of banks
For years, state governments have had little power to enforce consumer-protection and lending rules at the country's biggest banks. No more. Read More
US: EPA lists sites where coal ash may pose threat
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday made public a list of 26 communities in 10 states where residents are potentially threatened by coal ash storage ponds similar to one that flooded a neighborhood in Tennessee last year. Read More
US: A green way to dump low-tech electronics
Since 2004, 18 states and New York City have approved laws that make manufacturers responsible for recycling electronics, and similar statutes were introduced in 13 other states this year. Read More |
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