Free Republic

Pennsylvania gambling regulators encouraged casino operators to hire an array of minority groups, but never discussed the measure in public. The diversity guidelines contained in a confidential Gaming Control Board memo issued in January go beyond the requirements of federal and state law, according to a copy obtained by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The memo from Chief Diversity Officer Mozelle Daniels, marked "privileged and confidential," says casinos should look not only at race, ethnicity and gender in hiring workers. The board's "expansive view of diversity" includes marital status, sexual orientation, religion, age, AIDS or HIV status, non-job-related disability and veteran's status....

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Map, News) - Gov. Ed Rendell is returning campaign contributions from two donors associated with former fugitive Norman Hsu, a man facing fraud charges. Rendell's decision to give back $7,000 comes three weeks after the Democratic governor said he would donate to charity nearly $38,000 that came directly from Hsu. The most recent giveback resulted from "sufficient questions" about the donors that were raised in press accounts, Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. The governor is returning $2,000 contributed in May 2005 by a resident of Daly City, Calif., and $5,000 donated in April 2006 by a resident of...

PLAINS TWP. (PA)-- Although thousands of state employees will not be working today because of a budget stalemate, the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs was not forced to shut its doors on patrons at 7 this morning. Bobby Soper, CEO of the casino, received a Commonwealth Court decision around 11:40 p.m. Sunday, in which the court issued a temporary injunction to prevent a shutdown of the state’s casinos. “I’m pleased with the decision allowing us to stay open (today),” he said. “Not only is this great news for the 3,500 employees who work in the five state casinos, but also...

Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican challenger Lynn Swann are running neck and neck, a new independent statewide poll shows. In a hypothetical election, Rendell and Swann each would get 44 percent of the vote, with 10 percent undecided and 2 percent for others, according to the Strategic Vision poll. "Dead even. You can't get much closer than that," said David E. Johnson, pollster for Atlanta-based Strategic Vision, a public relations and marketing firm. This poll, similar to other recent polls, spells trouble -- according to the pollster -- for Rendell, of Philadelphia, who is seeking a second four-year term...

RICHMOND, Va. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell says Virginia Democrats should get back to the progressive initiatives that made the party great and quit running campaigns as though they were imitation Republicans. Rendell spoke to about one thousand Democratic activists at the party's annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner tonight in Richmond. Rendell said John Kerry should have remained truer to Democratic ideals when he opposed Republican George W- Bush two years ago. Rendell is seeking re-election this year against a strong challenge from Republican Lynn Swann -- a Hall of Fame player on the Pittsburgh Steelers' football team from the 1970s. In...

Rendell, Swann in dead heat By David M. Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Friday, February 10, 2006 Republican challenger Lynn Swann has caught Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, a new Pittsburgh Tribune-Review/WTAE-Channel 4 Keystone poll shows. Swann, who trailed Rendell by 20 points five months ago, has jumped to within three points -- a statistical tossup. More than half -- 54 percent -- of voters questioned believe it is time for a change in the governor's office. About two in five -- 39 percent -- said they believe Rendell deserves re-election.

From Fox News' "Fox News Live" January 24, 2006Former DNC Chairman, Governor Ed Rendell [D-PA]: "I Believe He's A Qualified Judge. He Sits On The Third Circuit Court Of Appeals In Philadelphia. I Don't Know If You Know This ... My Wife Is A Third Circuit Court Judge."Fox News' Bill Hemmer: "I'm Aware Of That, And Your History In Philadelphia Should Give You Pretty Good Knowledge Of Him."Rendell: "Right. She Has A High Opinion Of His Integrity And His Academic Standards. She Disagrees With Him On A Number Of Cases And Agrees With Him On Some. I Disagree With A...

By First Coast News Staff WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a little more than two weeks the Pentagon's Base Realignment And Closure Commission will give its recommendations to President Bush, and many communities are doing everything they can to keep their local military bases from being mothballed. But the Governor of Pennsylvania has gone a step further -- he was in court Thursday asking a judge to side with him against the Pentagon. The case highlights the growing tension between states and the federal government on who gives marching orders to state National Guards. The Willow Grove Naval Air Station, outside...

