By Chris Comisac Bureau Chief Capitolwire HARRISBURG (June 8) – The state House of Representatives Thursday morning accomplished something it has been trying to do for several years which, during that time, involved some notable failures: pass a pension bill. A bill that was fast-tracked this week, having been first introduced as a plan Sunday evening […]
Fighting heroin overdoses and addiction
Drug Policy Alliance Opioid Action Plan: Increase Access to Effective Treatment, Expand Harm Reduction Interventions, Prevent Opioid Misuse, and Minimize the Criminalization of People Who Use Drugs DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE: The New York Times published on Monday an investigative report that found that drug overdose deaths last year reached an all-time high, suggesting that the country’s long-term opioid crisis continues […]
MILLER: Naming state office buildings? Really?
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS: — In a state where the most often used adjective to describe its government is “corrupt,” politicians selling naming rights promises good stories going forward. Two Republican state senators introduced legislation that would make the fund-raising process legal, claiming name sales like what towns and universities do with sports complexes might fulfill […]
Is General Hospital lax in preventing spread of disease?
By Robert Field When visiting hospitals in Philadelphia and New York, we encountered hand sanitizing gel dispensers almost everywhere and make use of them, realizing that every thing touched in a hospital has a potential for transmitting disease. According to John Hopkins Medicine, “Good hand hygiene – washing hands or using a hand sanitizing gel – […]
Why Many Russians do not want to have children
By Slava Tsukerman A new bill before the Russian Duma is now discussed throughout Russia. Under the new law, childless families (other than for medical reasons) and families with one child would have to pay a special tax to the state. The sponsor is Yuri Krupnov, the director of the Institute of Demography, Migration and Regional Development . The document […]
How Many States Will Legalize Marijuana This Year?
by psmith This article was produced in collaboration with AlterNet and first appeared here. DRUG WAR CHRONICLE; In the euphoric aftermath of marijuana legalization victories in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada last November, the marijuana blogosphere was alive with predictions about which states would be next to free the weed. Extract listed 10 […]
PHIL STARR: “The games Grandpa used to play”
Below Phil Starr describes favorite pick up games that he and his boyhood friends played on the streets of Brooklyn. We presume that this goes back a full seventy-years! Many know Phil from his leadership of the South-East Clinic in Lancaster and through his many other services to the community. Other popular street games are described at “Games […]
MILLERS: Another slant to Montana special election
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS: — When Tom Perez kept the old guard in power by winning Democratic National chair, he pledged the party would “compete in every ZIP code” in America. He said the Party would invest in “rural outreach.” In less than three months, Perez either failed to move the Party in that direction . […]
TSUKERMAN: Russia Celebrates Anniversary of Nazi Germany Defeat
By Slava Tsukerman On May 9, Russia celebrated the 72nd anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in the WWII, which Russians call the Great Patriotic War. The annual military parade took place on Moscow’s Red Square. After the parade Muscovites joined so called “Immortal Regiment march”, a tradition that started in Russia a decade ago. People […]
MILLER: Timeline of a major goof in Harrisburg
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS: A look at the colossal screw-up involving Pennsylvania’s unemployment compensation (UC) program causes wonder. Can government still function to help people? Like other states already had, Pennsylvania hopes to design an effortless, customer-friendly process. About 60 percent of the unemployed eligible for compensation apply and maintain their claims online. The problem […]
What is it about Health Care in Australia that President Trump prefers?
By Robert Field While entertaining the Prime Minister of Australia and before and television cameras, President Donald Trump acknowledged that Health Care in Australia is superior to that of the United States. And we have little doubt that he meant was he said. According to Wikipedia: “Health care in Australia is provided by both […]
Capitolwire: Legislation seeks to expand AG prosecuting power to include local officials.
Editor: If we could clean up state corruption, enacting the following would be very helpful in reducing local corruption. By Robert Swift Staff Writer Capitolwire HARRISBURG (May 16) – The power of the state attorney general to tackle public corruption would be greatly expanded under a legislative proposal stemming from a state investigation into the […]
MILLER: Health care wedge between poor and rich
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS: The House of Representatives, without a single Democrat vote, recently passed what they claim will be the successor for Obamacare, sending the legislation onto the Senate. The Congressional Budget Office predicts 24 million Americans will lose health insurance coverage with this version, officially known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA). […]
REF SPEAKS: How one publisher brought on the Civil War…and its local relevance
By Robert Field The recently published “Madness Rules the Hour, Charleston, 1860 and the Mania for War” by Paul Starobin tells the story of how one publisher in Charleston, South Carolina, a strident advocate of secession, created a mythical vision of the North as a wicked predator and the South as virtuous victim. It […]