2010-02-07 00:20:00
TOM MURSE
They don't call him a political survivor for nothing. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter easily won the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's endorsement here Saturday afternoon, nine months after quitting the GOP at a time when his re-election prospects appeared dim. The 79-year-old cancer surv......
2010-02-05 22:37:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose party faces a tough 2010, mounted a passionate defense of Democratic principles here Friday night, telling state committee people that "we are defenders of the middle class, fighters for fairness and health care as a right, not a privilege."......
2010-02-05 20:23:00
TOM MURSE
Lancaster businessman John J. McClure has pulled the plug on his underdog congressional campaign before it got off the ground.The 35-year-old South Prince Street resident who intended to seek the Democratic nomination for the 16th Congressional District seat held by U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts sai......
2010-02-05 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Several hundred Democrats from across Pennsylvania will meet here Saturday — weather permitting — to endorse candidates for governor and U.S. Senate.In the former contest, don't hold your breath. The state party chairman, T.J. Rooney, has already set the ba......
2010-02-04 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
It was frigid last Friday morning, the kind of cold that can tax a car battery, sap the soul and provide a good excuse for skipping a legislative breakfast.Stepping lively across North Lime Street and entering the meeting space in the basement at St. Andrew United Church of Christ, I expec......
2010-02-03 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts is substantially outraising his Democratic opponents in his campaign for an eighth term in Congress, new finance reports show.So why are Democrats pleased?Here's one reason: Challenger Lois Herr is on pace to surpass her 2006 fundraising total of m......
2010-01-29 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Some of you — not many, some — revile the idea of turning the nation's largest full-time Legislature back into a part-time outfit, a proposal crafted by a handful of lawmakers from Lancaster County and declared dead on arrival by leadership."New Jersey has a part-time ......
2010-01-28 00:03:00
TOM MURSE
A few months ago, U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts joined fellow Republican lawmakers in congratulating James O'Keefe for his "exemplary actions" as a government watchdog and journalist.O'Keefe, they wrote, was "owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States" fo......
2010-01-27 06:14:00
TOM MURSE
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Pat Toomey is riding high on a wave of pessimism about the economy and discontent with the ruling party in Washington — the same wave that got Scott Brown elected in Massachusetts.Don't believe it?Consider these new poll numbers:...
2010-01-26 20:18:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Molly Poole understands the need for health care reform on a personal level.Poole's husband, Scott, has ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.He soon is going to hit the $1 million cap on his insurance. Poole said that sounds like a lot of money, but, with 24-hour nursing care and ot......
2010-01-25 23:39:00
TOM MURSE
Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Joe Sestak said the government should spend $25 billion in repaid bank bailout money to help Americans stuck with underwater mortgages."We have almost 20 million families who are underwater, where the value of their house is now less than their mortgage,......
2010-01-22 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Five local lawmakers are behind a plan to turn the nation's largest full-time legislature — yeah, that's ours — into a part-time operation.Republican Reps. Bryan Cutler, Gordon Denlinger, John Bear, Scott Boyd...
2010-01-21 22:14:00
TOM MURSE
Pundits will claim that Republican Scott Brown's stunning U.S. Senate victory in Massachusetts this week was an equally stunning defeat for President Barack Obama and his agenda — and a precursor to massive mid-term losses for the Democrats.Whoa, whoa, whoa.Let's not g......
2010-01-21 13:20:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2010-01-19 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
Stranger things have happened than die-hard Democrat Mike Sturla endorsing Democrat-come-lately Arlen Specter.The new ad in which Domino's admits its pizza is barely edible comes to mind.Still it's almost surreal to find Sturla's name on a list of endorsements at ...
2010-01-14 07:10:00
TOM MURSE
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak said the greatest damage to the country hasn't been done by the worst recession since the Depression, the two wars overseas or the health care crisis."It comes from a complete lack of trust in public servants," he said in an interview Tuesday w......
2010-01-12 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
Even in a topsy-turvy universe where smoking cures cancer and Wile E. Coyote catches a break, don't look for a Democrat representing Lancaster in Congress.Republicans would sooner read "The Audacity of Hope" than let a Democrat win the Pennsylvania Dutch seat.But wait.......
2010-01-09 09:29:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Ben Bamford didn't know he was making history. He just wants to get people involved.Bamford, 45, took office this week as the second Democrat on the Lancaster Township supervisors board. In doing so, he shifted the board to Democratic control for the first time in Lancaster Township......
2010-01-08 22:29:00
TOM MURSE
Love her or loathe her, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is coming to Lancaster County.The Pennsylvania Democratic Party has landed the polarizing California Democrat to headline a "roast and toast" honoring Gov. Ed Rendell and its chairman, T.J. Rooney, here on Feb. 5.Rendell i......
2010-01-07 20:26:00
STAFF
Republican Ryan P. Aument has emerged as the front-runner for retiring state Rep. Katie True's House seat after three other potential GOP candidates said Thursday they will not seek the position.Aument, Lancaster County's clerk of courts, also has won support from True, who has said that "......
2010-01-07 00:02:00
TOM MURSE
Scott V. Brubaker, former chairman of the Lancaster County Democratic Committee and one-time rising political star, pleaded guilty Wednesday in the sweeping probe of the Capitol's largest public-corruption scandal in three decades.Brubaker, who is 44 and now lives in Camp Hill, will fo......
2010-01-06 21:42:00
TOM MURSE
The Lancaster County commissioners, in a 2-0 vote, elected Republican Scott F. Martin to be the three-member board's new chairman during their first meeting of the new year Wednesday.Martin, who abstained from the vote, will replace fellow Republican Dennis P. Stuckey in leading the pa......
2010-01-01 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Happy new year, political prognosticators.There's a lot to look forward to in 2010 — statewide, the election of a new governor and the potential that Pennsylvania might have a new U.S. senator; locally, voters will choose a successor to state Rep. Katie True and decide whether U.......
2009-12-31 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Here are some of the other major news stories of the decade that didn't make it into the top 10 list, according to a survey of Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era staffers.• The infamous and since-repealed legislative pay raise of 2005, which led to the ouster......
2009-12-18 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
State Rep. Katie True announced her plans to retire from the House more than a month ago, and only one of the half-dozen people who've said they are considering a run has made a decision.Ryan Aument of Landisville said earlier this week that he will, i......