With tears in his eyes, Gov. Ed Rendell yesterday ordered state flags in Pennsylvania to be flown at half staff until Sept. 11 to honor Pennsylvania Army National Guardsmen killed in Iraq. Five guardsmen were killed in two separate incidents in Iraq Tuesday, and two were killed Saturday. Six of the seven were from the same company, the Philadelphia-based A Company of the 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment. "They were police officers, firefighters and youth counselors," the governor said at a news conference in Harrisburg. "They were husbands, fathers, and beloved sons. They were young and middle aged, black and...

The governor attributes the reception in part to the recent pay raises for state officials and judges. The crowd in the main tent at the 151st annual Reading Fair Monday night greeted Gov. Ed Rendell the way Philadelphia Eagles fans greet opposing NFL teams. Rendell, a former Philadelphia mayor and Eagles season-ticket holder, said the boos the crowd unleashed when he stepped on stage before a concert by Steve Hall and the Shotgun Red Band probably resulted from two factors. First, the audience dodged raindrops and lightning bolts to hear cover versions of Conway Twitty and Tammy Wynette songs, not...

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT No. 03-3680 Adams v. Local 115   To: Clerk Appellants' Motion Requesting That the Members of this Court Recuse Themselves from This MatterAppellees' Responses     The foregoing Motion is under consideration. The parties will be advised through the Court's normal procedures when the appeal is assigned to a merits panel for disposition. No further order or other notification will be provided in regard to the disposition of the motion. Under the circumstances, listing of the appeal for disposition may take a significant amount of additional time from this date.     For...

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday called for an investigation into the finances and management of the troubled Chester Upland School District, and asked the district's controlling board to step down, after the release of a state audit that found widespread problems. The state comptroller's audit "confirms that the district's fiscal management systems are completely broken down, creating an environment ripe for criminal activity and worthy of investigation by the U.S. attorney, the attorney general and the district attorney," Rendell said. A three-member Board of Control, which the governor does not have the authority to dismiss, currently...

More than 80 percent of state lawmakers — and almost 90 percent of local state legislators — are eligible to earn salaries even bigger than the new, higher base pay the General Assembly recently approved. When the majority of state lawmakers voted themselves raises earlier this month, they not only added 16.4 percent to their base salaries, they also gave extra pay for the first time to the chairmen and vice chairmen of legislative committees and chairmen of committee subcommittees. And the top officers of both Houses are now eligible for more extra pay than they were getting before. Among...

Until now, Catherine Baker Knoll seems to have been Pennsylvania's version of the Teflon candidate. She survived a bond-refinancing scandal during her second term as state treasurer to beat out an eight-person field for the Democratic nomination as lieutenant governor in 2002. And while some snicker about her occasional misstatements on the Senate floor and in public, other people find them endearing. But the 74-year-old grandmother made national news with her unsolicited appearance at the funeral of Marine Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Goodrich, a reservist from Allegheny County who died in Iraq. Her attendance angered the Marine's family, and with...

Moore used footage of Maj. Stone's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in his antiwar propaganda film, Fahrenheit 9/11. He did so without the permission of Maj. Stone's family. The family was not pleased. Maj. Stone's mother called Moore a "maggot that eats off the dead." Catherine Baker Knoll has done Moore one better (or worse). On July 19th, a funeral service was held at St. John Lutheran Church in Carnegie for Staff Sergeant Joseph Goodrich, 32. Goodrich and fellow Marine reservist Lance Corporal Ryan Kovacicek, 22, were killed by mortar fire July 10th while conducting combat operations in Hit, in...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — One of Gov. Ed Rendell's cabinet secretaries said Monday she was "pretty upset" that lawmakers approved a raise for themselves in a state government budget that also cut benefits in medical care for the poor. Estelle Richman, the state Public Welfare Department secretary, made the remark in response to a moderator's question at a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon in Harrisburg at which she was the keynote speaker. Asked how upset she was about the situation, Richman responded, "I'm pretty upset still." "I would like to have seen that some of these very drastic cuts that are...

