Gormley and Kistler, a Democrat and a Republican, maintain the ideological balance of the court, boast impressive legal resumes and — most importantly — are expected to pledge not to run in the November election that will tie up three seats on the state’s highest court for the next decade…
County Drug and Alcohol Commission to Present on Treatment Budget Process
MEDIA ALERT CONTACT: Andrea McCue, Chief Clerk February 6, 2015 (717)299-8300, [email protected] Rick Kastner, Executive Director of the Lancaster County Drug & Alcohol Commission is scheduled to present a detailed summary of the Drug & Alcohol treatment budget to the Board of Commissioner during the Lancaster County Commissioners’ public meeting on Wednesday, February 11, 2015, […]
White House to Unveil Call for ‘Strategic Patience’
FOREIGN POLICY: …The document will be Obama’s second, and likely last, before he leaves office in early 2017. It aims to rebut criticism that he has consistently waited too long to respond to challenges like the rise of the Islamic State and Moscow’s military aggression in Ukraine, allowing the problems to worsen while his administration debated ways to act.
Ukraine is only part of Putin’s game plan
FINANCIAL TIMES: Europe thinks it has a Ukraine problem. In truth, it has a Russia, or more precisely, a Vladimir Putin problem. Moscow’s war against Kiev is a fragment of a bigger picture. The Russian president’s revanchism reaches well beyond Ukraine. The bigger goal is to tear up the continent’s post-communist settlement. European hesitation about […]
Menendez’s Views on Cuba and Iran Show Rifts With Obama
NEW YORK TIMES: …Mr. Obama’s advisers say they speak with [Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey] regularly, and the senator described his relationship with the White House as excellent. But deep policy and political divisions remain between Mr. Obama and the senator, one of the Democrats best positioned to defend the administration’s foreign policy in […]
Seven States That Are Next In Line to Legalize Marijuana
By Phil Smith DRUG WAR CHRONICLES: President Obama is taking a pretty much laissez-faire approach to legalization experiments in the states. During a series of YouTube interviews Thursday, President Obama demonstrated a remarkably laissez-faire attitude toward marijuana legalization experiments in the states. And he signaled strongly that the Obama administration wouldn’t be taking to the […]
Moscow Readying a Massive Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Golts Says
THE INTERPRETER: The Kremlin’s calls for a ceasefire and calls by the pro-Russian militants in the Donbass for a mass mobilization are all designed to distract attention from Moscow’s preparations for a massive invasion of Ukraine sometime in the coming days, according to Russian military analyst Aleksandr Golts. And that conclusion is strengthened, he suggests, […]
Latest downturns in Russian economy
The falling price of oil, Russia’s main export, and Western sanctions have caused the fall of the ruble, which has sunk over 50 percent since last summer. According to official figures, the overall rate of inflation in Russia was 11.4% in 2014. By the end of this January it reached 13%.
Wolf names two for Supreme Court
Wolf said he would nominate Ken Gormley, dean and professor at the Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, and Thomas Kistler, president judge of Centre County Court, to the bench…
AG Kane asks Pa. Supreme Court to end grand jury case against her
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: …[PA Attorney General Kathleen[ Kane’s Washington-based lawyer, Lanny Davis, said documents publicly released indicate the grand jury did not suggest a contempt of court charge. Experts say it is typically a charge for leaking confidential grand jury material, though it can apply to other offenses against the court. Contempt can be a criminal […]
Pre-9/11 Ties Haunt Saudis as New Accusations Surface
NEW YORK TIMES: During the 1980s and ’90s, the historic alliance between the wealthy monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the country’s powerful clerics emerged as the major financier of international jihad, channeling tens of millions of dollars to Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Bosnia and elsewhere. Among the project’s major patrons was Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz […]
Russia Expert: Putin in ‘Dangerous Game of Chicken’ in Ukraine
NEWSMAX: Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing “a dangerous game of chicken” with Western nations like the United States, writes David Satter in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece… Russia has its nose right in the middle of it, following its takeover of Crimea last spring. The U.S. and other Western nations have placed sanctions […]
FCC to Propose Strong ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules
The move would fully embrace the principle known as net neutrality, and if enacted, would bring a new definition to the economics of the Internet industry: Rather than regulating broadband firms lightly, as has been its practice so far, the FCC would treat them like telecommunications companies and subject them to more intrusive regulation, especially in areas relating to how they manage traffic on their networks…
House bill to increase state judges’ retirement age advances
PENN LIVE: A proposal that would increase the mandatory retirement age of Pennsylvania judges, including those serving on the Supreme Court, from 70 to 75 has passed the House Judicial Committee. An identical measure, which could lead to a ballot measure to amend the state Constitution, passed the House and Senate in 2013. It would […]