2009-12-11 08:11:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Rick Gray's margin of victory in last month's election may have been relatively slim, but in fundraising Gray won by a landslide.Gray, Lancaster city's mayor, received $85,258 in campaign contributions in his bid for re-election last month and spent $72,306.Those totals ......
2009-12-04 07:01:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-12-03 22:23:00
TOM MURSE
The Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts in the 2010 election says she opposes President Barack Obama's decision to send 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan.Lois Herr, an Elizabethtown resident taking her third run at the 16th Congressional District seat, added, however: "I as......
2009-11-20 13:46:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-11-18 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
National abortion-rights groups are targeting Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts in next year's election, saying the health-care amendment he co-authored threatens a woman's "fundamental right" to have an abortion.But the congressman, who has long been an anti-abortion crusad......
2009-11-15 00:20:00
JON RUTTER
Jeff "the janitor" Harrison described his status as unofficial spokesman for the Elk County Freedom Fighters as tentative: "I'm unpaid, unqualified, unappreciated," he said. But he added that he sure likes to push back against taxation and "outrageous" ......
2009-11-13 20:19:00
TOM MURSE
Republican Tony Allen conceded the race for Lancaster Township supervisor Friday after a painstaking, 3½-hour manual recount showed his Democratic opponent had won by 13 votes."That's it," Allen said after the tally was announced by county elections officials shortly before 2:30 Fri......
2009-11-13 12:10:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-11-13 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
An official canvass of the Nov. 3 election results Thursday confirmed Democrat Ben Bamford as the winner — by a razor-thin 11-vote margin — over longtime Republican Lancaster Township Supervisor Tony Allen.Elections workers did find four previo......
2009-11-12 20:56:00
MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press
A former House speaker, an ex-lawmaker and eight aides Thursday became the latest — and the first Republicans — to be charged in a 3-year-old investigation into the diversion of public resources and employees to Pennsylvania legislative campaigns.Attorney General Tom Corbett sa......
2009-11-12 00:02:00
TOM MURSE
Seats in the Legislature don't open up very often.And when they do?Look out.There's typically an avalanche of folks interested in running for office.News that state Rep. Katie True is retiring after 2010 has sparked a flurry of interest in her House seat, which......
2009-11-08 00:22:00
PAULA WOLF
The bipartisan abortion amendment passed during Saturday's health care debate was co-sponsored by Rep. Joseph Pitts. A Republican who represents Lancaster County and parts of Chester and Berks counties, Pitts teamed with Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, of Michigan, to draft the amendment mo......
2009-11-08 00:21:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Phil Zangari was walking his dog near his home in the first block of Seymour Street a few weeks ago when he came across a pistol in a nearby alley. Zangari called Lancaster police, who dutifully came out and took a report. "The cops suggested I put up a gate" to keep people out of ......
2009-11-08 00:10:00
PAULA WOLF
Immediately after the Democrats' health care bill was passed, Rep. Joseph Pitts — who opposed the legislation — released the following statement: "Instead of passing health care reform with a united front of Democrats and Republicans, Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose to rej......
2009-11-06 10:50:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-11-06 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
I know, I know. You've had it up to here with election news (judging by the meager turnout, most of you didn't give a rip), but this is a political column, after all, so we're going to keep doing what we do.This week: Trivial Pursuit Mayoral Edition.Grab your pe......
2009-11-05 05:58:00
TOM MURSE
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray had all the advantages a candidate could ask for:A 2-to-1 voter-registration edge.A well-oiled party machine to get out the vote.The positive name recognition that comes with four controversy-free years in City Hall.And loads more campaign cas......
2009-11-05 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
In his victory speech Tuesday night, Mayor Rick Gray gave credit to his campaign, and he singled out volunteers.But I think there was a more decisive factor in Gray's eking out a close-call win against Republican Charlie Smithgall.Day in and day out, in a strictly nonpartisan fa......
2009-11-04 01:49:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster city voters by a narrow margin Tuesday returned Democrat Rick Gray to City Hall for four more years and voted to retain an all-Democratic City Council.It was the second consecutive sweep by city Democrats in a mayoral election.Gray, who is completing his first four-year te......
2009-11-04 21:38:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
Lancaster County officials have announced the results of two additional township races in Tuesday's election.In Martic Township, where three candidates were vying for two seats on the township's board of supervisors, two Republicans both captured more than 300 votes to win.T......
2009-11-04 01:38:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
Local Democrats have been pointing to the Lancaster Township supervisor's race as one they thought they could win.And by the narrowest of margins — 11 votes — they did.Democrat Benjamin Bamford, a member of the township Planning Commission, defeated longtime Supervis......
2009-11-04 01:27:00
TOM MURSE
In overwhelming fashion, Lancaster County voters chose to retain two Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas judges who were seeking new 10-year terms in Tuesday's election.And in the only contest for a courthouse row office — for controller, the county's top fiscal watchdog &......
2009-11-04 01:23:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It was a bad night for local Democrats, as Republicans won mayoral and most council seats in every contested borough race.Democratic challengers in Columbia, Ephrata, Manheim and Mountville fell at the ballot boxes, including Mountville's incumbent mayor.Connie M. Guy, 54, at th......
2009-11-04 01:12:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Manheim Township school board will have three new members in December.Board president Hannah Bartges was successful in her bid for re-election Tuesday, but fellow incumbent Beth Ross — one of two Democrats in the race — fell short of capturing one of the four open seats.......
2009-11-03 05:19:00
TOM MURSE
Republicans are seeking to break the Democratic Party's domination of City Hall and City Council in Lancaster as thousands of voters head to the polls today."We've got two good candidates, and people are working very hard," said city GOP Chairman Dave Stoltzfus. "It&......
2009-10-31 08:27:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Ralph E. Mowen believes Ephrata is a safe and attractive place to live, and he wants a fifth term as its mayor to make things even better.The 64-year-old Republican, who works as a security manager for Susquehanna Bancshares, said he would like to strengthen the borough's enforcement p......
2009-10-31 08:14:00
TOM KNAPP
Leo Lutz hopes eight years as mayor of Columbia Borough will give him an edge in Tuesday's race for re-election.Lutz, a Republican seeking his third term in office, faces a challenge from Democratic newcomer James Robert Haug."Obviously, I have the eight years of experience......