PITTSBURGH -- Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll apologized to the family of a Marine killed in Iraq for showing up uninvited for his funeral last week and giving out a business card. Knoll went to the July 19 funeral of Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich, 32, of Westwood, who died July 10 in Hit, Iraq. Family members said she left a business card and made a remark about "our government" being against the war. In a letter dated Monday to Goodrich's widow, Amy, Knoll said she left a card in case the family wanted to contact her "and as a sign...

Knoll & Rendell: Disgraceful remarks Tuesday, July 26, 2005 Sometimes politicians need to stop while they're behind. Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll did a little politicking and offered some political commentary Tuesday last, uninvited, at the Carnegie funeral of Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich. The Marine, 32, of Westwood, was killed in a mortar attack in Iraq on July 10. Mrs. Baker Knoll began talking to Sgt. Goodrich's aunt during the Communion service. She handed the aunt a business card; Knoll called the funeral a "function." Then Knoll told the aunt that the state government was "against the war." Outrageous. Visiting...

In the annals of feckless non-apology apologies, the one just served up by PA Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Check out the article below, and note this turn of phrase: "If my regard for his family's grief was seen another way, it is thoroughly regrettable." In other words, what is regrettable is not her awful behavior, but the way the Marine's family saw it. Sickening. -------------------------- Slain Marine's Family Gets Apology For Funeral Comments POSTED: 11:44 am EDT July 25, 2005 PITTSBURGH -- After being criticized for attending a Marine's funeral, Lt. Gov. Catherine...

Written apologies will be sent to a fallen Marine's relatives angered by Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll's uninvited appearance at the soldier's funeral and her criticism of the war in Iraq, Gov. Ed Rendell said Sunday. Rendell said he will send a personal letter to the family of the late Marine Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich, of Westwood, and will ask Knoll to do the same. Goodrich, 32, a police officer and infantry unit leader, died July 10 in a mortar attack in Hit, Iraq. Rendell said he hadn't spoken with Knoll about the incident, but was disturbed by the family's...

Note: where you see "a_ _ _ _ _ _", choose a 7-letter word beginning with "a" that you feel is appropriate for Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll (hmmmm....what word?...amateur?...artiste?...athlete?...hmmmm) MIDI - PROUD MARY They said goodbye to a hero Sgt. Goodrich served his nation selflessly Catherine Baker Knoll had not been invited Quite a spectacle they soon would see Anti-war stuff she's saying While mourners had been praying Knoll is...Knoll is...Knoll is such an a_ _ _ _ _ _ Knoll is such an a_ _ _ _ _ _ Why was this woman so heartless It was...

Hands out business card, tells family 'our government is against this war' When the family of Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich gathered in Pittsburgh for the fallen Marine's funeral, they expected a large crowd – after all, they've lived in the area for generations and Joseph had been a police officer before becoming a leatherneck – but they didn't expect to see Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor show up, hand out her business card and tell them "our government" opposes the war. Goodrich, 32, and fellow western Pennsylvanian, Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Kovacicek, 22 – both second-generation Marines – were killed in Iraq...

Saturday, July 23, 2005 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying "our government" is against the war.

Lt. gov. crashed Marine's funeral, kin say Saturday, July 23, 2005 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying "our government" is against the war. Rhonda Goodrich of Indiana, Pa., said yesterday that a funeral was held Tuesday at a church in Carnegie for her brother-in-law, Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich, 32. ... Then, suddenly, "one uninvited guest made an appearance, Catherine Baker Knoll." She sat down next...

Pennsylvania taxpayers have a "moral obligation" to give children a quality education, Gov. Ed Rendell said Wednesday at Wyoming Valley West High School. Rendell stopped by the school for the ceremonial signing of an education bill that will increase state funding for education by $278 million. Statewide, the bill increases state funding by 3.5 percent over last year. The actual legislation, House Bill 628, was signed last week. "We, the adults of Pennsylvania, have a moral obligation to educate the students," Rendell said. "... We have a moral obligation to help them reach their full potential." Wyoming Valley West will...

