PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW COLUMN: Of the hurdles that keep towns from merging schools, fear of higher taxes and lower property values are among the largest, policy analysts say. Consolidating two or more school districts upends union contracts and budgets, plus the millage rates that support them. Inevitably, one district has higher taxes, bigger debt and lesser […]
Month: December 2013
Sounding the alarm over prostitution
NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED: Berlin — Feminists across Western Europe are sounding the alarm. Prostitution, they claim, has become today’s “white slavery,” with ever more women from Bulgaria and Romania, Africa and Asia being forced, tricked or seduced into selling their bodies. But in doing so, these activists are creating a schism in the movement, […]
French court approves 75 percent company tax on high salaries
AFP: France’s top court on Sunday approved a proposal for companies to pay 75 percent tax on annual salaries exceeding one million euros in line with President Francois Hollande’s drive to limit executive pay at a time of economic hardship. The Constitutional Council had earlier in the year thrown out one of Hollande’s key campaign […]
13 states raising pay for minimum-wage workers
USATODAY: … The minimum wage will rise in 13 states this week, and as many as 11 states and Washington, D.C., are expected to consider increases in 2014, according to the National Employment Law Project. Approval is likely in more than half of the 11, says NELP policy analyst Jack Temple. Connecticut, New York, New […]
Find cure for Corbettcare
Rather than accepting the straightforward federal proposal, Mr. Corbett has concocted a complex hybrid that needlessly would funnel federal money through private insurers while contradicting the very purpose of the federal initiative.
Ruling on church official could favor ex-PSU administrators
“Certainly, the court’s opinion puts a big hole in the commonwealth’s case” against the ex-administrators, said Donna McClelland, a Pittsburgh trial lawyer and former deputy attorney general. She said the reversal for Monsignor William Lynn, 62, could weaken felony charges of child endangerment against Tim Curley, Gary Schultz and Graham Spanier, but not their related charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and failure to report.
Corbett facing primary battle: “The Guzzardi factor”
Bob Guzzardi, an Ardmore attorney and self-described conservative reformer, is hoping for similar — or better — results in a Republican primary next year against incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett. Guzzardi is trying to gather the 2,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot…
LANCASTER SUNDAY NEWS
Editorial “Be It Resolved” includes the following: “Speaking of Lancaster Square, here’s a resolution for city and county officials: To smash that concrete monstrosity, even if it means another hole in the ground. The “Soviet block” of Queen Street has been an eyesore for too long.
NYT Report: Al-Qaida Not Behind Benghazi Attacks
The investigation appears to debunk claims by congressional Republicans linking al-Qaida to the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, including two former Navy SEALs, and back the Obama administration’s longstanding position that the offensive video fueled the attack…
Boy Scouts Open Ranks to Gay Youth on Jan. 1
NEWSMAX: The Boy Scouts of America will accept openly gay youths starting on New Year’s Day, a historic change that has prompted the BSA to ponder a host of potential complications — ranging from policies on tentmates and showers to whether Scouts can march in gay pride parades. Yet despite their be-prepared approach, BSA leaders […]
Federal health market surpasses 1 million signups
USA TODAY: ..Of the more than 1.1 million people now enrolled, nearly 1 million signed up in December, with the majority coming in the week before a pre-Christmas deadline for coverage to start in January. Compare that to a paltry 27,000 in October —the website’s first, error-prone month — or 137,000 in November. The figures […]
When sports become child abuse
It was my first visit to a Karate tournament. Our twelve year old son was participating. There were contests ranging from young children to adults. Totally unfamiliar with the proceedings, I was attending because our ten-year old son was participating. One of several simultaneous contests took place in front of where I was sitting. A […]
Concussions May Lead to Alzheimer’s Brain Plaques
“Interestingly, in people with a history of concussion, a difference in the amount of brain plaques was found only in those with memory and thinking problems, not in those who were cognitively normal,” Mielke said in a statement. “Our results add merit to the idea that concussion and Alzheimer’s disease brain pathology may be related.”
Cserdi mayor Laszlo Bogdan voted “Man of the Year”
20 km west of the university city of Pécs lies the village of Cserdi (pop. 411). As is often the case in Baranya county, a majority of the villagers are gypsies. There is an important difference, however. The mayor of Cserdi, a gypsy, is determined to prove that his people are capable of earning an honest living tilling the land.