2009-10-30 08:28:00
TOM KNAPP
Tony Allen thinks things are running pretty smoothly in Lancaster Township."I don't see any real issues," Allen, chairman of the board of supervisors, on which he's served 18 years, said Wednesday."Lancaster Township operates in the black. We work within our b......
2009-10-30 06:16:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Children who will soon be teenagers have never known a Lancaster city in which the mayor has not been either Rick Gray or Charlie Smithgall.The two mayors have controlled the county's only city for a dozen years. Both are asking for another term.For Gray, 64, a win Tuesday will ......
2009-10-30 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
A few notes, quotes and anecdotes before the big day.Pitts: Aid jobless with StimU.S. Rep. Joe Pitts has taken a lot of flak for being the only House vote from Pennsylvania against a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits in states with a jobles......
2009-10-29 08:21:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Correction Oct. 30, 2009 — The party affiliations of Eastern Lancaster County school board candidates Alexander Sitar and Michael C. Upton were incorrect in the article below. Sitar is a Republican, and Upton is an Independent. Both are list......
2009-10-29 00:02:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Rick Gray was hailed as a champion of efforts to get illegal guns off the streets on Wednesday, while his challenger, Charlie Smithgall, was praised as an accessible public servant who will restore good government to Lancaster city.The competing press events were held less than a week befo......
2009-10-29 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter is in "a world of trouble" in his bid for a sixth term next year, a new statewide poll shows.The Republican-turned-Democrat's job approval ratings are the lowest they've been since the survey began tracking his performance in 1991. Now, only 23 per......
2009-10-28 09:47:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
Correction — The article below about the East Hempfield Township supervisors race incorrectly stated Lori McGowan's medical specialty. She is a doctor of podiatric medicine and surgery.•••...
2009-10-28 08:43:00
BERNARD HARRIS
In the closing days of the fall election campaign, two candidates used the Lancaster city council meeting to tell a tale of two cities.Matt Holden, the lone Republican council candidate, used the meeting's public comment period to tell council members that city residents feel forgotten......
2009-10-27 08:31:00
TOM MURSE
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, trying to win a second term in the Nov. 3 election, has raised and spent nearly five times the money challenger Charlie Smithgall has since June, new finance reports show.Gray, a Democrat and former defense attorney, brought in $33,908 and spent nearly as much si......
2009-10-23 11:32:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-10-23 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Election Day is nearly upon us.Stop it. I see you. You're yawning.It's a so-called off year, so you think it's pretty boring out there, right?Here's a tip: It's not.I know, I know. You've heard and read a lot about the mayoral slugfest in Lancas......
2009-10-22 00:06:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster city's two mayoral candidates took turns speaking for an hour Wednesday night, but their disagreements were more in the numbers than in their words.Charlie Smithgall, the Republican and former two-term mayor, and Rick Gray, the Democrat finishing his first term as mayor, diff......
2009-10-22 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County Election Board on Wednesday scrapped plans to establish a policy for accepting and rejecting write-in votes.Heeding the recommendation of county elections staff, the board, which is made up of the three county commissioners, unanimously voted to toss the proposed policy in......
2009-10-21 16:16:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster mayoral candidates Rick Gray and Charlie Smithgall will face northeastern city residents — and potential voters — this evening in the second forum of their election campaign.Smithgall, a Republican and a former two-term mayor, and Gray, an incumbent Democrat who is co......
2009-10-18 00:19:00
JO-ANN GREENE
Lancaster County Democrats attending the party's fall banquet Saturday at the Lancaster Marriott might have focused on the Nov. 3 elections. Instead, May 18 loomed larger, due to keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and guest speakers U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and state Rep. Bill Kortz....
2009-10-16 00:06:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The directions from organizers of the candidate forum at Ray's Temple Community Church were clear. The event — the first for candidates running for Lancaster city mayor and City Council — was not to be a debate.The candidates were to answer panelists' questions. They we......
2009-10-16 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
There's an important milestone next week in the race for mayor in Lancaster and in contests across Pennsylvania's 2,565 other cities, townships and boroughs.It's the Friday deadline for candidates to file their one-and-only* pre-election report telling voters who has been givin......
2009-10-15 17:51:00
STAFF REPORT
The Democratic and Republican candidates for Lancaster city mayor are scheduled to meet for their first candidates forum this evening at 7 p.m. at Ray's Temple Community Church, South Ann Street and East End Avenue.Current Mayor Rick Gray, a Democrat, and former Mayor Charlie Smi......
2009-10-14 07:33:00
P.J. REILLY
Charlie Smithgall earned a spot on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot in the race for city mayor with write-in votes cast last May for "Charles Smithgall," "Charley Smithgall," "C. Smithgalll" and even "Mayor Smithgall."About three weeks after the Pr......
2009-10-13 00:03:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Three times when Charlie Smithgall was mayor, Lancaster City cut proposed funding to install an elevator in City Hall.The elevator would have made the second floor of the municipal building accessible to people in wheelchairs and compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act....
2009-10-11 00:21:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray stopped his Toyota Prius at Shippen and Chester streets to talk to a man working in the corner yard. Gray knows the guy, he explained; there was some trouble with a neighbor and Gray intervened on the man's behalf with city police. "How's it going?"......
2009-10-10 00:02:00
MARC LEVY, Associated Press
Gov. Ed Rendell and the politically divided Legislature finally signed off on a state budget Friday night, resolving a multibillion-dollar, recession-driven shortfall and ending Pennsylvania's 101-day budget stalemate, the nation's longest this year.Rendell and top legislators ackn......
2009-10-09 10:36:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-10-09 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Sharpen your pencils, kids. It's pop-quiz time here at Politically Speaking, and our five questions this week deal with the mayoral race in Lancaster.Let's get started.• Which one of the following folks is campaigning door-to-door with Mayor ...
2009-10-08 00:07:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The presidency of Barack Obama, what it has accomplished to date and what it has not, was the topic Wednesday for political talk show host and journalist Chris Matthews.The host of MSNBC's "Hardball" and "The Chris Matthews Show" on NBC spoke at Franklin & Marsh......