Gov. Ed Rendell is at odds with a pair of Republican senators over the use of federal Medicaid funds for family planning programs for low-income women. In a move that caught Republican Sens. Jeffrey Piccola of Harrisburg and Jane Orie of McCandless by surprise, Rendell removed from the 2005-06 state budget restrictions on federally funded health, birth control and family planning services that the anti-abortion Republicans had inserted. Orie and Piccola, frequent critics of Rendell, are concerned because Rendell wants the state Department of Public Welfare to seek federal Medicaid funds for low-income women's health, family planning and birth control...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvanians legally would be able to buy a case of beer on Sunday in their own state under legislation approved by the Senate on Monday and sent to the desk of Gov. Ed Rendell. The bill would change current law, which limits purchases to two six-packs from a restaurant or tavern. Instead, the state's 1,300 beer distributors would have the option of paying $100 for an annual license and opening between noon and 5 p.m. on Sundays to sell cases. Rendell's spokeswoman said he is expected to sign the bill. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Sean Logan, D-Allegheny,...

CLARION, Pa. - Lynn Swann, the Hall of Fame former wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, stood before a nearly all-white Republican crowd at the Holiday Inn here recently and denounced Pennsylvania's Democratic governor, Edward G. Rendell, for failing to reduce property taxes. Then, without prompting, Mr. Swann suddenly turned the subject to race - his own. "I'm not here to be the poster child for the Republican Party, to say they're being inclusive by running an African-American," said Mr. Swann, 54. "That's not why I'm here. I'm here to win." Still, to many prominent Republicans, Mr. Swann, a commentator...

Rally, meetings let legislators know how Gov. Rendell’s plans would impact nursing homes. HARRISBURG – Ron Patti, administrator of Riverstreet Manor in Wilkes-Barre, sees no end to the rising demand for nursing home care in Pennsylvania, yet he fears he’ll soon have to turn away people who need help most. A $219 million proposed cut in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid budget would have a crippling effect on nursing homes around the state, Patti said, forcing him and other administrators to make the same heart-wrenching decision: cut staff or cut services. “Would we have to say no to some types of long-term residents?”...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday he hopes to find money to soften some of his proposed Medicaid cuts, but warned that the program that provides health care for one in seven Pennsylvanians poses many future funding problems. Growth in Medicaid, which serves 1.8 million poor and disabled health care, is projected to outstrip state tax revenue by $1 billion in each of the next five years, Rendell said. To help rein in a similar funding gap this year, Rendell proposed $500 million cuts to Medicaid that he indicated Monday could be softened. "There are some additional revenues,...

There are mixed signals coming from the Rendell administration on two big issues that may be considered before the Pennsylvania legislature’s summer recess: a legislative pay raise and a minimum wage increase. Governor Rendell was asked to comment on the possibility of a pay raise for lawmakers, an issue that’s resurfaced in recent days: “Certainly I would not sign or approve any pay raise without an approval of the minimum wage.” In the same interview, the governor stated twice more that he would not agree to a legislative pay raise without an increase in the minimum wage. But moments later,...

Hanover Township resident Jim McGuire struggles to pay high costs for services and prescriptions for his 5-year-old autistic son, Jimmy. McGuire is concerned about Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to require families of children with autism and other disabilities contribute even more to their children's care. With Medicaid costs rising, premiums and proposed cuts are scheduled for June as lawmakers and administrators try to balance the 2005-2006 budget. "As a parent, I feel it's troubling that we are contemplating balancing budgets on the backs of disabled individuals," McGuire said. "I think there is sufficient money in the system to meet the...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - It seemed a political masterstroke: Legalize slot machines to lure back residents flocking to casinos in neighboring states, then use the revenue to give Pennsylvania's homeowners a tax cut of historic proportions. But nearly a year after Gov. Ed Rendell got the Legislature to sign on, the tax-cut portion of the plan has gone awry. To the governor's dismay, many Pennsylvania school boards are deciding they don't want to participate in the plan - which would provide an average $330 in tax relief per household, or $1 billion in all. The first-term Democratic governor now feels snookered...

He denies any conflict in soliciting gambling firms for governors association. HARRISBURG - Invoking the pay-to-play scandal in Philadelphia, state Republicans urged Gov. Rendell to stop raising money from gambling companies as chief fund-raiser of the Democratic Governors Association. The governor, a gambling supporter who signed a law last year to legalize slot machines in Pennsylvania, met with gambling executives April 26 in Las Vegas as finance chairman of the Democratic organization. "Especially in light of the recent developments with the 'pay-to-play' scandal evolving in the governor's home city of Philadelphia, one would think he would be more sensitive to...

