Month: April 2013

Pennsylvania GOP Hopes to Avoid Corbett Ticket Drag

ROLL CALL:  Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s tumble in the polls has made Republicans nervous about four pivotal Philadelphia-area House districts. Local GOP operatives fear this 2014 scenario: Corbett drags down the ticket for perennial targets Reps. Patrick Meehan, Jim Gerlach, Michael G. Fitzpatrick and Charlie Dent. Meanwhile, top potential Corbett foes count southeastern Pennsylvania as […]

Colleges Adapt Online Courses to Ease Burden

NEW YORK TIMES:  …Nearly half of all undergraduates in the United States arrive on campus needing remedial work before they can begin regular credit-bearing classes. That early detour can be costly, leading many to drop out, often in heavy debt and with diminished prospects of finding a job. Meanwhile, shrinking state budgets have taken a […]

Pa. ordered to surrender data in voter-ID dispute

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER:  State transportation and election officials were ordered Monday to provide data on licensed drivers and registered voters to plaintiffs in the ongoing voter-ID dispute, hoping to answer a question that has baffled state officials for the last year: how many Pennsylvania voters do not already have photo identification cards from PennDot?… Commonwealth Court […]

Arab League Seems to Concede to Israel on Area Peace Plan

NEWSMAX/ REUTERS:  Arab states appeared to soften their 2002 peace plan on Monday when a top Qatari official said Israel and the Palestinians could trade land rather than conform exactly to their 1967 borders. Sheik Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, made the comment after he and a group of Arab […]

Luxembourg set to share companies’ bank details

FINANCIAL TIMES:   Luxembourg is ready to share currently confidential information about multinationals’ bank accounts as part of efforts to shed the Grand Duchy’s image as a leading tax haven. Under pressure amid a renewed global crackdown on tax evasion and avoidance, Luc Frieden, finance minister, said Luxembourg was willing to expand the number of accounts […]

LETTER: helmets vs. no helmets

Despite his opposition to helmet laws, Gray said he has always worn — and will always wear — a helmet. “I’ve ridden 30,000 miles already this year, many of them through states where you don’t have to wear helmets,” he said. “I had a helmet on for every mile.”

Black pols stymied in Obama era

POLITICO: ..Consider what has taken place, or not taken place, since Obama broke the presidential color barrier in 2008: There has not been one African-American elected to the Senate — the only blacks in the chamber were appointed to fill vacant seats; the country’s sole African-American governor…