2009-10-04 00:19:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Charlie Smithgall rolls through town in his big black Chevrolet Suburban, pointing out the things he said have gone wrong since Rick Gray replaced him as mayor of Lancaster. "I don't mean to be critical," he said. "But I'm gonna be critical." "Ever been ......
2009-10-03 00:04:00
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Democrats in the Pennsylvania House sent a plan to the Republican-controlled Senate late Friday that would tax natural gas extraction and tobacco products to replace a previous proposal to tax small games of chance and tickets to arts events.The 103-to-98 vote came exactly two weeks after ......
2009-10-02 11:17:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-10-02 00:02:00
TOM MURSE
The handshake agreement that was supposed to end Pennsylvania's protracted budget stalemate two weeks ago appeared to fall apart Thursday as House Democrats backpedaled on the deal and came up with a new plan on their own.Frustrated Senate Republicans said such a move would send things......
2009-10-02 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
If you want to vote in the November elections you have until 5 p.m. Monday to register if you do it in person at the county Voter Registration office, 150 N. Queen St.If you're doing it by snail mail, make sure your application is postmarked Oct. 5 or earlier.We have the registr......
2009-09-30 08:29:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Seven years ago, when Charlie Smithgall was Lancaster's mayor, a proposal was made to bring back a downtown trolley line.Smithgall, speaking Tuesday to a group at Christ Lutheran Church, said he looked into the idea and quickly dismissed it.Smithgall said he and his staff conclu......
2009-09-29 08:34:00
Perhaps there's a good reason why Pennsylvania needed an extra three months to pass its budget.That's three months beyond the deadline. And the deadline (July 1) is written in the state lawbooks, so any living and sentient legislator (which description certainly covers mor......
2009-09-29 06:08:00
P.J. REILLY
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts was bombarded Monday night with emotionally charged complaints, ranging from health care reform and the government's rising debt to a fellow congressman calling President Barack Obama a liar on national television.And, for the most part, the crowd agreed with Pitts&......
2009-09-18 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
A few notes, quotes and anecdotes from the week in local politics.Pitts not convincedPresident Barack Obama, speaking about health care reform on prime-time TV last week, forcefully denied that his plan would cover illegal immigrants or spend taxpay......
2009-09-18 15:35:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-09-17 07:34:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
As a steady throng of people form a jagged line, Jim Belcher slathers peanut butter on bread, determined to serve a meal with a message.Every Monday, he and fellow members of the year-old chapter of Food Not Bombs, a loose-knit international volunteer and donation-funded organization, offe......
2009-09-16 08:33:00
BERNARD HARRIS
For 38 years, Lancaster city has had a contract to provide police services to surrounding Lancaster Township.It took Mayor Rick Gray just four years to lose that contract, his predecessor and political rival Charlie Smithgall said Tuesday.The day after Lancaster Township supervisors......
2009-09-13 00:11:00
JO-ANN GREENE
No one's blood pressure was in danger of skyrocketing at Lois Herr's town hall meeting on health care. The 2010 Democratic candidate for the 16th Congressional seat hosted a measured, agreeable, two-hour discussion with about 65 county residents at the Lancaster Public Library Saturd......
2009-09-12 06:02:00
TOM MURSE
Deal? What deal?Gov. Ed Rendell quickly put the kibosh on a $27.9 billion budget framework hashed out by three of the four legislative caucuses and unveiled Friday morning. ...
2009-09-11 13:03:00
GIL SMART and CASEY KREIDER
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2009-09-11 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Welcome to the post-Labor Day edition of Politically Speaking, the first since the unofficial start of the fall campaign season. Time to check in with our pols and parties and ask: Whose stock is rising and whose is falling?Let's start with the obvious.FALLING: ......
2009-09-10 10:33:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Crime, parking, communication and snowstorms were among the topics Republican mayoral candidate Charlie Smithgall talked about with more than 30 city residents at a rally Wednesday evening in Buchanan Park."I've gone door-to-door and people aren't happy," Smithgall said. ......
2009-09-04 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
After two town hall meetings, it is clear that U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts' opposition to the health care reform proposals put forth by the Obama administration is based on one fundamental, underlying belief:The crisis has been overblown."This is about a 10 million-person problem,&......
2009-09-04 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Pennsylvanians are a sour lot, a new statewide poll shows.And, really, can you blame us?We live in the only state in the nation operating without a budget, and there's no sign of an end to the stalemate, which is in its third month.A majority of us are also skeptical of P......
2009-08-30 00:10:00
JEANNETTE SCOTT
Kaila Tyson-Aikins, a sixth-grader at Park Elementary School in Columbia struggled with her homework, night after night. But her grades improved and her confidence soared with state-funded tutoring last year, her mother, Joy Tyson, said. Columbia Borough School District relies on the st......
2009-08-28 06:03:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts was cheered by opponents of President Barack Obama's sweeping health-care proposals at a spirited — and occasionally testy — town-hall meeting here Thursday night.But the Republican lawmaker also faced tough questions from many of the 400 people in the c......
2009-08-27 08:42:00
TOM MURSE
Jason O'Malley was preparing to graduate from American University in Washington, D.C., in 1999 and had sent out at least a hundred résumés.The 1995 McCaskey graduate loved politics and dreamed of working on Capitol Hill, so he sent an application to the office of U.S. Sen......
2009-08-26 00:04:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who was criticized for holding a teleconference on health care reform instead of meeting with a skeptical public, has scheduled a town-hall meeting here Thursday night.The forum will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Conestoga Valley High School, 2110 Horseshoe Ro......
2009-08-25 06:04:00
TIM MEKEEL
Twice in his life, Franklin Shearer has fallen in love.First, he fell for trains.Then he fell for his wife, Lucille.The retired Hersheypark executive combines both passions by riding the rails with her, always using Amtrak's Elizabethtown station.Shearer feels so s......
2009-08-25 06:03:00
CINDY STAUFFER
The nation has broken the promise of the American Dream, that the next generation will have the opportunity to do better than the present one, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak told a small crowd in Penn Square Monday afternoon.Sestak said that's why he is running for the U.S. Senate a......