"Gettysburg businessman David LeVan has been described as a friend of Gov. Ed Rendell," according to the May 1, 2005, edition of the York Daily Record. In fact, he gave Mr. Rendell at least $10,000 and "was named to a special policy committee for Rendell's new administration in 2002." It doesn't surprise us much, then, that the paper goes on to report, "LeVan is trying his hand at a new game -- the state's fledgling slots industry. He is head of the investment group Chance Enterprises, which hopes to build a slots parlor and hotel complex just outside Gettysburg." A...

GRANTVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Ed Rendell ratcheted up the pressure on school boards to sign on to a $1 billion property-tax reduction program, saying state lawmakers might otherwise make the program mandatory. School boards, which have until the end of May to opt in, have been slow to participate. In exchange for the future slots revenues, they must raise local income taxes and seek voter approval for future property-tax increases that exceed inflation. "We may mandate it, there's so much anger in the Legislature. We may mandate it without some of the exceptions that are worked in, and that...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Gov. Ed Rendell and his wife, U.S. Circuit Judge Marjorie Rendell, reported an adjusted gross income of $511,304 for last year - a 20 percent increase from 2003. The increase was driven largely by profits taken on stocks and mutual funds. The governor's salary increased from $119,094 in 2003 to $143,321, and the judge's salary went from $151,772 to $154,300, according to the couple's 2004 federal tax return, which Rendell's office provided to reporters who requested it. The Rendells reported a total of $88,255 in capital gains - more than double the $31,599 they reported in 2003...

Frustrated that few school districts have signed up for his program for property tax cuts, Gov. Ed Rendell stopped Monday in South Scranton and asked some senior citizens for a little help. "Send them a note, get on the phone and say, 'We want our property tax relief,' " Rendell told more than 80 people gathered at the United Neighborhood Centers of Lackawanna County office on Alder Street. The stop was part of a two-day, six-stop tour by the governor to every corner of the state as he tries to rally residents behind his plan to use revenues from slot...

Area school board presidents say push from governor could help. HARRISBURG – The lure of up to $1 billion in property-tax relief from gambling revenue has not been enough to convince most of the state’s 501 school boards to participate in the controversial Homeowner Tax Relief program. As of mid-March, only four school districts, none of them local, had officially agreed opt in to the program, also known as Act 72. Now, Gov. Ed Rendell plans to use the direct approach. Some might even call it the hard sell. Rendell will reach out to the hundreds of elected school board...

Philadelphia Mayor's Letter To Pa. Governor On Recent Violence POSTED: 3:39 pm EST March 15, 2005 March 14, 2005 The Honorable Edward G. Rendell Governor Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 225 Main Capitol Harrisburg, PA 17120 Dear Governor Rendell: I am respectfully requesting the opportunity to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss a matter of life and death to the citizens of the commonwealth's largest city, Philadelphia. It involves the urgent need to address the current law that handcuffs our ability to regulate the sale of guns in Philadelphia. As this past weekend fully dramatized, we need to act...

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was coming to Luzerne County on Thursday to hand out awards at the behest of this newspaper, and he knew that he’d have an hour to kill. Let’s play “Guess What the Governor Did in his Spare Time.” Did Rendell meet with school district officials to hear their concerns about Act 72, the slots bill that looks like a bum deal to some school boards? No. Did he visit Plymouth Township and Nanticoke to learn first-hand about distressed municipalities? No. Talked to the people who ride our buses, so he’d know that small transit agencies deserve...