2009-08-22 15:30:00
CASEY KREIDER and GIL SMART
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2009-08-21 00:02:00
TOM MURSE
One of my first assignments for this newspaper was to cover a meeting in Manheim Township. The year was 1998, and the suburb's five commissioners were to vote on the creation of a "community trash hauler." The issue seemed pretty mundane to me. If you wanted your garbage pic......
2009-08-18 08:14:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts has long opposed the public health care option sought by President Barack Obama, saying any government-run plan would undercut private insurers.But on Monday, Pitts said he also dislikes the administration's alternative to the "public option" — nonpr......
2009-08-14 10:16:00
BERNARD HARRIS
On Tuesday in Lebanon, Sen. Arlen Specter stood face to face with angry constituents at a town hall meeting on health care.In an interview after the meeting, Specter said he placed himself squarely before the people attending the forum because he felt that would make them less likely to sc......
2009-08-11 08:34:00
BERNARD HARRIS
On a steamy Monday afternoon, children played in the fountain in Lancaster city's Binns Park.Downtown office workers came out to walk around, and people sat in the shade and ate their lunches.And, as they do every Monday at lunchtime, Food Not Bombs members hung their banner on ......
2009-08-07 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Hello there, state workers.If you're up for a little cheap fun this weekend — I know you haven't gotten a paycheck in awhile and likely won't get one at least until next week — here's an idea. (Consider it a treasure hunt, of sorts.)See if you can find ou......
2009-08-06 09:18:00
TOM MURSE
More than 77,000 state workers, some of whom have been relying on food banks to get by during the budget stalemate, will get their first full paychecks in nearly a month beginning next week. Democrats in the state House?They've already paid themselves.The Democrats dipped......
2009-08-06 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
Are you angry with Gov. Ed Rendell for wanting to raise your taxes?Apparently, Sen. Dominic Pileggi doesn't think you're angry enough.Pileggi, of Delaware County, is the leader of the majority Republicans in the state Senate and Rendell's chief nemesis in Pennsylvania......
2009-08-04 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
It was a classic Ed Rendell thing to say. AUDIO: Rendell discusses budget At a news conferenc......
2009-08-02 00:08:00
SUZANNE CASSIDY
At the Lancaster County Democratic Committee's annual corn roast Saturday, there was plenty of humidity, but not so much of the humility that used to surround Democrats living in this traditionally conservative county. Some 130 local Democrats gathered at Long's Park for a dinner of roa......
2009-08-01 09:00:00
As of yesterday, 33,000 state workers were without a paycheck. For the past month, they have continued to show up for work, do their jobs and serve the public despite the threat of payless paydays. Good for them. That's the kind of integrity Pennsylvanians expect from public servants.I......
2009-07-31 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
It wasn't exactly a cage match to the death.But anyone who caught the latest round of the State Budget Blame Game — courtesy of Republican Rep. John Bear and Democratic Rep. Mike Sturla — should have a decent feel for why Pennsylvania is in......
2009-07-30 10:41:00
BERNARD HARRIS
As a gift from her son, Louise Williams got a matched pair of picture books.The books are of President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, and each includes snapshots and memos stuck inside as though they were scrapbooks.Those snapshots are stock photos and the memos are, of......
2009-07-30 09:36:00
BERNARD HARRIS
It's official. There is a race for Lancaster city mayor.Former Mayor Charlie Smithgall has filed paperwork with the Lancaster County Board of Elections, accepting the Republican nomination for city mayor.Smithgall, a two-term mayor, lost his re-election bid four years ago to cur......
2009-07-28 10:42:00
TOM MURSE
As Pennsylvania's budget stalemate enters its fifth week, state Sen. Mike Brubaker says he's come up with a plan that could prevent future impasses — by docking lawmakers' pay and perks, among other things."By us not being paid, that can put on a lot of pressure,&quo......
2009-07-25 08:01:00
TOM MURSE
Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who will seek his eighth term in Congress next year, is raising more money than his challenger and has nearly five times as much campaign cash in the bank, new finance reports show.But Democrat Lois Herr has raked in twice as much money from individual donor......
2009-07-24 06:01:00
TOM MURSE
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Pat Toomey, a hero to some conservatives in Pennsylvania, says he can beat any opponent next fall — even in a state dominated by Democratic voters."I can definitely win this race," he said in a brief meeting with reporters of this newspaper Th......
2009-07-24 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Ten thousand corrections officers patrol our prison cell blocks and stand between hardened criminals and the public in Pennsylvania — and those officers are getting only a fraction of their pay during the budget stalemate.The inmates?They're still getting paid in full.......
2009-07-23 05:01:00
Al Franken was sworn in recently as the nation's 100th senator.Franken, from Minnesota, gives the Democrats the coveted 60th vote, which, in theory, allows the majority party to break a filibuster by the minority Republicans.Nothing. however, in the ego-filled power pool that is......
2009-07-10 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
For all the huffing and puffing from our state lawmakers during the budget stalemate, Rep. Ron Marsico doesn't see any action to back up the bluster."Look where we are today: no budget in site," said the Dauphin County Republican. "They're not even m......
2009-07-09 00:01:00
It doesn't require a soothsayer to foretell the train wreck that lies in Pennsylvania's fiscal future. The numbers speak for themselves.The budget that state lawmakers are now wrestling with is $3.2 billion short. Gov. Ed Rendell and a number of House Democrats say the the only way......
2009-07-08 10:04:00
TOM MURSE
Pennsylvania's 253 state lawmakers have been working without pay during the week-old budget stalemate. But that doesn't mean they're scraping to get by.More than 200 legislators, including two from Lancaster County, are being reimbursed by taxpayers for meals on the days they&#......
2009-07-07 10:02:00
AD CRABLE
Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak, on a frenetic media blitz of 67 counties in three weeks, swept through Lancaster County on Monday, calling himself the principled and credible alternative to Sen. Arlen Specter in the race for the Senate.Sestak, 57, a Slovakian immigrant's son who fol......
2009-07-03 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
Sen. Arlen Specter in Lancaster on Wednesday said that being a Democrat "feels very comfortable."Specter had better realize his comfort level is beside the point.Since he switched parties at the end of April, what matters is whether Democrats are comfortable with Specter....
2009-07-03 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Republican Charlie Smithgall has understood from the get-go he would be fighting an uphill battle against Rick Gray, the city's Democratic mayor, in a rematch of 2005's mayoral election."I am absolutely an underdog," he said.But th......
2009-07-02 10:07:00
TOM KNAPP
Municipalities that don't have their own police departments soon may be asked to pick up the cost of state police coverage.A measure to impose fees on those municipalities — about 20 percent of those in Pennsylvania, including several townships in Lancaster County — passed ......
2009-07-02 10:01:00
BERNARD HARRIS
When political candidates announce they are running for office, they often hold a press conference in which they are backed by a crowd of family and friends.When former Lancaster Mayor Charlie Smithgall said last Friday that he would challenge current Mayor Rick Gray, he stood alone outsid......
2009-07-02 00:19:00
TOM MURSE
The decades-long effort to open a federal courthouse in Lancaster has taken perhaps its biggest step forward: President Barack Obama is allocating $27 million for the project in his budget proposal for 2010."This is the first time we've gotten this far," U.S. Sen. Arlen Spect......
2009-07-02 00:11:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter came to town Wednesday morning to talk about the $5 million in federal stimulus money going to Red Rose Transit Authority. ...
2009-07-01 00:05:00
TOM MURSE
Now that the deadline to pass a state budget has come and gone and there's no prospect of an agreement anytime soon, you might be wondering: What makes this year different?It is true that the Legislature and Gov. Ed Rendell haven't been able to approve a spending plan before July 1......
2009-06-30 00:06:00
TOM MURSE
Forget midnight.In fact, some Harrisburg insiders say, forget July.The disparate factions warring over next year's state budget are still miles apart, which means reaching an accord before the constitutional July 1 deadline — or even over the next several weeks — is ......
2009-06-30 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Wesley A. Snyder was able to keep his $29 million mortgage brokering scam hush-hush, for a time, by withholding crucial information — namely account statements — from his clients.Such a practice soon will be illegal.Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday signed into law a measure tha......
2009-06-27 00:41:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Lancaster city residents appear split on whether Charlie Smithgall's decision to run against Mayor Rick Gray in the fall election is a good idea.In a sampling of patrons at Friday's Celebrate Lancaster! festivities downtown, five people said they don't support Smithgall, and fo......
2009-06-25 01:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
With inner-city Fulton Elementary School as his backdrop, Gov. Ed Rendell defended his call for higher state taxes as a "moral obligation" to children.Noting that Republican lawmakers have drawn a line in the sand against a tax increase, the governor drew his own line.&quo......
2009-06-24 00:32:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Mayors of five Pennsylvania cities — Lancaster, York, Reading, Easton and Bethlehem — announced Tuesday they've formed a coalition to meet the challenge of paying for municipal government.The cities had been the subject of a study earlier this year by the Pennsylvania Econo......
2009-06-24 00:24:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Gov. Ed Rendell issued a simple warning Tuesday to Republican lawmakers who want to slash millions in public school funding from next year's state budget: "Don't mess with education."Education is too important to the state's future to fall victim to cost-cutting in th......
2009-06-18 00:01:00
Budget battles in Pennsylvania are rarely collegial. Rather than working to bridge the gap between revenue and expenditures, the two parties tend to migrate to their own aisles and throw barbs at each other.Faced with the largest deficit in state history, lawmakers this year have reverted ......
2009-06-17 01:02:00
DAVE PIDGEON
An income-tax increase proposed Tuesday by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell probably won't pass, state lawmakers said Tuesday.But as Democrats and Republicans look to slash spending in ways that will have consequences for local governments, most people will probably end up paying higher taxe......
2009-06-16 00:19:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The Joe Pitts-Lois Herr rivalry has become a trilogy.The Federal Elections Commission confirmed Monday that Democrat Lois Herr filed paperwork to make her third run at unseating Pitts, the venerable Republican congressman from the 16th District who first took office in 1997.Should P......
2009-06-10 01:13:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A local Republican and the Democratic governor will hold dueling press conferences today to lay out ideas about how to jumpstart the housing industry and the general economy.State Rep. John Bear, a Lititz Republican, will go first at 10 a.m. from the steps of the state Capitol. He will int......
2009-06-10 00:31:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
I just checked the Weather Channel on TV. I wanted to make sure hell hadn't frozen over.The reason I suspected this might have occurred is that I find myself agreeing with a letter to the editor written by fellow Ephratian Anna Mae Ressler. I know Anna Mae and, politically, we don'......
2009-05-29 10:40:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
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2009-05-28 00:36:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County commissioners are listening to the chatter in Harrisburg about the state's 2009-10 budget.What they're hearing has them worried."The goal of Senate Bill 850 is no tax increases, and I think that notion is a fallacy," Commissioner Craig Lehman said.......
2009-05-22 00:01:00
The Berlin Wall fell, but for years thereafter American Cold Warriors were mocked for not giving up on the old fight they seemed to have grown to love.Well, Obama's in the White House, but some Democrats appear to be stuck on the past like a fading "01-20-09" label on a Prius......
2009-05-22 10:45:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
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2009-05-20 20:08:00
LARRY ALEXANDER and P.J. REILLY
Correction — In a tight primary race in Manheim Township, incumbent commissioner Rick Casselbury polled 101 votes more than the next nearest candidate, James M. Martin. The wrong number was included in the article below, posted on LancasterO......
2009-05-20 17:41:00
JENNIFER TODD and BRIAN WALLACE
Correction — Timothy Craven, who is running for Ephrata Area school board, will appear on the November ballot as a Democratic candidate. The article below, posted on LancasterOnline Wednesday, contained inaccurate information about his statu......
2009-05-20 03:44:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Tuesday turned into happy hour for those who wanted to overturn a prohibition on alcohol sales in West Lampeter Township.Because residents voting in a referendum chose to reverse the township's 74-year-old ban on alcohol sales, major changes are likely in store for Willow Valley Resort......
2009-05-20 03:06:00
TOM KNAPP and MICHAEL YODER
C. Chuck Mummert, an Elizabethtown Borough councilman for the past four years, handily snatched the vacant mayor's seat away from political newcomer Donald Keller in one of six Republican face-offs for mayoral slots in Lancaster County.Mummert, a salesman for a home-re......
2009-05-19 01:14:00
JEFF HAWKES
As President Barack Obama puts health care reform on the front burner, at least one observer thinks the White House has learned from mistakes that doomed the Clinton administration's efforts.In a talk to a Lancaster audience, Andrew Webber, head of the National Business Coalition on He......