SWIFTWATER -- Swiftwater-based Sanofi Pasteur, formerly Aventis Pasteur, is threatening to transfer future development at its Monroe County site to foreign countries if the state does not commit $40 million for a sewer project the company says it needs to expand. In a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell, Sanofi Pasteur warned that without additional sewer infrastructure, future expansions -- specifically the expansion of a $160 million flu vaccine production plant -- would shift to company locations in Canada or France. Such a transfer would cost the region future jobs and potential new contracts, the company said in the letter. "Without...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Gov. Ed Rendell is forming a task force to study whether to move up Pennsylvania's primaries so that voters have an earlier say in choosing presidential candidates and whether to allow early voting to avoid long lines at the polls. Rendell spoke to reporters Monday before Democrats gathered in the House of Representatives to officially cast the state's 21 electoral ballots for John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for president who won Pennsylvania but lost the national election to President Bush. "It's been awhile since any nomination process lasted into April, so I think we should look long...

HARRISBURG - Gov. Ed Rendell on Tuesday said he will not intervene to seek a pardon to spare mass murderer George Banks' life if the stay of execution sought by his attorneys is not granted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Speaking at a news conference, Rendell said there might be instances in which he would urge the state's pardon board to seek a pardon for a defendant, but he would not do that in Banks' case. "I will not blindly say that everyone who faces a death sentence should be executed. There may be times when I will take action...

PHILADELPHIA -- A new videotape message from terror mastermind Osama bin Laden was meant to help President Bush win re-election, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said Sunday. "It's obvious to me that bin Laden is trying to help George Bush, because George Bush is the best recruiter that al-Qaida has," Rendell told "Fox News Sunday." "George Bush is so disliked in the Arab world that we're creating terrorists every single day -- more terrorists than we can even come close to killing," the Democrat said. "You've got to be kidding, Ed," replied Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, who chairs the Bush-Cheney campaign...

A reader sent me this message about voter fraud in Pennsylvania: I'm listening to WPHT, 1210AM. Dom Giordano is interviewing PA Congressman Curt Weldon (from Pennsylvania's Delaware County). Weldon caught four women who visited a prison and they were filmed running from the prison with absentee ballots from the prisoners. It was filmed by a Philly TV station (not sure which one). Weldon caught these women red-handed, allegedly college girls, who should not have been inside and involved in this absentee ballot process. The women somehow went inside to "assist" the prisoners in filling out the ballots. These four...

HARRISBURG - State police announced Wednesday that troopers will obey the speed limit when driving and accompanying Gov. Ed Rendell on the highway. State police made the change after launching an internal investigation in response to a newspaper report found that members of Gov. Ed Rendell's security detail frequently shattered the speed limit. "Our troopers brought that (speeding) to the attention to the commander of the turnpike," said Jack Lewis, spokesman for the state police in Harrisburg. "And the Philadelphia Daily News became aware of it and made it public." The Philadelphia Daily News reported in late March that state...

Pennsylvania lawmakers are examining the possibility of the state providing health care to unionized school district employees. Amy Kelchner, spokesperson for Gov. Ed Rendell's office on health care reform, said the issue is still in the early stages of discussion. "The governor has said in the past he thinks it's a good idea worth pursuing," Kelchner said. The legislature is still refining the proposals and Rendell's office has been providing data from the State Employee Benefit Trust fund, which currently is the provider of state employees' health insurance benefits, she said. State Rep. Tom Tigue (D-118) said legislative committees have...

Governor's speed knows no limits The governor's bus was waiting, blocking a street in Hazleton, its diesel engine purring happily, fed by government fuel. I was parked up the street, outside the tattoo parlor, watching in the rear view mirror, lying in ambush, equally giddy. "The governor's running behind schedule," I whispered excitedly into my tape recorder, like a cop on a stake out. And it was lunch for which His Rotundness, Ed Rendell, the Governor of Pennsylvania, was late. This had all the ingredients for a high-speed chase from Hazleton to Wilkes-Barre. And there was no doubt in my...

  Press Release Source: Pennsylvania Department of Health PA Health Department Study Shows 18 Percent of 8th Graders OverweightWednesday February 4, 4:20 pm ET  HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Health Secretary Dr. Calvin B. Johnson today announced that 18 percent of the eighth graders who were studied in a recent assessment were overweight and another 17 percent are at risk of being overweight. The assessment was done to determine the prevalence of overweight children and youth in Pennsylvania and in recognition of the growing national problem of childhood overweight and obesity. Nationally, childhood obesity has been associated with...