2009-05-19 01:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Rick Gray could stay inside his North Prince Street home. But he won't.Gray has no opponent today in the Democratic primary, but that doesn't mean the incumbent Lancaster city mayor won't be putting shoe leather to pavement."I'm just going to go around to the pr......
2009-05-19 00:01:00
It would be encouraging to report that today's primary election was attracting lots of attention. We would like to tell you that voters here are just as interested in municipal and judicial elections as they are in voting for president. We would like to see more than 60 percent of eligible voters......
2009-05-14 00:19:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide which school board candidates get to run for office in the November general election.While the outcome of the primary is far from certain, it's clear the fall ballot will feature plenty of new faces.Thirty-two seats are contested i......
2009-05-13 01:21:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
What's happening to Lancaster County?First we had "unrepentant terrorist" William Ayers at Millersville University spreading his radical philosophies on how to improve inner city schools.Then Richard Wolff, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Am......
2009-05-13 00:33:00
BRIAN WALLACE
The five candidates for four seats on the School District of Lancaster board shared their views Tuesday night on everything from school board protocol and parental involvement to phonics, early education and Everyday Math.Real-estate agent Nick Jabbour of 427 Rabbit Hill Lane, attorney Ric......
2009-05-12 00:01:00
Most would agree that Pennsylvania's state police are very good at what they do. They patrol highways, arrest bad guys, break up drug rings and respond when called.But as well-trained as they are, they cannot be in two places at the same time.Yet, they are being asked to do more......
2009-05-09 01:18:00
BRIAN WALLACE
The five candidates running for four seats on the School District of Lancaster board in the May 19 primary will participate in a candidates' forum Tuesday at Fulton Elementary School.The forum, scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m., was organized by district parents John Moore, a member of the......
2009-05-04 11:13:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Some Southern Lancaster County Republicans are crying foul over a Democrat filling a previously GOP-held township supervisor position. Little Britain Township Supervisors voted 3-1 at a special meeting Thursday night to appoint Democrat Curtis Jones to replace Dave Eller, who died suddenly Apri......
2009-05-04 00:02:00
DAVE PIDGEON
He glided with broad shoulders through downtown Lancaster during the Fall of 2008 as if he'd come back to the city block where he grew up. One of the most recognizable Republicans anywhere, he mingled with shop owners and competed in a good-spirited jabfest......
2009-04-30 00:48:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Local politicians and medical professionals are not high on a proposal coming out of Harrisburg.State Rep. Mark Cohen, a Democrat representing Philadelphia County, has introduced a bill that would permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes."As time goes on, citizens and g......
2009-04-30 00:32:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican Matt Holden announced Wednesday an unusual measure in his bid to win a seat on Lancaster City Council — he's trying to nab one of four Democratic nominations as well as one from the GOP.Holden, the only GOP candidate in the race, said Wednesday he's urging Democrat......
2009-04-30 00:28:00
MICHAEL YODER
State Sen. Mike Brubaker's initiative to provide oversight of the spending of billions of dollars from the federal stimulus program passed its first hurdle Tuesday.Senate Bill 6, which was unanimously approved by the State Government Committee, would create a bipartisan commission to p......
2009-04-30 00:23:00
BRIAN WALLACE
State Rep. Mike Sturla has introduced legislation that would revamp Pennsylvania's special-education funding formula.The Lancaster city Democrat is co-sponsoring House Bill 704, which would replace the current funding formula with one based on the 2007 "costing-out" study com......
2009-04-30 16:30:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
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2009-04-29 11:00:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic Party achieved what many thought impossible. It united the Republican Party. At least for a few minutes. Conservatives and moderates alike — including many who have bemoaned the GOP's rightward shift and seeming lack ......
2009-04-29 01:16:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Intrigue and disappointment ran deep in Lancaster County's political circles Tuesday in the wake of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's switch from 44-year Republican to the state's newest Democrat.The centrist Specter announced Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that he would run for re-elect......
2009-04-29 00:01:00
He voted for the death penalty, for permanent tax breaks, for a federal "flat tax," against gun-control measures including a ban on assault weapons and against the Employee Free Choice Act. He entered the 1996 presidential primary because, he said, President Bill Clinton was neglecting ......
2009-04-28 12:32:00
STAFF and WIRE REPORTS
Veteran U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, facing what would have been the political fight of his life in 2010's Republican primary, announced today he is switching parties to become a Democrat. The 79-year-old, five-term Pennsylvania lawmaker said in a statement announcing the switch: "I am ......
2009-04-28 01:21:00
JEFF HAWKES
The sky might be falling on Sen. Arlen Specter.The latest poll has the five-term Republican incumbent down by 21 points to right-wing challenger Pat Toomey.The same poll shows that nearly 60 percent of Republicans are less likely to vote for Specter because he crossed party lines to......
2009-04-24 14:00:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
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2009-04-23 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A bill approved Tuesday by the state House on Tuesday would add more stringent requirements for landscape architects to acquire a license to practice in Pennsylvania.The bill would mandate anyone wishing to obtain a landscape architecture license pass an exam and take 24 total hours of con......
2009-04-21 10:57:00
TOM MURSE
Lancaster County has purged nearly 13,000 inactive, deceased or relocated voters from its rolls ahead of this year's municipal primary, shrinking the gain made by Democrats before the hot 2009 presidential contest. Still, the biennial cleaning of voter rolls left intact an important if symb......
2009-04-16 01:26:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Mayor Rick Gray and police Chief Keith Sadler joined Gov. Ed Rendell on Wednesday in a plea to Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons like the one used recently to kill three Pittsburgh police officers. ...
2009-04-16 01:02:00
MICHAEL YODER
The rally cry of a frustrated public weary of more taxes and larger government arose across the nation Wednesday, all the way from Lancaster, Calif., to Lancaster, Pa.More than 400 people braved a steady downpour of cold rain Wednesday afternoon to attend the Lancaster Tea Party in Musser ......
2009-04-14 01:06:00
JEFF HAWKES
First-term County Commissioner Scott Martin railed against Somali pirates last night in an address to a joint session of Congress."Lawlessness on the high seas cannot stand," Martin said in a 96-minute prime-time address interrupted 17 times by applauding members of Congress and ......
2009-04-09 00:56:00
P.J. REILLY
Democratic Lancaster County Commissioner Craig Lehman on Wednesday accused his Republican colleagues of "pandering and trying to score political points" and of attempting to "divide this board" through a resolution targeting the proposed Employee Free Choice Act of 2009....
2009-04-07 00:01:00
Sen. Stevens was victim of prosecutorial misconduct, but doesn't merit reinstatement•••Let's get one thing straight at the start.The Justice Department — the Republican Justice Department of the Bush administration ......
2009-04-03 01:02:00
P.J. REILLY
Republican Lancaster County commissioners Dennis Stuckey and Scott Martin see the proposed Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 as a threat to workers' "fundamental right" to vote on unionizing by secret ballot.Democratic Commissioner Craig Lehman disagrees."This act ......
2009-04-02 01:28:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The state Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday that would bar illegal immigrants from accessing public benefits such as Medicaid.But the bill's future is in doubt as it moves to the Democrat-dominated state House, and Gov. Ed Rendell has signaled his displeasure with it.T......
2009-04-01 00:36:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican state Sen. Mike Brubaker said Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell's attempts to bring accountability to how federal stimulus funds are spent don't go far enough.Rendell announced Tuesday the creation of a bipartisan Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission, charged with reviewi......
2009-03-18 01:09:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican state Sen. Mike Brubaker has joined with other GOP lawmakers in calling for legislative involvement in determining how federal stimulus funds will be spent in Pennsylvania.On Tuesday, Brubaker introduced in the state Senate a bill that would create a nine-member bipartisan commi......
2009-03-17 00:01:00
State Sen. Vince Fumo, once the most powerful senator in Harrisburg, is now a convicted felon.Monday, a jury of 10 women and two men found Fumo and aide Ruth Arnao guilty on all counts of defrauding the state Senate, a nonprofit and a museum of more than $3.5 million, as well as destroying......
2009-03-16 13:21:00
MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer
Vincent Fumo, once one of the most powerful figures in Pennsylvania politics, was convicted today of more than 130 counts of corruption for schemes that defrauded the state Senate and others of more than $3.5 million and helped pay for his lavish lifestyle. The 65-year-old former state senator ......
2009-03-13 11:00:00
PAUL FRANZ
Sunday News columnist Gil Smart on the recent spate of Rick Santelli-inspired tea parties. In Harrisburg last Saturday, a crowd of about 1,000 gathered on the western steps of the state Capitol to protest President Obama's stimulus plan. ...
2009-03-13 00:39:00
MICHAEL YODER
Sam Rohrer senses average Americans have grave concerns about rapid and aggressive changes coming from the federal government.The state representative from Berks County said that, as a result of that concern, a growing number of his constituents are calling on legislators to re-examine the......
2009-03-13 00:29:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Four newcomers will be replacing four incumbents on the School District of Lancaster board at the end of the year.Incumbent board members Jackie McCain, Nenita Miller, Patrick Snyder and Marta Howell are not seeking re-election.Five SDL board candidates, including two attorneys, are......
2009-03-09 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The ship has struck rocks and is taking on water before it even sails out of harbor.Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to have a commission study the viability of merging the state's 501 school districts into 100 regional territories had all the makings of a long-term Democratic Party plat......
2009-03-07 00:43:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Despite the efforts of seven Lancaster County state legislators, William Ayers' March 19 lecture at Millersville University will go on as scheduled.The seven Republicans — Reps. Scott W. Boyd, John Bear, Tom Creighton, Bryan Cutler, Gordon Denlinger, David Hickernell and Katie Tr......
2009-03-07 00:01:00
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts took to the floor of the House of Representatives the other day to decry President Barack Obama's proposed budget.This, of course, came as no surprise. Pitts, a solid conservative Republican, so far has found little to like about the plans and programs of the new De......
2009-03-05 01:09:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Long derided as pork or praised as investment in community and economic development, a taxpayer-funded program may vanish from the state budget for the next fiscal year.Last month when Gov. Ed Rendell proposed cutting 101 programs out of his budget, he included on the list the Community Re......
2009-03-04 02:13:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Life is transitioning from tragedy to advocacy for 22-year-old Jacy Good.Good is in the midst of restructuring her life after a May 2008 car crash that took the life of both her parents and left her in a temporary coma.Starting next week, she'll try to sway state legislators to ......
2009-02-25 11:25:00
CINDY STAUFFER
The nurse, the manufacturing manager, the physical therapy assistant and the floor installer all had hope today. Hope that President Barack Obama will be successful in reviving the national economy. Hope that his ideas and plans will make life better for Americans. Hope that he will be able to ......
2009-02-25 00:50:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts said Tuesday night he favored much of President Barack Obama's first speech to a joint session of Congress, in which the Illinois Democrat laid out much of his first-term agenda. ...
2009-02-24 22:07:00
JOHN FRIEL
A political initiative begun in anger is moving forward seeking harmony.At Blue Ball Fire Hall Thursday night, Elanco School District residents met six citizens who each want one of four school board seats available in this year's election. About 30 people attended the event, sponsored......
2009-02-23 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Any organization with a $2.3 billion budget hole is going to desperately seek new revenue sources.And there's new interest in Harrisburg for charging municipalities that depend on state police coverage a fee.The state House Appropriations Committee held a hearing Thursday on the......
2009-02-21 00:01:00
Democrats in the U.S. Senate made a mistake when they bowed to racial power politics and voted to confirm Roland Burris to the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.Now it's time for Burris to step down on his own.From the moment of his appointment by disgraced former Il......
2009-02-18 00:17:00
DAVE PIDGEON
He's a stocky former sheriff raised on an Ephrata-area farm who turned his career toward finance.Now Craig Ebersole is the new chairman of Lancaster County Republican Committee.Ebersole, currently in the middle of his second four-year term as Lancaster County treasurer, defeated......
2009-02-17 00:33:00
PATRICK BURNS
Elanco Taxpayer Alliance members believe the ball is squarely in their court following their successful skirmish last year with the Eastern Lancaster County school board.The citizens' group has now formed a political action committee.Alliance founder Tim Shay said the PAC will w......
